CCLS’ CALL CENTER CSR/AGENT CERTIFICATION PROGRAM
Core Knowledge, Skills and Competencies for Contact Center CSRs/Agents in Customer Service and Sales

Program Outline

Welcome to the Call Center Learning Solutions’ core training and Certification Program for Customer Service Representatives/Agents. This program will give CSRs/Agents the skills to provide every customer with a great call experience every time! These skills include the core competencies, knowledge and techniques to become the customer’s advocate, provide appropriate product and service solutions, solve problems, add-on and up-sell, educate the customer, improve first call resolution, build customer loyalty, handle the difficult call to reduce conflict and to exceed customer expectations. CSRs/Agents will understand the contact center functions and metrics and learn to assume responsibility for and to manage their own performance and development. They will use best practices in customer care and call handling skills, sales and collections (if appropriate) to manage the customer relationship and build long term customer loyalty and to provide every customer with a “great call experience every time!”

Course Offerings and Options for Delivery Methods:

• We offer a complete Certification Program for agents or you may select just specific modules to cover specific skill sets
• You may choose to train agents online or our master trainer can teach any classes/modules on your site
• Below you will see the module/course descriptions and the amount of training delivery time for both online and instructor-led training options

Choose 15-18 hours of Online Coursework or 5-days of Instructor-led training:

• Module 1: What Customer Service Agents Need to Know About the Call Center. 2-Hrs online training or 1-day Instructor led training
• Module 2: Manage Your Personal Performance and Development 2-Hrs online training or 1-day Instructor led training
• Module 3: 10-12 Hours of online training or 2 days of Instructor-led training
• 3a. Managing the Customer Relationship
• 3b.Recognize Customer Behavior Styles
• 3c. Provide a Great Call Experience for Every Customer on Every Call! Customer Care, Sales and Call Handling Techniques
• Module 4: Handling Change and Stress 2-Hrs online training or 1-day Instructor led training

Certificate of Completion
Each student receives a Certificate of Completion for each Module completed.

CCLS’ Call Center CSR/Agent Certification
CCLS provides Certification Testing for students who complete the entire 4-Module Certification Program. Students who pass the testing are awarded CCLS’ Call Center CSR/Agent Certification.

Call Quality Checklist
We provide you with a Call Quality Checklist which will be used by both the Agents, trainers and supervisors to evaluate, reinforce and coach the call quality skills used to provide a great call experience for every customer on every call.

Detailed Module Descriptions

Module 1: What Customer Service CSRs/Agents Need to Know About the Contact Center
(2 hours online or 1day instructor-led)

Introduce the functions of the contact center and provide an understanding of the contact center environment, its purpose, how it operates and the “best practices” used in the contact center to insure business success.

• Understand the purpose, vision, mission, of the contact center
• What makes a successful contact center?
• Roles and responsibilities in the contact center
• Overview of forecasting and staffing to ensure Service Level and Customer Accessibility
• What are contact center measures and why?
• Glossary of Contact Center Terms

Module 2: Manage Your Personal Performance and Development
(2 hours online or 1day instructor-led)

Every job gives you an opportunity to learn. The knowledge and skills learned are valuable to your personal and professional growth. Even learning what “not to do” is a valuable life lesson. This module looks at how and why to get the most learning possible from the work you do. Understand that managing and assuming responsibility for your own performance and development is an investment in your own personal and professional growth.

• Evaluate your company, job, and duties
• Identify your rights and responsibilities
• Define your performance objectives
• Examine basic truths about your career
• Define coaching
• Examine a “right” coaching experience
• Identify coaching benefits to you and your company
• Evaluate feedback and the feedback process

Module 3: Total 10-12 hours online or 2 days instructor-led
3a. Managing the Customer Relationship:

Every business faces competition. Today, customers have more choices than ever before. They can get similar products at similar prices from many different companies. Customers want to do business with a company whose name and brand are synonymous with quality and value. Your customers want and expect a great experience with your company every time they come in contact with you. Great customer service, call handling, sales and collections skills are the key differentiators and the key to marketplace success.

• Define the value of customer care
• Examine customer loyalty and the Customer Loyalty Standard
• Review the importance of the “Brand Promise”
• Identify customer expectations and the expectation cycle
• The Call is the Test – The value of a customer, the value of a call
• Use your voice, tone and words to positively impact the customer relationship
• Recognize the impact of attitude on customer care
• Use best practices in telephone etiquette techniques

3b. Recognize Customer Behavior Styles:

When you understand customer behavior styles and characteristics, the more effectively you will communicate with them. It doesn’t mean you have to change who you are and your style preference; it means that you will be able to be more flexible and adaptable in dealing you’re your customers and in meeting their needs.

• The four behavior styles
• Traits for each behavior
• Your own behavior style
• Use skills and techniques to be effective with different behavior styles
• Identify behavior styles from verbal clues in customer statements

3c. Customer Care, Sales, Collections and Call Handling Techniques - Provide a Great Call Experience for Every Customer on Every Call!:

Creating a “great call experience” for your customers is both an art and a science. The CCLS S.C.O.R.E. process is a call handling and communications skills process that includes techniques, skills and best practices to enable your CSRs to provide that great call experience every time!

CSRs master the skills and knowledge and best practices to control contacts, to get and give important information to resolve all of your customer’s needs effectively on customer service, sales or collections calls, improve first call resolution, build and maintain customer loyalty and provide each customer with a great call experience every time! This course includes role-play, feedback and coaching for each CSR.

The S.C.O.R.E. Process has five steps: S – Set the Stage and Sincerely Listen C – Connect with the Customer O – Open Doors with Questions R – Resolve Issues and Recommend Solutions E - Effectively End the Contact

S.C.O.R.E. –Connect with Your Customer

Acknowledge the customer’s sense of urgency, emotion, or inconvenience Establish ownership and assure the customer of your help Paraphrase understanding of the customers’ requests and/or concerns from their perspective

• Connect with your customer, build trust and increase customer satisfaction
• Use positive messages when responding to customers
• Replace negative “zero” words with positive “hero” words
• Deal effectively with difficult situations and difficult callers
• Call Etiquette

S.C.O.R.E. – Open Doors with Questions

Use transition statements effectively. Demonstrate effective questioning skills to uncover and probe for stated and unstated needs.

• Use open and closed questions effectively
• Use questions to probe for opportunities to do more for the customer than asked for
• Use questions and find opportunities to educate your customer and to control the call

S.C.O.R.E. – Resolve Issues and Recommend Solutions on Service, Sales and Collections Calls (This module modified to reflect your environment, i.e. you decide if sales and collections skills are included)

• Resolve what your customers’ called about on the first call
• Recommend solutions to meet all the customer’s needs on the first call
• Use bridging statements to add-on and up sell if appropriate
• Sell into needs: Recommend products, services and solutions that the customer may not know about. Ask for and close the sale where appropriate.
• Use benefit and value statements tailored to your customer’s needs to support your recommendations
• Gain agreement that the solution was the right one – that all your customer’s needs have been met
• Use skills and techniques to promote first call resolution, and the best use of talk time

S.C.O.R.E. – Effectively End the Call

• Apply the four-step process to effectively end the customer call
• Use all five steps of the S.C.O.R.E. process on a call simulation. Students receive feedback and coaching from the CCLS Master Trainer.

Module 4: Handle Change and Stress
(2 hours online or 1 day instructor-led)

• Understand and value change
• Reduce resistance to change
• Stress warning signs
• Coping with stress – Strategies and techniques

Call Center Learning Solutions "Training the voice of your business" ©