Stellar Customer Service by Mou Chakraborty

Author:Mou Chakraborty
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ABC-CLIO

CONVENIENCE

The cooperative offers the value and convenience of training in multiple formats, including face-to-face, live online, and self-directed (such as loans of DVD training and archived webinars). An advantage of offering training in multiple formats is that attendees can and frequently do come back to the self-directed offerings to reinforce previous learning or to share the DVDs and archive recordings with others in their work groups.

Just as there is no one-size-fits-all method of providing great customer service, there is no best method of providing customer service training. In a multitype library cooperative, the member libraries vary greatly in mission and vision, staff size and experience level, customer base, budget, and location. All libraries need well-trained staff to advance their missions. A primary goal of SEFLIN’s continuing education program is to provide training in a variety of formats to suit the individual learning styles, interests, and time available to all library staff. To meet those needs, SEFLIN offers a convenient mix of face-to-face, live-online, and self-directed training such as access to archived webinars and loans of training DVDs.

Traditionally, face-to-face classes were the primary method of training staff. Let’s face it: it is hard to beat the benefits of in-person training. Face-to-face training sessions provide the opportunity for in-depth exploration of topics, allow personal interaction with presenters, and foster discussion and information sharing among attendees. The instructors can easily see how the students are engaged, and make adjustments if necessary. In a regional multitype cooperative setting, attendees get the additional benefit of interacting with staff outside of their system or from other types of libraries.

However, face-to-face training is not always practical in today’s world. Due to geographic constraints and time and travel restrictions, many library employees cannot attend training away from their locations. In SEFLIN’s annual continuing education program surveys, the major barrier to attending training is consistently identified as “lack of time.” SEFLIN responded to this issue by introducing formats that bring training to library staff, rather than have staff travel to training. Live online training has proven to be a very successful addition; attendees get the benefit of a live presentation and the opportunity to interact via microphone or chat, without leaving their desks. To maximize the learning experience, SEFLIN’s live online training focuses on longer length, smaller size classes that benefit participants with increased opportunities for interaction and collaboration with the presenter and other attendees.

To meet the needs of those who cannot attend live training or prefer to take courses at their own pace, SEFLIN offers self-directed training that library staff can take when it fits their schedule. Self-directed training options include on-demand access to archived recordings of webinars, a DVD lending library, and subscriptions with vendors that provide specialized training on topics of interest to library staff.

An additional benefit to offering training in multiple formats is that recordings and archives serve participants on their individual schedules, while enabling SEFLIN to get the most out of the training budget. By recording live online training sessions and adding them to the archive, SEFLIN can extend the value of the content without incurring additional costs.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.