The approach and interpersonal skills of housing or maintenance officers when dealing with residents, can be as crucial to building a successful relationship as the specific services being carried out.
This is a modular training course designed to introduce and build on core communication skills. In the morning, participants focus on the principles of communication, looking at the communications styles of both themselves and the customers they will regularly interact with. They are also introduced to influencing techniques which can be successfully utilised to improve outcomes.
The afternoon sessions offer options to address the specific learning needs of different functions within the service provision, such as face to face interaction for maintenance teams, call management, meeting management and handling difficult conversations.
This Sector Specific Course will benefit anyone working in for a Housing Association in a customer facing role, whether on home visits, over the phone, or running residents meetings.
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Learning time 
Style 
Method Using a variety of proven drama led techniques and interactive exercises, the workshop presents specially developed forum theatre scenarios, designed to reflect the customer interactions of various teams within the organisation and the specific customer challenges they face; engaging participants in the need for a collaborated approach to achieve total customer satisfaction. Participants explore options of how to flex their own communication style to better support different service users, and examine techniques to how to influence others. They learn how to apply open and closed questioning techniques in typical customer exchanges, exploring the essentials of courtesy and structure within service conversations.
The afternoon provides the opportunity for further facilitated learning and modular group work to focus on the specific customer interactions of different support teams. These modules cover behaviours around aggression, verbal abuse, resident denial of responsibility and distraught and pleading customers, during which participants benefit from individual reflection on how they can transfer the learning to their specific roles.
By the end of the workshop participants will be able to apply proven customer services theories to their own workplace situation and have an in-depth appreciation the role they have to play in influencing the whole customer experience.
They will be able to recognise and adapt to customers’ communication style and service expectations, and flex their behaviour to better reach the desired customer service outcome.
