New developments in customer service training.

Developing an effective customer service system can be one of the most rewarding objectives an organization can achieve, claim Maya Mouawad and Brian H. Kleiner, from the Department of Management at California State University, Fullerton, California, USA. But as with most objectives, it requires planning, and hard work. Training for customer service skills and behaviours has become a necessity because of the increased complexity of duties performed by a company's representative in this area.

Most companies provide their employees with a combination of in-house and external training sessions. These tend to emphasize courtesy and patience, as well as promoting a genuine effort to solve the customers' problems and respond to their enquiries, while often - at the same time - becoming familiar with new software designed to ease and aid their work.

The increased awareness among organizations regarding the importance of customer service training has led to the establishment of numerous specialist companies. Customer service representatives are no longer perceived as secretaries or telephone operators, nor considered as mere support staff for personnel working in the field; rather, they are increasingly viewed as carriers and guardians of the company's image, and key …