Теми
-
The course deals with close-to-real scenarios from a support center environment and shows how soft skills can allow you to interact with customers in a balanced way. It will teach you how to be effective when speaking on the phone and find quick and elegant solutions to problems of first level service by means of interacting in a way close to augmented reality. We will work on your voice (in English or German) and body posture during phone conversations and how to calm down aggressive customer behavior.
During the course will be discussed also changing scenarios of customer support and prevailing trends, such as using a chat line and smartphone omnichannel applications.
-
Dear all, you have to submit one case analysis in case you don't have a discussion note for participating with original ideas during the semester! Analysis of two details of a real professional situation should be exposed with a theoretical conclusion (one sentence) in a format of 20 lines paragraph or a video recorded file (uploaded on YouTube and the link submitted on Moodle)!
Please feel free to contact me on the cell 0897734561, Viber/WhatsApp (0876345348) or facebook.com/duridanov and ask all your questions!
In case you would prefer to cover several case analyses (presented on Moodle) you could come in-person to our oral exam (exact date is to be announced by the end of semester)
Our lectures take place every Thursday/14.40 to 16.10 in room 703, Building 2.
-
-
Customer Service - a Multi-generational Dilemma?
Two crucial questions are to be discussed in our first lecture:
- Would the new customer igeneration tolerate waiting in lines, repeating their problem to five different people or being treated like a number?
- Are global players going to adapt to the demands of personalized solutions through interactive environments, offering a virtual presence, or are they risking obsolescence as the new generation becomes an economic powerhouse?
Please watch the introduction below! Do you like the designed ambience? Would customers text rather than call? Is text the new talk as an emerging trend?
Think about the presented Unify interactive concept! How do a global player like Unify looks for solutions?
Are call agents not going to expand on new products as well meeting a "first response protocol" to fix customer demands?
-
A Confident Connect - Communication Strategy as a Blueprint
In our lectures we will discuss how to use the blueprint of successful communication in business. How do we approach the first steps of a long-term strategy and establish rapport with a customer within a phone conversation?
Let's discuss some basic principles of a consultant (Alex Hitchens) in the movie „Hitch“ (esp. the first six minutes) and transfer face-to-face milestones into the communication levels of a phone conversation!
This way we can moderate one's attitude retrieving all the required elements from the natural resources of a call agent's behavior. Shy or outgoing anyone of us has to stay authentic announcing gradually the real YOU using your voice tools on the phone! Second, he has to introduce gradually one's personal profile facing a new customer!For those who would like to go further, follow the next seven steps highly recommended when one faces a specific customer call
-
How to Build a Natural Core of a Phone Conversation - Getting in a Customer
How do we get a customer „in the room“? What have we to do on the „first date“ with a customer? Should we impress the customer with our professional behavior? Or is it better to follow Hitch's advise to align our behavior „trying not to mess it up“? How do we really act on the phone - building on the principle of responsive sensitivity: „Listen and respond“?
-
Shock and Awe - a Challenging Communication Strategy
How should we interpret „Shock and awe“ as a best practice to connect to a customer we have never seen? Could we focus on the case of Albert Brennaman (consulted by Alex Hitchens in the movie „Hitch“) for a moment and transpose the extracted communication experience into a customer support relation? Or is there another key to the situation we have to face anew every couple of minutes?
-
Communicating Confidence - the Next Big CSR Challenge
It is not all about the product qualities, giving a bonus or cutting prices, but about us. Two points are crucial here. To what extent are we persuaded and stand for something! And how do we communicate that from the first micro-moment on the phone?
Let's hear the advises of an expert how to make our conversation unique and how could we get in a trusting customer!
-
Bad Day or a Technical Issue - How to Isolate a Problem
Take it easy, Mr. angry customer! The problem can be separated from you. Then the solution is an easy one to be delivered! How an experienced psychotherapeutic framework is to be injected into a starting CSR phone conversation!
-
How to Go Over the Fear to Start Talking with „Strangers“
In the next few hours we are going to dissect a couple of phone conversations and disclose some strategic components and how do we have to configure a complete conversation unit.
