Free Customer Service Training Materials & PDF Downloads

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Are you looking for free customer service training materials? If so, you’re in the right place. Customer service is a critical aspect of any business, and providing excellent customer support is essential to keeping your customers happy and loyal. However, training your customer service team can be challenging, especially if you’re on a tight budget.

Fortunately, there are many free customer service training materials available online that you can use to train your team. These materials include PDFs, training templates, and other resources that cover a wide range of topics, from understanding customer service to dealing with customer issues. By leveraging these resources, you can develop a comprehensive training program that will help your team provide excellent customer service and support.

In this article, we’ll explore some of the best free customer service training materials available online (including our comprehensive library of free customer service resources! ). We’ll cover everything from core customer service skills to training exercises and guidelines, and we’ll provide you with the resources you need to develop a successful training program. Whether you’re a small business owner or a customer service manager, this article will provide you with the tools you need to train your team effectively.

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Understanding Customer Service

Customer service is the act of providing support to customers before, during, and after a purchase. It is a crucial aspect of any business as it can make or break the customer experience. Providing excellent customer service can lead to customer satisfaction, loyalty, and repeat business. On the other hand, poor customer service can lead to negative reviews, decreased sales, and a damaged reputation.

Role of a Customer Service Representative

A customer service representative is the point of contact between the customer and the company. They are responsible for assisting customers with their inquiries, complaints, and issues. A customer service representative should have excellent communication skills, both verbal and written, and be able to handle difficult situations with empathy and professionalism.

Importance of Customer Service Skills

Customer service skills are essential for anyone working in a customer-facing role. These skills include active listening, problem-solving, patience, and empathy. Active listening involves paying attention to the customer’s needs and concerns and responding appropriately. Problem-solving involves finding a solution to the customer’s issue in a timely and efficient manner. Patience is important when dealing with frustrated or angry customers, and empathy involves putting oneself in the customer’s shoes and understanding their perspective.

Customer service skills training is essential to ensure that representatives have the necessary skills to provide excellent customer service. Training should cover soft skills, such as communication and problem-solving, as well as technical skills, such as using customer service software and handling customer data.

Customer service is a crucial aspect of any business, and providing excellent customer service can lead to customer satisfaction, loyalty, and increased sales. A customer service representative plays a vital role in delivering a positive customer experience, and customer service skills training is essential to ensure that representatives have the necessary skills to provide excellent customer service.

Core Customer Service Skills

To provide excellent customer service, you need to have a few core skills. These skills include communication, listening, patience, and empathy. Let’s take a closer look at each of these skills.

Communication and Listening

Effective communication is essential in customer service. You need to be able to clearly convey information to customers and understand their needs. When communicating with customers, it’s important to use language that is easy to understand and avoid technical jargon.

Listening is also an essential part of communication. You need to be able to actively listen to customers to understand their needs and concerns. This means giving them your full attention and not interrupting them. You should also ask questions to clarify any information that is unclear.

Patience and Empathy

Patience is crucial in customer service. You need to be able to remain calm and composed, even in difficult situations. This means not getting defensive or angry when a customer is upset or frustrated. Instead, you should remain patient and work to resolve the issue.

Empathy is also an important skill in customer service. You need to be able to put yourself in the customer’s shoes and understand their perspective. This means acknowledging their feelings and showing that you care about their concerns. By demonstrating empathy, you can build trust and rapport with customers.

By developing these core customer service skills, you can provide excellent service to your customers. Remember to always communicate clearly, actively listen, remain patient, and demonstrate empathy.

Free Customer Service Training Materials

If you are looking for free customer service training materials, you have come to the right place. In this section, we will provide you with some of the best resources available for customer service training. Whether you are a seasoned veteran or new to customer service, these resources will help you improve your skills and provide better service to your customers.

Training Manuals

One of the best ways to learn about customer service is through training manuals. These manuals provide step-by-step instructions on how to provide excellent service to your customers. They cover a wide range of topics, including communication skills, problem-solving techniques, and conflict resolution strategies.

We are thrilled to invite you to join our customer service resource library and gain instant access to a wealth of exclusive customer service resources that are 100% free for you to enjoy:

🎯 Customer Service Career Guide: A comprehensive guide to navigate your customer service career journey.

✍️ Resume & Cover Letter Templates: Professionally designed templates to make a great first impression.

📝 Resignation Letter Templates: Gracefully exit your current position with our well-crafted letters.

💡 Top Customer Service Interview Questions: Prepare for your next interview with these key questions.

☎️ Downloadable Phone Scripts: Enhance your communication skills with our effective scripts.

📧 Customizable Email Templates: Save time and effort with our ready-to-use email templates.

📊 Customer Satisfaction Survey Questions: Understand your customers better with our insightful survey questions.

📈 Customer Support Strategy & Planning Template: Strategize your customer support efforts with our handy template.

🎓 Webinars with Industry Professionals: Learn from the best in the field through our informative webinars.

💰 Special Promotions and Discounts: Enjoy exclusive offers only available to our members.

And there’s so much more! Don’t wait, sign up below to take advantage of these resources and start elevating your customer service career today!

There are many free customer service training materials available online. Whether you prefer training manuals, course libraries, or webinars, there is something for everyone. By taking advantage of these resources, you can improve your customer service skills and provide better service to your customers.

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Training Exercises and Guidelines

When it comes to customer service, training is essential to ensure that your representatives are equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge to provide excellent service. Fortunately, there are plenty of free customer service training materials available online, including training exercises and guidelines.

One effective training exercise is role-playing. This involves assigning different scenarios to your representatives and having them act out how they would handle each situation. This exercise helps to develop their communication and problem-solving skills, as well as their ability to remain calm and professional in challenging situations.

Another helpful exercise is to have your representatives listen to recordings of actual customer service calls and identify areas where improvements could be made. This exercise helps to develop their listening skills and their ability to identify customer needs and concerns.

In addition to training exercises, there are also guidelines that can be used to ensure that your representatives are providing consistent and high-quality service. One important guideline is to always greet customers warmly and make them feel welcome. This can be done through verbal greetings, such as saying “Hello” or “Good morning,” as well as nonverbal cues, such as smiling and making eye contact.

Another important guideline is to actively listen to customers and show empathy for their concerns. This involves giving customers your full attention, asking clarifying questions, and acknowledging their feelings. By doing so, you can build trust and rapport with customers and show them that you care about their needs.

Overall, training exercises and guidelines are essential components of any customer service training program. By incorporating these materials into your training program, you can help your representatives develop the skills and knowledge they need to provide excellent service and build strong relationships with your customers.

Dealing with Customer Issues

When it comes to customer service, dealing with customer issues is an inevitable part of the job. However, with the right training and approach, you can turn customer problems into opportunities to create happy customers. In this section, we’ll cover two important aspects of customer service training: problem solving and product training.

Problem Solving

One of the most important skills for any customer service representative is the ability to solve problems. When a customer comes to you with an issue, it’s important to listen carefully, ask questions to clarify the problem, and work with the customer to find a solution.

To help your team develop their problem-solving skills, consider providing training in the following areas:

  • Active listening: Encourage your team to listen carefully to customers and ask questions to fully understand the problem.
  • Empathy: Train your team to put themselves in the customer’s shoes and understand their perspective.
  • Creativity: Encourage your team to think outside the box and come up with creative solutions to customer problems.
  • Communication: Train your team to communicate clearly and effectively with customers, keeping them informed throughout the problem-solving process.

By providing your team with the skills they need to solve problems effectively, you can turn customer issues into opportunities to create happy customers.

Product Training

Another important aspect of customer service training is product training. When your team has a deep understanding of your products and services, they can help customers more effectively and provide better support.

To provide effective product training, consider the following:

  • Provide comprehensive product information: Make sure your team has access to detailed information about your products and services, including features, benefits, and use cases.
  • Encourage hands-on experience: Allow your team to use your products and services themselves so they can better understand how they work.
  • Provide ongoing training: Make sure your team is up-to-date on new products and features, and provide ongoing training to help them stay current.

By providing your team with the product training they need, you can help them provide better support to your customers and create happy customers in the process.

Customer Support Systems

When it comes to providing top-notch customer service, having the right customer support system in place is essential. There are a variety of options available, each with their own set of features and benefits. In this section, we’ll take a closer look at three popular customer support systems: Ticketing System, Hubspot Service Hub, and Zendesk.

Ticketing System

A ticketing system is a software tool that allows you to manage customer inquiries and support requests. It works by creating a ticket for each customer interaction, which can then be tracked and managed through a centralized dashboard. Ticketing systems are particularly useful for businesses that receive a high volume of support requests, as they help to streamline the process and ensure that no requests fall through the cracks.

Some popular ticketing systems include Freshdesk, Kayako, and Jira Service Desk. These tools offer a range of features, including automated ticket routing, customizable workflows, and analytics and reporting capabilities.

Hubspot Service Hub

Hubspot Service Hub is a comprehensive customer service platform that includes a range of tools and features to help you provide top-notch support to your customers. It includes a ticketing system, live chat, knowledge base, and more. One of the key benefits of Hubspot Service Hub is its integration with the Hubspot CRM, which allows you to easily track customer interactions and manage customer data.

Other features of Hubspot Service Hub include a customer feedback tool, customer satisfaction surveys, and a range of reporting and analytics capabilities. It’s a great option for businesses that are looking for a complete customer service solution.

Zendesk is another popular customer support system that offers a range of features and tools to help you provide excellent customer service. It includes a ticketing system, live chat, knowledge base, and more. One of the key benefits of Zendesk is its flexibility, as it can be customized to meet the specific needs of your business.

Other features of Zendesk include a customer feedback tool, customer satisfaction surveys, and a range of reporting and analytics capabilities. It’s a great option for businesses that are looking for a customizable and scalable customer service solution.

In summary, there are a variety of customer support systems available, each with their own set of features and benefits. Whether you choose a ticketing system, a comprehensive customer service platform like Hubspot Service Hub, or a customizable solution like Zendesk, the key is to choose a system that meets the specific needs of your business and your customers.

Implications of Poor Customer Service

Poor customer service can have significant implications for your business. It can lead to customer dissatisfaction, which in turn can result in lost business and negative word-of-mouth. In fact, according to a study by NewVoiceMedia, poor customer service costs businesses in the United States an estimated $62 billion each year due to customer churn.

Customer churn is a critical metric that measures the number of customers who stop doing business with your company. When customers experience poor service, they are more likely to switch to a competitor. This can be particularly damaging if the customer is a long-term or high-value customer.

In addition to lost revenue, poor customer service can also damage your brand reputation. Customers who have a negative experience with your company are likely to share their experience with others, either through word-of-mouth or online reviews. This can harm your business’s credibility and make it more difficult to attract new customers.

Furthermore, poor customer service can lead to decreased employee morale. When employees are unable to provide satisfactory service to customers, they may feel frustrated and demotivated. This can lead to increased turnover, which can be costly for your business.

Overall, it is clear that poor customer service can have significant implications for your business. By investing in customer service training for your employees, you can help ensure that your customers are satisfied and that your business is successful.

Developing a Training Plan

Creating a comprehensive training plan is essential to ensure that your employees have the necessary skills and knowledge to provide excellent customer service. Here are some steps to consider when developing your training plan:

Identify Training Needs

The first step in developing a training plan is to identify the specific skills and knowledge that your employees need to provide excellent customer service. This can be done through a needs assessment, which involves gathering feedback from customers, conducting surveys, and analyzing customer service data. Once you have identified the areas that need improvement, you can develop training programs that address these needs.

Set Learning Objectives

Learning objectives are the specific goals that you want your employees to achieve as a result of the training program. These objectives should be clear, measurable, and achievable. For example, if you want your employees to improve their communication skills, your learning objective might be to “demonstrate effective communication skills by using active listening techniques and clear language.”

Choose Training Methods

There are many different training methods that you can use to deliver your training program, including classroom training, on-the-job training, e-learning, and self-paced learning. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages, so it’s important to choose the method that best suits your employees’ learning styles and your training goals.

Develop Training Materials

Once you have identified your training needs, set your learning objectives, and chosen your training methods, you can start developing your training materials. These materials should be engaging, interactive, and relevant to your employees’ job roles. You can use a variety of formats, such as videos, presentations, case studies, and role-playing exercises, to deliver your training content.

Evaluate Training Effectiveness

After you have delivered your training program, it’s important to evaluate its effectiveness. This can be done through feedback surveys, assessments, and performance metrics. By evaluating the effectiveness of your training program, you can identify areas for improvement and make adjustments to your training plan as needed.

By following these steps, you can develop a comprehensive training plan that helps your employees provide excellent customer service. Remember to set clear learning objectives, choose the right training methods, and evaluate the effectiveness of your training program to ensure that your employees have the skills and knowledge they need to succeed.

Company Policies and Security

When it comes to customer service, having clear and effective policies in place is crucial for ensuring that your team is able to provide consistent and high-quality service to your customers. In addition, having strong security protocols can help protect both your customers and your business from potential threats. Here are some key things to consider when it comes to company policies and security.

Having clear policies in place can help ensure that your team is aligned on how to handle common customer service scenarios. This can include things like how to handle returns or exchanges, how to deal with difficult customers, and how to escalate issues to a manager or supervisor. By having these policies in place, you can help ensure that your team is able to provide consistent service, even in challenging situations.

In addition to customer-facing policies, it’s also important to have internal policies in place that govern how your team operates. This can include things like how to handle confidential customer information, how to communicate with other departments within your organization, and how to handle conflicts or disputes within the team. By having these policies in place, you can help ensure that your team is able to operate efficiently and effectively.

In addition to policies, having strong security protocols in place is crucial for protecting both your customers and your business. This can include things like using secure payment processing systems, implementing two-factor authentication for sensitive accounts, and regularly updating software and security systems to protect against potential threats.

It’s also important to have clear protocols in place for how to handle security incidents, such as data breaches or cyber attacks. This can include things like having a designated point person to handle security incidents, having a plan in place for notifying customers and other stakeholders in the event of a breach, and regularly testing your security systems to identify potential weaknesses.

By having strong policies and security protocols in place, you can help ensure that your team is able to provide high-quality service to your customers, while also protecting your business from potential threats.

Product Knowledge and Training

One of the most important aspects of providing excellent customer service is having a deep understanding of the products or services you are selling. This is where product knowledge comes in. By having a thorough understanding of your products, you can better assist customers with their questions and concerns, and ultimately provide a better overall experience.

To ensure that your customer service team has the necessary product knowledge, it is important to provide them with proper training. This can include both initial training for new hires, as well as ongoing training to keep everyone up-to-date on any changes or updates to your products.

When it comes to product training, there are a variety of resources available to help you create effective training materials. Many companies offer product-specific training modules or courses, which can be a great starting point. Additionally, there are numerous free resources available online, such as training manuals and templates.

When creating your product training materials, it is important to keep a few key things in mind:

  • Keep it simple: Your training materials should be easy to understand and follow, even for those who may not have a lot of experience with your products.
  • Focus on the most important information: While it can be tempting to include every detail about your products, it is important to focus on the most important information that your customer service team will need to know.
  • Use a variety of training methods: Everyone learns differently, so it is important to use a variety of training methods to ensure that everyone is able to learn effectively. This can include written materials, videos, and hands-on training.

By providing your customer service team with the necessary product knowledge and training, you can ensure that they are equipped to provide the best possible service to your customers.

