Now that you’ve had a chance to determine whether or not your customer service team members have the skills necessary to get the job done, let’s take a look at a model you can follow while training and monitoring your group.

The PACT customers service model was designed to ensure that all major aspects of the customer service process are covered with every transactions. The model itself is as follows:

• P – Process
• A – Attitude
• C – Communication
• T – Time

In short, you are responsible for making sure that your customer service team members know exactly what process they are to follow from the beginning of a transaction straight through to the end and they should have a positive attitude throughout the entire experience. They should be able to clearly and effectively communicate with not only your client but with other internal teams who may play a role in completing the job as well. Finally, they should have a good sense of time management – getting the job done within a reasonable amount of time and reporting back to the client as soon as possible.

Does your customer service team follow the PACT model? If not, can you make a few simple tweaks to get them back on track? You’ll be surprised at the increased customer service satisfaction levels you may achieve by doing so.

Thanks again,

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training Course

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

What do you see when you lookat your current customer service team? Do you see a highly functioning group of individuals capable of keeping your clients happy or do you see – well – something else.

I’ve spent years working with customer service representatives as well as HR managers and salesmen. We train IT helpdesk staff on how to hone their own customer service skills; we teach customer service representatives the proper steps for dealing with complaints, and we even provide customer service trainers with their own training courses.

What I’ve found, after years of watching these people in their different roles, is that there are really three core factors that make up a great customer service team. They are:

• The ability to listen and communicate – with themselves, their customers, and their management teams;
• Reliability – including consistent responses, fair decision making, respect for others, courtesy, and ultimate dependability; and
• The ability to solve problems. That’s what they’re there for, right?

Do the members of your current customer service team exhibit these qualities and skills? Are they polite and productive at the same time? Do your customers love working with them?

You should have answers to all of these questions. If not, you need to take a closer look at your team!

Thanks again,

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training Courses

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

Change is a constantly evolving issue. We face change every single day and, as managers, have the responsibility of guiding our teams through change unscathed.

In order to do so it is important to recognize that different types of change exist. The three main types are:

• Developmental change,
• Transitional change, and
• Transformational change

Developmental change occurs when you recognize a need to make improvements to an existing situation. You aren’t recreating the entire workflow but are instead refining it to make it better.

Transitional changes happen when you recognize the need to implement a completely new course of action. You have a set plan for making this change happen and are able to control the implementation process over a designated period of time.

Transformational change is one of the most interesting, though. Transformational change isn’t necessarily something that you control as much as you recognize and survive. A new process or “norm” creates itself as a result of the failure of another and usually takes its own shape. You can, of course, refine it as it develops but it is not usually planned.

Being able to recognize the three types of change should help you to develop your own change management skills. If you can identify the type of change occuring in your workplace you’ll be better able to control the reactions your team members have to those changes!

Thanks again,

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

I’ve always found the interview process to be one of the more entertaining and engaging parts of a manger’s job role. Managers have the unique experience of being able to meet and interact with potential new employees before anyone else – and the challenge of digging for information to ensure the company is making the right hiring decision.

As with so many other functions, there is a specific model or pattern that you should follow during the interview process. One such model is the WASP interviewing structure.

The WASP interviewing structure includes four very simple steps:

• W – Welcome – Greet your interviewee in a professional yet warm and welcoming manner. We tend to formulate first impressions when we meet new people but our own first impression is just as important. Imagine finding a candidate who stands to be an incredible addition to the team only to have him decline a job offer because of his own first impression of your organisation!

• A – Acquire Information – The second stage of the interview process is to acquire information from your interviewee. You may ask questions about his job experience, ask him to take a short customer service exam, or watch to see how he interacts with you and other members of the management team.

• S – Supply Information – After you finish your part of the interview you should always give your interviewee the chance to ask questions. The questions he asks will give you further insight into how prepared he was for the interview and how much he cared about learning about the organisation in advance.

• P – Part Ways – End the interview on a cordial note. give your interviewee a time frame in which he can expect to hear from you, and part ways!

This simple interview model should be the framework for all interviews. The activities or conversations you include during any one of these phases, specifically the information acquisition phase, is up to you. Include all four sections and you’ll never miss out on an opportunity to gather valuable data!

Thanks again,

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Manager Training

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

Your success as a manager will depend in part on your mindset concerning knowledge and the way it is handled.

When happens when you obtain new knowledge? Do you keep it to yourself or share it with others?

There are four things – we’ll call them fundamentals – you need to remember about knowledge, whether it’s intellectual or in some other tangible form:

• Knowledge is never scarce. Knowledge is abundant. In many cases it is just waiting to be discovered.
• The best thing you can do with knowledge is share it. Hoarding knowledge is useless.
• People are the most valuable resource you can have on your side. They’re the ones that hold all the knowledge you’ll ever need.
• Knowledge is gained through experience and learning.

Knowledge is intangible. The words out of your mothers mouth as you were growing up were words of knowledge. The articles in the newspaper today were a result of someone’s knowledge and hard work. The memo that landed on your desk this morning contained a sampling of someone’s knowledge.

You’re now in charge of making sure that the knowledge you have and come in contact with is shared with the people who need it most. Do you have a plan for making sure that happens effectively? Think about it.

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Course

Click below for a:
Free email course “Improve your Management Skills”