Small business agony uncle James Caan on customer service training.
Dear James
I see myself going into the training business, where I would have sessions with a company’s employees on various topics.
I have worked in a lot of jobs so I am not sure where to concentrate but, with 15 years’ experience in retail, I think customer service may be an option, training retail employees. What are your thoughts?
Jan
As with any business idea, establish how much of a market there will be for your services. I would advise you to start locally.
You will probably encounter the problem of many managers insisting they don’t have an issue with customer service, so you must check whether this is true.
Use the internet and social media to gauge customer opinions about a particular store. If their service has been criticised, you can then show the managers that there is a need for your service.
Even the ones that agree they have a problem will probably say they can do it in-house, so this is where you need to display your credentials.
You have a lot of experience in customer service but get some testimonials and build up your reputation. Explain to them that by outsourcing to you, they can free the resources of their in-house departments.
Demonstrate return on investment. After the first batch of sessions, there need to be ways of measuring effectiveness.
You should personally conduct surveys from the employees you have trained, and the business should survey their customers. If there has been a tangible improvement, this is a great starting point for you to build up a brand.
Training businesses are always difficult to pitch, which is why your initial research needs to be spot on, as do your diplomacy skills, as you are trying to demonstrate a business’s weak spot.
