Customer Service Training: Role Playing

When a business wants their customer service department to be at top performance, a business would do well to spend the extra time training their representatives to handle every possible scenario. Many companies have one supervisor for every fifteen to twenty customer service representatives. If each customer service rep was to transfer just two calls per day to their supervisor, the supervisor would be averaging between thirty and forty calls per day, or up to four calls per hour they are working. Each business should have a standard practice when supervisors take over a call for a customer service representative, however, if they want to lower the amount of calls their supervisors are taking on any given day, they should invest in a training session for their representatives on role playing.

The first part of the training should be going over exactly what the customer service representative's authority is. Can they offer free merchandise? Rebates? Money back? These items should be clearly stated and explained to each representative. If a representative has the authority to do any of these things and certain criteria must be met first, all of these need to be in perfect outline format for the representative.

Once the authority of the representatives is established, the group should be split into groups of two to four people. An outline portraying each role play to be accomplished should be given to the representatives. If the business sold weight loss pills and was able to refund money to the customer, you may have an exercise to establish that the customer was taking the pills correctly. The trainers should, at this point, do an example of a role playing exercise in front of everyone before the representatives try this on their own. Once they are engaged in role playing, the trainers should visit each group individually and monitor the progress of each.

When the role playing exercises are completed by the customer service representatives, the trainers should set up a question and answer session and perhaps have someone volunteer to do a role play with the trainer. For some individuals, it is easier to learn something when they see it being done. As a test, have the trainers portray an incorrectly handled situation and have the customer service representatives point out what was done wrong and the correct way to handle the situation.

Role playing can help customer service representatives to learn how to overcome objections without conflict, understand and adapt to the behavior of the customer, and help solve the customer's issues with the company. Sometimes customer service representatives are the customer's first initial contact with the company. Any organization wants to be known for their world-class customer service and with the correct training, any company can achieve this. With the correct tools and knowledge, the customer service representative can be at top performance in no time at all.