Let's focus anew on the communication strategy of the first phone conversation between Albert and Sarah (from the movie „Hitch“) which has been guided by communication expert, Alex Hitchens! How does Albert can cross the touch barrier on the phone? Is he completely following Hitch's advised scenario? How slowing down the tempo of speaking and downshifting pitch as well as tone of voice could give him a lending hand to go over the fear to speak FIRST with a „stranger“?
-
Multitasking on the Phone - Mission Impossible?
To what extent is multitasking possible? How do we get to the point synchronizing several phone conversations in our mind? Is that really „mission impossible“?
Let's see how a call agent listens and responds to several conversations interfering on demand and leads his own conversation as well (during the first six minutes of the movie „Rain Man“)?
-
Multitasking on the Phone within Online Marketing - A New Style to Behave with Customers?
Let's define the changes in multitasking on the phone between the 80's and nowadays comparing a typical situation (evidenced at the beginning of the movies „Rain Man“ 1988 and „The Intern“ 2015)! Which specific details are showing how online marketing is introducing a social atmosphere that has impact on our behavior with customers on the phone.
Here are some fresh insights from the McKinsey Global Institute about how to turn the sensitive moments of real life into a consumer decision journey!
-
Elevator Pitch - a Base Component of Phone Behavior
What is the difference between a static CV, online CV (on LinkedIn) and a dynamic visiting card (using advanced social strategies, Facebook brought back online re-activating older habits and social traditions)? To what extend an elevator pitch as a key element to provoke reaction in a few seconds („in the elevator“) has turned into a key competence to communicate and a Google standard to present oneself with a webcam?
Let's analyze the Ben Whitaker case („The Intern“ - 04:56 - 05:45 min.) where he applies with a 50 seconds cover video letter (instead of a „static CV“) into a Customer Service Center of an online shop!
-
Elevator Pitch - a Key to Communicate Values
How would we align our behavior to caller types in the first seven to ten seconds which are the decision-maker? Could an elevator pitch be the mysterious key to open the gateway to a client?
Let's see how a 70 years old intern, Ben Whitaker, has opened that door within a couple of seconds for the first time! How is he aligning his behavior after having produced a dynamic "cover letter of intent", instead of a "static CV"? Which are the next steps of team work within a modern expanding service center? Which are the three big "C" turning customer satisfaction into a life value?
-
The Power of Voice - a „Hidden Weapon“
Communication experts say that 38% of our impact is hanging on voice tuning. How do we get our voice attuned to get the customer at ease? How does it really work to build our tone of voice, our pitch, rhythm and breathing cycles as well as our posture? Do we have to take singing lessons in relaxing and initial breathing, then speaking with ascending and descending voice?
Let's analyze in detail the voice interaction with customers selling clothes online (there are various situations, especially during the first 50 minutes of the movie „The Intern“ / 2015)! Here are also some voice patterns that you could focus and master your own sound!
For those who would like to get practically in depth, please focus on voice training scenes such as the one (33:27 - 38:43 min.) from the movie „The King's Speech“ (2013)!
-
Strategic Negotiation - A Breakthrough 4-Step Process
Is there a blueprint you can follow ultimately as interaction strategy to always negotiate with a customer to a good end? Is the four-step approach for making encounters with customers always helping you out?
Let's analyze now the four-step strategy! Before we go over the first step of a process, let's look at the goal you set starting negotiations. Is your goal such as most people use? Does it really look like a goal or is it more like a tactic — a means to an end rather than the end itself? Getting the deal done in a reasonable time, increasing revenue or market share and gaining data on the other side are ambitions and prerequisites to create joint business values. But do they really create a joint business value? -
From Traditional Siloed Interaction to an Omni-Channel Customer JourneyMost contact center implementations today deploy siloed interaction channels (for voice, chat, email, web, social or mobile) where each customer interaction is typically managed in isolation. This fragmented approach to customer engagement commonly results in customer frustration, missed sales opportunities and reduced operational efficiency.Please focus on the following topics from Genesys University that we will discuss during our lecture:
- How a single platform can help you orchestrate omni-channel customer journeys
- How to modernize your contact center, increase workforce quality and efficiency and deliver personalized customer experiences
- Figure out five capabilities to look for in a Customer Experience Platform
-
CSR Collaborative Options within a Distributed Environment
Would your collaborative workplace look like that?
What skills would you like to have your personal assistant? What time do you think will be required to complete the AI assistant training ... so that you don't feel lost in the new working environment like that?
-