The Real Reason Your Client Service Training Falls Short: A Honest Assessment
Throw out everything you’ve been told about client service training. After eighteen years in this industry, I can tell you that most of what passes for staff training in this space is total nonsense.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: your team already know they should be friendly to customers. They understand they should smile, say please and thank you, and resolve complaints promptly. What they don’t know is how to deal with the psychological demands that comes with working with difficult people repeatedly.
Back in 2019, I was consulting with a major telco company here in Sydney. Their customer satisfaction scores were terrible, and executives kept pumping money at traditional training programs. You know the type – practice scenarios about greeting customers, reciting company guidelines, and countless seminars about “putting yourself in the customer’s shoes.”
Total rubbish.
The real issue wasn’t that employees didn’t know how to be courteous. The problem was that they were burned out from absorbing everyone else’s negativity without any methods to guard their own mental health. Here’s the thing: when someone calls to complain about their internet being down for the fourth time this month, they’re not just upset about the service problem. They’re livid because they feel powerless, and your team member becomes the focus of all that built-up feeling.
Most training programs entirely miss this mental reality. Instead, they focus on surface-level approaches that sound good in concept but crumble the moment someone starts screaming at your staff.
The solution is this: teaching your team stress management methods before you even mention client relations techniques. I’m talking about relaxation techniques, boundary setting, and most importantly, authorisation to take breaks when things get heated.
At that Sydney telco, we implemented what I call “Psychological Protection” training. Rather than focusing on scripts, we taught employees how to recognise when they were absorbing a customer’s negativity and how to mentally distance themselves without coming across as unfeeling.
The changes were dramatic. Customer satisfaction scores rose by 40% in three months, but more importantly, employee retention dropped by 45%. It appears when your team feel equipped to manage challenging customers, they genuinely appreciate helping customers solve their concerns.
Something else that frustrates me: the obsession with artificial enthusiasm. You know what I’m talking about – those programs where they tell employees to “perpetually keep a upbeat tone” regardless of the situation.
Absolute rubbish.
People can sense fake cheerfulness from a kilometre away. What they actually want is real care for their situation. Sometimes that means acknowledging that yes, their situation actually is awful, and you’re going to do everything possible to support them sort it out.
I remember working with a major shopping company in Melbourne where management had required that each customer interactions had to begin with “Hi, thank you for picking [Company Name], how can I make your day absolutely fantastic?”
Actually.
Can you imagine: you call because your expensive device broke down a week after the coverage ended, and some unfortunate staff member has to act like they can make your day “absolutely fantastic.” That’s offensive.
We ditched that approach and replaced it with basic authenticity training. Show your team to really pay attention to what the customer is saying, acknowledge their concern, and then concentrate on real fixes.
Service ratings went up immediately.
Following decades of experience of working in this space, I’m sure that the largest challenge with support training isn’t the education itself – it’s the unattainable standards we set on customer-facing people and the complete shortage of systemic support to handle the underlying issues of terrible customer experiences.
Resolve those issues first, and your customer service training will actually have a chance to work.
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