Customer Service and Retention Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Customer Service Manager, Contact Centre Team Leader and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-CS-113

Before you join: Participants should have practical experience in a customer-facing, contact centre, retail service, complaints, retention or customer experience role.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Telecommunications providers compete on more than price and network coverage. Billing confusion, repeated contacts, delayed fault updates, poorly handled cancellations and generic save offers can erode trust and accelerate churn. Service teams need to resolve the immediate issue while identifying the underlying cause, protecting vulnerable customers, recording useful customer intelligence and making retention decisions that remain commercially sound.

This course develops the service and retention capabilities needed across contact centres, retail service teams, digital support and back-office operations. Participants learn to map subscriber journeys, interpret voice-of-customer evidence, diagnose failure demand, handle complaints, manage difficult conversations and use CRM records effectively. The course addresses service recovery, complaint ownership, cancellation handling, churn-risk indicators, retention offer design and win-back contact. It also covers quality monitoring, service measures, vulnerable-customer treatment, consent and accurate case documentation.

Teaching combines short instructor briefings with telecom cases, group analysis, service simulations and structured review of realistic customer interactions. Participants work with examples involving billing disputes, network faults, handset upgrades, payment difficulty, account access and cancellation requests. They leave with a practical Customer Service and Retention Action Pack containing a journey map, complaint handling checklist, retention conversation guide, quality scorecard and service improvement plan ready for adaptation to their own operation.

The course is suited to experienced customer-facing staff and managers who influence customer experience, complaint outcomes, loyalty or churn. It is particularly relevant where teams must balance customer fairness, service targets, revenue protection and long-term subscriber trust.

What you will be able to do

  • Map subscriber journeys using journey maps and service blueprints
  • Analyse churn drivers using customer lifetime value, contact and usage evidence
  • Apply diagnostic questioning and active listening during complex service contacts
  • Resolve complaints using the HEARD model, escalation paths and service recovery principles
  • Conduct retention conversations using churn-risk indicators and eligibility-based offer decisions
  • Build quality scorecards linking service accuracy, ownership, compliance and resolution
  • Interpret NPS, CES and complaint data to identify priority service failures
  • Produce a service improvement charter with measures, owners, actions and review dates

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Handle cancellation conversations with greater confidence and commercial judgement
  • Identify root causes behind repeat contacts, complaints and customer dissatisfaction
  • Use structured language for difficult, emotional and escalated customer interactions
  • Build evidence-based cases for service fixes and retention priorities
  • Strengthen readiness for customer service, retention and experience management roles

For your organisation

  • Lower avoidable churn through better diagnosis and relevant retention actions
  • Reduce repeat contacts caused by unresolved issues, transfers and unclear communication
  • Improve complaint quality through consistent ownership, records and escalation decisions
  • Increase usable customer insight from CRM notes, feedback and contact-reason data
  • Create clearer links between service performance, loyalty measures and operational improvements

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can connect service performance to subscriber value, loyalty and churn decisions.

  • Subscriber lifecycle stages from acquisition, activation and onboarding through renewal or exit
  • Customer lifetime value calculations using margin, tenure, usage and support cost
  • Churn definitions separating voluntary, involuntary, gross and net subscriber losses
  • Retention economics linking save offers, discount cost and incremental contribution
  • Moments of truth across billing, network faults, upgrades and cancellations
  • Segmentation by value, tenure, product mix, propensity and service need

Participants can convert customer feedback and operational evidence into service priorities.

  • Voice-of-customer programme design combining surveys, contacts, complaints and social listening
  • NPS, CES and satisfaction measures matched to specific service journeys
  • Closed-loop feedback process assigning owners, deadlines, fixes and customer follow-up
  • Verbatim coding with reason taxonomy, sentiment labels and recurring defect flags
  • Pareto analysis isolates high-volume contacts and dissatisfaction drivers
  • Journey evidence triangulated from CRM notes, survey data and operational measures

Participants can identify journey failures and prioritise service improvements using customer evidence.

  • Journey maps connect customer goals, channels, emotions, effort and failure points
  • Service blueprints distinguish frontstage interactions, backstage processes and supporting systems
  • RATER dimensions diagnose reliability, assurance, tangibles, empathy and responsiveness gaps
  • Root-cause analysis using five whys and fishbone diagrams
  • Failure demand identified from repeat contacts, transfers and avoidable callbacks
  • Prioritisation matrix weighs customer impact, churn risk, effort and cost

Participants can structure clear, empathetic and accurate conversations across service channels.

  • Diagnostic questioning uncovers stated requests, underlying needs and account history
  • Active listening techniques: paraphrasing, summarising, signposting and confirmation checks
  • Plain-language explanations translate tariff, billing and network terminology accurately
  • Empathy statements acknowledge inconvenience without admitting unverified liability
  • Call-control structure balances rapport, diagnosis, resolution and agreed next steps
  • Written responses use scannable structure, ownership language and precise commitments

Participants can maintain continuity and accountability across telephone, digital and assisted channels.

