Internal customer service

During the training, participants will be reminded of the fundamentals of satisfactory customer service from talking about needs to determining actions to assertive refusal. With the help of the original MindLab games Bridge Over the Sava River and Black Inez, participants will be able to practice viewing situations through the eye of the client, methods of exerting influence and building cooperation with the client.

In a situation of cooperation between different departments within a single organization, effective internal customer service becomes a critical challenge.

It should be based on the highest business standards, while ensuring that the goals of all parties are effectively met. That’s why we invite you to a training course where participants will have the opportunity to play two training games dedicated to this very topic. As they play, they will face the problem of dealing with divergent positions, the dilemmas of trusting and distrusting other members of the organization, and building relationships based on trust.

Module 1

The first module will introduce participants to the subject of customer service. By playing a training game, participants will fill customer’s shoes, confront challenges that arise in the course of cooperation. These will include a multiplicity of specific, irreconcilable needs, a lack of appropriate authority in the eyes of customers, or a lack of content knowledge in customers. Participants will realize the existence of different customer needs: substantive, psychological and procedural. Participants will also identify behaviors that can hinder customer contact. They will complete the module with a better understanding of the customer service process.

Goals

• Awareness of different customer needs: substantive, psychological and procedural
• Better understanding of the internal customer service process
• Increased understanding of the development of “difficult” customer behaviors

Topics

• Training game Bridge Over The Sava River
• Substantive, psychological and procedural needs of the customer
• Customer expectations and concerns and a catalog of challenging behaviors
• Trigger factors – how to prevent the emergence of difficult behavior
• Communication barriers when serving

Module 2

During the second module, participants will identify pitfalls and barriers to communication and learn practices to communicate effectively. They will learn and practice on themselves specific tools to diagnose needs and determine requirements. With the support of the trainer, they will develop best practices for summarizing arrangements and contracting with those involved at the end of the meeting. This will allow them to better respond to the needs of internal customers both in operational service situations and in planning project work, and reduce the risk of misunderstandings.

Goals

• Developing the ability to communicate with customers focused on their needs and requirements
• Training of skills for gathering and prioritizing requirements and contracting findings
• Development of skills to apply chosen communication tools and models in practice

Topics

• Training game Bridge Over The Sava River
• Substantive, psychological and procedural needs of the customer
• Customer expectations and concerns and a catalog of challenging behaviors
• Trigger factors – how to prevent the emergence of difficult behavior
• Communication barriers when serving

Module 3

Participants will start the day with the Black Inez training game, during which they will experience a conflict of interest and a situation of interdependence on the decisions made by the other players. Competing and cooperating with other teams, they will experience a natural fluctuation of trust and distrust as they talk. Through this experience, they will develop ways to rebuild trust and break impasses in conversations. Discussion about the game will provide an opportunity to consider what behaviors can help participants build mutual trust, constructive relationships with internal customers and implement a win-win approach in business relationships.

Goals

• Learning about the impact of personal and professional trust issues on the quality of business cooperation
• Experiencing a situation where dealing effectively with trust and distrust becomes the key to success
• Learning tools for building trusting relationships, regaining trust, and breaking deadlocks in difficult situations

Topics

• Playing the Black Inez training game
• Tendering trust vs. distrust
• When to compete, when to cooperate
• Ways to break the deadlock
• Methods of rebuilding trust between individuals and teams
• Building relationships based on trust
• Win-win attitude in business

Module 4

The last module focuses on the development of the competence to apply the assertive communication model within the framework of so-called difficult service situations. Participants will learn about alternative communication styles (assertive, passive, aggressive and manipulative), and the different styles will be linked to specific difficult behaviors of customers. Then, with the support of a test, they will diagnose their preferred communication style. Participants will learn to use communication techniques to facilitate responses to manipulation, personal attacks and threats (including saying no, responding to undesirable behavior, expressing expectations, converting judgment into opinion). Participants will end the day equipped with techniques for responding assertively in difficult situations.

Goals

• Increasing understanding of assertive attitude and diagnosing preferred communication style
• Training in the use of communication techniques in difficult situations (manipulation, personal attacks, threats from the customer)

Topics

• Assertiveness basics
• Diagnosis of personal communication style in a difficult situation
• Assertive reaction in response to difficult customer behavior
• Case studies and best practices
• Training in dealing with difficult situations