As the world continues to pivot towards supporting more remote lifestyles, it’s become increasingly important that your call center customer service training is effective and up to date. In recent years, call center representatives have become the undeniable frontline for customer service and brand reputation. Today, some of the most important (or only) interactions people have with customer service agents are through call centers.

Delivering top-of-the-line customer care not only works to improve customer satisfaction, but it also builds brand loyalty, generates revenue, and gets issues resolved quickly. Now more than ever before, call center representatives must be able to create a superior experience with every interaction. 

At Bonfire, we know all about effective call center customer service training. After 30 happy years as PhonePRO, we listened to the feedback from our clients who said our training goes far beyond the phone. We changed our name to Bonfire Training and never looked back! 

We’re here to ensure your call center team is equipped with everything they need to stay ahead of ever-shifting customer expectations. Keep reading to learn how our comprehensive call center customer service training can make all the difference.

To really understand what separates excellent service from average service, all you need is a line. That’s right—a simple line. We like to think of excellent service as “above the line”, and average service as “below the line”.

While each organization will have a personal line by which they judge their overall customer service success, there are some behaviors that are undeniably above average. These behaviors go beyond providing customer solutions and mean taking ownership of ourselves and the impact we have on customer relationships.

In our Above the Line customer service training course, we’ll teach you how to put customers at ease and create a “feeling of service” that will positively impact your relationship with those you serve. Whether a customer is reaching out with praise or a complaint, the following behaviors will help your call center team respond with a level of emotional intelligence that builds upon your company’s good reputation and success.

• Problem Resolution: Approaching your customer’s request in a consultative, solution-focused manner
• Customer Care Mindset: Delivering above-average service requires an “all in” mentality, as well as genuine care for your customers.
• Empathy: Harnessing the ability to pick up the emotional cues of others and respond appropriately
• Resiliency: The practice of bouncing back from a challenging customer encounter while simultaneously managing emotions to respond instead of just reacting

Call service customer service training is important because you can’t actually see the person you’re talking to via the phone. You don’t get to see smiles or certain facial expressions during your conversation, so at times, it may feel like there’s a sense of unfamiliarity between representatives and the customer they're trying to assist. 

Due to this slight disconnect, it’s crucial for call service agents to show up for customers in an attentive, caring, and considerate way. When you consistently practice showing up in this way with pleasant customer service interactions, you’ll have the skills necessary to calmly and effectively handle those not-so-pleasant interactions as well.

Making a difference to each customer in a way that connects them uniquely to your organization is possible with the right intention. Our Serving Self and Others customer service training will teach you the following skills to help you gain customer trust and instill healthy behaviors within yourself.

• Mindset and Perspective: These are personal beliefs and the examination of how these show up in our actions.
• Grit: This is the ability to purposefully perform at your very best, despite adversity and challenging situations.
• Empathy: This is a skill about connection and caring to help manage customer emotions. Compassion fatigue can emerge when signs of indifference and feeling numb emerge within us. 
• Messaging: This refers to making conscious choices with words, body language, and voice tone to help the customer’s attention and comprehension.
• Personal Motivation: It is important to realize the ability we each have to motivate ourselves into meaningful action.

Research has shown that frequent exposure to hardship can lead one to become detached, apathetic, or numb to the feelings of others. This is known as “Compassion Fatigue,” a condition characterized by the gradual lessening of compassion over time with feelings of cynicism and emotional exhaustion. 

Since cynicism is characterized as a general distrust of others, and emotional exhaustion is described as feeling drained and tired, we know that these aren’t exactly ideal traits for our call center representatives to exude. 

Cue call center customer service training. In our Compassion Fatigue training course, we’ll help your team identify the warning signs of Compassion Fatigue and explore the techniques to rebound and build resiliency. After all, it’s actually quite normal for a bit of compassion fatigue to emerge from time to time. This is a sign to take a step back, and implement techniques like self-care and reflection, so we can approach challenges without feeling burdened. Here’s what you’ll learn:

• • Importance of empathy: Empathy is a huge part of our training. It helps us understand how others are feeling so we can respond appropriately to the situation.
  • Warning signs: Feeling helpless, overwhelmed, detached, or all of the above? Learning where these emotions are coming from makes it easier not to project.
  • Improve self-care: When we take care of ourselves, we’re better able to take care of others.
  • Everyone has a story: You never know what others are going through. While the situation may seem trivial to you, it could be someone else’s tipping point. 
  • Use the tools to recover: We’ll give you the tools you need to bounce back and find that much-needed compassion.

Let Bonfire Training help your call center representative learn the ins and outs of unrivaled customer care. We’ve been at this long enough to know that compassion and good old-fashioned understanding have a place in your phone calls. Our wide range of customer service training programs will help your call center team understand how to use words and a tone of voice that will enhance your customer care game.