Pricing and Satisfaction

When it comes to customer service training materials, pricing can be a major factor in your decision-making process. Fortunately, there are many free resources available online that can help you train your customer service representatives without breaking the bank. Many of these resources come in the form of PDFs that you can download and use at your leisure.

While free training materials may seem like a no-brainer, it’s important to consider the quality of the content. You want to make sure that the training materials you choose are effective and will help your representatives improve their skills. One way to ensure quality is to look for reviews or ratings from other users. You can also check the credentials of the authors or publishers to see if they have experience in the customer service industry.

Another factor to consider is the satisfaction of your representatives with the training materials. After all, they are the ones who will be using the materials to improve their skills. You want to make sure that the materials are engaging and easy to understand. You can ask for feedback from your representatives to see if they found the materials helpful or if there are any areas that need improvement.

Overall, free customer service training materials can be a great option for businesses looking to train their representatives without spending a lot of money. Just make sure to consider the quality of the content and the satisfaction of your representatives before making a decision.

Leveraging AI in Customer Service

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a focus area for many businesses in recent years. The market for AI is expected to grow to almost 2 trillion U.S. dollars by 2030. In customer service, AI can help in providing intelligent, convenient, and informed customer service at the time and channel of your customers’ choice. Here are some ways you can leverage AI in customer service:

Implement AI Chatbots

One of the most common applications of AI in customer service is through chatbots. AI chatbots can help solve the most frequently asked questions raised by users. By solving over 50% of the most common customer queries, chatbots can significantly reduce the workload of customer service representatives. This results in faster response times and more efficient customer service.

Personalize Customer Experience

AI can help you personalize the customer experience by analyzing customer data such as purchase history, browsing behavior, and demographics. This data can be used to create personalized recommendations, promotions, and messages that are tailored to each customer’s preferences. This personalized approach can help build a stronger relationship between your brand and your customers.

Predictive Analytics

AI can help you predict customer behavior by analyzing data such as customer interactions, feedback, and purchase history. This data can be used to identify patterns and trends that can help you predict future customer behavior. By understanding customer behavior, you can proactively address potential issues and provide a better customer experience.

Automate Repetitive Tasks

AI can help automate repetitive tasks such as data entry, order processing, and ticket routing. By automating these tasks, customer service representatives can focus on more complex issues that require human intervention. This can result in faster response times and more efficient customer service.

24/7 Availability

AI can help provide 24/7 customer service availability. Chatbots can be programmed to respond to customer queries even outside of business hours. This ensures that customers receive a prompt response to their queries, which can help improve customer satisfaction.

In conclusion, AI is transforming the way businesses approach customer service. By leveraging AI, you can provide intelligent, convenient, and informed customer service that meets the needs of your customers.

In conclusion, there are many free customer service training materials available in PDF format that can help you improve your customer service skills. These resources cover a wide range of topics, including soft skills, first impressions, non-verbal communication, telephone etiquette, tone of voice, problem-solving, empathy, and patience.

When choosing the right training materials for your needs, it’s important to consider your learning style, your goals, and your audience. Some resources may be more suitable for beginners, while others may be more advanced. Some may be more focused on specific industries or types of customers.

Overall, by taking advantage of these free customer service training materials, you can improve your customer service skills, enhance your customer relationships, and increase your business success. So why not start exploring these resources today and see what you can learn?

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the key elements of effective customer service training materials.

Effective customer service training materials should cover the basics of customer service, such as communication skills, problem-solving techniques, and conflict resolution. They should also include soft skills, like empathy and active listening, as well as industry-specific knowledge. Additionally, training materials should be engaging and interactive to keep learners interested.

How can customer service training materials be tailored to specific industries, such as healthcare?

To tailor customer service training materials to specific industries, it is important to understand the unique challenges and needs of that industry. For example, healthcare customer service training should cover topics like patient confidentiality, medical terminology, and dealing with sensitive or emotional situations. It may also be helpful to include case studies or scenarios that are relevant to the industry.

What are some best practices for creating a customer service training manual?

When creating a customer service training manual, it is important to keep it concise and easy to understand. Use clear, simple language and avoid jargon or technical terms. Include plenty of examples and scenarios to help learners apply the concepts to real-life situations. Finally, make sure the manual is visually appealing and well-organized, with clear headings and subheadings.

How can customer service training improve employee satisfaction and retention?

Providing customer service training can improve employee satisfaction and retention by giving employees the skills and confidence they need to handle difficult situations. It can also help employees feel more valued and invested in their jobs, which can lead to greater job satisfaction and loyalty.

What are the most important topics to cover in a customer service training program?

The most important topics to cover in a customer service training program include communication skills, problem-solving techniques, conflict resolution, and soft skills like empathy and active listening. Other important topics may include industry-specific knowledge, company policies and procedures, and customer feedback and satisfaction.

What are some free resources available for customer service training materials?

There are many free resources available for customer service training materials, including online courses, webinars, and downloadable guides and manuals. Check out our comprehensive collection of 30+ free customer service training resources to get started!

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Customer Service Assessment Tests

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A majority of jobs include working with customers or clients in some capacity, so many people find themselves in need of the skills necessary for these roles. This guide details the kind of tests that may be required when applying for a customer service role, and how best to prepare for them.

What is a customer service aptitude test?

Customer service teams are essential in providing excellent customer service and customer satisfaction. To be successful in this type of role, there are skills and behavioural traits that an employer can assess to accurately predict how well employees will perform in a customer service role.

A customer service test helps identify candidates with those important customer service skills needed to be successful. You’ll find that most exams assess skills like communication, comprehension , logic , and personality traits .

Why do employers use customer service assessment tests?

While experience is valuable in customer facing roles, using aptitude tests focused on the skills needed for excellent customer service are an effective way to assess someone’s skills and potential. This is especially helpful when recruiting for a role that garners a lot of competition between similarly qualified candidates, since the tests give more data that employers can use to rank applicants.

Customer service roles also require a certain kind of person who has the right kind of temperament and interpersonal skills; without significant time spent with someone, it is hard to gauge these during the recruitment process.

By using customer service skill tests that include sections like a personality test, employers can get a more accurate understanding of you as a person and whether you will be a good fit for the company in a less time-intensive way.

What skills do customer service assistants typically need?

While customer service roles do not typically require specific technical skills and qualifications, there are still traits required to thrive in this sector. These are just a few of the most important ones that employers will look for when you apply for these roles:

Communication skills

The first skill is one of the most important: strong communication. While this is vital for any job, customer service is almost entirely about working directly with customers and clients, such as on the shop floor, when answering on the phone and dealing with customer support queries.

As a customer service assistant, you are the main representative of the company to the public, and therefore you must be able to communicate professionally in all kinds of situations.

Comprehension skills

Related to your communication skills is your comprehension ability, which is how well you process and relay information. General reading and writing skills are essential to everyday life, but working in customer service means processing a lot more information than most on a daily basis, so you need to show that you are capable of this.

Problem solving and decision making

In customer service roles, you typically deal with customers and their issues immediately, meaning that unexpected situations occur suddenly and can require you to make quick decisions.

While you may not always be able to solve an issue on the spot, showing that you follow a logical process and understand how to make the most progress you can at the time is a vital workplace skill.

Roles like customer care representatives and customer support agents will need excellent problem solving skills since their interactions with customers are continuous and require immediate action.

Adaptability

Adaptability is hugely important when working with people, as you have to be able to deal with any situation that is put in front of you. Customer service is a fast-paced sector and often no two days are the same, so being open to change in routine and taking on varied tasks is part of the job.

When dealing directly with customers your ability to come across as friendly and empathic will have a big effect on how well you are received. Depending on the industry that you work in, you may be dealing with something very personal to your customers and have to be understanding of every single person’s situation. Being empathetic will ensure you receive positive customer feedback.

Ability to work under pressure

When things get busy, customer service roles like retail can be stressful environments to function in. The ability to keep calm and professional under pressure is important to keep things moving, and make sure that you still provide the quality of service that the customers expect from the company.

How are these key skills measured?

There are a number of tests that are used to assess your skills and cognitive abilities. Aptitude tests give recruiters objective data that they can use to compare candidates: therefore, your score on these tests will have a big influence on whether or not you get hired.

For the more subjective tests like personality assessments, they are typically measured against the answers of current employees and the company’s ethics and values, to show how closely you align.

Writing task

In order to test your communication skills, including general literacy and comprehension skills , you may be asked to complete a written task . There are a few different kinds of written exercises that are used for different types of jobs, but the most common are writing a formal letter, an email, or proofreading a piece of text.

By doing this, employers can see your communication style, your level of grammar and spelling, and how well you understand context and tone when communicating.

Verbal reasoning test

A verbal reasoning test differs from a writing task because it does not ask you to craft anything, but instead focuses on your comprehension and logic skills.

The typical verbal reasoning question will present you with a passage of text and then you will be asked to answer questions based on the information given, usually in the style of true/false/cannot say , which show how well you filter key information and follow a logical process.

Situational judgement test

Many of the skills that employers are looking for when it comes to customer service are best gauged through a situational judgement test . Here you will be presented with work-related scenarios and asked to pick or rank responses according to what you think is most appropriate to the situation.

This can give a very accurate insight into your working style; for example if you are confrontational or how well you work in a team.

Personality tests

Personality tests are the aptitude test that most people are familiar with. They are a broader and more in-depth look into your behaviour than situational judgement tests, which give you limited parameters in which to answer.

A personality test can assess all kinds of aspects that are much harder to gauge during the limited contact of the recruitment process such as: your working style, how you build relationships, your values and ethics, how you see yourself, etc.

E-tray exercise

To assess how you might perform when actually on the job, employers like to use an e-tray exercise to simulate real-life working scenarios. You will be given a selection of different tasks that might be expected of you during an average day and then assessed on how well you deal with the workload.

This means it is not just about doing the tasks well, but also showing that you understand how to prioritise tasks, manage your time, and perform under pressure.

customer service assignment

I could prepare for specific companies and industries. It’s been an invaluable resource.

Top tips for customer service tests

1. research the company.

While this is always important, it can be particularly helpful when applying for customer service positions, since you are expected to be the face of the company and are often the only representative that a customer will talk to. Make sure to research how the company operates, so you can learn what kind of service style it looks for on the situational judgement and personality tests, which are where you will show if you are a good cultural fit.

2. Take a personality test

More subjective aptitude tests like personality and situational judgement tests can feel daunting, as they do not have right or wrong answers. However, by taking personality tests beforehand you can get an understanding for the answers you naturally gravitate towards and what kind of results you get.

3. Get used to the pressure

One of the most difficult aspects of test-taking is the time pressure, so it is very important to get used to performing well under timed conditions. Try to complete as many practice assessments under exam conditions as possible, to show how well you work in stressful situations.

4. Be confident

A key part of customer service is confidence in your skills - you will likely be dealing with a range of different scenarios such as angry customers, customer support queries and customer complaints. You’ll need to be confident for taking the test as well. Trust your experience and knowledge to show that you understand expectations and have the skills needed to excel in the role.

5. Be customer obsessed

Exceptional customer service skills are critical to being successful. Gaining customer loyalty and serving people to the best of your ability means you have to be customer obsessed. Approaching the exam within mindset can help with the answers you select.

Customer Service Assessment Tests FAQs

How do i prepare for a customer service test.

A customer service test can include a wide variety of questions from all kinds of aptitude tests like verbal, personality and situational, so be prepared for this. The best way to prepare for any test is to practice; you can do practice customer service tests , but it is also a good idea to identify your weakest area and focus on that to potentially improve your score the most.

What skills do customer service assistants need?

It is a misconception that customer service is unskilled labor. It actually requires a number of skills that not everyone possesses. The main skills sought after in customer service assistants are:

  • Strong written and verbal communication
  • High stress tolerance
  • Friendly and empathic
  • Good intuition

How can I pass my customer service test?

Make sure that you are prepared by doing practice tests beforehand. Our resources page has loads of information about all the different kinds of aptitude tests and how best to prepare for them, so take a look through to find helpful tips and tricks that can help you to pass.

What questions are asked in a customer service test?

This is highly dependent on the sector that you are applying for, so the first thing to do is to make sure that you know the job and person specification in detail. For tests such as the situational judgement one, the questions will most likely ask you to respond to potential problems you might face such as:

  • What to do when you are struggling to answer a customer’s questions
  • How you would respond to a miscommunication with a colleague
  • How you would work to implement better business practices

You can also try and find out the specific test publisher that the company uses for their tests, in which case you might be able to find their practice papers and get a better idea of how they typically structure their tests.

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Reviews of our Customer Service tests

What our customers say about our Customer Service tests

Amelia Naranjo

United States of America

September 07, 2023

It was a challenge

I liked it a lot because I like the challenges but I do consider that calculations had to be done to know the exact values and there was not enough time (that dislikes to me) but I had to use logic to be able to answer

Starr Leonard

August 03, 2023

This test utilized a lot of math and analytics skills. I thought it would be more about people skills.

Sudharsan M

Good to practice and it inmproves our thinking

I like the way questions asked and what i dont like is a type of questions. it would be nice many other sections involved

June 23, 2023

Percentages

I like that the time is adequate however because the questions are math related, it was a bit difficult for me.

Aluko Samuel

A very good test to make one prepare for an interview

I enjoyed how difficult the questions were. And I’d love to take more so I can prepare fully for the test

Małgorzata Wawrzyniak

United Kingdom

June 22, 2023

Awe test was great 😃 just my internet connection was lost few times but its fantastic training Thanks 🙏

Disha Ganatra

April 25, 2023

Increases knowledge how to study graphs

Like the way the graphs were presented. Questions were not predictable. Though to give answer in limited time.

P Sachidananda Patro

March 02, 2023

Quite good of financial related

Quite good of financial related it will increase calculating mindset. Nothing to dislike I love the test I learned so many things

Annabella Losco

February 13, 2023

I found it surprising that the test was mainly focused on Maths rather than communication as I would have expected. Still, I found it extremely useful!

Babatunde Hassan

February 06, 2023

Quantitative Reasoning

It's a bit tough. Though, I wasn't expecting this kind of test that involves graphical representation. I was nearly caught unaware. I was unable to attempt all the questions.

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The Ultimate Guide to Training for Customer Service & Support

Turn your customer service team into a competitive advantage and engine for growth with these training ideas and tools.

service-training-cover

FREE DOWNLOAD: CUSTOMER SERVICE TRAINING MANUAL TEMPLATE

Train and onboard your new customer support hires with this customizable template.

Service representative starting customer service and support training

Updated: 05/18/23

Published: 05/18/23

Customer service training is essential if you want to retain customers for the long term, reduce employee churn, and create a successful customer-centric company. But how do you begin training your reps to provide remarkable support?

We've compiled this guide to answer that question. After all, 90% of Americans say customer service plays a significant role in choosing a company.

Exceptional customer service is an absolute must if you want your company to succeed and thrive in years to come.

→ Download Now: Customer Support Training Template [Free Template]

In this post, you'll learn how customer service training benefits your business, when different types of training come in handy, and what materials you'll need to execute a training program.

By the end, you'll walk away with a comprehensive understanding of customer service training.

What is Customer Service Training?

Why is Customer Service Training Important?

Types of Customer Service Training

Customer Service Basics and Soft Skills

Free Customer Service Training Materials

What is customer service training.

Customer service training is the coaching that employees receive to improve support and satisfaction among customers. A strong customer service training program includes exercises for improving interpersonal communication, product knowledge, conflict resolution, crisis management, and more.

There are lots of types of customer service training . However, this training is typically an iterative process that involves teaching skills, competencies, and tools needed to better serve customers.

