Customer Service Quality Workshop facilitates in-house training.
Press Release Summary:
Quality Customer Service Workshop: An In-House Employee Development Program can be administered to employees in as little as 10 hr. According to PTDA Executive VP and CEO Ann Arnott, this program helps develop customer service skills required of front-line employees. Offered in binder form along with CD and facilitator's guide, workshop teaches collaborative approach to customer service. It emphasizes listening, considering, and responding in style appropriate for individual customers.
Original Press Release:
PTDA's Quality Customer Service Workshop Makes In-House Customer Service Training Easier and More Affordable
Chicago, Ill.-Educating and training employees in customer service skills has just been made easier and more affordable by Power Transmission Distributors Association's (PTDA) new Quality Customer Service Workshop: An In-House Employee Development Program. The product is a do-it-yourself workshop that can be administered by a company owner, CEO, marketing director, or any company trainer or educator to his or her own employees in as little as 10 hours with big results.
"Quality Customer Service Workshop: An In-House Employee Development Program is a result of our members' requests for PTDA to deliver a program that will help them develop the customer service skills of their front-line employees," said Ann Arnott, executive vice president and CEO of PTDA.
According to Sara Logan, a senior human resource consultant for Kaman Industrial Technologies Corporation, which operates 200 customer service centers and five distribution centers, "The Quality Customer Service Workshop is an extremely useful tool for training people who interface directly with customers. What is particularly helpful is the way the program incorporates real life situations and then covers problem solving. Understanding the customer's style and learning how to mirror it is also extremely useful, and I was also glad to see communicating by e-mail was addressed in the program."
The original material for the workshop was generously donated to the association by PTDA member and global conveyor belt manufacturer Flexco, which sells products in more than 100 countries. "We used Flexco's material as a foundation and then, working with a committee of association members, we developed a turnkey program that can be customized by any company," said Arnott.
Jim Wingfield, customer service training manager at Flexco, worked on developing the original content with Flexco's training manager at the time. Wingfield said, "Some individuals (on the team) had over twenty years of experience, some less than two years. My goal was to make sure we were a professional customer service team. Most of the customer service team never had formal training. My staff was largely homegrown individuals from within the ranks of our company. The (workshop) should help participants to identify what they need to do, and if they work together, how to make it happen."
The workshop is sold in binder form along with a CD and a facilitator's guide. The facilitator's guide is a step-by-step instruction manual that is simple to understand and easy to use. The CD allows users to customize the program to incorporate their company's information and print out as many copies as needed as well as use it multiple times. The 42-page participant's workbook details specifics about each activity while providing space for notes and insights by each participant.
Logan, who purchased the program last month, said, "The instructor's guide is easy to follow, and the workbook can be readily customized to fit a particular organization, group or situation. All in all, this is an excellent program that will be beneficial to managers and employees alike."
The workshop teaches a collaborative approach to customer service, placing the emphasis on listening, considering and responding in a style most appropriate for each individual customer. The interactive exercises help participants hone their skills to yield more productive and effective communications for telephone and email communications, as well as personal communications.
"This workshop is great for everyone-especially for telephone sales because you often don't have the visual cues that face-to-face communications provides. We can teach employees how to recognize ways to respond that should enhance their interaction with each and every customer after they go through this workshop," said Arnott.
A chapter from the workshop is available on the PTDA website for free download, along with the table of contents. The visible chapter is about the mirroring technique mentioned by Sara Logan as especially interesting and helpful. The workshop is available for purchase from PTDA's website for $44.95 for PTDA members and $134.95 for non-members. Visitors should visit www.ptda.org/qualityservice or contact PTDA at +1.312.516.2100.
Founded in 1960, the Power Transmission Distributors Association (PTDA) is the leading association for the industrial power transmission/motion control (PT/MC) distribution channel. A U.S.-based trade association, PTDA represents 188 power transmission/motion control distribution firms that generate more than $10 billion in sales and span 3,500 locations in North America and 11 other countries. PTDA members also include 187 manufacturers that supply the PT/MC industry.
PTDA is dedicated to providing exceptional networking, targeted education, relevant information and leading-edge business tools to help distributors and manufacturers meet marketplace demands competitively and profitably. For more information, visit www.ptda.org.
