Customer Service Compliance

Life in organisations is changing rapidly. As customer expectations continue to rise, organisations across all sectors are increasingly tasked with meeting compliance standards set by Government and international market forces that determine industry standards.  Departments and their people can no longer work in isolation from others. You and your staff are required to spend a larger roportion of your time working with other parts of the business, benchmarking performance, sharing expertise, problems and solutions. In this programme you will learn how to:

• Benchmark your product or service against those of other leading organisations
• Review and determine critical success factors and service level agreements
• Enrol the support of colleagues using excellent communication skills
• Present a high quality image to your internal customers by demonstrating your
• expertise
• Learn how to act as an internal consultant within your own organisation
• Marketing your services in the right place, at the right time and at the right price
• Manage relationships effectively with other departments

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

This programme will have broad appeal and should therefore give participants the chance to share and discuss their challenges.

It is designed for anyone in a management, advisory, internal consultancy or service role, where success depends on interacting well with other departments to meet predetermined standards The programme will be of great benefit to people new to the role, as well as more experienced officers seeking to achieve higher standards of performance and refine their client management skills.

PROGRAMME OBJECTIVES

• Get closer to your internal customers and their needs
• Build stronger relationships built on competence and trust
• Market your department’s services more effectively
• Manage client expectations and deliver results that add value
• Play a larger, more strategic role in the organisation
• Be able to measure their own function’s degree of customer focus and be able to apply a variety of tactics to get closer to the customer
• Recognise the power of approaching internal customers in the same way as external customers
• Be able to apply strategic decision making tools to their own environment
• Understand the steps in the internal consultancy cycle
• Recognise the skills required to build effective relationships
• Be able to plan and run an effective client meeting
• Understand a variety of methods to solve client problems
• Recognise Critical Success Factors and their importance to the business
• Be able to develop an internal Service Level Agreement
• Understand, then have applied the Principles of Marketing to their own challenges
• Recognise how to align their Department’s plans with the organisation’s strategy and tactics
• Understand a range of marketing tactics and how these can be applied to improve performance in any work environment

TRAINING METHODOLOGY

This programme will be highly participative and your programme leader will present, guide and facilitate the learning, using a range of methods including discussions, training videos, case studies and exercises. Where appropriate, these will include real issues brought to the programme by delegates.

PROGRAMME SUMMARY

By attending this highly involved programme, delegates will be able to return to their workplace and be the focal point for changing the levels of customer service within their department and organization. They will be equipped with the tools and confidence to challenge current practices, develop new processes and monitor their success.

This programme will develop delegates into customer service champions and equip them with the appropriate confidence, consultancy skills and tools to turn any department into a world class service provider and the envy of all other internal customers.

COMPETENCIES EMPHASISED

• Planning
• Problem solving
• Internal consultancy
• Communication skills
• Interpersonal Skills
• Decision making
• Influencing
• Assertiveness
• Negotiation skills
• Internal Marketing

PROGRAMME OUTLINE

DAY 1 - The Changing Nature of Internal Service Departments

• A vision for the organisation of the future
• Recognising and exceeding industry standards
• The role of internal service departments in meeting compliance
• Changing the perception of the role of service departments
• The real requirements of Internal Customers
• How to understand the needs of the internal customer
• Understanding your strengths and weaknesses as perceived by internal customers
• Conducting a SWOT analysis
• Understanding Your Customers
• Getting close to the customer
• Understanding customer needs and expectations
• Identifying and segmenting internal customer needs
• How to conduct customer research
• Meeting Customer Needs and Expectations
• Measuring customer satisfaction
• How well do you do?
• Talking to customers
• Identifying the important gaps in delivery and expectation
• Tools and Techniques for Gathering Customer Information Surveys
• Customer panels and focus groups
• Stimulating customer response

DAY 2 - The Consultancy Process

• The role of the internal consultant
• Building personal and professional credibility
• Steps in the consulting cycle
• Overcoming common problems in the process
• Critical success factors
• Agreeing goals and objectives
• Preparation and planning
• Establishing Winning Relationships
• ‘Gaining entry’ with key decision-makers
• Networking for mutual benefit
• Building rapport and trust
• Understanding real needs
• Influencing and managing issues
• The Internal Client Meeting
• Planning and running an effective meeting
• Getting the right information
• Questioning and listening for best results
• Reaching consensus on issues
• Agreeing what can be done and when
• Gaining commitment to joint responsibilities
• Solving Internal Customer Problems
• Analysing information collected
• Problem-solving techniques
• Brainstorming methods
• Effective decision-making
• Agreeing Effective Solutions
• Understanding the user’s point of view
• Defining the scope of each project
• Negotiating strategies and tactics
• Selling benefits
• Gaining commitment

DAY 3 - Managing Client Relationships

• Establishing Service Level Agreements
• Ensuring delivery matches expectations
• Gaining feedback on implementation
• Evaluating effectiveness, ensuring satisfaction
• Marketing the Service Function
• Why should you market internally?
• Raising the profile
• Getting the message across
• Aligning the objectives and activities
• Maximising the value of your Department’s contribution

DAY 4 - Ensuring Your Department Strategy Matches The Organisation’s

• Building a strategic and tactical plan
• Using a strategic model to ensure alignment
• Getting agreement from stakeholders
• Gaining your team’s commitment and energy
• Case Studies and Exercises
• Working on a number of case studies
• A chance to build skills as well as awareness
• Delegates will be able to raise their own issues and concerns
• Tools and Techniques for Effective Internal Marketing
• Developing a distinctive department brand
• Clarifying and communicating the vision and values for your team
• Managing perceptions and expectations
• Establishing the customer promise

DAY 5 - Developing a Marketing Plan

• Establishing the key messages
• Planning for communication that works
• What are the most effective channels for communication
• Making sure you get feedback
• Getting Your Plan of Action Together
• Working in small groups with tutor guidance, participants will start to
• Prepare the broad outlines of a plan for developing internal relationships and
• Marketing their department within their own organisation