Any employee interacting and dealing with customers is a good fit for customer service training, regardless of their seniority or experience level.

Because your customers are your best growth opportunity, every employee should work hard to keep them happy — as marketers, executive assistants, management, or customer service representatives.

Nowadays, customer-facing teams are labeled many different things: customer support, customer success , or customer service . For this article, we'll refer to customer service when discussing service and support training.

customer service assignment

Free Customer Support Training Template

Train and onboard your new customer support hires with this downloadable template.

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Why is customer service training important.

What experiences stood out to you more as a shopper: marketing tactics or customer service? Most likely, the latter.

Customer service is a company's opportunity to connect with customers, solve problems, and show they care.

And when customer service is executed well, it can resonate with customers for years. People are 93% more likely to return after a positive customer service experience.

That's why training your customer support team is just as important (if not more) as training your marketing or sales teams. Service experiences are what stick with your customers and inspire reviews and word-of-mouth advertising.

Here are a few of the reasons you should invest in a customer service training program.

The Benefits of Customer Service Training. Happy customers become brand advocates. Remarkable customer service is a competitive advantage. Great customer service increases retention

1. Happy customers become brand advocates.

It's not uncommon for businesses to view their customer service teams as an afterthought. Once a consumer becomes a customer and pays for your product or service, the hard work is done, right? Wrong…

Happy, delighted customers come from excellent service and are your best advocates — even better than your most talented marketers.

Here's why it matters: 94% of people recommend a company with "very good" service, and buyers are 92% more likely to buy after reading reviews.

With this in mind, you can see how your current and past customers are your top bet for bringing in new business.

Customer service can be one of your strongest marketing strategies. Meeting and exceeding customer expectations isn't optional. It should be a top priority.

2. Remarkable customer service is a competitive advantage.

One of the easiest ways to stand out among your competition may surprise you. It's delivering excellent customer service that makes it easy to choose your company over others in your market.

The data speaks for itself: 3 out of 5 customers will leave your business after one bad experience. And after two bad experiences, that figure jumps to 3 out of 4 customers .

What's more, if you normally have great service, 75% of people are more likely to forgive you for a bad experience. And conversely, if they think your service is poor, only 15% of people are likely to stick around.

That's why providing top-notch customer service — and training your reps to provide that service — is essential for gaining an edge over your competition.

Ultimately, a great customer service training program can help you create a strong reputation so your company becomes the obvious choice when people are looking for options in your niche.

3. Great customer service increases retention.

Customer service is a key player in the game of customer retention .

Think about it. If a customer has a pressing question about your product, what would make them happy and willing to stick around? A generic email response or a personalized, well-researched answer from a service representative dedicated to their success?

The latter will win more brownie points.

More importantly, three-quarters of consumers expect personalized experiences.

So when your customer service training program ensures that your frontline team members understand why it's important to personalize every engagement, your company wins big.

Better yet, this customer might 1) be satisfied with their interaction with your company and customer service team and 2) go on to recommend your business, products, and services to their friends and colleagues.

That's why customer service training is so important. You're training your employees to deal with some of the most influential people in your life: your customers. (Sorry, family.)

Hiring vs. Training Customer Service Candidates

At this point, you might be asking, Why can't I just hire the right people from the get-go and leave it at that?

Well, you should always hire the best fit for each role, customer service included. But hiring skilled people and thinking the job is done is doing a disservice to both your team and your customers.

Regardless of how talented your new employees are, teaching customer service skills is essential if you want your reps to effectively represent your company.

It's also critical to help them understand your methodology so they know why you take a specific approach and can confidently serve your customers with that reasoning as their North Star.

And even the most experienced team members can use a refresher from time to time. In addition to people's expectations and the world itself changing rapidly, it's good to revisit skills and techniques with fresh eyes.

Take HubSpot's content team, for example. We were hired because we know how to write, but when we started, we weren't simply handed a laptop and told, "Now, go type a bunch of stuff." Instead, we received training on HubSpot's style guide, how to represent the company and brand online, and how to ensure every piece of content meets all of the quality standards.

The same goes for your customer support and service folks. Of course, you're going to hire highly-skilled people.

However, that doesn't negate the importance of onboarding new hires and training them to be part of a team with a bigger goal — serving and delighting your customers.

Hiring for Customer Service

While training for customer service is the main topic here, let's take a slight detour and discuss hiring for customer service, too.

The right hires help you build a strong foundation for your customer service team. And your hiring process is how you can ultimately ensure that your team is receptive to your training.

While some skills and strengths can be taught or fine-tuned through the different types of customer service training, there are some attributes your team members must have upon hiring.

No software, training exercises, or tools can compensate for gaps in these areas.

Skills To Look for When Hiring for Customer Service

Here are some skills to look for — even if just a hint — while interviewing and screening customer service candidates .

Skills to Look for When Hiring for Customer Service. Emotional Intelligence. Good Communication. Resourcefulness. Passion

1. Emotional Intelligence

Your customer service team deals with a variety of customer problems, some that you can forecast, and some that no one can predict.

The true heart of customer service beats with the ability to patiently listen, decipher someone else's problem, and empathize with them .

Unfortunately, this skill doesn't come naturally to everyone, nor is it something everyone can master in training.

Emotional intelligence is all about how you relate to other people. And, since this is central to excellent customer service, you want to ensure your hires have this skill before bringing them onto your team.

One way you can gauge emotional intelligence is by asking: "Can you tell me about a time you tried to do something and failed?"

2. Good Communication

If your candidates can't answer an interview question, how would they communicate with your customers (who most likely have much higher expectations than you)?

Customer service training can teach new and improved communication techniques. However, new hires should be able to showcase the ability to simplify complex topics and teach others new skills.

To gauge good communication skills, ask questions like: "How would you explain a complicated technical problem to a colleague with less technical understanding?"

3. Resourcefulness

Resourcefulness is the difference between responding to a problem with "I don't know" and "I will find out." Problem-solving skills, initiative, and creativity are just a few competencies that align with resourcefulness.

While these skills can be cultivated through customer service training, your candidates should display some resourcefulness — or at least a willingness to try to figure things out on their own.

To gauge resourcefulness, ask questions like: "Describe a time when you faced a significant obstacle to succeeding with an important work project or activity. What did you do to solve it?"

While passion isn't quite a skill, it's fundamental to going above and beyond in the customer service field.

Delighting your customers and turning them into superfans of your company means that your support team should have a sense of excitement and passion for the success of both the company and the customer.

Your candidates might not have a strong passion for your company just yet. Truthfully, it may never be their top passion in life.

However, they should be passionate about working with people — specifically, your customers — and helping others solve their problems.

To gauge passion, ask: "When have you been most satisfied in your work at your previous company?"

If hiring the right candidates is like planting seeds in the right soil, training your customer service team is like cultivating and growing your garden to its maximum potential.

To continue the analogy, satisfied customers are the bountiful harvest at the end of the season.

With that in mind, let's dive into training for customer support and service.

Customer service training ensures that your team can adapt to all kinds of different situations.

After all, when your team understands the key principles that guide your customer service philosophy, they're better able to apply that knowledge to every customer encounter.

While the concept of customer service training is to train your team to serve and delight, specific training methods and practices vary based on your company, your employees, and a variety of other factors.

Let's break down a few instances where you might conduct customer service training and what you can expect as a hiring manager or owner.

Types of Customer Service Training. New Hire Customer Service Training. Customer Service Phone Training. Regular Customer Service Training. Live Chat Customer Service Training. Emergency or Time-Sensitive Customer Service Training

1. New Hire Customer Service Training

As with any new role, the first month or two of training can dictate an employee's long-term success with your company. Customer service training for new hires isn't any different and should be an essential part of onboarding.

This specific type of training will help new employees acclimate to a new job, company, and culture and ensure they're ready to communicate with your valuable customers.

The steps of new hire customer service training involve:

Acquainting the Team

Your customer service team should be, well, a team. They need to work together to serve customers and handle problems. This means you must establish and maintain agility by introducing and involving new hires from the get-go.

Some examples of doing this include:

  • Scheduling a team lunch on your new hire's first day.
  • Ask experienced team members to provide an office tour.
  • Make the first day or two all about team building.

The bottom line is that when your team has time to connect, they can form a bond that makes it easier to work together. And it helps new employees acclimate and feel more comfortable in their roles.

Establishing Expectations

New hires should know what's expected of them during training and in their first month of work.

Setting clear expectations upfront minimizes confusion and allows new employees to understand their responsibilities. It doesn't serve anyone to be loosey-goosey on expectations.

Some examples of this include creating:

  • A new-hire training guide including activities to expect during training and what responsibilities they'll have during their first few months.
  • At-a-glance checklists and scripts for core activities they might encounter or perform daily.
  • A weekly schedule of meetings.
  • A manual that outlines how to perform key aspects of their job step-by-step and a list of internal resources for more information — whether colleagues, reading materials, or even file locations.

Equipping your new customer service hires to do their jobs sets them up for success. Think of this as giving them a set of training wheels they can return to at any time.

Rome wasn't built in a day. If you don't have all of this yet, you don't have to create it immediately. Instead, you may start with one or two of these things and build as you go.

Setting Up Tools

Could we even do our jobs without various tools, software, and digital subscriptions?

Probably not, and neither can your new employees. Before training, set up your employees with the apps, tools, and memberships they need to communicate and collaborate with the team .

Looking for an example of how to do this?

Consider creating a checklist of all the apps and logins they need, so you can be sure to set them up for success. As you check off each item, add the username for each to the list so they have a quick reference guide for tools.

Introducing the Company and Product (or Service)

To best serve your customers, your customer service team needs to know your company and product or service offering better than anyone.

  • Providing your hires with a one-page overview of the company, including the brand story, core values, guiding philosophies, and a list of key leadership and colleagues.
  • Creating a "say this, not that" brand voice guide to make sure new hires build a consistent customer experience.
  • Setting aside time for dedicated product training so that your new hires can learn your product(s) so well they could teach others.
  • If bringing on multiple new hires, having them take turns "teaching" each other.

2. Regular Customer Service Training

Whether your customer service team has been around for six months or six years, they should still undergo regular training. Consider revisiting this every quarter, half-year, or year, depending on what works best for your company.

What this training looks like depends on your company. However, here are a few regular customer service training examples.

Skills or Competence Check-In

Just as you'd conduct a routine performance review, a quarterly or half-year training is good practice for your customer service team.

Skill-based training is ever-evolving based on trends in the outside world, customer expectations, and new developments in your offerings.

What's more, certain skills can erode if not maintained over time. Conducting routine training keeps everyone on the team aligned, fresh, and doing their best work.

Best Practices Workshops

Some teams find that a monthly customer service workshop is a great way to keep a finger on the pulse of what's happening while ensuring your team stays fresh.

Going into these meetings with an agenda is a great way to ensure they are productive and stay on track. Sending a request for topics a few days before is also a good idea.

Your agenda might include:

  • Identifying trends in problems as well as customer feedback.
  • Discussing how to handle these problems successfully.
  • Role-playing solutions to these problems.
  • Asking for additional input.

Ultimately, this gives you regular check-ins with your team and ensures they know how to handle relevant common themes.

Team-Building Exercises

While working in customer service can be rewarding, it can also be tough. Those difficult days can take a toll on employees and their team relationships.

Routine team-building activities and training can help maintain strong relationships.

This gives your employees a chance to have fun, while simultaneously resolving challenging distractions so your employees can focus on their jobs.

Some examples of team-building exercises can include:

  • A compliment circle, where every customer service employee compliments another on something, whether how they handle specific situations or a general approach.
  • A brainstorming session where everyone brings a few ideas for improving things. These can range from adding a new Slack channel to streamlining customer service.
  • A scavenger hunt. Whether online, in person, or hybrid, these are great ways to build relationships with small groups.
  • Lunch-and-learns about new topics, whether personal or professional development.
  • Cooking classes, whether virtual or in person.

3. Emergency or Time-Sensitive Customer Service Training

Sometimes, customer service training can't be planned. Perhaps there's a product recall, a major rebranding, or a national advertising campaign.

This type of customer service training can also result from news breaking in your industry that may have your audience taking notice, even if it doesn't directly involve your company .

Because 90% of customers rate an "immediate" response as important, you must prepare your front-line employees (your customer service team) to take calls, answer questions, and resolve conflicts.

Emergency customer service training is all about equipping your team with everything they need to know to do their job and help your audience.

Here are examples of how you can deliver urgent customer service training.

In Times of Crisis

During a recall, crisis, or company emergency, your customer service team should be updated on all events and trained on how to respond.

Because your audience will be concerned, full transparency is strongly encouraged. Your team needs to be aware of the problem and your solution, or how you are approaching the solution .

Share how you'll send out updates. These trainings should be a top priority on everyone's calendar. You can better ensure complete organizational alignment when you can train your team.

To give you a real-world example, when news breaks of an online data breach, even if it's not your company, your customers may worry about the security of their data and may reach out in a panic.

If your team can speak to the problem, how you're being proactive, and where customers can go for updates or more information, you can ensure more positive experiences with your company.

Product or Company Updates

This type of customer service training is less of an emergency but is just as time-sensitive.

Whether you release a product update, run a major marketing campaign, or alter your website, your customer service team should complete training on these updates and be equipped to handle any customer questions or concerns.

For example, our customer service teams receive new training materials in the months leading up to HubSpot's annual INBOUND event.

These resources give employees the most up-to-date information on any new products that'll be announced at INBOUND — which can be upwards of four or five major product releases!

Your customer service teams should be looped in on company updates or changes so customers aren't blindsided when they have questions.

4. Customer Service Phone Training

Today, 48% of customers want to communicate with companies via phone call for customer service. Based on this, training reps knowing how to provide a delightful experience via phone call is critical to your success.

Here's what you should focus on in terms of phone training:

  • Maintaining a positive tone and attitude throughout the call.
  • Remaining calm and professional, even on difficult calls.
  • Speaking slowly and clearly.
  • Asking customers clear and direct questions that help reps come to an effective solution efficiently.
  • Presenting solutions in a way that will make sense for each individual customer.
  • Using verbiage that's representative of your brand.
  • Being an active listener.
  • Always showing empathy and authenticity.
  • Staying in control of the conversation and leading the customer towards an effective resolution.
  • Making sure customers don't have any other questions or concerns before hanging up.
  • Thanking the customer at the end of the call.

An example of customer service phone training includes setting up a series of role-play scenarios where one person is a customer with a problem, and the other is a customer service rep deciphering the problem, empathizing, and offering resolution.

In addition to role-play, scripts are helpful when it comes to solving specific problems.

Alternatively, because word-for-word scripts can sound impersonal, you might also consider offering bullet points your team members can use in their responses.

5. Live Chat Customer Service Training

Live chat is one of the up-and-coming customer service channels because it delivers the immediacy customers require. More than half of millennials prefer live chat, as it allows you to offer a personal touch with speed and convenience.

As the largest generation in U.S. history, millennials represent a huge percentage of your buyers, so live chat customer service training is necessary in today's world.

Fortunately, live chat training can resemble phone call training with scripts and bullet points your team members can use.

Being a customer service representative is challenging.

There are some basic ways to teach customer service to your reps to ensure they have the skills they need. Remember, their goal and yours should be the same — effectively serving and delighting customers.

You can separate these skills into different categories — which we'll review momentarily — so you can easily focus on teaching and building them with your reps.

Let's take a look.

