FRONT LINE REPRESENTATIVE
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SERIES

This proven series of highly interactive workshops focuses on strengthening the customer interaction skills deemed most critical to effectively representing your company, resolving customer problems, and meeting customer expectations. The training complements the product skills training you have already delivered.

Your team's professionalism, effectiveness, and proficiency is enhanced as their work closely with the instructor who has over 28 years of experience as a corporate manager, sales and service representative, and entrepreneur.

The following modules are designed as a series of three-hour workshops delivered every two weeks. The ideal group size is no more than 15 participants. The Trainer will deliver the same workshop twice in same day to maximize participation while minimizing disruption to your daily operation.

MODULE 1:
TIME MANAGEMENT
The Front-Line Representative (FLR) must guard and effectively manage his or her time, not allowing anyone to waste their time, and not wasting the time of others. This requires remaining focused, prioritizing activities, controlling unnecessary interruptions, and developing flexible schedules that ensure the highest and wisest use of their time.

Pre-planned FLR-initiated voice-to-voice, face-to-face, and email contacts can help the FLR to more quickly and effectively identify and address internal and external customer needs and concerns, and communicate important information more clearly.

Topics
• How to Prioritize Activities.
• Maintaining your focus for more effective time management.
• Exploring Efficiency - Identifying the highest and wisest use of your time.
• Scheduling Time with Flexibility.
• Pre-planning and establishing goals & agendas for contacts.
• Leaving clear, direct, and informative voice mail announcements and message.
• Communicating more effectively through email.
• The important role of prompt follow-up and follow-through.

MODULE 2:
QUESTIONING AND LISTENING SKILLS
TO UNCOVER CUSTOMER NEEDS AND CONCERNS
FLR's must be able to quickly identify the customers' real needs and concerns in order to keep conversations focused, uncover service opportunities, and facilitate problem resolution. Managing and protecting customer relationships also requires remaining informed about growing and changing customer needs and concerns is critical to customer satisfaction. These skills are also crucial to both heading-off and resolving customer.

Participants learn how skillfully use each of the four types of questions (open-ended, probing, and closed-ended), and to listen more attentively. Workshop includes role-play with the trainer.

Topics
• Questioning Skills; Individual Role Play
• Listening Skills & Exercise
• How to "Hear" What Isn't Being Said: Understanding Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication

MODULE 3:
IDENTIFYING AND MEETING CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS
Customer satisfaction is the FLR's primary responsibility. Building rapport, uncovering individual customer needs, and meeting external and internal customers' expectations is critical to that satisfaction.

Topics
• Customer Service Attitude Survey.
• What Customer's Expect of You as an FLR
• Assessing department or company performance (from customer's perspective).
• Delivering sensitive information.

MODULE 4:
IDENTIFYING AND UNDERSTANDING THE DECISION MAKING PROCESS
Uncovering and understanding how decisions are made, who makes them, when they will be made, and the effect of those decisions, helps the FLR provide the right person with the right information.

Topics
• Understanding The Decision-Making Process.
• Identifying and understanding the differing roles of Decision-Makers, Influencers, and Contacts.
• Assessing the Decisions Makers you work with and through.

MODULE 5:
TEAM BUILDING
Team building includes tapping into, and more fully appreciating the ideas, alternative approaches, and solutions of others. The highly exercise is not only great fun, but also encourages participants to expand own thought process and vision by exploring the creativity of their team members by challenging everyone to find as many uncommon uses for a very common item. The exercise requires working together to discover more options and drawing the strengths of others.

Topics
• How enhanced individual efforts better serve the team's goals and objectives.
• Building on the strengths and ideas of each team members.
• How to help weaker or less experienced team members.
• Celebrating individual team members.
• The Team's success is everyone's responsibility.
• The importance of being a good follower and shared leadership.

MODULE 6:
SOCIAL STYLES ANALYSIS
Communication is enhanced by discovering your own style of delivering and receiving information, and the styles of others. Participants learn how to identify the styles of others by careful listening and observation. Participants also learn how and when to modify their own style to be more effective with customers, coworkers, supervisors, and friends.

