Apparently customer service training extends beyond saying have a nice day. Funny really because in England you don't even here these simple words muttered to you. There is a definite lack of good quality customer service in the UK. In every single business you come across there seems to be a lack of interest in presenting a good image of customer service to potential clients. Perhaps it is an English thing. But when you do find that rare gem - a place that knows how to treat its customers then as a customer I will reward them with my unerring loyalty. And I have what any business wants - money! But it needn't be this way. Customer service is not difficult and it can be taught to anyone. Here's what customer service training will teach your staff.

Customer service training programmes are often designed to meet you particular requirements. Typical programmes include, call centre development, complaints handling and influencing skills, telephone skills, developing a customer focussed approach, general face-to-face customer service and visitor experience development. This is a fairly comprehensive list but it is also important to remember that customer service training can be bespoke to your specific needs.

Call centre development will improve the level of service you offer to your clients. There is nothing worse than phoning a company for support and being on the end of a call with someone that really does not value your needs as a customer. There has also been a great deal of criticism in the UK about companies that have outsourced their call centres to India. Typical problems include a lack of understanding about the local knowledge of the people they are paid to help.

People have rung up these help lines to ask when the local branch of a bank will be open and have been advised that the closest bank is 100 miles away. This is because that is what had turned up on the computer in India. Being aware of these kind problems and knowing how to deal with them can be addressed with customer service training.

Being able to handle customer complaints is one of the hardest and at the same time most crucial parts of running a business. Ideally your business would only ever cause the client to be happy. Sadly this is not always the case and even the most savvy of businesses experience some form of customer dissatisfaction at some point. The great thing is that ninety percent of the complaints that are received from a dissatisfied client can be amended simply through communication.

Most complaints you receive are due to lack of communication. Fortunately a training course can provide you with techniques to improve the effectiveness of communication in the case of complaints. It can be taught to anyone and will have a really positive effect on your clients and as a result could have a positive effect on employee motivation.

If your business relies on talking to people on the phone - as most do - then improving the level of skill that your staff has on the phone would be vital. Many people will benefit from knowing the role of customer service in telephone interactions. Effective use of the telephone is essentially based on attitude and a course will help educate your staff on the essential techniques such as transferring calls, receiving transferred calls, putting calls on hold, taking messages, making promises and owning completion of them and building rapport with customers.