Customer Service Basics

  • Interpersonal Skills: Customer service reps should be positive and empathetic when communicating with customers.
  • Clear Communication: Customer service reps should be able to succinctly explain complex concepts to customers.
  • Assertiveness and Directness: Customer service reps should be confident when interacting with customers.
  • Product Feature and Application Knowledge: Customer service reps should know the product inside and out.
  • Crisis Management Skills: Customer service reps should know how to effectively handle negative situations.
  • Team-Building and Camaraderie Skills: Customer service teams should have a strong sense of community to increase employee retention.
  • Customer Advocacy and Success Skills: Customer service reps should be able to champion their customers.
  • Conflict Resolution Skills: Customer service reps should know how to de-escalate negative situations with customers.

Ensuring your reps learn the following customer service basics and soft skills will make all the difference in your company's growth.

Your employees face customers every day. Customers will judge your business based on interactions with your people and your reps' behavior.

Only with thorough training in critical areas can your customer service representatives confidently deal with customer issues and turn angry customers into satisfied ones.

Let's dive into each of the customer service basics and soft skills your reps need to succeed in their roles.

1. Interpersonal Skills

For effective customer service, reps should look inward and focus on interpersonal skills critical to fostering positive and trustworthy customer relationships.

Positivity isn't just about smiling. It's also about keeping your language upbeat and promising so customers remain positive.

The last thing you want to do is introduce a new negative idea that leaves your customers more concerned than when they first called.

Whether your team serves customers via social media, email, chat, or the phone, train them to replace negative words with positive ones.

For example, instead of saying, "I'm afraid that…", teach your customer service team to start sentences with, "I'd love to help…". This keeps the response in a positive light while remaining honest with customers.

Positivity Training Exercise

  • Jot down five to 10 negative customer service responses and ask your team to rewrite them as positive statements. They can work alone or in small groups or pairs.
  • Divide your team into pairs and give each pair two problems to role play, so each person can play the role of customer and rep. Have the customer for each problem pay attention to negative words and phrases and then let the other person know what they heard.
  • Bring a transcript of an actual conversation to a meeting, and anonymize the customer and the rep. Then walk through the conversation as a group and identify opportunities to make the entire exchange more positive.

Empathy is critical for serving customers. When your team members genuinely want customers to be happy and successful, they can be your biggest assets.

One of the ways to help people develop empathy is to help them walk in a customer's shoes so they become just as invested in finding a solution to a problem.

In addition to helping your customer service team reach that resolution much quicker, you can make a customer for life.

But empathy doesn't come easily to everyone, especially more technical, logical people. While they care, they're often not as well-equipped to express those feelings.

To develop empathy in your customer service team, encourage them to spend time with people who are different from them.

Whether with someone at a community event, an Uber driver, someone in line at a grocery store, or a stranger at a conference, having conversations outside their comfort zones can help diversify their thinking.

Empathy Training Exercise

Tell your team to think about a time they were a customer and might've had a frustrating transaction or unsatisfactory experience. Have them share their stories and recall how they felt and were treated.

2. Clear Communication

Although this is technically an interpersonal skill, it's vital for effective customer service and support that it deserves a separate section.

Clarity in communication can improve customer service interactions tenfold. It's the difference between sending 10 emails or one when explaining a product.

While easy to decipher during interviews and onboarding, speaking with clarity remains a skill that customer service representatives should hone throughout their careers, especially as new products or updates are introduced.

Reddit's Explain Like I'm Five is a great example of clarity in action. On this thread, people take pretty complex topics, from biology to engineering to technology, and explain concepts as if they were teaching a child.

Now, "dumbing" answers down to this extent isn't necessary for your very adult audience, but it's a good example of explaining something clearly and concisely.

And keep in mind, there's a difference between breaking things down and being condescending, so if you share this example with your team, ensure they know where the line is.

Clear Communication Training Exercise

Have your team present product demonstrations as if you were a brand-new customer. Challenge them to explain the product (or a portion of your product) in five minutes or less.

3. Assertiveness and Directness

Customer service reps need to be both assertive and direct.

Doing so helps reps establish authority as someone who can solve customer problems, while simultaneously maintaining clear communication and boundaries.

The ability to face problems head-on without dancing around uncomfortable topics also gives them the tools to help customers find and share the best solutions for their challenges more efficiently.

Think about it this way — customers want quick and effective solutions to their challenges. They don't want to wait around for some wishy-washy answer that may or may not work.

By being assertive and direct, reps make customers feel confident that the information they're receiving is accurate.

Assertiveness and Directness Training Exercise

Encourage reps to try role-play exercises with each other where one person pretends to be an unhappy and vocal customer with many questions.

The other person should practice regaining control of the conversation and respectfully but directly navigating the discussion to the solution the rep can offer.

4. Product Feature and Application Skills

Companies are always growing and evolving — from product updates to new branding. And this is exactly how it should be because the world is also continually changing.

Customers have new expectations, competitors have new offers, and new technologies mean that companies that don't evolve and adapt won't thrive in the future.

With that in mind, you cannot afford for your customer service team to stagnate in their skills or training. Customer service training in your company should be ongoing across the board, but especially for the people on the front lines.

Considering you're essentially teaching them to teach, they should know your product inside and out.

Product Feature and Application Training Exercises

Here are a few examples of customer service training on your product and company:

Assign a mentor.

Organize a mentorship program for every employee, especially your new hires.

The mentor should be someone in another department to expose the employee to different business segments and allow them to stay up-to-date on company-wide happenings.

Additionally, when this mentor isn't in the direct chain of command, they can remain neutral when giving feedback.

Coordinate job shadowing.

This exercise is highly encouraged for new hires but can also benefit customer service veterans.

Shadowing introduces your team to new approaches, responses, and applications of customer service and your product that they'd otherwise not be exposed to.

Hold demonstration sessions.

This is similar to the training idea mentioned above, but it involves having your team present to their teammates. This will challenge them on their communication and understanding of the product.

Encourage attendees to provide constructive feedback to help one another grow. And consider recording these sessions for the person giving the training so they can hear how they present themselves.

Create a knowledge base.

Teaching others is the best way to learn, and it's especially true for customer service. Have your team create a knowledge base of your product or service offering in the form of a guide or directory.

This will challenge your team on their knowledge and clarity and ultimately help customers by creating a lasting company resource.

And, if you make someone responsible for updating it each quarter, you'll have a fantastic record to cross-train new departments.

Learn how to set up your knowledge base of articles in HubSpot's Service Hub.

5. Crisis Management Skills

Research shows that 70% of unhappy customers whose problems are resolved are willing to shop with a business again.

Just because a customer comes to you unhappy, angry, or rude doesn't mean they have to walk away with the same sentiment.

Appropriately managing each customer's crisis and actively working to change their attitude is how you serve and retain customers in the long run.

Discover how to manage, plan for, and communicate during crises with these management plan templates.

Crisis Management Training Exercises

Even those with thick skin can get worn down and discouraged after dealing with many angry customers. So, here are a couple of training exercises to teach your customer service team how to deal with — and delight — difficult customers.

Conduct role-play activities.

This training exercise is highly recommended for all customer service representatives and can be especially helpful for pacifying angry customers.

Conducting mock calls that resemble a real customer service issue (and involve a seemingly angry caller) can help acclimate your team to the realities of upset customers.

Have your team work together. By encouraging veterans on your team to use real situations they've dealt with in the past, you can ensure that your new hires get relevant training.

Teach the LAST method.

Despite intensive training on skills like empathy and patience, some difficult customers will simply be impossible to relate to.

That's where methods like reflective listening and LAST come into play.

LAST stands for L isten, A cknowledge, S olve, and T hank.

Teach your team to pause, listen to, and acknowledge upset customers. These steps can make the difference between solving an angry customer's problem and turning an angry customer into a satisfied one.

6. Team-Building and Camaraderie Skills

Camaraderie and community among professional teams in any industry can help with overall performance, but it's especially important in customer service.

I included this section in my list of customer service training ideas because that's essentially what it is — training your team to take care of themselves so they can take care of your customers.

Team-Building and Camaraderie Training Exercises

Here are a few ways to train your team to cultivate community and take care of themselves:

Encourage meditation.

Dealing with customers all day, every day, can be incredibly draining and stressful. Meditation can be a helpful tool to regain mental balance and relaxation amid customer service chaos.

Dedicate time to learning meditation and relaxation methods, so your team feels comfortable taking a break. Apps like Headspace and Calm can help your team, especially if they meditate together.

Inspire healthy competition.

Customer service training isn't just about teaching your team how to do their job; it's also about encouraging them to reach their full potential.

Inspiring healthy competition through a leaderboard or monthly awards will challenge your customer service team to go above and beyond, helping more customers, creating camaraderie, and contributing to their overall success and future career.

Fun fact: HubSpot's own customer support teams use a leaderboard and have found it motivates and inspires performance.

Take team outings (in-person or digitally).

Traditional product and skill training can bring your team together at work, but out-of-office activities can also inspire community and friendship that further encourage camaraderie in the office.

Treat your team to an event or activity unrelated to work, such as a museum trip or a remote team-building game. These activities are fun, casual, and lead to lasting connections that can mitigate otherwise tough days at work.

In other words, they can lead to strong employee satisfaction and reduce turnover.

Since it takes people up to two years to get fully up to speed, making sure your customer service team is satisfied is a good business practice.

7. Customer Advocacy and Success Skills

To create an atmosphere of customer advocacy and success, your training has to go above and beyond teaching soft and technical skills.

You can win big when you can turn happy customers into customers who actively promote your company.

However, it's not just about delivering a quality product or service. These customers don't simply exist once they purchase from you.

Instead, they're created when your customer service team treats them well and fights to solve their problems.

Customer Advocacy and Success Training Exercises

Here are examples of customer service training to build a world-class customer-focused culture:

Teach new language.

I referenced positive language in a previous section, but this is a little different.

The key to customer advocacy is aligning your goals and needs with the customer and essentially "joining their team" as you work towards a solution. This can be done with a simple switch in verbiage.

Consider creating a "say this, not that" document your team can refer to in conversations. Doing so helps them enhance how customers perceive your company and improve their experience.

For example, how does "I'm not sure we can do that for you" sound compared to "let's see what we can do to solve that"?

How about: "Let's get you set up with the right person to help" versus "I can't help with that"?

Changing responses to align with a customers' frustrations and needs tells a customer, "We're on your side, too."

Encourage exceeding expectations.

Let's say your team must solve a minimum of 10 tickets per day. You could train your employees to get that done and leave them alone. I mean, they are doing their work, right?

Sure, but this hardly creates an environment of going above and beyond for the customer (not to mention each employee's potential). Instead of settling with "good enough," challenge your team to do the best they can do every day.

This motivation will change how much work is done and influence how they work with and satisfy customers.

Not sure how to do this? An example could be creating a leaderboard or gamifying your team output, which we mentioned earlier.

Collect (and use) feedback.

Feedback is the lifeblood of any team or company that wants to improve. Invest in infrastructure that collects customer feedback through surveys, social media, or direct messages.

It's not enough to get customer feedback. You must also use that feedback to measure the team's success and identify improvement opportunities.

It helps individuals improve their skills and shows your customers that you care about what they have to say.

Of note: If you act on a specific piece of feedback, send a note to the customer thanking them for the input and letting them know how you've acted on it so they feel heard and appreciated.

For example, if a customer mentions that they wish you included a resources section on your website for quick self-service, and you decide to create one, let them know.

8. Conflict Resolution Skills

Conflict resolution skills are necessary for any service and support calls reps have with customers. After all, customers reaching out to your service and support reps are doing so because they're trying to find a solution to a challenge or roadblock.

Not to mention, reps are bound to encounter angry, frustrated customers from time to time, too — this requires an even deeper level of conflict resolution on the part of reps.

Conflict Resolution Training Exercises

You can teach reps to resolve different types of conflict in a wide variety of ways. Here are some examples of tips you can encourage your customer service team to use:

  • Draw on past experiences to set expectations.
  • Communicate clearly.
  • Show empathy.
  • Use active listening.
  • Acknowledge the people's specific needs.
  • Don't point fingers or place the blame on anyone.
  • Use "I" statements.
  • Say you're sorry.
  • Stay calm and professional.
  • Help people how they want to be helped.
  • Don't interrupt.
  • Remember the importance of maintaining the relationship.

Customer Service Basics. Interpersonal Skills. Clear Communication. Assertiveness and Directness. Product Feature and Application Skills. Crisis Management Skills. Team-Building and Camaraderie Skills. Customer Advocacy and Success Skills. Conflict Resolution Skills

A lot goes into customer service training, and it can be a daunting process to manage alone. Thankfully, there are plenty of customer service training materials available online. We've gathered some of our favorites below.

Learn everything you need to know to get started with the HubSpot Service Hub.

1. Customer Service Training Manual [ Download for Free ]

customer-service-training-manual

Aligning your team with universal training documentation is an assured way to inform new hires of their roles, goals, and expectations.

You can use this free customer support training manual template to build a customizable business manual.

training outline for customer service

New Hire Guide

This part of the template allows you to welcome your new customer service reps and give them an overview of the team. It also lets you warmly greet them and get them excited about their new role.

Customer service reps are one of the roles with the highest turnover , so you want to get them started on the right foot.

This short, flexible section allows you to give ballpark dates for when certain parts of the training will start and end.

Later in the manual, you can provide a more detailed 100-day plan with specific milestones, but this section will help you set the stage and establish expectations.

Tech and Software Setup

Your reps will need to leverage many tools to get their job done efficiently, but you don't want them to feel overwhelmed. Feelings of overwhelm can quickly lead to burnout.

Use this section to outline where they can get a monitor and headset, which customer service software and CRM they'll use, and how to access and set up each tool.

Remember that camaraderie we were talking about earlier? You should strive to foster that starting from the training period.

Giving your reps a list of people to schedule "coffee chats" with can help them get acquainted with the team more quickly. This is especially important if your customer service team is remote.

A strong 100-day or 30-60-90-day plan can get your rep started on the right foot and give them guidelines for how they should perform by a certain date. No rep wants to be hired and feel like they have to perform perfectly on the first day.

Reassure your reps that they'll be "ramped up" to full performance standards by outlining what will be expected of them as time goes on.

Feedback and Reviews

Providing feedback as you train your customer service rep is essential for ensuring their success. This section lets you set dates for checking in with your new rep to let them know how they're doing.

These meetings don't have to be formal, but you should know how to conduct a performance appraisal before starting one.

Interacting with Customers

In this section of the manual template, you can provide concrete guidelines for handling customer inquiries and complaints.

Here, you can provide a few guidelines for fostering a positive customer service tone during the call. You might also link to your customer service scripts and/or role-play scenarios.

Escalation Framework

A top-performing customer service rep knows when to escalate a problem to someone who can deal with it more effectively. This part of the manual gives your new reps guidance on when to do just that.

Consider including a chart and scenarios when escalation is necessary to keep the customer (and your rep) happy. Remember, if your service rep feels forced to deal with a situation that is out of their hands, everyone suffers.

Product FAQ

While you should hold a dedicated product training during your new hire onboarding process , you should still include an easy-to-reference section with FAQs about your product.

This part will address any product questions that may come up as the rep gets acquainted with the product they'll provide support for. It should also provide quick answers to frequent support questions.

Resources for Success

Leave the customer service rep with a list of tools that will help them more effectively ramp up and get acquainted with the ins and outs of their role.

You can include logistical information here — such as a link to your documents about PTO — and also inspirational materials, such as a video from the CEO.

