Sales and customer service training on a budget. Many companies are facing challenges at the moment as economic conditions across the world worsen.

There is still the need to develop your staff and teams of course. But there is little money available to pay for it. Sound familiar?

Is this your training budget?

Many companies are in this situation and therefore many managers and company owners want to motivate their teams and help them develop new skills in both customer service and sales, but on limited or non-existent budgets. Many companies are forced to do some form of training, but using in-house staff and materials. However if the training is to be effective it is important to gather new ideas from other sources. Gleaned from the experts. The type of people who’ve been there, bought the t-shirt etc.

We can help, honestly. We provide a range of easily affordable audio CDs packed with top tips, years of experience and plain old good common sense. Our CDs and tips booklets are based around a number of key growth areas ;

• Customer Service
• Telephone sales
• Self-development

With prices starting from £34.99 for one audio CD, and packages of 3 for less than £70, you wouldn’t need many good ideas to make it self-financing would you?

All our products are supplied with a full money back guarantee if you’re not satisfied with the product. If you’re in the UK, simply return the  product for a refund of your purchase price. http://www.associatedlearningsystems.co.uk/products.asp is the link that will take you straight to our products page. You can buy all our products online, with payment by credit card or directly through PayPal.

Associated Learning Systems is a UK, Midlands based company specialising in products for the development of customer service, telesales and telemarketing skills.

Customer Service training is undoubtedly very important to all organisations – all the more so currently. Globally people have less available to spend on the products and services they need. With the rise of the internet, you can get almost anything from anywhere. Research shows that 80% of buying decisions are based on the service.

Improving customer service will put you ahead of the competition

The customer service module takes around 3 hours on a standard 2 day To Market customer service and telephone communications training course. Here we’ve had it distilled down into around 45 minutes of the key extracts and tips. Some of the top customer service tips here have been collected from the customer service personnel (agents) who have attended the courses. And they are the professionals of course – so they should know.

In this customer service audio CD you will hear why exceptional customer service matters to the progress of any organisation, the 4 point customer development mantra – the 4 key fundamental cornerstones why in the long run professional customer service is a MUST HAVE. Andrew Seaward will guide you through some commercial realities to customer service. Then he finishes with the 15 key points which make up effective customer service – and give your customers the service they deserve. And that’s without having to go the extra mile.   Click here   http://www.associatedlearningsystems.co.uk/product_detail.asp?ProdID=27 to find out more about the CD and with a couple of clicks it is easy to buy through PayPal or by using your credit card.

Customer Service training with free training CDs to revisit the message. We’ve teamed up with the customer service training company To Market who are running a 2 day customer service training course next month in South Leicestershire on Tuesday 11th & Wednesday 12th May 2010.

For any one who books on the course we will supply the set of 3 customer service training CDs for no charge – absolutely free. Follow the link   http://www.associatedlearningsystems.co.uk/product_detail.asp?ProdID=17   to see the triple pack. Individually these 3 CDs are £34.99 each, and even with the bundle pack this means you save £70.

You can view more about this customer service training programme at the To Market blog   http://www.tomarket.co.uk/blog/   where it tells you a little more about what it covers.

Customer Service training - Leicester & Northampton

But mention this article and after you’ve attended the course, they will give you the 3 CDs to help revisit the training messages about exceptional customer service as many times as you want. These 3 CDs cover the 10 major issues your customers are looking for when dealing with you. Understand the 10 key factors and you’ll be delivering the type of customer service your customers deserve and you’ll know how to exceed their expectations.

To find out more call To Market on 01858 461148.

Developing in-house training material for customer service and telesales is important for you and your company if you still have restricted training budgets at the moment. The temptation is to cut costs and look for increasing ways of being self-sufficient.

You recognise that training is important – perhaps MORE important than it’s ever been, but you’ve not got money to throw at it. Perhaps you’re reading this looking for some new ideas and new material.

During To Market’s customer service training courses, one of the sessions features asking the delegates what THEY like and dislike about customer service when they are a customer. After all they’re the professionals and they ought to know !

Collecting all these ideas over the last few years, they’ve now been distilled down into over 100 tips, which fit into 10 key categories. These have then been used as the basis for the 3 pack audio set on customer service available through us at http://www.associatedlearningsystems.co.uk/product_detail.asp?ProdID=17

And the key point – the main thing – the most important element of customer service – the very single thing you most need to remember is ………………………… (trumpet fanfare)

KEEP YOUR CUSTOMER INFORMED.

If you’re looking into something for them, or you’ve got their product in for repair, or they’re waiting for an answer from you, make sure you set yourself a time limit for when you’ll get back to them. And then make sure you do it. You’ll find they appreciate it – always !

Because although you know you’ve not forgotten them and that you’re still waiting on an answer from Pete or Sarah or whoever, they don’t know that. They may assume you’ve forgotten, or more importantly they simply won’t know what to think.

So keep them informed at least daily if that is appropriate.

We’ve all noticed I’m sure that money is in limited supply. So it seems as a result many people have been contacting us recently to buy the training CDs we have available on the topics of customer service, telesales, telemarketing, PR and goal setting.

They are saying things to us like “we want to carry on investing in the team, but we don’t have much budget at the moment.” So they opt for the CDs which are only £17.99 as a way of keeping up with best practice while not breaking the bank. If this is your situation too, we’re keen to support you.

