Improving customer service is an ongoing process, and while you may have a well-trained team of representatives delivering at a normal level of expectation, there is always room for improvement. One way to keep your team moving forward and acquiring new skills is to require them to take occasional courses to maintain their level of ability, as well as to improve in areas where they might need help.
Here are several essential college courses that will help your customer service representatives improve their skills.
Ongoing education classes can markedly improve your customer service team.
Consider Online College Course Options
While your team may choose to attend on-site education courses, it is usually more efficient to register them for online courses. The workload is comparable, but an online course offers more flexibility and is less likely to interrupt their usual work routine. In addition, online courses train employees how to organize and plan better, as well as to follow through without a lot of hand-holding.
There are many online college courses your employees can register for, and they don’t even have to live in the same country where the university is located. Here are a few suggestions for online college courses that are convenient and, in some cases, free to attend!
Open Universities Australia offers many courses under their business section that may be of interest to your employees in their quest to improve their customer service skills.
One particular course on marketing behavior, hosted by the University of Swinbourne, can teach your employees how to anticipate and relate consumer psychology to buying behavior. This knowledge can help your team make more sales and offer more focused service. They will also learn how to handle situational difficulties with customers in order to have smoother, more productive interactions.
Coursera is becoming a well-known name in online education. With an impressive slate of over 62 worldwide universities and colleges partnering with them, Coursera offers an array of upper-level courses that can benefit any customer service team.
In addition, managers can benefit from courses that are tailored to their needs, such as Inspiring Leadership Through Emotional Intelligence, hosted by Case Western Reserve University. Over the course of eight weeks, students will learn about leadership styles, how those styles impact employees, and how to train to become a resonant leader with an eye toward improving not only customer service team relationships, but relationships with customers as well.
Attending class no longer means sitting in a staid classroom; these days, your employees can enjoy the flexibility of online classes.
Understanding corporate structure, finance, and hierarchy is an integral part of your team knowing how it all connects and why providing excellent customer service at all times is the difference between a company that thrives or falters. The prestigious Wharton College at the University of Pennsylvania offers an online course – for no fee – titled Introduction to Corporate Finance.
In this course, which lasts six weeks, students will learn the basis of major decisions made by corporations, asset valuation terminology, assessing risk, and the psychology behind financial decisions for current markets. Armed with an in-depth knowledge of how your business works and how your customer service team fits into that mix, employees will learn to see the bigger picture of your corporate structure and how to make better decisions when working with customers on a daily basis.
There are countless college courses out there, both on campus and online, that can assist your customer service team in raising their skills to a higher level. With location and cost being less of an issue in some cases due to the increase in virtual college courses, there’s no good reason not to get your team involved in ongoing educational training. Doing so not only benefits them as employees and people, but it also increases the worth of your labor force and, consequently, your company’s overall worth.
Bev Sninchak is a veteran freelance writer with 16 years of experience producing content for various publications. She writes about many subjects, from online reputation management to locating the best resources for obtaining a business degree online.
Participating in professional development courses, training courses and collaborating with others in your profession can only benefit your performance and efficiency. It is so important to continually learn and better yourself.