This is the Blog opportunity I always wanted. To write about those customer service training courses that teach telephone techniques that irritate me every time I am on the receiving end of them. I want to berate those companies that insist that great customer service training includes teaching a lengthy telephone answering script. The script is usually delivered to a sing-song tune and sounds as though it is said, in exactly the same way and to exactly the same tune 10,000 or more times a year:

’Thank you for calling Go Faster Motors, Mandy speaking, how can I help you?’

I would like the customer service trainers, their customers and the course delegates to think about this:

If I call a company do I want to be confronted with a sing-song answer that makes me feel as though I am just another boring caller? No.

Do I really want to know the name of the receptionist when I want to speak to someone else? No.

Do I really want to wait while someone says 14 words? No.

Is a ‘Good Morning’ followed by the company name, said in a welcoming and positive way, all I need at that point? Yes!

While I have the bit between my teeth can I ask why does the customer service training teach the receptionist to ask for my name? The reason I ask is that when I am transferred to the service department they have no clue of who I am and ask me again, five seconds after I have repeated it twice and spelt it out to the receptionist? Pointless.

I would like the training to extend from the receptionist to the service desk so that they work together to pass on my name and reason for calling. Then the service desk could answer with my name ‘Good Morning Mr Windham, how can I help you?’ Wow! That is the sort of stuff that a good telephone techniques and customer service programme should deliver.

By Mike Cooney | Righttrack’s Commercial and Financial Director