And all the CDs come with a 7 day money back guarantee. So if you buy them via PayPal online and you don’t think they’re useful, we will refund your money. Furthermore if you go ahead and commission any training with To Market to be completed before 31st March 2009, anything you’ve spent on the audio CDs will be refunded ! You can’t say fairer than that !   

I worked with Steve Ponsonby on a transport and distribution customer service course which took place in Nottingham.  

He gives some good advice on trusting your customer, and how one supplier has turned this to their advantage.   “In my local pub, when people order food at the bar, the landlord will say “don’t pay me now, run a tab and pay me at the end of the evening, and you don’t have to leave any debit / credit card details with me.” This serves two purposes.

1) the diner thinks that he is being trusted and can enjoy his meal

2) the landlord thinks that he may be able to persuade them to have a dessert, so increasing the bill !”  

Good and effective customer service is partly about treating the customer with respect as we cover on the green and red list exercise which is featured in the Fundamentals of Communication CD product http://www.associatedlearningsystems.co.uk/product_detail.asp?ProdID=20 

Katrina attended a customer service course with us in Cambridge, and has written to give us the following story. It tells of how a company needs to be responsive. It is important that you follow up by calling customers back quickly, and don’t accuse them of lying.   

We cover the importance of the customer is king on CD 2 in the set on exceptional customer service. http://www.associatedlearningsystems.co.uk/product_detail.asp?ProdID=8    

Her story is as follows ; “Back in March I needed to fill up my home oil tank and so rang the company and asked for the cost of 700litres. I was told £360. I told them to go ahead & fill it up at which point they took my card details and put through the transaction.  

Two weeks later I was internet banking and I saw they had taken the money from my account for a total of £385!   I rang them and the girl kept saying that they had put in 750L like I asked. I told her to look at her notes as I have never, as yet put in 750 but always 700L. Basically she wasn’t having it and said she’d look into it on Monday and call me back.  

By 1pm on Monday I had heard nothing so I rang up. I spoke to a different person who was much more helpful and friendly. I explained that the invoice they put through the door stated £360 inc vat for 700L which is what I had asked for, but that I had since noticed further down this invoice, the delivery man had stamped it saying 750L. I then asked her what right they have to put oil in my tank that had not been ask for, take unauthorised money from my bank without my say so, and what guarantees have I got that I got that with the extra 50L that the chap hadn’t filled up a can near my oil tank for himself?  I also said that it is basically stealing and they have breached data protection (I was told this by my bank!). I told her that the oil delivery man should pay the £25 as he was not looking what he was doing.  She apologised profusely and said that as a gesture of goodwill for the mistake made, they would leave the extra oil in the tank and refund my £25.  

Had this lady not have been this understanding my bank had told me I could have taken this further through them. The first girl really was convinced I had ask for 750L even though so obviously my invoice said differently and she was not willing to look into it further. If I had not got this refund I would never have used this company again! Thankfully it turned out ok.  

This is a good story and it outlines some principles we should all stick to!�

This is a great tip from Laura Carr, a client in Derby. I’m always blown away by stories and personal experiences where the individual in the company goes that little bit further – and does things you never expected. That really is exceptional customer service. So take this tip and think about how you and your company can ensure you exceed customer expectations. This is one of the topics covered on our 3 customer service CDs  http://www.associatedlearningsystems.co.uk/product_detail.asp?ProdID=9

Meanwhile this is what Laura submitted ;

“Hi Andrew. Once I had problems with my mobile phone – as we all have I am sure! I called the T-Mobile help line and they were trying their best to help me.  I was at work and I did not have some of the information I needed at the time, so the chap checked what time I would get home and said he would call me then.  He gave me a time slot and sure enough he stuck to it.  I received the call on my home number at the time he’d said.   I was very impressed!   The key I think here is that you should always leave the customer with a positive expectation and ensure you stick to it.”

Wise words Laura !

This is an interesting post sent to us by Mandy Dennis who I met on a recent customer service training course in Northamptonshire.   It shows how offering flexiblity in the way you deliver your customer service can pay dividends for your customers. And after all customer service excellence is what it is all about. This is what she wrote ;   “I was trying to arrange travel for my 16+ son on the school bus. I  met the reply ‘there’s no room on the bus and we are not obliged to transport him to school’ However we discussed an alternative : re-routing another bus that picked up pupils less than one mile away from our village which had capacity on it. This not only benefits my son, but also several other pupils in the village and the service provider additionally can get extra income from the paying passengers. The local council considered this and thought it was a good idea. It means an earlier pick up time, but at least he got to school and this alternative customer solution has now been running for three years.   The moral of the story on’t take no for an answer, suggest an alternative and be prepared to work with them to achieve the desired outcome.” Thanks to Mandy for this one.   The are a number of customer service training products on offer. There is a tips booklet availabe with a host of top tips. http://www.associatedlearningsystems.co.uk/product_detail.asp?ProdID=14 These tips are all about what makes customer service excellence.    There is also a set of CDs available that cover all the 10 key areas that mark out the very best customer service providers. Follow the link below http://www.associatedlearningsystems.co.uk/product_detail.asp?ProdID=17