Introduction

Welcome to your online Telephone Skills and Customer Care training course. For over 20 years our trainers at Total Success Training have taught thousands of our delegates to become more effective by teaching them practical tips and techniques that can be used immediately.  

We’ve designed all of our courses to be both practical and easy to follow and have included topics that we feel will help you to learn quickly and easily. 

To get the best out of this on-line training course please complete all the topics but go through each one at the pace you feel comfortable with. You may decide to do it in one go or in stages. It’s all up to you. We have included lots of exercises and quizzes to get you thinking, planning and using the course information in the most practical way.  

At the end of the course there will be a 10-part, multiple-choice quiz for completion. You will need to achieve at least a 70%+ score to qualify for a course certificate for completion. The final results will be fed back to your manager for further discussion.  

At the end of each chapter you will be asked to complete an action plan plus a final course analysis sheet at the end of the course. Please complete these for discussion with your manager or supervisor.  

By the end of this course you will feel both competent and confident in your telephone skills and customer care. It will allow you to: 

• Describe the key features of customer service   

• Examine the benefits of professional telephone techniques and determine which are the most effective for you 

• Using the telephone professionally 

• Manage your customers in a better way 

• Managing difficult calls 

• Increase self-esteem and reduction in stress  

After the completion of this course you will: 

• Develop confidence and reduce the fear or panic when dealing with customers on the phone 

• Learn advanced technique of controlling the call 

• Learn to use several new customer care techniques 

• Understand the differences between normal and effective care 

• Recognise the verbal and vocal aspects of telephone skills 

• Learn tips for effective telephone calls 

Chapter 1

Defining Quality Customer Service  

Quality customer service is provided by a person like you. A quality customer service provider is a person who: 

1. Accepts responsibility for providing timely customer service in a courteous manner. 

2. Understands that the success of an organisation depends on good customer service. 

3. Learns and practices customer service skills in a positive manner.  

In this chapter you will learn typical customer service techniques. Let’s examine these techniques in more detail.  

Chapter 2

Using the Telephone Professionally – Part 1 

The phone is probably the most used tool in modern business. 25 million business calls are made every day in the UK (Source: BT). Not everyone admits to being confident or totally proficient in their use of the phone so it is worth looking at why phone skills are vital for effective business communication.  

In this chapter you will learn professional usage of the telephone.  

Chapter 3

Using the Telephone Professionally — Part 2 — Speaking to your Customers    

Whenever you speak to customers on the telephone, imagine yourself greeting and dealing with them face to face. In this chapter you will learn how to do it.