Business Management
Customer Service Practitioner
The role of the customer service practitioner is to deliver customer service services and products for organisations, including face-to-face, over the phone, as well as digital and written communications.
Customer service practitioners influence people’s opinion of the company; demonstrating excellent customer service, behaviours, and product/service knowledge will ensure this is a positive experience. Customer interactions will cover a wide range of situations, including face-to-face, telephone, post, email, text, and social media.
Level
2
Duration
12 months minimum
Requirements
Apprentices will be required to have or achieve level 1 English and Maths and to have taken level 2 English and Maths tests prior to completion of their Apprenticeship.
Qualification
Upon completion, learners will be awarded their Customer Service Practitioner Level 2 certificate.
Course Breakdown
If you’d like a more detailed breakdown of the skills and knowledge you’ll gain over the course of the apprenticeship, just use the tabs below.
Core Knowledge
- Understand who customers are.
- Understand the difference between internal and external customers.
- Understand the different needs and priorities of your customers and the best way to manage their expectations, recognising and knowing how to adapt style to be highly effective.
- Know the purpose of the business and what ‘brand promise’ means
- Know your organisation’s core values and how they link to the service culture.
- Know the internal policies and procedures, including any complaints processes and digital media policies that are relevant to you and your organisation.
- Know the appropriate legislation and regulatory requirements that affect your business.
- Know your responsibility in relation to this and how to apply it when delivering service.
- Know how to use systems, equipment and technology to meet the needs of your customers.
- Understand types of measurement and evaluation tools available to monitor customer service levels.
- Understand your role and responsibility within your organisation and the impact of your actions on others.
- Know the targets and goals you need to deliver against.
- Understand how establishing the facts enable you to create a customer focused experience and appropriate response.
- Understand how to build trust with a customer and why this is important.
- Understand the products or services that are available from your organisation and keep up-to-date.
Core Skills
- Use a range of questioning skills, including listening and responding in a way that builds rapport, determines customer needs and expectations and achieves positive engagement and delivery.
- Depending on your job role and work environment:
- Use appropriate verbal and non-verbal communication skills, along with summarising language during face-to-face communications; and/or
- Use appropriate communication skills, along with reinforcement techniques (to confirm understanding) during non-facing customer interactions.
- Use an appropriate ‘tone of voice’ in all communications, including written and digital, that reflect the organisation’s brand.
- Provide clear explanations and offer options in order to help customers make choices that are mutually beneficial to both the customer and your organisation.
- Be able to organise yourself, prioritise your own workload/activity and work to meet deadlines.
- Demonstrate patience and calmness.
- Show you understand the customer’s point of view.
- Use appropriate sign-posting or resolution to meet your customers needs and manage expectations.
- Maintain informative communication during service recovery.
Behaviours
- Take ownership for keeping your service knowledge and skills up-to-date.
- Consider personal goals and propose development that would help achieve them.
- Act on and seek feedback from others to develop or maintain personal service skills and knowledge.
- Frequently and consistently communicate and work with others in the interest of helping customers efficiently.
- Share personal learning and case studies with others, presenting recommendations, and improvement to support good practice.
- Treat customers as individuals to provide a personalised customer service experience.
- Uphold the organisations core values and service culture through your actions.
- Demonstrate personal pride in the job through appropriate dress and positive and confident language.
- Use communication behaviours that establish clearly what each customer requires and manage their expectations.
- Take ownership from the first contact and then take responsibility for fulfilling your promise.