2. Customer Service Training Courses

Online customer service training courses teaching vital skills can be a great addition to your training program.

As self-led seminars, employees take ownership of their training and are exposed to skills and competencies outside the organization.

Below is a short list of some free customer service training courses for your team.

1. Delivering Exceptional Customer Support by HubSpot

customer service training, delivering exceptional customer service

This short course from HubSpot will acquaint your reps with key competencies and tactics for delivering support your customers will praise you for.

It's a quick course — less than an hour long — making it an ideal and convenient addition to your training schedule. You could even get your entire customer service team in one room and play it for them at once.

The course is split into three sections:

  • Understanding customer support competencies. Your reps will learn the basic skills they need to deliver excellent support and how to improve those skills continuously.
  • Support case framework. Your reps will learn how to structure their approach to each case to resolve customer issues more effectively.
  • Managing your time as a customer support rep. Time management is the lifeblood of a strong workflow. In this short lesson, reps will learn how to increase their productivity.

2. Customer Service Training by Alison

customer service training, customer service training

Alison is a digital education hub that offers free courses and paid certifications on various skills. Its customer service training course is geared towards beginners in the field, so it's a perfect place to start.

This course will give your employees an understanding of essential customer service factors and help them understand how to deliver a customer-friendly approach that's best for your business needs.

They'll also learn the benefits of providing excellent service and cover a few do's and don'ts when dealing with customers.

3. Culture of Services: New Perspective on Customer Relations by edX

customer service training, Culture of Services: New Perspective on Customer Relations

Like Alison, edX is another digital learning platform offering free courses.

They partner with universities worldwide, such as Berkeley, Harvard, and the University of Kyoto — the school to which the Culture of Services: New Perspective on Customer Relations course is presented.

This course focuses on customer service's social and cultural aspects and takes 9 to 11 weeks to complete. Throughout the course, your employees will be exposed to various services — such as sushi bars, restaurants, hotels, and apparel.

They'll study customer service's "nuanced and paradoxical nature" and learn how to approach it from a cultural and social perspective.

4.  Customer Service Training  by GoSkills

Customer Service Training-1

GoSkills, an innovative online learning platform, is dedicated to helping organizations and individuals worldwide acquire essential business skills.

Their customer service training, led by the dynamic David Brownlee, goes beyond generic courses. It offers engaging lessons such as "Psychology of Your Company," "Verbal and Nonverbal Cues," and "Anticipate Customer Needs," among others. These lessons are designed to be concise, with durations of 3-6 minutes, allowing learners to complete the video content within an hour and a half. Additionally, each lesson is accompanied by supplementary exercises to reinforce learning.

Your team can access this invaluable course through a free trial or via your organization's GoSkills Courses or GoSkills Platinum plan. It's also important to note that all GoSkills courses are CPD-accredited, ensuring the highest standard of professional development.

5. Innovative Customer Service Techniques by LinkedIn Learning

customer service training, Culture of Services: Innovative Customer Service Techniques

LinkedIn Learning is an award-winning online education platform run by the most popular professional social media platform. It primarily teaches digital and business-related skills.

The Innovative Customer Service Techniques course is created and presented by customer service expert Jeff Toister and consists of a short 45-minute video.

Your employees can access the course through a seven-day free trial or join LinkedIn Learning's paid membership.

6. Bonus: Business Courses by Treehouse

customer service training, Culture of Services: Business Courses

Treehouse is another online course library, but the program requires a paid membership.

HubSpot uses Treehouse for our own customer support and service training. Treehouse offers courses on soft skills and others that may contribute to overall customer service education.

3. Customer Service Training Games

Using games and activities can make customer service training much more fun.

Whether they require materials like a whiteboard or simply involve your team, games are a way to teach valuable skills while encouraging teamwork and collaboration between your employees.

Check out these free, quick-and-easy games to play during customer support and service training:

  • Fun and Powerful Training Games for Customer Service Teams by UserLike
  • Free Customer Service Training Games by BusinessTrainingWorks

4. Customer Service Training Videos

Sometimes it's valuable to incorporate outside insight or perspective during customer service training.

Best of all, it's not something you have to do on your own. Videos from thought leaders and industry experts are powerful additions to your customer service training programs.

Here's an example of a well-made, valuable customer service training video. Also, check out this post for more videos .

Customer Service Training Video Example

In this 12-minute video, business coach and consultant David Brownlee explains the essentials of customer service in friendly, easy-to-understand language. With over 4,000 likes, the value of this video speaks for itself.

Brownlee is an expert in the customer service field and advocates for creating relationships of trust and loyalty with customers, promoting customer care versus simple service.

Grow Better With Customer Service & Support Training

Consumers view customer service as the test of how much a company truly values them.

Roughly three out of every four customers view their interactions with customer service as more important than marketing or sales — and it's why customer service is such an important engine for growth.

With your customer service team on the front lines of customer service and retention, they need to be properly trained and equipped to handle any challenge that comes their way.

Execute these customer service and support training ideas, and your customers and employees will be more satisfied overall.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in July 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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customer service assignment

Christine Churchill

Step-by-step guide to creating a customer service manual.

  • June 27, 2022
  • | Customer Service Training

Have you recently been promoted to a Customer Service Manager role? Or are you hoping to get a promotion soon? If so, you may be looking for ways to convey customer service standards and best practices to your team. However, you may be unsure how to begin documenting this. That’s where a customer service manual comes in. A manual is a must-have for anyone in a customer service management position!

What is a Customer Service Manual?

A Customer Service Manual is a visually appealing book (or e-Book)  that your employees can refer to for guidelines and resources that help them be successful at their job. It should include a comprehensive training section that addresses common customer care best practices and internal policies. It should also include how you want your employees to handle problems such as product returns, complaints, and service issues. For best results, create an interactive document that can be used for live training as well as an ongoing reference guide. 

Your manual should also outline the importance of service excellence, your organization’s history and culture, onboarding and training timeframes and expectations, customer service protocols and best practices, and guidance for “what if” situations. Let’s go over some suggested modules to help you get started. 

What to Include

Guidelines and protocols will vary from company to company depending on what sector you’re in, and the size of your company. For instance, protocols for an insurance company will differ from those in a hospitality business. Nonetheless, there are some basic standards and principles that are common across all businesses and sectors, which we’ll go over.

  • The Importance of Customer Service Excellence – Your manual should begin with a definition of customer service, customer service best practices, and what it means to provide service excellence. It is important to reiterate why service excellence is so important for business success – both externally and internally. Use motivational quotes by customer service experts to inspire and motivate your staff. Here is one of our favorites: 
“You’ll never have a product or price advantage again. They can be too easily duplicated. But a strong customer service culture cannot be copied.”

  – Jerry Fritz, Motivational Speaker, and Author

  • Company Mission Statement and Overview – Next, provide a section about your company’s mission statement , core values, products or services, history, and future goals. Give examples of how service excellence has helped your company grow.
  • Company Structure – Use a chart or other visual to present the company hierarchy so employees are aware of how the company is structured, and what type of management it has. Clearly explain the relationship between employees, supervisors, and any other direct reports. 
  • Employee Expectations – It is very important to reiterate your expectations for all employees (not only customer service employees) and why it is important for them to align with the company’s core values. Setting clear expectations , in writing, will reduce workplace ambiguity and make it easier for new hires to assimilate and align..
  • Employee Onboarding and Training – Expectations are reinforced by providing a thorough orientation and training program. Your manual should include onboarding timeframes, training overview, customer service training program , completion and re-certification timeframes, deadlines, and assessment programs. 
  • The Customer Journey – Every employee needs to understand the customer journey . That is, from the time a customer first starts researching your product or service until they complete a purchase and beyond. A visual such as the example of a flowchart below would be very helpful in conveying the customer experience through the various stages.

customer service assignment

  • Customer Service Protocols – Essential “do’s and dont’s” should be outlined in customer service protocols. These protocols should cover everything from basic communication with customers (eg: scripts for how to address customers, tone of voice if speaking on the phone, email etiquette, and so on) to personal presentation and grooming to more complex scenarios such as what to do when a customer gets upset, how and when to escalate an issue to a manager, finding ways to go beyond the call to delight customers, and so on. This section should also include internal customer service protocols, i.e. how to interact with and serve co-workers and managers.
  • Advocating for Customers  – Every customer service employee should be given the role of an advocate for customers . Their job is to make sure customers have an outstanding experience . If they notice any flaws in service, systems, or processes that affect customers, there should be a guideline on how to share or report this. Similarly, any signs of customer frustration at any touchpoint should be brought to management’s attention. 
  • Customer Fandom – If the goal is to provide service excellence, then the goal should also be to find ways to delight your customers . Studies have shown a direct correlation between customer delight and what is known as customer fandom . Why should this be included in a customer service manual? Because customers who are delighted with a business are more than happy to help promote their product or service. Think of some favorite brands such as Apple, Nike, Disney, Starbucks – or your favorite band! Use this section to invite feedback from employees on how to create fun and engaging customer marketing campaigns.

These tips should go far in helping you create an amazing customer service manual that is informative, helpful, and inspiring for your team. One thing that’s important to bear in mind: Any manual you create is not carved in stone! It needs to be a constant ‘work in progress’ that evolves with the ever-changing needs and preferences of customers . Your manual – not to mention your service strategies, policies, systems, and training programs – could be thought of as a customer journey “map” but one that follows the direction of your customers.

Additional Resources:

5 Skills Of An Excellent Customer Service Manager

The Importance Of Supplementing Employee Orientation With Customer Service Training

How To Achieve Service Excellence For Your Business – 6 Important Steps

Customer Care Begins At Home

Creating Fandom With Customer Service

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The Best Three Customer Ticket Assignment Strategies

This lesson will be perfect for those who feel they’re losing control when handling tickets. Losing control means that tickets are hung up in the ticketing system. When you get down to the last one, 10 more show up. It’s easy to be frustrated because, after all, you can’t take care of them all at once even though you wish you could.

Many factors come into play when deciding in which order you should handle customer service tickets. You can focus on the topic, customer type, request difficulty level, SLA details, and more. The first step is the hardest. Let’s see how to reduce the number of customer tickets and assign them fairly and in line with an agent’s skills.

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What is a customer service ticket?

Before you get into ticket assignment strategies, let’s agree on a common definition of a customer service ticket that I’ll use many times in this article.

A support ticket is a term used to describe the interaction between a customer and a customer service representative. The support ticket is created in the ticketing software when a customer has an issue and asks the company for help. Every word the customer includes in the message is turned into a virtual query so that the support team can read and respond to it. When an agent solves the ticket, they can close it and call it a success.

Tickets can come from various communication channels starting with live chat, social media, email, and a forum, and ending with a  contact form  or the customer support portal you have on your company’s website. A new ticket in your system is the beginning of a conversation with your customer. Every conversation gets its own unique ticket number. The ticket number makes it easier to manage information, track the customer’s history, and search for cases in your database.

The customer service ticket  and  ticket number  are the most commonly used phrases between customer service reps. These are technical phrases that apply to almost any customer service technology or tool. If you give the customer conversation a ticket number, you turn real people’s problems into online and evidence-based requests. So, you number customers and their questions, not to offend or dehumanize them, but to serve them properly.

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How do you handle support tickets?

The customer service ticket is an essential element of any customer service job. You can use it to create, update, and, hopefully, solve your customers’ questions or concerns. At this point, you need to make sure that all of the tickets always land in one place, preferably in  ticketing software  that allows you to:

Keep the conversation going. Ticketing software enables conversations between people looking for solutions and people who can help them.

Manage the work of your customer service team and split responsibilities between the  first and second support lines .

Automate your repetitive tasks and save time on more complex customer cases. Ticketing software can be a huge timer saver.

Keep customer information organized and up to date.

Give the best customer experience. With ticketing software, you always respond on time and your messages look beautiful and personal.

You already know from this brief description that you need ticket management software to manage your tickets. There’s no doubt about it. So, let’s get to the actual handling of support tickets, and let me explain the whole process in a nutshell. Here’s an eight-step roadmap to properly handle customer cases.

1. Get details on the case

Carefully read the content of the message the customer wrote to you. See what wording they used to describe the problem or ask a question. Is it neutral or perhaps negative? Once you know this, it’ll be easier to move on to your action plan’s next steps.

Also, if you serve the B2B market, see if the recipient’s email address can give you detailed information about the company and industry. This will make it easier for you to understand the problem. You can also focus on which communication channel the ticket came from and decide which channel is worth supporting first based on its popularity.

2. Set status

Setting the correct ticket status is critical. If you set an improper status, it’ll have a negative impact on the customer experience. If you don’t set any status, it can result in an inefficient ticket handling process. The ticket can go unanswered, or agents can duplicate their efforts. There’s nothing worse than wasting valuable time. Keep your tickets up to date and visible to the customer service team to ensure your tickets move along in the queue. There are six main statuses that you can use during your process of solving customers’ tickets:

When a new ticket is created in the ticketing system, it gets an “Open” status. Tickets with an “Open” status should be answered as soon as possible. This status means that no agent has yet addressed the customer’s case, and they’re still waiting for your response. Respond to the customer to let them know that you’re on your way to take care of their case.

When you respond to an open ticket, its status will automatically change to “Pending.” Tickets get a “Pending” status whenever you’re waiting for a response from a customer or additional input or information so that you can proceed. If the customer responds, the ticket will go back to “Open” status.

A ticket with an “On hold” status is a case that cannot be completed right away. This means that the customer service agent needs to consult with someone on the team or another department about the issue. Select the “On hold” status to ensure you get back to the customer when you have the answer and the best solution.

Mark a ticket as “Solved” when you’re 100% sure that you’ve provided the customer with the necessary answers and left them satisfied with the outcome of the conversation. After that, move on because many other cases need to end up with this status in your ticketing software.

There can be times when someone sends you a collaboration proposal or a message with information that isn’t a question or challenge for your team. You can briefly reply to such requests, and then mark them as “Closed.” This way, the issue has been resolved, and you won’t send an  automated feedback request  again.

The “Spam” status is reserved for malicious or other unnecessary messages you don’t need to deal with.

Six statuses for customer service tickets: Open, Pending, On hold, Solved, Closed, Spam.

3. Set the priority

Ticket priority levels are terms used by the support team to determine how quickly an agent should handle a customer service ticket. Priority levels drive the urgency for customer service teams, and they’re tied to the next steps in escalating the case.

There are four levels of priority in ticketing software:

You need to define the priority level so that your team knows what priority to give to a ticket by just looking at the content of the message, the type of customer asking the question, or any other attribute. Also, by prioritizing tickets, you can decide on the response and resolution time for a particular ticket.

Example of response and resolution time for a given ticket priority.

4. Tag the case

Tags are simple words that customer support teams use to add more context to a customer case. Support teams use tags to label similar tickets with keywords, categorize them, and group them. You can create different tags for quick customer support, such as:

Product request

Tags are also an excellent basis for  filtering tickets  and implementing automated workflows to speed things up.

5. Add the responsible team

You know that the best strategy is to create a  tiered customer service structure  that establishes first and second customer service lines in your company. This way, you have first-line agents on your team who “pick up” tickets and then escalate them to the appropriate support hero or department. This person should know the responsibilities of each team as well as their strengths and weaknesses.

For example, a first-line agent can scan a ticket and then assign it to a department that deals with the warehouse and specializes in handling shipping and return policies. This agent can also assign a ticket to a team of technical experts to resolve any issues related to your ecommerce or the website.

