About This Course

Today’s technology-driven call centers are one of the fastest growing business sectors in the world. With an installed base of over 3 million agents in the United States alone, the workforce is growing at unprecedented levels driving the need for increased competence and specific skill levels beyond those provided by standard customer service training.

Since call centers increasingly are a company’s first line of contact with current and future customers, your training as a call center rep can have an enormous impact on customers’ loyalty and satisfaction. This course has been designed specifically to help you and other frontline employees in call center customer service or sales, to recognize the scope of your job and help you develop the skills necessary for creating customer satisfaction. The materials and information included can be used for self-study and individual development or in a more structured classroom setting where training is led by a facilitator or supervisor.

In this course, you will learn what technology-based customer service is all about, including the history, terminology, legislation, and technology options. Focusing on the key competencies required for technical and customer service support, you will be able to establish a strong foundation of interpersonal and communication skills, emphasizing verbal and vocal quality essential for good telephone techniques.

Using application exercises and self-assessments, this course presents specific strategies for improving listening skills, techniques for building trust with customers, and developing facility in problem solving and decision making—all in the context of a busy call center. Further, you will receive useful direction for controlling stress, multitasking, handling difficult customers, and managing complex technologies and changing products. Finally, you will learn to recognize the need for service recovery and take steps to accomplish it. How to Be a Great Call Center Representative gives you all the tools you need to feel confident in handling customers and build a foundation for future growth and advancement.

The range of technology options for call centers is wide-ranging so this course teaches skills and techniques that can be easily adapted to most call center environments. The majority of service organizations also have industry specific policies and procedures for performing many of the tasks and skills presented here. Additionally, there are numerous local, state, and federal guidelines to which call center employees must adhere. Follow information provided by your supervisor or team leader and use what you learn here to supplement and enhance your knowledge and skills.

Robert W. Lucas is President of Creative Presentation Resources, Inc., a human resource development training and consulting company, and an internationally known author who has almost three decades of experience in customer service, management, and the training of adult learners. He has authored and contributed to more than a dozen books including Customer Service: Skills and Concepts for Business and Customer Service: Skills and Concepts for Success. Lucas has trained thousands of employees in a variety of business, government, and nonprofit organizations to better interact with other people and deliver customer service in a multitude of situations. Currently, Lucas is listed in Who’s Who in the World, Who’s Who in America, and Who’s Who in the South and Southeast. Additionally, he has served as President of the Central Florida Chapter of the American Society for Training and Development, Chair for the Board of Governor’s for Leadership in Seminole County, Florida, and on the boards of numerous other civic and professional organizations. Lucas has earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Maryland and a Master of Arts degree from George Mason University.

If you have questions for the author, contact him at 1–800–308–0399/1–407–695–5535, e-mail: [email protected], or visit www.presentationresources.net.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The publisher would like to thank the following people for their review of the manuscript of this course:

Kathryn E. Jackson, Ph.D., Associate of Response Design Corporation (RDC), Ocean City, New Jersey

Claudia Schutz, Vice President of Customer Service, Academic Management, Services, Swansea, Massachusetts