The NWPPA Utility Customer Service Certificate is designed to provide comprehensive training for customer and member service representatives at consumer-owned utilities. The program is offered in a “blended learning” format, with some classes held in a classroom and other programs available online.
Each program is offered, at minimum, once every two years; students can complete the curriculum in that timeframe by attending one course approximately every 6 months. Classes may also be taken in any order. However, completion of at least three classes is recommending before taking “Advanced Communication Topics for Customer Service Professionals.”
A student may request credit towards the certificate for any class listed below if s/he has previously completed the class:
a) Through NWPPA and
b) within the past three years
NWPPA Utility Customer Service Certificate Program
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Module Name
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Length
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The Customer Focus (Formerly Through the Eyes of the Customer: Service Skills for all Employees)
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2 days
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Customer Service: Achieving Success Through Common Goals, Working With Challenging Customers
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2 days
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Understanding Residential Energy Use
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2 days
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Utility Collections: The Complete Process and Skip Tracing Webinar (on-line)
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1.5 days
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NWPPA Electric Utility Systems Operations classroom program
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2 days
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Webinar: Telephone Skills for Utility Customer/Member Service (online)
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1.5 hours
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Advanced Communication Skills for Customer Service Professionals
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1.5 days
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Who Should Attend:
This certificate program is designed to enhance the skills of customer and member service employees at NWPPA member utilities. By completing each of the modules within this program, attendees will be able to master the skills needed for their position and will have an excellent foundational knowledge of the industry as a whole.
Class Overviews:
The Customer Focus
The ten modules of this training program provide a long-lasting difference in employee treatment of customers and employee creation of distinctive customer experiences. During the two-day session, employees and managers will learn to look at things through the eyes of the customer, through emphasis of: customer experience management; customer loyalty creation, and personal-touch treatment of customers. This program will lay the foundation for many of the topics that will be covered later in the certificate series.
Customer Service: Achieving Success Through Common Goals, Working With Challenging Customers
The success of any organization rests on individual employees and their commitment to work together as a team to make the organization the best it can be. How well employees work together has a lot to do with their individual successes and the success of their fellow employees, the utility, and their customers/members. This seminar will help participants improve their communication skills between internal and external employees to enhance their work with others.
In our daily lives, we cannot escape working for people and with people. We are expected to manage customer situations in a way that supports our company's business goals and standards and also reflects positively on our team, department, and organization. While 98 percent of customers are great people to work with, the other 2 percent present special challenges. This workshop helps you understand why problem customers behave the way they do and provides solutions for dealing with these situations to reduce the stress for you and your customer.
Understanding Residential Energy Use
This workshop will provide a comprehensive understanding of how energy is used in a home and explain what to look for when determining the causes of higher than expected energy use by a customer (including weather, seasonal appliance usage, home occupancy and "instant-on" appliance usage). Students will learn about the amount of energy used by different types of appliances and how to effectively communicate with customers who are concerned about energy consumption and its effect on their bill. For those who work in the field, tips will be given on preparing for an in-home visit, along with strategies and approaches to deal with difficult in-the-field customer situations.
Utility Collections: The Complete Process and Skip Tracing Webinar
This session is a hands-on workshop that addresses the most current credit and collections problems faced by utilities while working with residential and business customers. The workshop takes the participants step by step through a process that will help to improve the credit function and reduce collections problems. Topics include:
- Credit worthiness
- Benchmarking lessons
- Legal issues
- The collection interview
- Managing conflict during collection activities
This program includes a follow-up 90-minute webinar: Collecting Outstanding Debts through Skip Tracing. This webinar will be scheduled approximately two weeks after the classroom program and is included at no additional charge with your registration for Utility Collections: The Complete Process. You will only need an Internet-connected computer and a telephone to participate in the webinar.
Electric Utility Systems Operations classroom program
Students will learn basics of generation, transmission and distribution and lastly, the course will cover deregulation, new technology, and what the future holds. This self-paced course allows students to complete the course requirements at their convenience while having access to instructors for questions.
Advanced Communication Skills for Customer Service Professionals*
This advanced class begins with a review of the communication skills that have been learned through the certificate program, followed by an introduction to the technique of using “sales” skills to inform customers of the products and services available from the utility.
In part one, attendees will learn the basic skills for assisting customers in making purchases or participation choices, and for using persuasive communication skills and a features/benefits checklist for selling products. In part two, participants will practice using their communication and sales skills to handle a variety of frequently occurring scenarios in a series of fun, low-pressure exercises.
*Pre-requisite: It is recommended that students complete three other classes in the Customer Service Certificate program before registering for this class.
Online Sessions:
Telephone Skills webinar
As fewer customers or members visit the utility office, more service is conducted by phone. This means that, to customers or other VIP callers, the entire impression of the utility comes from that voice on the other end of the telephone line. In this one-hour webinar, you'll learn how to develop definitive service methods for answering, holding, and transferring callers, and more, so that the perception is of professionalism in every way.
For more information, contact Bonie McCombs at (360) 816-1446 or bonnie@nwppa.org.
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