Proactive Customer Service – Creating the Ultimate Customer Experience

Customer Service is at the heart of the HVAC Contractor’s business.  Proactive customer service simply means being in control of conditions instead of just reacting to them.  This training is a series of 10 online courses designed to teach customer service personnel how to become an active part of delivering superior services that will delight your customers.

These classes are designed to teach the customer service team what their role is, where they fit in the HVAC contractor’s business and what skills they need to become proficient at to be successful in delivering the best possible customer service.

Your team will learn about their personality traits and how to adjust their style to fit other personality types and facilitate clear communications.   We will review processes that will help the team to identify and understand your customer’s needs and respond in a way that builds services that exceed expectations.

Participants will be able to apply what is learned in these courses to build upon their skills, delight your customers and build lasting relationships.

Although each course is designed as a stand-alone class, each one in the series builds upon the others to help your team learn how to create an ultimate customer service experience with a proactive approach.

Included in these classes are tools, tips and knowledge assessments that will help to grow customer service skills.

Who will benefit from attending these online courses?

All customer service personnel, dispatching, office personnel and customer service managers will learn how to develop and practice skills that will help them communicate, support the team, respond to customer’s needs and provide consistent excellent services.

• Session 1 – The Company Structure & Your Role

This session teaches the 3 key elements of delivering ultimate customer service:

• Expanding your idea of WHAT customer service is
• Understanding WHO your customers are and what they need, want & deserve
• Developing HOW to deliver customer friendly services that “wow”

Before becoming a truly effective customer service representative, you must first understand how your role fits in with the rest of the team and what customers expect from you. You will learn the HVAC company structure business model and how each person on the team works together to create a culture of ultimate customer services.

• Session 2 – Proactive Customer Service & Understanding Personality Types

This session defines proactive customer service to help you develop an understanding of how to take control of situations instead of being constantly in a reactive mode.  Participates take a short quiz to learn about their attitude and receive a download to assess their current level of service. 

Everyone’s personality and communication style varies and it can be frustrating when others do not react or communicate in a familiar way.  In this course you will learn what type of personality/ communication style you have and tips on how to identify other types.  This course teaches you how to use versatility to adapt your style and make communications easier for everyone.

Learn guidelines on interacting with customers and co-workers that will help to build long lasting relationships.  You will discover how to anticipate and handle your customer’s concerns with a “can-do” attitude that makes everyone’s life less stressful. 

Downloads included:

• Attitude Assessment Form
• Customer Service Self-Assessment
• Personality Summary Chart

• Session 3 – Communicating With Your Customers

Being able to communicate well with your customers and co-workers is quite possibly one of the most important skills you can ever develop. 

This course shares advice on how to improve both verbal and non-verbal communications.  How you look, how you feel about yourself, your tone of voice and more come across to your customers, both on the phone and in person.  Learn how to uncover your customer’s needs, while projecting confidence and a can-do attitude.

You will work through different sample interaction scenarios and determine how to apply what you have learned to custom scripts and communication exchanges in your company.

Downloads included:

• Communication Tips

• Session 4 – Creating Rapport

Rapport is a relationship with mutual understanding and trust.  Making your customers feel a connection that they are comfortable with and can trust is a critical factor in customer service.

In this session you will learn how to script greetings, gather information and let the caller know how you can help.  You will learn how to control the call and share information that makes the most out of your time and the customer’s time.  Learn what questions to ask and how to ask them, building your customer’s trust and confidence that they have contacted the right person to help them.

Downloads included:

• Lead Source Report

• Session 5 – Understanding Customer Needs

Your customer’s trust begins with believing you have their best interests at heart and have a true understanding of their needs.  In this session we will be discussing how to get right to the heart of their issues with the right information to help the technicians and solve your customer’s problems.

You will learn how to use empathy and understanding, while separating real and perceived problems.  Follow the five simple empathy steps you learn in this course to show customers how much you care.

And finally, learn the ten customer service “Don’ts” that will put your customers off and drive you both crazy!

Downloads included:

• Sample Problem Chart
• 5 Empathy Steps
• Customer Dos & Don’ts

• Session 6 – Getting the Customer to the Right Person

For customer service personnel to give the fastest, most efficient services, they must understand how to get the customer to the right person in as short amount of time as is possible.  In this session, you will learn how to quickly determine if you can help or if you must transfer the call.

Learn how to clearly say what you mean and what NOT to say to your customers, quickly determining who is in the right position to help them.

We will share the format on how to create a call grid that lays out who is in the best position to help and when to forward the call to other members of the team.  You will learn successful techniques for transferring calls, taking messages and gathering information.

Downloads included:

• Sample call grid

• Session 7 – Setting Appointments & Follow-Up

Possibly the two most critical skills for customer service is how to turn a call into a booked appointment and following up on customer’s needs.  In this session you will learn how to turn inquiries into solutions and keep your team busy with booked appointments.

This training also covers proactive dispatching that will keep you in control of managing your schedules to fit changing needs and help you in determining priorities.

Learn how to schedule agreement visits in slower demand periods and follow up on any missed opportunities that will keep your schedule full all year round.

Downloads included:

• Sample Scripts

• Session 8 – Call Escalation

Learn how handling customer’s concerns quickly and efficiently goes a long way to diffusing any potentially volatile situations. 

A proactive approach means learning how to handle all types of issues before they come up.  Learn how to keep your cool and handle all situations with a professional response.

This course covers when and how to escalate calls beyond the scope of the customer service representation.  This session guides you through developing an escalation team with a process that keeps everyone prepared with the right response.

Downloads included:

• Sample call escalation chart

• Session 9 – Internal Customer Service

Creating the ultimate customer experience means supporting the team as well as the customers.  Learn how internal customer service can strengthen and build a cohesive team.

Without an attitude of sharing information, you may as well be working in a vacuum.  This session teaches you how to improve upon the flow of communication by responding to co-workers needs and pitching in to support each other to reach the common goal of satisfied happy customers. 

By practicing the tips you learn from this session, your customers will recognize your entire team is working in tandem to deliver superior services.

Downloads included:

• Communication Exercise

• Session 10 – Accountability & Key Performance

Every position in the company should know and understand the expectations for their position, including customer service personnel.  Key performance measurements and goals keep the entire team focused and accountable.

In this session, you will learn customer interaction standards that will assure excellence and quality of services.  Keep the team accountable for a proactive approach with training and practice.  Learn the key performance indicators to track and measure customer service performance on a daily basis.

Downloads included:

• Customer Response Assessment