Frontline Skills for Administrative Professionals Short Course
Unit Standard
14348 (3 credits) in the Business Administration Level 2 Qualification
Duration
1 day
Location
Classroom or Online
ABOUT THE COURSE
A friendly and professional receptionist immediately creates a fantastic first impression in the
customer’s mind. Just from that first contact, their impression of your organisation is one of being efficient, customer service oriented and professional. Unfortunately, not everyone is born with a clear speaking voice, professional tone or appropriate dress sense; but these vital frontline administrative skills can be easily acquired with the right training.
This practical 1 day Frontline Skills for Administrative Professionals course will teach you how to improve the way you manage clients in person and on the phone. You will learn vital communication and business etiquette techniques and skills to improve your professionalism
and eliminate any unintentional but annoying bad habits. Attend this course and discover how to always sound and look professional, greet visitors competently, and give the very best “first impression” of your company and yourself.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
- Creating a favourable “First Impression” for you and your company that will last in the client’s mind
- Developing a Professional Telephone Voice by using a simple 5 step process
- Applying methods for turning a negative situation or response into an extremely positive experience
- Understanding how to deliver customer service that will set your company apart from the rest
- Handling multiple calls and deal with impatient people without becoming stressed and short with callers
- Understanding your common “Telephone Tyrants” and other difficult callers to enable you to
deal with them quickly and professionally - Terminating your conversation with courtesy and with professionalism, even if it’s a chatty
caller who doesn’t want to hang up - Dealing professionally and graciously with aggravating people and stressed colleagues, allowing you to remain calm, efficient and in control of emotional and conflict situations at all times
- Accurately summarise complicated documents and concepts
- Spot the mistakes that your computer doesn’t pick up
- Understanding Professional Business Etiquette and dressing for the occasion.
COURSE PROGRAMME AGENDA
Assessing your Communication Strengths and Weaknesses
- Assess your own communication style
- How to identify the wants, needs and expectations of others
- Identifying the barriers to communication
- How to increase your ability to communicate and “read” people
- Understanding the importance of listening in effective communication
- Developing sound questioning techniques for improved communication
Boosting your Communication Skills by Integrating Social Intelligence and EQ into your Communication Style
- Learning how attitude helps or hinders communication
- Changing your thinking from negative to positive
- Developing effective questioning and listening skills
- Learning to read body language to ensure you always gauge a situation accurately
Essential Etiquette for Frontline Staff
- Introduction to the importance of the telephone and customer service
- How to greet every in–person customer and caller in way that makes a positive first impression
- Understanding why transferring calls, screening calls, and placing calls on hold are three
seemingly simple tasks that are really major “danger zones” - Discover ways to avoid irritating callers or giving the impression that they are being “pushed” around the office
- Learn how to handle a range of delicate situations in a way that makes the interaction as pleasant as possible for the caller
- Examine your own subtle and not–so–subtle habits that can damage relationships with callers
Surviving Telephone Tyrants
- Learn to recognize different types of telephone tyrants and gain an understanding of how to deal with each type
- Practice techniques for reducing the emotional impact of difficult callers and methods that can turn a stressful encounter into a positive interaction
It’s not what you say, but how you say it and the Power of Word Choice
- Learn why voice tone is a critical factor in successful telephone communication and how attitude toward a caller affects voice tone.
- Practice using the power of voice tone to create images, carve out impressions and deliver a carefully crafted communication to the caller
- Why words take on an added importance in a telephone conversation with body language
removed from communication - Discover the skill of choosing the right word or phrase to send the best message
- Practice using Motivating Phrases, Affirming Phrases, Responding Phrases, Visual Words, and other PHONE POSITIVE vocabulary techniques that build rapport, keep calls on track, and gather necessary information
Managing your Time when on the Telephone
- Learn proven ways of terminating a chatty conversation, and politely bringing the caller to the point
- Discover how to use active listening to prevent misunderstandings and get it right first time
- Ways to deal with multiple callers or a switchboard that is going “crazy”