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Partners for Performance

Training Programs

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Customer Service The Video Training Library - Telephone Doctor® Each bulleted module is approximately 2 hours in length

• On Incoming Calls: This session reviews essential telephone skills for front line telephone contact staff. This session covers unnecessary telephone transfers (aka The Bureaucratic Bounce), unanswered phones, putting callers on hold, avoiding cliffhangers and getting the name every time. Includes the popular Telephone Doctor® video, "On Incoming Calls".

  Key Points:

  • Bureaucratic Bounce-Transfers
  • The unanswered phone
  • Putting a call on hold
  • Proactive message taking
  • How to offer to help

• Determining Caller Needs: Listening skills and questioning techniques are both critical components to providing superior customer service. This popular program teaches the six basic steps to becoming a more effective listener plus identifies six effective questioning skills, as well as how and when to use them effectively. Content includes how to use open-ended/closed-ended questions, probing questions, echo question and identifying the disguised responses which cover a customer's real issue.

  Key Points:

  • Listening
  • Decide to be a better listener
  • Welcome the caller
  • Concentrate
  • Keep an open mind
  • Give feedback
  • Take notes; review
  • Questioning
  • Open and closed-ended questions
  • Probing questions
  • Echo questions
  • Leading questions
  • Use the “And” technique to get information
  • Interpret disguised responses

• From Curt to Courteous: Employees who handle customers over the telephone have a unique situation. They don't have the visual reference points like body language and facial expressions. This program teaches the importance of non-visual communication and emphasizes the keys to understanding and being understood on the phone. Participants will understand how their words, voice, and tone all affect the caller's impression of their organization. Part two applies these ideas with the concept of "Business Friendly"™ customer service. Includes the popular Telephone Doctor® video, "From Curt to Courteous".

  Key Points:

  • What is "Business Friendly"™ customer service?
  • Every call is unique
  • Don't argue
  • Show empathy
  • Smile

• Four Cs of Coaching Skills: It's becoming common for managers and supervisors to take on the role of coaches in their departments. Without proper training, this can be a disaster. This training session explains the differences between training, coaching, and counseling and illustrates the Telephone Doctor’s® Four Cs of Coaching Model in a variety of service and line management situations.

  Key Points:

  • Concurrence
  • Content
  • Commitment
  • Congratulations or Continuation

• Five Forbidden Phrases®: The Telephone Doctor’s® all time best-selling customer service training program! Don't tell customers what you can't do; tell them what you can do. Participants will learn the Five Forbidden Phases® of Customer Service followed by the Positive Alternatives they should be using instead. By following the techniques in this program, participants will learn how to prevent service mishaps before they occur.

  Key Points:

  • “I don’t know…”
  • “I can’t do that…”
  • “You’ll have to…”
  • “Hang on a second”
  • “NO” at the start of a sentence

• Six Cardinal Rules of Customer Service: Take a trip through the Customer Service Hall of Shame! Participants will meet the men and women responsible for originating some of the worst customer service habits which plague the planet today. Watch Joanie Jargon baffle her caller with an unending array of internal codes and abbreviations. See Bob Backwards put his paperwork before his customers. Participants will recognize each inductee and will learn how to avoid duplicating their error! Accurate and humorous vignettes.

  Key Points:

  • People before paperwork
  • Don’t rush callers
  • Be friendly before you know who it is
  • Don’t be too busy to be nice
  • Don’t use military language on civilians
  • Good manners: “Thank You” and “You’re Welcome”

• Telesales Tips From A to Z: Perfect for Call Center situations! This program is loaded with twenty-six powerful techniques, skills and ideas which will be of immediate help to everyone in a customer service or telesales position. Topics include recognizing the difference between features and benefits, avoiding weak words, closing questions, being naturally inquisitive, avoiding one-word answers, the power of attitude and so much more. Topics are divided up into 26 easy to use, one-minute sections.

• Proactive Customer Service: There are basically three levels of service in the world -- passive, average, and proactive. Passive is doing the bare minimum. Average aims at being about the same as everyone else. Proactive means being above average and using warmth and personality to exceed customer expectations. This popular video training program teaches the importance of high energy, enthusiasm, rapport building and cross selling.

