Customer Care Training - Coursework Example

Name : xxxxxxxxxxx Institution : xxxxxxxxxxx Title : Customer Care Training Tutor : xxxxxxxxxxx Course : xxxxxxxxxxx @2010 Introduction Customer service is a basis of a prosperous and solid business. It costs thirty times more to obtain a new customer than servicing and maintaining the satisfaction and devotion of an existing customer. Many organizations always fight to reduce the company’s operational costs without taking into account customer attrition, the only largest cost they have. Making customers happy has similar bottom line effect as reducing costs. If any company enhances its customer retention by five percent, its profit can easily increase by twenty five percent or even one hundred percent. Therefore to achieve this, companies need to embark on customer care training programs that will enable their staffs to provide perfect services (Moran& Malott 2004). The following report outline on how to plan for an effective customer care training program. This report is for chief executive officer and it is meant to provide an explanation on how training of customers can contribute to the achievement of business objectives. The report covers the factors that are required when planning a training event. It also covers the training methods and how the training program can be evaluated. An effective Customer care training is important in that it provides motivation to the staffs of a given company. It advances the staff’s careers. The training also increases the company’s profits, enhances referrals and creates stronger customer relationships. Customer Care Training Training program should be motivated by the need to meet the objectives of the business. Training can contribute to achievement of business objectives through identifying individuals who need training and the type of skills needed. This can be achieved through training and learning requirements analysis. After the completion of the training, the trained staff should be given an opportunity to utilize and reinforce their new skills. According to Cook (2008), this immediate practice is highly essential and if not carried out, a lot of the training benefits can get lost. Customer care training programs provides both theoretical and practical training to workers. For instance, for inbound customer services, the trainer can give telephone interactions courses for employees to take. The employees need to be trained on how to create rapport with customers, how to handle crisis and stress efficiently. Customer care training maximizes product service life owing to protective maintenance, on-site support and employees training. The training optimizes the performance of an organization. Training has assisted many organizations in meeting their objectives. Training has assisted organizations to work toward standard. The importance of working towards standard is obvious as soon as the training commences. It is essential for training to be conducted towards achieving the company’s goals. For example, the training must be able to provide better morale to the employees. The trainer should be able to help the company to achieve huge profits and outputs. The training program needs to be linked more closely with organization’s needs. The program should also be capable of providing satisfaction to customers. Factors to consider when planning a training event Planning a training event is very important since it helps the trainer to organize the required training to relevant staffs without interfering with the on going business activities. The usefulness of training to develop provider practices depends on many factors The person to be trained What the contributors are learning How the information is passed through Whether training is reinforced How training outcomes are measured Training should start with a thorough understanding of providers’ capabilities, requirements and the settings in which they work. For instance, before the training begins, it is important to evaluate the abilities of training providers, the providers need at workplace and the work settings. Training might involve a few designated persons, a team or the whole staff. A model created by New York-based AVSC international emphasizes the importance of training everybody who works at the same place. Ideally everybody at the site incorporating cleaners, cashiers, and supermarket attendants is entailed in evaluating the performance of the site. Teams always make recommendations for development and since they have suggested, they usually execute them. According to Bohlander &Snell (2009) training is normally done at the work place rather than taking staff to a different location. Training at the work place permits specialized training for selected persons. Team training is very important. If many professionals from service delivery site are trained, the absence of any of these persons from the site will have less effect on services. In case many people from a site are trained, prospects are improved for spreading the latest information to others at work place. Training methods The method by which training is provided always varies based on the requirements of the trainee, the company, and on the job being performed. The method must fit the audience, the business, the content, environment, and the objective of learning. Ideally, the method selected will motive workers to learn, assist workers in preparing themselves for learning, permit the trainees to apply and perform what they have been taught, assist trainees to maintain and transfer what they have been taught, and integrate performance with other knowledge and skills (Posavac, 2010). Training techniques differs, but those considered most efficient normally recognize that adults learn best when they create on personal experience. Interactive approaches, such as case studies, role plays and small group discussions are other means to create training more dynamic. Training with an interactive approach is very important in assisting providers to evaluate significant personal viewpoints or values. The provider’s and a client’s own, a specific significant aspect of efficient counseling (Cook, 2008). There are different methods of training which can be grouped into cognitive and behavioral methods. Trainers should know the pros and cons of each method, and its effect on trainees. Trainees should maintain their skills and background in mind before training provision. Cognitive methods mostly provide theoretical training to the trainees (Kirkpatrick, 2009). The methods under cognitive approach offer the rules on how stuffs are done, written or demonstrated. The various methods that fall under cognitive approach are: Lectures Demonstrations Computer based training Programmed instruction Virtual reality Behavioral methods always provide practical training to trainees. The various methods under this approach permit the trainee to behave in real fashion. These methods are normally applied best in skill improvement. The methods under this approach are: Games and simulations Behavior-modeling Business games Case studies Role plays The most relevant training methods that can be applied in this training program are lectures, demonstration, seminars and role plays. A lecture is a learning method that is normally associated with secondary and college education. In this method, a trainer performs all of the talking. He or she might employ handouts, posters and visual aids to support the lecture. Communication is normally one-way that is, from the instructor to the learner. In this method little time is required for the trainer to prepare than in other methods. The method is very significant in this training program since it offers a lot of information quickly when it is less significant that trainees maintain many details. Demonstration is another