Adopt a coaching culture in your organization to help customer service agents deliver the best customer experience.

1. Why Coaching Is Needed For The
Customer Experience

2. Reason #1: Recruit & Retain Great Customer Service Agents
Agents indicate they want opportunities to
grow and learn, and to be shown
appreciation for their work. Effective
coaching and training is a key in creating a
positive atmosphere for agents. Great
coaches help agents learn and grow their
skills. They can also help agents develop
skills for future career goals. Agents
recognized for efforts and achievements are
more likely to remain with that employer.
According to recent surveys, the customer
service agent attrition rate is 27% across all
customer service centers. For larger
centers, the attrition rate rises to 41%.
Finding and keeping skilled agents are keys
to great customer service.

3. Reason #2: Promote Great Attitude
Attitude beats aptitude where it relates to
customer service. Customer service agents
should possess a sunny disposition and be
willing to “go the extra mile.”
It is much easier to enhance someone’s
technical skills than their behavior. When hiring,
you want to look for those who wish to serve
and express empathy when handling upset
customers.
This is especially evident when considering that
for every customer complaint, there are 26
other customers who have remained silent, per
Lee Resource Inc.

4. Reason #3: Encourage Excellent Communication Skills
Customer service agents need to demonstrate respect and empathy. It needs to be real
and in many cases, offer a calming effect. Asking questions to your customers to help
with tending to their needs and having the ability to summarize their issue back to them
once they have expressed it will also show your professionalism.
Per the American Management Association, 68% of the time an organization loses a
customer, it’s due to a rude or indifferent attitude or communication.
FACT: Price is not the main reason for customer’s leaving. It’s actually due to the overall poor quality of customer
service – Accenture global customer satisfaction report 2008. 67% reported bad customer experience is the reason
they leave a vendor or supplier!

5. Reason #4: Encourage Honest Persuasive Abilities
Skills of persuasion can reduce the amount of
time your companies’ representatives spend
dealing with customer objections or
complaints, as well as improve sales numbers
and customer satisfaction rates.
Keep WIIFT (What’s In It For Them) in mind. For
example, rather than saying “I’d recommend
the…,” a persuasive speaker will say “Tim, what
you’re looking for is….” Or, rather than say “let
me play the devil’s advocate and say that…,”
you might say “Jackie, as an intelligent person,
you know that…”
Also, keep it simple. Customers are more likely
to be persuaded by ideas or solutions they can
understand. Avoid industry jargon or acronyms.
Say “organizations” rather than ASTD or NCAA.
FACT: 70% of buying experiences are based on how the customer feels they are being treated –
McKinsey.

6. Reason #5: Promote Product Knowledge
Coach everyone in your organization to be a part of customer service. This allows customers
to get their questions answered promptly, saving a possible call to customer service.
The Harvard Business Review found that having to repeat a problem to a chain of customer
service representatives was extremely frustrating for customers. If the person who initially
handles the call takes full responsibility for it until the customer’s concern is resolved, it can
ease the customer’s mind.
FACT: 55% of customers would pay extra to guarantee a better service – Defaqto research.

7. Reason #6: Encourage Time Management
Time management is essential in customer service.
Knowing how long each call “should” take will help to
service additional customers each day, thereby gaining
customer loyalty. Managing your time properly as a
customer service representative can ultimately mean
the difference between falling behind in minimum
calls required and excelling in the position.
Knowing how to solve problems, thinking ahead and
maintaining composure at all times also allows an
agent to reach customers more timely and effectively,
as well as allow the customer to feel satisfied and
content with the services provided.
FACT: A customer is 4x more likely to defect to a competitor if the problem is service-related than price- or product-related
– Bain & Company.

8. Reason #7: Help Agents Read Customers
The more an agent is familiar with human psychology, the easier it is to communicate
and connect with customers. Picking up on the way clients are speaking can help
determine how to steer the conversation, as well as if they are new or a long-time
customer. By learning more about human psychology, body language and
understanding sounds when speaking, agents can be relaxed and confident with their
methods of communication any time they are on the phone with a customer.
FACT: A dissatisfied customer will tell between 9-15 people about their experience. Around 13% of dissatisfied
customers tell more than 20 people. – White House Office of Consumer Affairs.

9. Reason #8: Foster Closing Ability
“Closing the deal” for someone who has contacted customer service is as important
as how an agent communicates with their customer. Once various solutions are
presented to customers, understanding how to close the deal and finalize the call is
an essential part of the process. It’s important to know when to transition into the
closing of the deal based on each customer individually. Asking the customer if they
are satisfied with the offered solutions is a way to confirm the call is on the right
track.
FACT: A 2% increase in customer retention has the same effect as decreasing costs by 10% –Leading on the Edge of Chaos,
Emmet Murphy & Mark Murphy.

10. Contact us today
Tim Hagen founded Sales Progress, a Training
Reinforcement Partner Company, in 1997. Tim
has authored the Sales Progress Coaching
Training System™. This system teaches sales and
non- sales leaders how to systematically coach
their employees to dramatically higher levels of
performance!
Ask About Our “Sales Progress Coaching Training System”
“Where We Build Managers Into Powerful Sales Coaches”
Phone: 262-377-5655
Email: tim@salesprogress.com
Cell: 262-227-8563
Website: www.salesprogress.com
Blog: http://www.salesprogress.com/coaching-leadership/
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/timhagen
Schedule a coaching session with me: https://www.timetrade.com/book/21SCJ
Tim Hagen