  Key Points:

  • Three levels of customer service
  • Tools for proactivity
  • Remember there is a rapport building opportunity in every customer contact
  • Use “Soft Questions”™ to give your caller a choice

• Basic Basic Telephone Skills: Addresses ten simple yet crucial skills, which form the very foundation for delivering exceptional customer service on the phone. Topics include answering a business call, taking accurate messages, giving spoken feedback signals, avoiding excuses, offering your undivided attention, avoiding mouth noises and regain control of the conversation. This session is perfect for entry-level staff and a great reminder for more experienced team members.

  Key Points:

  • Use the three-part greeting to answer professionally
  • Know how to put a caller on hold
  • Monogram the call – use the caller’s name
  • Avoid excuses
  • Give the caller your undivided attention
  • Give spoken feedback signals
  • Take accurate messages – Don’t be a message mangler
  • Control the conversation
  • Avoid mouth noises
  • Leave a good lasting impression

• What's Wrong with this Picture? This program features ten short vignettes, which put participants in charge of identifying a variety of customer service blunders. After recognizing the mishap, it's then up to the participants to suggest the appropriate improvements.

  Key Points:

  • Acknowledge when a customer walks up
  • Apologize when there are problems
  • Stay positive with comments
  • Personal calls should be limited and brief
  • Your problems are not the customer’s
  • Never order a customer to calm down
  • Use your Saturday night personality
  • Be thankful when someone catches your mistakes
  • Customers come first
  • Listen for rapport building opportunities

• How to Avoid Emotional Leakage: This session focuses on how to prevent stress from “leaking” through the phone wires. The Telephone Doctor® calls it Emotional Leakage, and this short awareness program will help participants realize how damaging this behavior can be. Seeing Emotional Leakage from a third party point of view will raise participants’ sensitivity to this widespread problem.

  Key Points:

  • Avoid carrying negative feelings from one situation to the next
  • How to shift gears emotionally
  • Smile before you pick up the phone
  • A phony smile is better than a real frown

• How to Treat Every Caller As A Welcome Guest: Whoever answers the phone IS THE COMPANY to customers. This session explains how extremely important the front-line staff’s role is in impressing the customers. Most customers will likely never talk with the CEO, but many will interact with frontline personnel. Includes valuable how-to skills such as creating positive first impressions, speaking clearly, acknowledging the caller's request, speed is NOT success and the proper way to place callers on hold.

  Key Points:

  • You are the company
  • Use the three-part greeting
  • Speak clearly
  • Acknowledge the caller's request
  • Avoid carry-over conversations
  • Rushing threatens callers
  • How to answer multiple lines ringing at once

• How to Handle the Irate Caller: This Telephone Doctor® video-based training program includes a highly effective four point plan for calming irate callers and maximizing their situation. Participants will first learn that irate calls are nothing personal. This program includes the proven ASAP technique for handling irate callers. Also covered are the reasons why you should never make excuses and what to do if a customer begins swearing.

  Key Points:

  • It’s not personal
  • Use the ASAP method
  • You can satisfy most people most of the time
  • Use our Swear Stopper
  • Don’t offer excuses, offer to help

• We are Customers to Each Other: Why do some people feel it's okay to mistreat a coworker? This session will help participants think about internal customer service. Superior service needs to begin internally, to enable employees to deliver exceptional service to external customers. This program will raise awareness to help improve the level of internal customer service.

  Key Points:

  • Co-workers are your customers
  • How to answer a co-worker’s phone
  • Co-workers want to be appreciated
  • “Sign” every call with your name

• How to Deal With the Foreign Accent: It's easy to want to rush foreign accent customers to avoid dealing with the extra effort needed to assist them. But superior customer service needs to be offered to ALL customers, not just the easy to understand ones. This program explains that all callers are created equal and offers techniques which will make communications easier with foreign language customers. Realistic vignettes and characters make this program a powerful sensitivity builder.

  Key Points:

  • Don’t pretend to understand
  • Don’t rush the customer
  • Don’t shout
  • Don’t be rude
  • Learn from experience

• Escape From Voice Mail Jail: Some people love voice mail. Others hate it. Is voice mail a curse or a cure? No matter how you feel, the fact is that fewer than 30% of business calls reach their intended party on the first try. Usually, this means voice mail. This program addresses the many benefits of voice mail and teaches participants the most effective type of greeting to leave on their system, along with the best messages to leave on others' voice mail.

  Key Points:

  • What people like and dislike about voice mail
  • Why voice mail?
  • The greeting
  • Leaving messages on voice mail

Call CBIL at 314.539.5310 to schedule your training needs or e-mail us at