Duration
1 day
What is this course about?
This interactive one-day training programme has been designed specially for public services and government agencies, which are seeking to provide excellence in service delivery to all of their customers.
In light of the recent spending review and the continuing climate of Government cuts public sector organisations are undoubtedly going to face new pressures on their overall staffing levels and budgets. Managers within the public sector have long been used to the idea of getting “more from less” whilst striving to maintain a high level of customer service and overall customer satisfaction. However this is likely to intensify as the full impact of the spending review is felt.
The good news is the right training can play a vital role in arming organisations and their staff with the core skills they need to continually improve service delivery even in the face of shrinking resource.
GA Training’s public sector customer service training programme addresses all the key things which make public sector organisations different from private sector companies. However at the same time the course draws on best practice from across all industries and sectors to provide a well rounded training programme which cherry picks the best customer service solutions and helps to apply them within your organisation.
This training course will ensure that you have all the necessary skills to meet the public sector challenge in the coming months and years and above all will enable you to over-deliver on solutions and services that are both results-oriented as well customer-focused.
The course will be tailored to meet your exact requirements and will use real-world examples from your customer service scenarios.
Key topics covered
- Introduction to public sector customer service
- Communicating with customers
- Knowing and understanding your customers
- Dealing with difficult people
- The often overlooked art of listening and displaying empathy
- Self-management
- Teambuilding and leadership
- Handling complaints
- Ongoing development
Who would benefit?
Anyone who interacts with customers in the public sector.
Objectives
At the end of this course delegates will be able to:
- Define excellence in customer service
- Recognise what makes the public sector different
- Identify ways to apply best practice from both the public and private sector
- Listen completely, speak respectfully, and focus on the positive
- Communicate confidently with all customers
- Handle difficult situations and learn to say no constructively
- Manage their own stress levels and care for themselves as well as their customers
- Handle complaints efficiently and with empathy
Key topics covered
1. Introduction
- What constitutes excellence in service delivery?
- The public sector challenge
- Best practice customer service from public and private sector
2. Communicating with customers
- Communicating with customers on the phone
- Communicating with customers face-to-face
- The importance of body language and other non-verbal communication (even on the phone)
- The vital written skills of customer service
- Positive communication (key phrases and useful language)
- Exceeding your customer’s expectations
3. Knowing and understanding your customers
- What are their needs?
- What have you learnt in the past that could help them?
- Do they have an ideal outcome in mind and are you aware of this?
4. Dealing with difficult people
- Sources of the difficulty
- What makes customers difficult or demanding?
- What makes dealing with them difficult for us?
- What is the extent of the problem?
- Dealing with behaviour
- When the customer goes too far
5. The often overlooked art of listening and displaying empathy
- Active listening
- Listening and responding with empathy
6. Self-management
- Protecting yourself at all times
- Letting go and not taking it personally
- Managing stress and remaining effective under pressure
- Your role in the team
7. Team-building and leadership
- How to build and sustain high-performing teams
- Team roles
- Leadership (hint you don’t have to be a manager to lead)
- The internal customer
8. Handling complaints
- Causes of complaints
- Different communication channels and their potential effects
- Managing responses
- Assertiveness and dealing with difficult people
- Written Complaints
- Complaints on the phone
9. Ongoing development
- Drawing it all together
- Developing a customer service charter
- Personal action plan
In-company training
Are you interested in running this course for your team or organisation?
This programme can be delivered on a date of your choice and at a location of your choice, in other words exactly where and when you need it!
From the outset we will provide you with expert advice and you will be assigned your own personal training adviser who will stay with you throughout the process. Every team is different so we will provide you with a tailored training programme, designed around your team’s needs and focused on your desired outcomes.
All courses are followed up by a full training evaluation report and certificates of learning for each delegate. For groups of up to 12 delegates per course, our in-company training is a very cost-effective way to develop your people and improve team performance.
Get in touch today for a full quotation to suit your budget. To discuss your requirements in more detail with one of our friendly advisers please call on 0845 130 5714 or email one of the team at info@ga-training.com. Alternatively you can complete the short contact form below.
Getting in Touch
If you would like to discuss your customer service training requirements with someone on the phone, please call us on 0845 130 5714 and you will be put straight through to one of our friendly advisers who will be pleased to assist you further.Alternatively if you would prefer you can email us at info@ga-training.com or fill out our simple online contact form below and one of the team will get straight back to you.
If the exact solution does not already exist in our portfolio we will design something specifically for you.