Soft-tech™ - The Human Side of the Call Process

Soft-tech™ is Optimé's proven, highly specialized relationship skills development program for customer support centre representatives, supervisors, team leaders and managers. As the product name implies, Soft-tech™ focuses on developing soft skills, or the human side of the call process, to complement technical skills.

Key Benefits for Your Organization

Soft-tech™ training will help your organization increase customer service levels, leading to increased productivity and profitability. Soft-tech™ training is also proven to dramatically increase help desk/call centre employee retention, in an industry that is known for high turnover. The impact on your recruitment and re-training costs alone provide an excellent return on investment.

Benefits for Your Customer Support Centre

Increased customer satisfaction through improved communication and support offered by customer support centre personnel.
Increased employee satisfaction, leading to improved performance and increased retention.
Increased efficiency of the call process, leading to shorter call lengths, fewer callbacks and an increased number of calls processed

Benefits for Your Customer Support Centre Personnel

Increased understanding of the call process from the customer's point of view
Greater skill and knowledge regarding the complex role your customer support centre personnel must play: researcher, teacher, problem analyst, technical service provider, sales representative, after sales service provider
Enhanced skills in serving customers in these many roles, and knowing when to play what role
Improved sense of control over the call process
Greater awareness of the process of identifying customer expectations and needs, how to manage these expectations, meet these needs, increase customer understanding of the service process and how to work to improve the level of customer satisfaction
Sense of pride and professionalism through enhanced communication and relationship skills
Increased job satisfaction
Enhanced relationships among co-workers, external staff and management

Highlights of Soft-tech™ Learning Objectives

Clarify and review the need for soft skills in a customer support centre environment
Review the scope and nature of short-term relationships between customers and support centre personnel
Facilitate the identification of customer expectations and desired outcomes
Present a customer service model that supports the customer support centre call process
Document the essential components of the call process in the customer support centre environment
Learn and apply basic skills of human interaction at a high level of competence:
- relating
- communicating
- listening
- questioning
- probing
- directing
Provide skill development opportunities that will strengthen relationships between customers and support centre personnel, and customer satisfaction with the services provided
Identify the meaning of values/belief systems and their effect on human relationships
Understand the need for awareness and sensitivity to human diversity
Integrate human relationship skills within the call process
Review the problem solving process and learn to apply the collaborative process that makes this work
Review the nature of conflict and the role of customer support centre personnel in a conflict situation

Unique Features of Soft-tech™

Optimé's training model works from the belief that to truly change someone's behavior you have to change his or her perspective. Exercises to explore attitudes and push for thoughtful consideration of beliefs is an important part of Soft-tech™ training.
Training is provided in three to four hour sessions over a number of weeks. Extended time allows for greater assimilation of new skills and information.
Soft-tech™ starts with a customer service model. Prior to the training Optimé completes an assessment of the trainees and adjusts the program to obtain optimum results with the individuals involved. Individual learner interests are identified to foster learner engagement.
Optimé offers follow up coaching to increase transfer of learning from classroom to the work environment.
Follow-up sessions are available to ensure maintenance of new competencies.
Optimé helps foster the development of a learning community to enhance course learning and encourage a sense of team.

A Word From Dr. Marti Cleveland, Optimé Product Developer

The Soft-tech program provides knowledge development and skills training that is life enhancing, not just performance enhancing. It is our premise that outstanding relationship skills are a key to excellent customer service, and you can't only practice them at work. You must learn and practice sound 'relating' in all corners of your life. Also, a service orientation to life in general helps people 'partner' with every person that drops into their headset or on their computer screen, to give customers the sense of support, concern and caring that exemplifies excellent service.

The skills and knowledge regarding human behavior and relationship skills make Soft-tech™ grads polished, professional people. The human side of the call process, whether mediated by telephone or computer, is evident in all customer interaction. Efficient, on-task and human, customers get cared for and receive the concrete things they need, quickly, because Soft-tech™ grads can 'connect' well to their customers and get to the heart of the matter in good time.

This connection is maintained from first exchange right through to problem/opportunity resolution. Soft-tech™ grads understand the 'call process' completely, and all the layers of service that go into that process. They can play the many roles required of service people in today's complex world: caring human being, teacher, information provider, lay-counselor, sales representative, coach, and respectful servant. They are continuous learners, supporting their customers as their customers learn what they need to know. Soft-tech™ grads know about and seek to foster contemporary literacy:

"The illiterate of the future are not those who cannot read or write,
but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn" ~ Alvin Toffler, Future Shoc