training method that is more effective for essential skills training. In this method the trainer can show trainees on how to perform something. The trainer might give an opportunity for trainees to do the job being demonstrated. This method emphasizes the trainee participation. It engages many senses that are, seeing, feeling, hearing, and touching. It also needs a great deal of trainer involvement and planning. There is also a need of enough training space for this type of training to take place. In this method if the trainer is not well trained in the job being taught, then poor job habits might be delivered to the trainee. Seminars as a training method, combines many group methods such as, discussions, lectures, conferences, and demonstrations. Group members are always entailed in the training. The trainer can utilize several group methods as part of the seminar activity. Planning this type of training is always time-consuming. The trainer should have enough skill of conducting a seminar. A lot of time is also required to conduct a seminar than is required for several other methods. Role play is also a training method. In this method, the trainees assume act and roles out of situations that are connected to the learning concepts. Leslie (2000) argues that it is highly applicable to customer care services and sales training. Trainees always learn possible outcomes of a given behaviors in classroom situation. They acquire an opportunity to exercise people’s skills. It is likely to experiment with several approaches to a situation minus alienating any real customers. In this method a lot of time is usually used in creating a single point. Trainers are required to be skilled and creative in assisting the class to learn from a situation. In some role play scenarios, only a few individuals get to practice while others watch (Leslie, 2000). Transfer of learning to the workplace Learning refers to acquisition of new or modification of existing knowledge, skills, values, behaviors or preferences and it may entail synthesizing dissimilar types of information. The learning capability is possessed by humans, particular machines and animals. Human learning might happen as part of education, personal improvement or training. The learning might be goal-oriented and might be assisted by motivation. There are various types of learning these are, classroom method, onsite method and self study method. Evaluation of training method Training program evaluation implies the continuous assessment of the progress and effectiveness of the program. In this case, evaluation of training will be carried out in a culturally appropriate manner which provides an accurate picture of the weakness and strengths of the training activity and program. Evaluating a training program is important since it assists workers to monitor their own development, creates morale by representing an interest in staff progress and optimizes the training return on investment. Evaluation also assists in determining the form of future training activities and in identifying the usefulness of different types of learning. Evaluation therefore will be done in three stages these are, pretraining evaluation, formative evaluation and summative evaluation. Pretraining evaluation judges the worth of a program before the activities of the program. Formative evaluation on the other hand is a method of judging the importance of the program while the activities of the program are happening. Summative evaluation judges the importance of a program at the end of program activities (Astd, 2008). Pre training evaluation can be done by first collecting the baseline data on the knowledge, attitudes and skills of the trainees. After collection of relevant data, the review of the established requirements as defined in the literacy program plan should be done. At this point, determine whether the learners and training organization concur on the established requirements, the training meet part of the established requirements, the people who require the training will be able to attend the training event, and finally whether the trainees and trainers are contented with the selected training methods. For instance, if the people to be trained can be able to attend the training event then the training activity can be considered as being effective. This training program can be evaluated by determining if the trainees meet the required customer care qualities and if the training meets the stated requirements. Formative evaluation, the second stage in evaluation, can be done by first observing the trainee’s behavior, have informal conversation concerning the training program with the trainees, provide short tests to trainees and hold group discussion with them. After doing all these, correctly identify the needs of the training and identify other areas that need attention. Determine whether the objectives should be revised, the training topics are being taught and finally whether the training methods are appropriate. For instance, if the training objectives are fully covered by the program then the training activity can be regarded as being effective. At this stage the program can be evaluated by giving the trainees tests and holding discussion with them (Posavac, 2010). Summative evaluation, the last stage in evaluation, can be done by determine whether the conduct of the trainees demonstrate lessons. In this stage, evaluation can also be done by providing comprehensive tests to the trainees and collecting impressions of trainees and trainers via interviews and questionnaires. In this stage, determine whether the objectives of the training were met, there is a need to improve some areas and whether there is a need to conduct another training activity. Training program evaluation can be effectively executed by involving different stakeholders. Therefore, the trainers, trainees, policy makers, financers and shareholders should be involved in the evaluation of the training program. For instance, by providing interviews to trainees one can easily determine if the training objectives were met or not. Therefore at this stage, evaluation can be done by interviewing the trainers (Bohlander & Snell, 2009). Conclusion From our discussion it is evident that for a training program to contribute in achievement of business objectives it should be able to identify individuals who need the training and the type of training that they need. There are many factors that should be considered when planning an effective training event. The methods of training program to be adopted should be based on the trainee needs, the company’s requirements, and the task that is being carried out. Program evaluation should be thoroughly executed so that the benefits and limitations of the training activity are clearly brought out. This therefore assists organizations to know which type of training program they need to adopt so that they can easily achieve their objectives. Bibliography Cook, S., 2008, Customer Care Excellence: How to Create an Effective Customer Focus. Edition5, New York: Kogan Page Publishers, Astd, 2008, Measurement & Evaluation: Essentials for Measuring Training Success. American Society for Training and Development. Leslie R., 2000, Effective Planning in Training and Development. NY: Kogan Page Publishers, Royse D. et al., 2009, Program Evaluation: An Introduction. Edition5, revised. London: Cengage Learning. Posavac E. J., 2010, Program Evaluation: Methods and Case Studies. Edition8, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Bohlander G., Snell S., 2009, Managing Human Resources. London: Cengage Learning, Moran, D. J. & Malott R. W., 2004, Evidence-based educational methods. Academic Press, New York. Kirkpatrick, D. L., 2009, Evaluating Training Programs: The Four Levels: Easyread Large. ReadHowYouWant.com publishers. Read More