Use tags to define ticket categories and segment your support queue. If you assign a ticket to the right team, it can be solved quickly because it gets into the right hands from the start. Be sure to review the  customer service workflow chart  to do it right.

6. Choose the right agent

Once the ticket goes to the team, the next thing you need to do is determine the responsibility for the request. Assign the ticket to an agent from the team you selected earlier to solve the customer case successfully.

If the customer case is sensitive, you can check which agent has the best ratings on the ticket  satisfaction report . Assign the request to that particular agent to ensure that a highly rated agent serves a challenging customer.

7. Add other people involved in the case

If the customer case is complex and requires other agents’ attention, you can mention them in the message and add them as  ticket followers . They’ll be notified when something happens in the ticket and will be aware of any changes. Teamwork can solve any case.

You can also add another recipient to the message by adding  people to the loop . They’ll be included in the message chain, and they can see all the information you’ve shared.

8. Respond to the ticket

First, learn the most important things about  how to write a customer service email . This will help you avoid unfortunate  email mistakes . Then, respond to the customer ticket and include all the necessary answers, tips, and  email attachments .

What’s more, if you find the same tickets and the same issues popping up again and again, don’t repeat yourself. Next time, save your message as a  canned response , and use it to respond to every similar message. You’ll be able to save time and energy for more complex customer cases.

Try out help desk software for yourself and execute your roadmap like a pro! Sign up to HelpDesk for a free 14-day trial to deliver exceptional customer service every day.

Strategies to assign tickets to agents

Finally, you’re here! Now, let’s jump into the ticket assignment strategies. Assigning tickets to teams and agents is key to the entire ticketing process.  It’s all about the right person in the right place at the right time . There are three top-recommended assignment strategies that you can implement to make your ticket handling process tip-top.

Manual assignment

This is the simplest and most widely known strategy for assigning tickets to agents. It’s based on evaluating the ticket list case by case and then assigning each request to an agent. You can also consider the agent’s skill set when doing so.

Pros of manual assignment

Great for low ticket volume. You only have a few tickets to browse through, and it takes a few minutes.

It’s simple to assign tickets as you move down the list. A “pick ticket and choose agent” approach.

In some business cases, agent assignments can be random and don’t require much attention.

Cons of manual assignment

Impossible with a high volume of tickets. The manual process, even with the  bulk action feature , is resource intensive. Also, there can be mistakes caused by the human element or overlooking a ticket on the list.

The ticket can be assigned to the wrong agent. This can happen due to a lack of knowledge about the agent’s abilities or poorly identifying the ticket’s topic.

Letting agents choose which customer tickets to work on can result in cherry-picking the easiest ones.

Supervisor assignment

Another strategy for assigning tickets is to have them set by a supervisor or an admin. Tickets can be assigned by the most experienced support expert who knows the customer service team well and can allocate work and tasks fairly.

Pros of supervisor assisted assignment

Meeting stringent SLAs. The supervisor knows customer categories and, based on that, can dictate how tickets should be handled in the queue.

A visible leader on the team. The supervisor keeps their finger on the pulse of the team and is personally responsible for the  customer support workflow . There’s no chaos surrounding the information or the diffusion of responsibility.

Total team mobilization and the solid performance of duties. Agents trust the supervisor’s decisions and believe in their growth plan. The morale of support agents is high because they know they have the right skills to meet challenges.

Cons of supervisor assisted assignment

The supervisor spends time assigning tickets instead of on the management of the customer service team.

The customer service team is dependent on the supervisor, and agents can’t decide for themselves how to get down to business. They’re always looking for their leader’s move.

The ticket response time increases if agents wait for instructions from a supervisor.

Automated assignment

As a customer support agent, you can admit that there are parts of your job that are tedious and boring. However, there’s a solution that allows you to automate the routine parts of your support work. Use automated workflows to boost your productivity and respond swiftly to every customer message while still preserving the human touch.

Automated workflows are simple, and now I’m going to convince you of that. All you need to do to start automating ticket assignments is set up some “if this, then that” rules in your ticketing system, and then you’re done.

A simple explaination of automated workflows.

Pros of automated assignment

Elimination of the tedious and repetitive parts of a customer service agent’s job.

Achieving superhuman speed and efficiency in customer service. Automation ensures that tickets can be assigned and answered in seconds.

Minimizing the occurrence of human mistakes and giving precision to every action.

Cons of automated assignment

Things happen behind your back, and you can’t fully control them. You can experience a fear of missing out on something.

Advanced and multi-stage automation can sometimes be misconfigured.

Customers can realize that they’re being served automatically and stop trusting the brand. This can happen through inadequate personalization and low quality messaging.

Bring these three ticket assignment strategies to your business. Sign up to HelpDesk for a free 14-day trial to assign tickets in a way that fits your needs.

Now you know three strategies for assigning tickets to agents to improve ticket management in your business. Let’s recap everything you learned in this lesson:

Always have a plan for serving your customer. There’s no room for being spontaneous. Use our eight-step action plan to handle support tickets.

Keep things organized during customer service because it’s easy to get lost. It’s best to have one source of truth and one point of communication with a customer in the form of a ticketing system. You’ll see the difference right away when you go from a shared email inbox as a team to simple ticketing software that’s packed with features.

There are three main strategies for assigning customer service tickets: manual, with supervisor assistance, and automated. I can’t say that one tops the others. It’s always a good idea to use a combination of them to get the best results.

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  • Performance

What is Customer Service Evaluation? [with examples]

Even though the customer service you are currently offering may already hit the mark, there are always areas for improvement. If you are not evaluating your service reps’ performance then you’re missing vital opportunities for growth, and also doing your employees a disservice. 

August 25, 2022

7 mins read

Delivering high quality customer service is essential for businesses who want to differentiate themselves and win over loyal, satisfied customers. You have the opportunity to positively impact customer retention and increase profits. The quality of customer service your business offers is strongly dependent on the skills and knowledge of the staff you employ to serve customers. 

Customer service is important because: 

  • 68% of customers will pay more for products and services from a brand that offers great customer service experiences
  • 86% of customers who receive good customer service go from one-time purchases to long-term brand advocates
  • 89% of customers are likely to buy again after a positive customer service experience

So, now we are convinced of the value of customer service within your business, it’s time to turn our attention to how that service can be improved with customer service evaluation.

You need to know that your staff can offer these great customer service experiences to generate more sales and increase revenue. That’s why performance evaluations for customer service staff are essential for high-performing teams who want to retain customers in the long-term. 

What is a customer service evaluation?

A customer service evaluation is an assessment of your customer service representative’s performance when it comes to delivering customer service during a specific period. It takes into account the representative’s customer service skills and knowledge, ability to solve problems, and manner with the customer. It evaluates how the employee has contributed to the business and highlights strengths and weaknesses in their performance.

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Taking the time to evaluate customer service is an objective and constructive method of identifying where your service reps have done well and how their service could be improved. 

A customer service evaluation can be conducted on a monthly, quarterly or yearly business, tracking the service rep’s progress against key business goals. It can help them identify areas for professional development and how they can grow within the business.  

6 ways to do a customer service performance evaluation

1. conduct surveys with customers.

One of the fastest and easiest ways to find out how an agent is performing is to conduct surveys with customers after their customer service experience. The advantage of this method is you get direct and qualitative feedback about the agent almost as soon as they have completed the interaction. 

You can use surveys such as Customer Satisfaction Score to gauge how satisfied the customer was with the service they received. Asking customers how they feel about the business can also identify areas for improvement in the entire customer service experience.

Customer service surveys are best conducted immediately after the service interaction, while the details are still fresh in the customer’s mind. 

2. Review customer service correspondence

Emails and chat messages are a rich source of data to help you find out how your customer service agents are performing during customer requests. Make it a point to review correspondence with customers, and highlight areas of excellent customer service as well as things that could have gone better. 

Correspondence between agents and customers is useful because the evidence is right there on the screen. You can go through messages line by line. 

Customer service representatives should be made aware that their communications will be monitored to motivate them to deliver only the best standard of customer service. You will be able to analyze whether agents are sticking to the company script and whether the tone they are using with customers is on-brand. 

3. Use mystery shoppers

Mystery shoppers or secret shoppers can be a great way for companies to evaluate the overall quality of customer experience being offered. Customer service representatives won’t be told who the mystery shoppers entering the store or calling in the phone line will be, so the mystery shopper is likely to gain an accurate picture of a typical customer service experience. 

A mystery shopper is someone who is unknown to the service rep, but has a professional understanding of customer service. 

Mystery shoppers are well-trained in assessing the level of service that they have received, and can provide highly useful and actionable feedback on what areas could be improved. When the interaction is finished, they can complete a questionnaire that includes specific and measurable feedback. 

4. Track and measure KPIs

No performance evaluation is complete without bringing KPIs into the picture. KPIs are measurable goals for your customer service team and every service rep should be made aware of them. KPIs can include Time to First Response (how long it takes service reps to first get back to customers), Average Handle Time (how long it takes for service reps to solve an issue) and First Contact Resolution Rate (how often a customer’s issue is solved in a single service interaction). 

KPIs are a good way to bring your customer service department together and measure performance against a shared standard. 

KPIs give you concrete data against which your service rep’s performance can be assessed. Progress can be tracked over time so you can see how the individual might be improving. KPIs are an objective way to gain insight and should be aligned with company goals. 

5. Monitor phone calls

Telephone calls are still a vital way for customers to get in touch with the business, and a service rep’s phone manner should be scrutinized as part of their customer service evaluation. Telephone calls should be recorded and the service rep asked to look back at their own calls to identify what went well and what could be improved. 

Listening back to customer service telephone calls can be uncomfortable but they are an important way to assess performance and ensure you are meeting customer expectations. 

Recording customer phone calls is valuable because it makes service reps more conscious of the service they are offering. Evaluating their telephone service gives reps actionable insight into how they are performing and how they might do better in the future. 

6. Engage with the employee

Engaging directly with the customer service representative about how they feel they are performing is a critical way to conduct a customer service performance evaluation. Agents should feel fully involved in the whole review process, as they are often best placed to identify their own strengths and weaknesses. 

No customer service evaluation is complete without input from the agent. Every evaluation should be conducted as a dialogue. 

This can be part of customer service self-evaluation, which we’ll go into in a later section. 

10 useful customer service evaluation phrases to use

Positive customer service evaluation phrases.

  • Jeremy demonstrates high levels of empathy when dealing with customers, allowing them to form a relationship while he deals with their issue. 
  • Jane always goes the extra mile for customers to ensure they are satisfied, and provide a permanent resolution to their problem. 
  • Katie has very strong verbal communication skills and is always able to convey to the customer the best way to solve their issue. 
  • Agnes always has a positive attitude when it comes to dealing with customers, and never shows her frustration even in the most difficult calls. 
  • Deborah is particularly good at dealing with upset customers, bringing them to a point where they feel satisfied with the business. 

Constructive customer service evaluation phrases

  • James needs to be aware of his tone with customers because he sometimes comes across as overly critical and argumentative. 
  • Denise needs to work on treating customers as individuals rather than a number to get through. 
  • Boris could work on being more professional with customers, as his manner might be considered disrespectful by some. 
  • Leslie needs to improve her knowledge of the company’s products and services in order to deliver a better standard of service to customers. 
  • Vera asks for help on every customer service ticket and doesn’t know how to solve problems on her own. 

What is customer service self-evaluation?

A customer service self-evaluation is when the customer service representative intentionally reviews his or her performance in relation to helping customers. The individual might also receive an evaluation from their manager, but a self-evaluation uses their own perception and insight to identify strengths and weaknesses. 

Your self-evaluation is a chance to practice self-reflection and share what you think your wins are as well as your unique challenges. Agents can communicate to their managers what their professional aspirations are and how they think they can contribute to the business. 

A customer service self-evaluation because it opens up the channels of communication between managers and their teams. Agents can discuss what they are dissatisfied with, and get help if needed. 

9 customer service self-evaluation examples

Actionable behaviors.

  • Now we have invested in a new help desk, I will take time to learn the system so I can better assist our customers. 
  • When I run into problems in the future, I will make sure to ask my colleagues for help. 
  • I will improve my attitude towards customers by ensuring that I come across in a friendly and helpful manner. 

Identifying weaknesses

  • I tend to crumble when dealing with a difficult customer as I don’t feel confident in my ability to resolve the situation. 
  • One of my weaknesses is being too proud to ask for help and the quality of my work suffers because of it. 
  • My technical knowledge of the product is an area that could benefit from improvement. 

Job performance with evidence

  • I closed 25% more tickets than I closed last quarter, which represents a significant improvement. 
  • My customer satisfaction score is at 95%, which is exactly on target for the business. 
  • I managed to sell 25 cross-sells in the last quarter which is 50% higher than the company average. 

Customer service evaluation checklist

  • Put in place goals that relate to the customer service evaluation
  • Make sure the agent is aware of expectations for performance
  • Identify critical KPIs to help analyze performance
  • Review correspondence between agents and customers
  • Monitor customer phone calls and reflect on achievements
  • Survey customers for qualitative feedback
  • Engage mystery shoppers to evaluate the level of service
  • Involve employees in their evaluations
  • Ask employees for a customer self-service evaluation
  • Identify areas for professional and personal development
  • Catalog strengths and weaknesses on the part of the individual agent
  • Discuss performance with the agent and get their input
  • Set targets for improvement

Wrapping up

Employees are more highly engaged when they feel like their work matters, and the company is invested in their development. 

Offering feedback to your service reps means they can continue to develop both personally and professionally, and allows you to raise the standard of customer service across the board. Service reps who understand their own strengths and weaknesses are able to objectively raise their performance and engage more effectively with customers. 

Catherine is a content writer and community builder for creative and ethical companies. She often writes case studies, help documentation and articles about customer support. Her writing has helped businesses to attract curious audiences and transform them into loyal advocates. You can find more of her work at https://awaywithwords.co.

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Measuring Customer Perception: How to Do It

Routing and assigning customer service cases

The case routing feature uses matching rules and\n assignment rules to identify customer service cases that meet certain conditions and then route\n those cases to customer service agents.

Create one or more matching rules that establish specific conditions that a\n case must meet before it can be routed to an agent. Then use an assignment rule to route\n those cases to agents based on product knowledge and availability. You can also invoke the\n MatchingRuleProcessor API to execute the matching rules and return a list of users\n (sys_ids).

Watch this five-minute video to learn about creating an assignment rule, the assignment\n workbench, and advanced work assignment. This video covers various aspects of configuration for routing and assignment\n including creating assignment rules, the assignment workbench and advanced work\n assignment. \n

Matching Rules

Matching rules are based on two defined sets of conditions, one that\n identifies specific case attributes and another that identifies the agent resources best\n suited to handle cases with these attributes. Matching rules are created using the Matching\n Rule form.

To identify case attributes, select a table that stores the task type (for example, the\n Case table) and then use a condition builder to create one or more conditions that a case\n must meet before being routed. For example, you can build conditions for a specific account\n and product or for a specific product and priority level.

  • Simple : select the resource name from a list of users.
  • Advanced : build conditions that filter the available agent\n resources. These conditions can be based on user role, agent group, specific skills,\n work load, or agent availability.
  • Scripted : create a customized script to identify agent\n resources.

