Customer service programs and trainings are important. It’s important to educate and train your frontline to be able to engage and empower your clients, to build relationships and to humanize your brand. These programs and trainings should be strategic and focus on things like real-time communications, social media and using the right tone.
However, one area of the customer service training that often gets overlooked is issues management. In today’s digital and fast-paced world, it’s your customer service, your frontline, that will often be in a position to, not just detect a rising issue, but put out the flames – if you educate and train them to do so.
Issues management is an important part of customer service
That said, your customer service program should include a training on effective issues management. Your front line needs to learn and understand things like:
- What an issue is and means for the organization
- How to detect the red flags of a looming, rising or existing issue
- The appropriate ways to communicate, in what tone and in what instances
- When to jump in and communicate, and when to let the situation unfold on its own
- What your audiences expect of your organization when managing different sorts of issues
- Essential do’s and don’ts
- Escalation protocols
Once trained, your frontline should be provided with a useful issues management response flow chart that helps them assess any given situation and take the right course of action.
Download a free issues management response flow chart here!
These days, your frontline has more responsibility than just answering questions and responding to complaints. They are your eyes and your ears when it comes to knowing what’s being said about your organization in real-time. So why not empower them with the ability to also respond to these conversations – good and bad – in real-time? This can go a long way in preventing crises.
So let me ask you this: Does your customer service program include an issues management training?
Agnes + Day provides a variety of workshops, trainings – and even crisis simulations!
We provide a variety of issues and crisis trainings to everyone from C-Suite executives, frontline employees, spokespersons, as well as marketing, PR, crisis and legal teams. All of our crisis trainings are diverse, highly educational, hands-on and a whole lot of fun! Learn more here.
Author of Crisis Ready: Building an Invincible Brand in an Uncertain World, Melissa Agnes is a leading authority on crisis preparedness, reputation management, and brand protection. Agnes is a coveted keynote speaker, commentator, and advisor to some of today’s leading organizations faced with the greatest risks. Learn more about Melissa and her work here.
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