COURSE DESCRIPTION

One of the most popular Apprenticeships in the UK, the customer service industry covers many sectors and job roles that are relevant to Intermediate Apprentices.

There are a wide variety of other job roles that are complemented by customer service skills at this level and that could benefit those choosing to undertake the Customer Service Intermediate Apprenticeship.

ROLE PROFILE

The role of a customer service practitioner is to deliver high quality products and services to the customers of their organisation. Your core responsibility will be to provide a high quality service to customers which will be delivered from the workplace, digitally, or through going out into the customer’s own locality.  

These may be one-off or routine contacts and include dealing with orders, payments, offering advice, guidance and support, meet-and-greet, sales, fixing problems, after care, service recovery or gaining insight through measuring customer satisfaction. You may be the first point of contact and work in any sector or organisation type.

Your actions will influence the customer experience and their satisfaction with your organisation. You will demonstrate excellent customer service skills and behaviours as well as product and/or service knowledge when delivering to your customers.  You provide service in line with the organisation’s customer service standards and strategy and within appropriate regulatory requirements.   Your customer interactions may cover a wide range of situations and can include; face-to-face, telephone, post, email, text and social media.

HOW WILL I BE TRAINED?

• 12 Months of Training 
• In workplace Training Delivery 
• Online Training  via Teams Or Zoom  
• 1-2-1 Trainer Support
• Functional Skills Maths & English Support 

• Observation in Workplace
• EPA Project / Portfolio of Evidence
• Knowledge Test

KNOWLEDGE

Knowing your customers 

• 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.

Understanding the organisation

• 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.

Meeting regulations and legislation

• 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.

Systems and resources

• 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.

Your role and responsibility

• 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.

Customer experience

• 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.

Product and service knowledge

• Understand the products or services that are available from your organisation and keep up-to-date.

SKILLS

Interpersonal 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.

Communication

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.

Influencing skills

• Provide clear explanations and offer options in order to help customers make choices that are mutually beneficial to both the customer and your organisation.

Personal organisation

• Be able to organise yourself, prioritise your own workload/activity and work to meet deadlines.

Dealing with customer conflict and challenge

• 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

Developing self

• Take ownership for keeping your service knowledge and skills up-to-date.
• Consider personal goals and propose development that would help achieve them.

Being open to feedback

• Act on and seek feedback from others to develop or maintain personal service skills and knowledge.

Team working

• 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.

Equality – treating all customers as individuals

• Treat customers as individuals to provide a personalised customer service experience.
• Uphold the organisations core values and service culture through your actions.

Presentation – dress code, professional language

• Demonstrate personal pride in the job through appropriate dress and positive and confident language.

“Right first time”

• 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.

Stephen Williams

Yuzu Trainer

After completing his degree in Communication Studies and gaining experience in management roles, educational settings, and leading coffee teams, Stephen joined us six years ago with the aim of inspiring others to grow and learn in ways that suit them best.

Debbie  Chalk

Yuzu Trainer

Debbie joined Yuzu Training a year ago, bringing over 20 years of hospitality experience. She’s a big fan of coffee and sweet treats like Mochas and Caramel Lattes. Based in Poole, Dorset, Debbie loves peeking into her learners’ workplaces all across the country.

Starting as a table clearer and working her way up to General Manager at various successful businesses, Debbie’s skills cover a wide range of areas including Business Management, HR, Training, Recruitment, Customer Service, Social Media, and more.

Moving from the busy restaurant scene to full-time training, Debbie stays fresh on industry knowledge. She’s excited to blend her experience with her learners’ expertise, creating opportunities for personal and professional growth beyond expectations.

Benefits for the employer

Skilled Workforce: Apprentices acquire essential skills and knowledge in customer service, ensuring they can deliver high-quality products and services to customers. This enhances the overall service quality and customer satisfaction.

Tailored Training: The apprenticeship program allows employers to tailor training according to their specific organizational needs and customer service standards. This ensures that apprentices learn skills and behaviours aligned with the company’s values and goals.

Cost-Effective Recruitment: Hiring apprentices can be more cost-effective than recruiting experienced staff, especially for entry-level positions. This is because apprentices are often paid lower wages while they learn on the job.

Improved Retention: Investing in apprenticeship programs demonstrates commitment to employee development, which can improve employee morale and loyalty. Apprentices are more likely to stay with the company after completing their training, reducing staff turnover costs.

Professional Recognition: Completion of the apprenticeship can lead to eligibility for professional membership at the Institute of Customer Service, enhancing the professional reputation of both the individual apprentice and the employer.

Regulatory Compliance: By training apprentices in understanding relevant legislation and regulatory requirements, employers ensure compliance with legal standards, reducing the risk of fines or legal issues related to customer service practices.

Who is this apprenticeship for?

This apprenticeship is for individuals who aspire to become customer service practitioners. They will be responsible for delivering high-quality products and services to their organisation’s customers.

Role titles include: 

Employers are entitled to funding from the Government to help pay for Apprenticeship training. The cost of the apprenticeship is set by Government and the cost for the Customer Service Practitioner Apprenticeship is £3,500.

If you are an employer who pays the Apprenticeship Levy, the full cost of the programme can be paid through your Apprenticeship Levy.

If you are non-levy payer, the Government will pay 95% of the apprenticeship costs and you as the employer pay a 5% contribution of £175.00 at the start of the programme.

In some cases, funding via Levy Transfer can be arranged to cover the 5% contribution, if your learner is under the age of 22 you will no longer be required to contribute the 5% towards the cost of the apprenticeship.

For any questions or further information:

Email [email protected] or call 02380 170378