Assignment Rules

  • The table for the task type and the conditions that must be met before the task is\n assigned.
  • The user or the group to which the task is assigned.
  • Invoke the MatchingRuleProcessor API \nAfter you create one or more matching rules, you can invoke the MatchingRuleProcessor API and run the rules.
  • Reverse matching \nReverse matching uses the same matching rules to match tasks to a resource rather than resources to a task.
  • Assignment rules module

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Assignment methods in unified routing

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Use assignment methods to determine how to assign work items. You can use the out-of-the-box assignment methods or build custom assignment rules by configuring the prioritization rules and assignment rulesets.

How auto assignment works

The auto-assignment process in unified routing matches incoming work items with the best-suited agents based on the configured assignment rules. This continuous process consists of multiple assignment cycles and a default block size of work items.

Each cycle picks up the top unassigned work items in the applicable default block size and attempts to match each work item with an appropriate agent. Work items that aren't assigned to agents because of unavailability of agents or right skill match wasn't found are routed back to the queue.

The next assignment cycle picks up the next block of the top-priority items that includes new work items.

When eligible agents aren't found for the work items, the assignment cycle keeps retrying to assign the top number of default sized block items as applicable for the channel.

For digital messaging and voice, the default block size is 100 work items of top priority.

For records channel, each assignment cycle prioritizes up to 2000 work items and processes them in a block size of 500.

Cross-queue prioritization isn't available in unified routing.

For more information, see best practices to manage queues .

Types of assignment methods

The following assignment methods are available out of the box:

Highest capacity : Assigns a work item to an agent with the highest available capacity. This agent has the skills that are identified during the classification stage and presence that matches one of the allowed presences in the workstream. The work items are prioritized in the first-in, first-out manner—that is, the work item that was created first is assigned first. If more than one agent is available with the same capacity, the work item is assigned based on the round-robin order of the agents whose highest capacity is the same.

If you want to use skill-based routing and,

Set Default skill matching algorithm in the workstream as Exact Match , then the system filters agents using exact skill match, workstream’s presence, and capacity requirements, and orders the filtered agents by available capacity.

Set Default skill matching algorithm in the workstream as Closest Match , then the system filters agents based on the workstream's presence and capacity requirements and orders the filtered agents by closest match and not available capacity. More information: Closest match

If you need to distribute work fairly among agents, then you should consider switching to a round robin assignment strategy.

When you modify a rating model, the ongoing conversations or open work items that have skills with the rating model continue to have the existing rating. Sometimes, this might result in no agents who match the assignment criteria.

Advanced round robin : Assigns a work item to the agent who matches the criteria for skills, presence, and capacity. The initial order is based on when a user is added to the queue. Then, the order is updated based on assignments. Similar to how work items are assigned in the highest capacity method, in round robin assignment, the work items are prioritized in the first-in, first-out manner—that is, the work item that was created first is assigned first.

The ordering for round robin assignment is maintained queue wise. Some agents can be a part of multiple queues. Therefore, depending on the agent's last assignment timestamp in a queue, the agents might be assigned back-to-back or concurrent work items but from different queues.

In scenarios when multiple agents match the work item requirement, and there's a tie in the "order by", like, multiple matched agents with the same available capacity, the system resolves the assignment using round robin based on the earliest time of the last assignment.

For example, three agents, Lesa, Alicia, and Alan, are available with the coffee refund skill and can handle up to three chats at a time. Their last assignment time stamps are 10:30 AM, 10:35 AM, and 10:37 AM, respectively. A work item about a coffee refund arrives in the queue at 10:40 AM. With the order by set to "profile-based available capacity", all the agents at 10:40 AM have the same available capacity of 2 each. To break the tie between the agents, the system uses round robin. Therefore, the incoming chat is assigned to Lesa because her last assignment was the earliest at 10:30 AM. Later at 10:45 AM, if another coffee refund work item comes in, the system assigns it to Alicia. This is also based on the round robin order of assignment between Alicia and Alan because their available capacities are 2 each and Alicia had an earlier assignment than Alan at 10:35 AM.

Least active : Assigns a work item to the agent who has been least active among all the agents who match the required skills, presence, and capacity.

The assignment method uses "the time since last capacity is released for a voice call" and the wrap-up settings configured in the workstream to determine the least-active agent and route the next incoming call to them. For example, consider two agents in a queue. The first agent completes a call five minutes ago while the second agent has just completed their call. When a new call comes in, the system assigns it to the first agent who has finished their activity first.

Routing to the least-active agent assignment strategy helps in a balanced distribution of work items across agents, and results in higher agent efficiency and improved customer satisfaction.

You can also build a custom report to track an agent's "last capacity release time" and understand the assignment distribution across agents.

The least-active assignment method is available for the voice channel only and is the default selection when you create a voice queue.

This feature is intended to help customer service managers or supervisors enhance their team’s performance and improve customer satisfaction. This feature is not intended for use in making—and should not be used to make—decisions that affect the employment of an employee or group of employees, including compensation, rewards, seniority, or other rights or entitlements. Customers are solely responsible for using Dynamics 365, this feature, and any associated feature or service in compliance with all applicable laws, including laws relating to accessing individual employee analytics and monitoring, recording, and storing communications with end users. This also includes adequately notifying end users that their communications with agents may be monitored, recorded, or stored and, as required by applicable laws, obtaining consent from end users before using the feature with them. Customers are also encouraged to have a mechanism in place to inform their agents that their communications with end users may be monitored, recorded, or stored.

You can also create a custom assignment method to suit your business needs.

Create new : Lets you create and use your own rulesets and rules to configure priority, severity, and capacity for choosing the queues to which work items need to be routed. You can create the following rulesets:

  • Prioritization rulesets : Lets you define the order in which the work items are assigned to agents when they're available to take more work.
  • Assignment rulesets : Represent a set of conditions that are used to select agents and use an order by option to sort the matching agents.
  • You must configure presence, capacity, and skill-matching rules in the custom assignment method because the default settings defined for the workstream won't be used in custom assignment method.
  • The out-of-the-box assignment strategies don't consider the agent operating hours. You must write a custom assignment method by using the "is_working" operator in the rule definition.

Assignment cycle

Assignment cycle is the prioritization of work items, their selection, and their assignment to the best-suited agent based on the assignment rules. Unified routing optimizes the assignment cycles across the multiple queues in the organization for best performance.

The assignment cycle starts with one of the following triggers:

  • Arrival of a new work item in the queue.
  • Change to agent presence.
  • Updates to agent capacity.
  • Addition of an agent to the queue.
  • Periodic trigger every five minutes for record type of work item.

How prioritization rulesets work

A prioritization ruleset is an ordered list of prioritization rules. Every prioritization rule represents a priority bucket in the queue. In a prioritization rule, you can specify a set of conditions and order by attributes. During evaluation, the prioritization rules are run in the order they're listed. For the first prioritization rule, the work items in the queue that match its conditions are put in the same priority bucket. In the priority bucket, the items are further sorted by the order specified in the prioritization rule. The second rule runs on the rest of the items in the queue, to identify the next priority bucket, and sorts the bucket by the Order by attribute until all rules are evaluated.

You can create one prioritization ruleset only per queue.

As an example, consider the prioritization ruleset as seen in the following screenshot with four rules.

Screenshot of a prioritization scenario.

During any assignment cycle, this prioritization ruleset runs, and the rules within the ruleset run in the order they're listed.

The first rule, "High priority and premium," finds all work items in the queue where the associated case priority is "High" and the case category is "Premium". The system creates the top priority bucket with those work items and sorts them in the "First in and first out" manner as specified in the Order by attribute. The first work item to be assigned from the queue is the oldest item in this bucket.

The next priority bucket is the work items where case category is "Premium". The work items with "Premium" case category and "High" priority have already been put in top bucket as per the preceding rule, so this rule only considers other work items with "Premium" case priority. The Order by attribute in this case also is "First in and first out".

The next priority bucket consists of work items where case priority is high and they haven't been bucketed already. Here the work items are ordered by their "First Response By" field in the ascending order—that is, the work items that require the first response at the earliest are prioritized first.

Some important points about prioritization rules are as follows:

  • You can create only one prioritization ruleset per queue.
  • Prioritization rules are run during every assignment cycle. If you change any attributes of the work item, such as the priority of the case, that change is considered during the next assignment cycle.
  • By default, the queue is sorted on a "first in and first out" manner. If you don't create a prioritization rule, then the oldest work item is assigned first.
  • In normal scenarios, when a sufficient number of agents are available to take up the work items, the processing period is a couple of seconds only. The agents are assigned work items in the priority order. However, if work items pile up because of fewer eligible agents, and then an agent becomes available during the processing period, the agent is offered the next work item according to the priority order. This strategy might create a perception that the highest priority item wasn't assigned; especially after some top-priority items are attempted for assignment and yet remain in the queue.
  • The work items that don't match the criteria of any of the prioritization rulesets are kept in the last priority bucket, and are ordered by "first in first out".
  • Prioritization rules are skipped for affinity work items and such work items is assigned before other work items in the queue. For information about affinity, go to Agent affinity .

How assignment rulesets work

The assignment ruleset is an ordered list of assignment rules. Each assignment rule represents a set of conditions that is used to determine the agents to select and an order-by field to sort the matching agents. At runtime, the assignment rule with the top order is evaluated first. The agents are matched as per the conditions specified in the rule. If more than one matching agent exists, they're sorted by the order by field, and the top agent is assigned the work. If no agents are matched, then the next assignment rule in the ruleset is evaluated. This method can be thought of as a gradual relaxation of constraints in the assignment, such that first, the strictest criteria are applied, and then the conditions are reduced so that the best agent is found. If no matching agents are found, then the work item remains in the queue.

In the assignment rule, the system user attributes are matched with the requirement of the work item. When you select static match, the condition is formed on the System User entity attribute and static values. When you select dynamic match, the conditions on the left are based on the system user root entity and the conditions on the right are based on the conversation root entity. You can drill down to two levels on the conversation root entity to form the rule conditions. An assignment rule with the dynamic match and static match is as follows.

Screenshot of an assignment rule with dynamic match and static match conditions.

Components of an assignment rule

The assignment rules are composed of the following items:

Order : Specifies the order in which the assignment rule is evaluated in a ruleset. The lower-order rules are run first. If any rule results in matching a user, then the next set of rules isn't evaluated.

Name : The unique rule name.

Condition : The expressions that are evaluated to match the users with the attributes of incoming work. The conditions have three parts:

User attribute : Properties of the users that can be used for comparing the user with the incoming work. The user attributes can be one of the following:

  • Select attributes on the System User table.
  • Presence Status : Maintained by the unified routing service based on user workloads and manual selection.
  • Capacity : Maintained by the unified routing service based on user workloads and manual selection.
  • User skills : Represents the skills associated with the user that can be used for doing skill-based assignment.
  • Calendar Schedule : Schedule of the user as represented in the user service scheduling calendars.
  • Bot attributes : Can be used only when you have configured bots as users and want to do some comparisons on them.

Operators : Define the comparison relationship between the User attribute and incoming work item attributes.

Unified routing filters the attribute-specific operators for you to choose from. Some special operators that are available for the attribute types are as follows.

Value : The user attributes are compared against this value to find the right agent. The value can be static, such as Address 1: County equals "USA". The value can also be dynamic, so that you can compare the user attribute dynamically with the values on the work item. In dynamic values, you can select any attribute on the work item or related records. For example, the following condition finds users whose country is the same as that of the customer associated with the case.

Screenshot of a sample dynamic match.

For some operators, values aren't required. They can be conditions, such as "Contains data," "Does not contain data," and "Calendar schedule: is working."

For user skills, the values are predefined for the operators. More information: Set up skill-based routing

Order by : If multiple agents match the conditions in a rule, you can use the "Order by" clause to find the best-suited one. You can specify the following order by clauses:

Ordering Attributes :

  • Least active : Is available for voice queues only. The work item is routed to the agent who is least active among all the agents who match skills, presence, and capacity. For more information, see the Types of assignment methods section.
  • Round robin
  • Unit-based available capacity
  • Profile-based available capacity
  • Proficiency
  • Skill count

User Attributes : These attributes are defined on the system user entity.

A sample assignment rule is explained in the following scenario with a screenshot.

Sample assignment method.

The first condition specifies the "user skills" on which the operator is an exact match. Then the user attributes are evaluated. The different user attributes are specified with operators, and values for each attribute, such as the Presence status attribute, should be equal to "Available" or "Busy". On the right of the operator, you can specify the value that you want the attribute to be matched against. The values can be "static," such as "presence status equals Available or Busy". If you specify "dynamic," the condition is matched at runtime based on the expression you specify. For example, if you specify "Preferred Customer Type Equals Conversation.Contact.Membership Level," the "preferred customer type" of every agent is matched against the dynamically calculated membership level of the customer associated with the chat.

Dynamic match reduces the effort of having to write and maintain multiple static rules for each permutation and combination of the possible value.

Limits on offering a work item repeatedly to an agent

When agents are offered a work item through automatic assignment, they typically can accept or decline. Both rejection and time out of the notification is considered as a decline. An agent who declines the same work item thrice won't be considered for further auto assignment for the specific work item. The system tries to offer the declined work item to other agents in the queue if they're eligible.

For example, agent Serena Davis rejects a chat from customer Ana Bowman twice and the assignment notification times out in the third attempt. The system considers it as three declines and auto assignment won't offer the same chat to Serena Davis again. But the system offers the chat from Ana Bowman to other eligible agents. Also, Serena Davis is considered for other incoming conversations except the declined chat from Ana Bowman.

If all matching agents decline the work item because agent availability is low or the work requires a very specific skill and proficiency, the work remains in the queue. Similarly, if 100 agents decline a particular work item, auto assignment won't consider the work item in further assignment cycles. It can be manually assigned by supervisors or can be picked up by agents including those who rejected it.

You can update the default limit of three declines to a value between one and five based on your org requirement. The limit is applicable to all channels in the org.

You can make an OData call as follows to check the limit for your organization.

<org-url>/api/data/v9.0/msdyn_omnichannelconfigurations?$select=msdyn_number_of_declines_allowed

If this OData call returns the null value, it means that the decline limit is set to a default value of 3.

You can update the OData call as follows to modify the limit.

var data = { "msdyn_number_of_declines_allowed": 3 } // update the record Xrm.WebApi.updateRecord("msdyn_omnichannelconfiguration", "d4d91600-6f21-467b-81fe-6757a2791fa1", data).then( function success(result) { console.log("Omnichannel Configuration updated"); // perform operations on record update }, function (error) { console.log(error.message); // handle error conditions } );

Configure assignment methods and rules FAQ about unified routing in Customer Service, Omnichannel for Customer Service Diagnostics for unified routing Create workstreams Create queues Set up unified routing for records Set up skill-based routing for unified routing

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Unit 3 Customer Service Assignment

Unit 3 Customer Service Assignment

Introduction

Customers play the most significant role in hospitality industry. It is very important to make sure that the customers’ requirements are met and they return back from the hotel or the restaurants satisfied and happy. In order to ensure that almost all the industries of the hospitality like hotels, restaurants, pubs, membership clubs etc. have their own customer service policies. In the essay below there will be detailed analysis of the customer service policies in hospitality industry and also its importance. It is very important that all these policies are also known to the staff members, for which communication is very important. The next section of the essay will focus on different types of communication methods and its’ uses. Then there will discussion about various methods and sources which could be used to measure the requirements of the customers so that they could be satisfied with the services. Last segment is a self-evaluation section where the role of a trainee at a fast food company will evaluated.     

Task 1 Researching Hotel Customer Service Policies      

1.1 discuss the reasons for using customer service policies.

