Training Your CSRs to Make a Difference

So, you’ve hired someone who sounds great on the phone, but now you need to train them. Where do you begin? The answer may seem obvious, but it’s active listening. Active listening needs to be defined, practiced, and held accountable on customer calls.

Our team at Garage Door U has put together a step-by-step guide on how to train your CSRs to truly make a difference!

How to Train Your CSRs: A Step-By-Step Guide

The first step to training active listening is defining it on a call. Our preferred definition is to repeat what the customer has said and ask necessary follow-up questions. But you can also create your own! When you are the customer, what makes you feel like the person you are talking to is listening to you? Your answer to that question is your definition.

Active listening means your CSR is focused on every detail your potential customer is sharing. Not only that, but it seems as though they truly care about the issues at hand.

The next step is practicing. This means role-playing calls with your CSRs. While this can be a little awkward, it’s a necessary step. We all have speech patterns, filler words, and ways we naturally respond when we speak to one another. Now that you have a definition of active listening for your CSR, you need to practice incorporating it into every call. As you practice calls, make sure they are hitting the markers for your definition of active listening.

Finally, we have accountability. You’ve created the expectation with your definition of active listening, you’ve practiced it with your CSRs, so they are set up to succeed, and now you hold them accountable. We recommend recording your customer calls and spot-checking them to ensure active listening on each call. You’ll also know whether active listening is taking place by the accuracy of the information being entered into your system. If addresses are wrong, the customer's name is wrong, or the problem on site isn’t the same as what was in the notes, then you know active listening isn’t taking place.

For more information on how to train your CSRs, partner with our experts at Garage Door U!