Topics
• Aspects of Assertiveness, Responsiveness, and Adaptability
• Discovering your own social style - exercise
• Recognizing and understanding the social styles of others
• How to modify your own style to be more effective

MODULE 7:
PROTECTING VALUABLE CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS
FLR's become even more aware of the extremely high dollar value of a long-term customer relationship by participating in several "Simply Calculating" exercises. The process includes: (1) agreement upon realistic, annual dollar figures for several types of customer business, (2) the projected worth of growth and referral business, and (3) the estimated (and desired) length of the customer business relationship. Those figures form the basis for placing a realistic value on the relationship, and help identify the exorbitant cost associated with losing a customer due to negative (and uncontrollable) word of mouth.

The danger of secretly "badmouthing customers" is shown by learning how careless, casual internal discussions can negatively influence other FLR's, adversely affect customer relationships, and lead to lost business.

Topics
• "Simply Calculating" (1) The Long-Term Value of a Customer Relationship, (2) The Cost of Lost Business, and (3) The Financial Impact of Negative Word of Mouth.
• The High Cost of Secretly Bad Mouthing Customers.
• The Quality, Quantity and Spirit of Service (from Napoleon Hill).
• Tips on building rapport and developing long-term customer Relationships.

MODULE 8:
EFFECTIVELY PRESENTING THE COMPANY'S BENEFITS:
When only the features of a company's service are presented, the customer must interpret the advantages of using them. They may not fully understand and appreciate the service when left to their own interpretation. When the Front-Line Manager can clearly explaining how the benefits of the service meets needs and resolves concerns, it helps customers understand and appreciate their value more completely. Participants learn the difference between features and benefits, and learn how to develop and present benefit statements that showcase the company's services. Role-play with the instructor allows participants to practice their new skills.

Topics
• Identifying Features of your company's products and services
• Associating benefits with individual features
• Associating benefits with identified customer interests and needs
• Presenting the benefits (role play)

MODULE 9:
SOLUTION ORIENTED THINKING©
It's five times more expensive to find a new customer than to one happy. FLR's learn how to more quickly and satisfactorily resolve customer problems, and save and protect valuable relationships. Solution Oriented Thinking© teaches participants how to move beyond simply restating the problem, offering excuses, or appearing powerless, to proactively pursuing resolution. They learn how to deliver viable, effective and acceptable solutions.

Topics
• What Customers Want, Expect and Deserve.
• Focusing on the Resolution, Not the Problem.
• Gaining acceptance from the customer and cooperation from others.

MODULE 10:
HANDLING DIFFICULT CUSTOMERS
Every FLR encounters frustrated, difficult or irate customers. Because most customers don't bother to complain, FLR's must understand why the complainer is really the "best customer," not the "worse nightmare." Their complaint gives the company an opportunity to correct an error and salvage the relationship. That complaint may just be the last chance to get things right!

Topics
• Diffusing sensitive situations
• Uncovering the real problem
• Recognizing and acknowledging the emotions surrounding the problem and desired resolution.
• Presenting the resolution plan in "action oriented" language.

MODULE 11:
NEGOTIATING SKILLS
Negotiating is a critical part of moving forward in any relationship. Learning to uncover and build upon the mutual interests (versus the positions) helps parties come to a mutually beneficial solution. The FLR must also understand what the other person stands to lose and what they stand to lose, and how to create alternative strategies.

Topics
• Understanding the other person's needs
• Finding and building upon mutual interests
• Formulating alternatives to the desired solution

MODULES 12 & 13:
STRENGTHENING PRESENTATION SKILLS (2 SESSIONS)
People buy people first, then they buy our ideas, products, services, plans and strategies. FLR's persuade others through effective communication and presentation skills.

Participants come to the first session with a prepared 5 minute presentation with one overhead. The topic is one they are most comfortable with, personal or professional.

Presentations will be evaluated and participants coached by their peers and the instructor. Videotaping and/or audiotaping is encouraged to allow participants to monitor their progress.

Topics
• Setting objectives for presentations.
• Understanding the impact of non-verbal communication (facial and hand gestures, and movement)
• Exuding confidence
• Using voice tone, projection, and inflection to maintain audience interest.
• Employing 10 tips for more powerful presentations.
• When and how to more effectively use graphics (overheads, PowerPoint, slides, handouts), and microphones.
• The importance of rehearsing.

Contact Dee Sanford at deesanford@cox.net or call on 619 263-6868 for more information and to schedule an appointment.