Customer services play a very significant role in hospitality industry. It is one of the important factors which give a competitive edge to the hospitality industry. In any sub-sector of hospitality like restaurants, hotels, pubs, membership clubs etc. the customers have special expectations in terms of customer services as it is believed that these industries survive due to their customer services. There is no industry within the hospitality industry which has not got its own customer service policies. These policies are made in order to ensure that the customers do not face any problem during their trip (Andaleeb & Conway, 2006). Whether the customer is on a business trip or a holiday trip he expects it to be a comfortable and a relaxing trip.

The customer service policies are designed so that the customers could know about the point of view of hotel towards the customers. The main objective of any customer care policy is to make sure that all the customers are satisfied and they prefer to come back again. Hence it is very important that the staff and the employees of the hotel must be aware of the policies of the hotel. Almost all the hotels arrange training sessions for their employees so that they could understand the importance of customer services and also could know about the policies at the hotel.

The important reasons because of which all the hotels have their own customer service policies are as follows:

  • Customer expectations : The expectations of the customers have increased. They are not happy with a thank you, please or just with a friendly smile of a staff. Now they want something special which could be customized for them, for example prolonging the check-in or check-out time in hotel for them (Dominici & Guzzo, 2010).
  • Customer Loyalty : It is a known fact that in hotel, a pleased customer is a loyal customer. So in order to please the customer it is very important to make the policies and follow them so that all the expectations of the customer are met.
  • Provide Information: With help of policies all the required information could be made available to the customers. It is very important to be true and genuine while giving the information. Customers are really unpleased if they find that the reality does not meet the provided information.  
  • Feedback: In the policies there is always a column of feedback, which is very important. The customers should be left free to tell about their experience. This would also help the hotel management to know about the areas for improvement (Han & Ryu, 2009).  

As an example, let us talk about some customer care policies at Hotel Hilton London Green Park, which is one of the most famous and renowned hotel. Some of the customer care policies of the hotel are as following:

1.2 Discusses the purpose of evaluating a customer service and indicates how this can assist future staff training and development

Purpose of Evaluation: Whenever the policies are designed and implemented it is very important to evaluate and assess the effectiveness of those policies. For a hotel or any other hospitality industry it is very important to know whether the policies implemented by them are really working or not. There are various ways with the help of which this evaluation could be done. Some of the methods of evaluation are customer feedback, polls and opinion surveys. With the help of these methods, the hotels come to know about the customers’ point of view towards the services which they provide. The organization comes to know about their weaknesses and the areas for improvement (Hu et al, 2009).

There are various methods adopted by various hotels to know about the services. Hilton Hotel also designed few methods to get feedback from the customers. The first program is known as Hilton Honors through which they get to know about the reactions of the guests and also about their anticipations from the hotels and hospitality industries. One of the other programs is Satisfaction and Loyalty Tracking (SALT). With the help of this program they keep a record of the number of guests who return back to the hotel again and again because of the services provided to them. In order to make sure that the feedbacks are correct and reliable it is important that the data collected should be correct and there are no alterations made in them at any level. Strict and standard procedures should be followed to maintain the authenticity of the feedback given by the customers. 

Assist future staff training: The success of the customers’ services depends on the employees and the staff of the hotel. With the help of evaluation and feedback, when the weak areas are known, the next step is to ensure that the same mistakes are not repeated again. With the help of the feedbacks, a training plan could be developed which would assist the employees and staff to improve their services and know the areas where they failed to serve (Kandampully, 2007). It is very important to give the training to staff as they are the one who would be in direct contact with the customers and will make sure that all the customer care policies are implemented properly.

Even the new employees and the staff joining the hotel must be trained and informed about all the policies and procedures. There should be a provision so that the staff could get a continuous on job training. With the help of this kind of training, it will be much easier for them to learn the things and implement them immediately on the job. As mentioned earlier, the customer service policies should be given utmost importance and it should be well communicated to all the staff. This is could be done in the training sessions too, as all the members will be available together. One of the other methods of training the staff with the help of feedback is to make arrangements where the employees or the staff members could exchange their experiences with each other. Many a times, customers gives some feedbacks to the staff orally and do not give the same in written. In such cases exchange session will really be helpful for all the staff members (Kazlauskaite et al, 2006).    

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Task 2 Communication and purpose of promoting a customer-focused culture

2.1 evaluate different communication methods and how these are used to best effect.

Effective communication is very important in any industry. Hospitality industry is no exception. There are ways of communication which are adopted in different situations.

The communication method is broadly divided into two categories:

Oral or Listening Communication: This is the most common and widely used method for communicating. In this method, speaking as well as listening plays a very significant role. The speaker should make sure that he uses simple and easy words so that everyone could understand it and the listener should make sure that he not only hears the words but also understands those (Matzler et al, 2006).

There are different methods of oral or listening communication like:

Face to face communication: In this method two individuals are involved and they communicate exclusively to each other. In face to face communication there are more chances that the message is delivered clearly and understood by the person. It gives a personal touch in the communication which is very important in the hospitality industry.

Meetings: In this type of communication a group of people communicate. Everyone gets chance to speak but no one can assure that how many of the listeners are listening carefully and sincerely (Nasution et al, 2008). This method is helpful only when any point is to be discussed with everyone in the organization.

Presentations: This is a method in which only one person speaks and others listen to him. After the presentation is over, sometimes the listeners get the chance to ask questions. This method is best used when some important change in the industry is to be communicated to all.

Training: Training is the type of communication, where trainer gives the important information to the trainees. After the session there all get involved in a discussion where everyone is allowed to communicate and put his point (Olorunniwo et al, 2006). As mentioned earlier, it is best method to communicate about the policies and the required improvements to the staff.

Written Communication: Written communication is the process, in which the facts and the information are typed or hand written. This type of communication process could be helpful when the same information is needed for future reference. The different methods of written communication are through letters, emails, the training material etc. One should be very careful while making any written communication as it will always remain in records for future reference. 

Body Language: Body language comes under the non-verbal communication. In any industry or the organizations, half of the work will be done if the staff is able to understand the body language of each other as well as customers. Many a times, customers also tell their expectations with the help of their body language. But while communicating through body language one must need to be very careful because if understood in a wrong way could lead to negative results (Ryu et al, 2008). The body language includes hand gestures, head movement, facial expression etc.

The above means of communication can be divided into two categories:     

Formal Communication: The communication is said to be formal when it is done at the officially. In this method, the information flow is very precise. The formal communication could be either upward i.e. from employees to the management or downwards i.e. from management to the employees. For example, the MD of the hotel gives a presentation to the staff, it will be a downward formal communication.

Informal Communication: There are some communications which takes place inside the industry on the topic related to work but the communication is not formal, it is known as informal communication (Torres & Kline, 2006). Like the communication happening between the manager and the staff near the swimming pool related to cleanliness of the pool. 

Following chart shows the distribution of impact of various types of communication:

2.2 Analyze how customer perception is influenced by customer service provision

It is a known fact that services provided to customers are the key to the success for the hotel or any other hospitality industry. Hence it is very important to involve the customer’s outlooks, sentiments and perceptions too in order to achieve a sustainable growth and competitive edge. There are various factors which have a direct impact on the customers’ perception and since the perception of a customer is too dynamic in nature it changes with the time and experience. All the customers who come to any hotel do a proper research before making the bookings. The research are done based on the information available on the website of the hotel or various other feedback sites. After going through all the details, customers develop some expectations and perceptions about the hotel and its customer service policies. Once the customer reaches to the hotel, it the expectations do not match the perception then, it gives a negative impact on the reputation of the hotel and if it matches, then customers gets a positive impact. Hence it could be said that customers service provision do have a very strong influence on the customers perceptions (Wu & Liang, 2009).

The hotels must always try to be realistic and reasonable while putting the information on the websites. If a hotel is 3 star, it should be told the same and not as the 5 star, so that the customers develops the same perception. There are various benefits if the customer’s perceptions are met up with the services provided. The customer will be satisfied with the services and hence he will become a loyal customer for the hotel. He will prefer to come again to the same hotel. In return, hotel’s reputation will increase as the satisfied customer would give positive feedbacks about the hotel and hence the business and the profits of the hotel will increase. 

Task 3 Investigate customer requirements and expectations

3.1 assess sources of information on customer requirements such as information through customers, staffs, management, customer records and past information and satisfaction levels.

In order to make sure that the customers are satisfied and their expectations are met, it is very important to collect all the required information about the customers. Until and unless the customers’ requirements and the expectations are known it will be very difficult to serve the customers in an appropriate manner. Hence investigating about the customers’ requirement and the expectations is very important (Andaleeb & Conway, 2006). There are broadly two type of methods with the help of which the information could be gathered.

Primary Data Collection: This is a process of collecting the new information which is very specific for the purpose. In this case, the information collected will be specifically to meet the needs and satisfaction level of the customers at the hotel. The data in the primary data collection method is collected with the help of surveys and interviews. In order to do so, a set of target customers is chosen and then they are interviewed and surveyed to get the details. The surveys are done with the help of the questionnaires which consist of both closed and open ended questions. The open ended questions are included so that the customers could give their point of view (Dominici & Guzzo, 2010). The group which is being decided is known as sample. The sample size should be chosen correctly in order to get better results. The interviews could be either personal or telephonic. In the focus group method there are eight to ten people who discuss about the topic and a moderator makes a note of all the required details.

In case of hotels or any other hospitality industry the source of primary data would be group or the sample from the customers, staffs, management etc.    The primary data collection is advantageous as it is designed specifically to get details about the research. The other advantage of primary data is that the information is latest and also the source of the information is known. But there are some disadvantages as well like it is time consuming, costly and the quality of the information goes down if the questionnaire or the interview process is too lengthy (Han & Ryu, 2009). 

Secondary Data: The other method is secondary data collection method. This is the data which is been already collected previously for some other research but could be of help for the current research too. There are different types of secondary data like the internal secondary data and the external secondary data. The internal secondary data is the one which are obtained from Sales records, Client/Customer databases, Yield data, financial information etc. The external secondary data are Government Publications, Trade Journals, Periodicals, Professional associations, National Organizations, Commercial data etc.

In the case of hotels the source of secondary data would be customer records and past information from the feedbacks of the customers. The advantages of secondary data is that it takes less time and cost. It also involves less effort in comparison to primary data collection (Hu et al, 2009). But it too have its disadvantages like the collected information may not be useful for the current research, the data may be out-of-date, accuracy is not known etc. So both the information processes have their positives and negatives. Hence there are several factors on which the method will depend like the time in hand for collecting information, the budget, resources etc. The best result could be achieved with the help of a balanced mix of both the methods.             

3.2 Carry out research using customer requirements and satisfaction levels for the organization and suggesting potential improvements based on the outcome of the research

Introduction: For the research of customer requirements and customer satisfaction level, the sample chosen is the group of 15 restaurants in London. The main objective of this research is to find the customer requirements and satisfaction levels for the restaurants. In the process I also came to know about some drawbacks in the restaurants which spoil the mood or make the customers less satisfied.    

Research Methods: The research method which has been used for this research is both the primary data collection methods as well as the secondary data collection. I also collected the secondary data from various books available on hospitality industry and the restaurants (Kandampully, 2007). In case of primary data collection, after collecting the data both quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data is done. The tools used for measuring the customer satisfaction in case of primary data collection are as following:

Things to be measured: In order to get the exact result there are various factors which needs to be measured. The satisfaction level of the customers depends on various components and same is the case with the requirements. I conducted the research keeping the following components in mind.

Limitations of the research: Following are some of the limitations of the research:

  • Many of the restaurants were not included in the sample size
  • Sometimes the result vary pre and post dining
  • Many customers like to try new restaurants every time and hence they do not have any specific requirements about the services or food. They just need change every time.

Result: After all the research and analyzing the collected data the qualitative analysis shows that the customers always prefer to have the best food with good taste and prepared with hygiene. Even if the number of items are less, it is fine but the available items must be of excellent quality. They expect all the staff members to have knowledge about the items available and also about their preparation. The expectations on waiting time varied and depended on the kind of outing. Surprisingly the customers were ready to pay a bit high amount but they want the best value for their money.

Recommendations: The following recommendations could be given based on the research done above:

  • The most important thing for a customer in a restaurant is the taste of the food so the dishes should be given the most priority.
  • The customer service should be good, the staff should be polite and helpful.
  • Offers on food and beverage from time to time attract new customers and helps grow the business.

Task 4 Role play Observation

In a fast food company, the jobs are divided into customer service and the food preparation positions. The customer service includes the role of cashier and order takers. Many a times, the cashier and the order takers are same and they have to perform both the roles. Also one needs to be excellent with computer basics and communication skills. The person should be able to give all the information about the available items to the customers (Kazlauskaite et al, 2006). The fast food counters usually remain too busy and hence the person at the counter should be quick and cheerful. He should not get tensed and irritated by the hectic work schedule. The most important skill required at Fast Food Company is to have management and the organizing skills so as to insure that the customers get their orders on time.

In the role play, I played the role of a trainee whose job was to manage the cash counter and the orders for both dine in as well as take away. Since I had enough knowledge of computer I didn’t face any problem in taking the orders. I was able to take the orders and make the bills at a good speed. The next job was to get all the items and arrange them for the customer. I was quick and accurate in that too. I was able to collect various items and deliver the order to the customer. At my counter, the waiting time for the customers was less in comparison to others (Matzler et al, 2006).

Although I was able to perform my job and deliver a satisfactory service but since there is always scope for improvement I would like to make a recommendation for improvement. The quality of the service will even improve more if there will be more co-ordination in the food preparation team and the front team. There should be proper training to ensure that required co-ordination. The other recommendation is to give training to the workers at front desk on the methods with the help of which they can keep the customers engaged till the time their order is being delivered. Some of them could be like to interact with the customers and ask them about their feedback about the food and services. This will also help in getting the opinion from customers about the food and the services.

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At the end it could be concluded that customer’s satisfaction is the key to success for the hospitality industry. The hotels or any other hospitality industry do have their customers’ service policies just to make sure that they are able to serve the customers as per their need and requirement. The loyalty of the customers will increase if their requirements would be fulfilled by the hotel. It is also very important to evaluate the customer’s services so that the gap could be filled with the help of training sessions. There are different types of communication like verbal, non-verbal or the body language. They all have got their own importance, it is very important to choose the right method at the right time. In order to satisfy the customer and meet its requirement it is important to collect enough information about them. It could be done by primary data collection method or the secondary data collection method. Both methods used together and properly could give the best results.   

Andaleeb, S. S., & Conway, C. (2006). Customer satisfaction in the restaurant industry: an examination of the transaction-specific model.  Journal of Services Marketing ,  20 (1), 3-11 Dominici, G., & Guzzo, R. (2010). Customer satisfaction in the hotel industry: A case study from Sicily.  International Journal of Marketing Studies ,  2 (2), p3 Han, H., & Ryu, K. (2009). The roles of the physical environment, price perception, and customer satisfaction in determining customer loyalty in the restaurant industry.  Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research ,  33 (4), 487-510 Hu, H. H., Kandampully, J., & Juwaheer, T. D. (2009). Relationships and impacts of service quality, perceived value, customer satisfaction, and image: an empirical study.  The Service Industries Journal ,  29 (2), 111-125 Kazlauskaite, R., Buciuniene, I., & Turauskas, L. (2006). Building employee commitment in the hospitality industry.  Baltic Journal of Management ,  1 (3), 300-314

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IMAGES

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  2. Customer Service

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  3. Assignment 11

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  4. Customer Service Assignment 1

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