  • Channel strategy matches enquiry complexity, urgency, value and customer preference
  • CRM case records capture contact reason, actions, promises and consent
  • Context transfer standards prevent customers repeating authentication and problem details
  • Chat and messaging service uses response targets, concurrency and escalation rules
  • Knowledge-centred service articles follow searchable titles, approved content and review dates
  • Accessibility considerations address plain language, alternative formats and assisted channels

Participants can resolve complaints fairly, recover trust and manage escalations with clear ownership.

  • Complaint classification separates service failure, billing dispute, conduct and vulnerability cases
  • HEARD model structures hearing, empathising, apologising, resolving, diagnosing and preventing
  • Service recovery choices align remedy, authority limits, evidence and customer impact
  • De-escalation techniques manage anger, threats, repeated demands and emotional distress
  • Escalation paths document ownership, timescales, handoffs and executive complaint triggers
  • Complaint files record facts, decisions, redress and audit-ready rationale

Participants can assess churn risk and conduct retention conversations that protect customer trust.

  • Churn-risk indicators combine usage decline, payment events, contacts and competitor mentions
  • Save conversations test reasons before presenting relevant retention options
  • Offer design applies eligibility rules, value bands, approval limits and expiry
  • Next-best-action logic balances customer need, profitability and long-term trust
  • Cancellation handling preserves dignity, confirms consequences and captures departure reasons
  • Win-back timing uses consent, cooling-off periods and segment-specific propositions

Participants can make customer service decisions that protect customers and meet required controls.

  • Vulnerability indicators include financial hardship, disability, bereavement, language and safeguarding concerns
  • Consent handling distinguishes marketing permissions, account authority and data-access requests
  • Data minimisation limits case notes to necessary, relevant service information
  • Authentication steps protect accounts while reducing unnecessary customer effort
  • Fair-treatment decisions test consistency, affordability, accessibility and foreseeable harm
  • Quality monitoring checks mandatory disclosures, respectful conduct and accurate records

Participants can use service measures and quality evidence to improve adviser performance.

  • Service-level measures track accessibility, response speed, abandonment and backlog
  • First-contact resolution separates resolved demand from premature case closure
  • Quality scorecards assess accuracy, ownership, communication, compliance and resolution
  • Control charts distinguish common-cause variation from special-cause service deterioration
  • Coaching conversations use observed evidence, agreed actions and follow-up dates
  • Balanced dashboards connect operational metrics with experience, loyalty and churn

Participants can create a practical plan for improving a priority service or retention issue.

  • Daily huddles review demand spikes, incidents, staffing risks and recovery actions
  • RACI matrices clarify ownership for faults, billing corrections and complaint escalation
  • Service improvement charters define problem, baseline, target, owners and milestones
  • PDCA cycles test changes, measure outcomes and standardise successful practices
  • Personal application plans specify one journey, metric, action and review date
  • Stakeholder updates present evidence, customer impact, recommendation and decision required

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Telecommunications customer journey map template
  2. Complaint handling and escalation checklist
  3. Retention conversation guide
  4. Churn-risk indicator model
  5. Customer service quality scorecard
  6. Service improvement charter

Who should attend

  • Customer Service Manager — accountable for service quality, complaints and team performance
  • Contact Centre Team Leader — coaches advisers handling complex customer contacts
  • Retention Specialist — manages cancellation requests, save offers and win-back activity
  • Customer Experience Manager — improves journeys using customer feedback and operational evidence
  • Complaint Handler — resolves escalated cases requiring ownership and accurate records
  • Telecom Retail Manager — supports customers with accounts, devices, upgrades and service issues

Skills and tools covered

Customer journey mappingComplaint resolutionRetention conversationsChurn analysisQuality monitoringService improvement

Tools and standards

Net Promoter Score, Customer Effort Score, RATER service quality model, PDCA cycle

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce methods, followed by telecom-focused case work, group exercises, simulations and peer review. Participants analyse subscriber journeys, customer feedback, complaint files, churn signals and service measures. Simulations cover billing disputes, network faults, cancellation requests, vulnerable-customer situations and escalated complaints. Facilitated discussions compare service decisions, retention choices and documentation standards. Each participant develops an application plan using a current service or retention issue from their own workplace.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical experience in a customer-facing, contact centre, retail service, complaints, retention or customer experience role. They should understand common telecommunications products such as mobile, broadband, fixed-line or device services, and be familiar with typical customer enquiries, account records and service targets. Experience supervising advisers or reviewing customer contacts is useful but not essential. No formal qualification, technical network engineering knowledge, advanced data analysis skills or prior training in customer experience methods is required.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should have experience in a customer-facing, customer service, complaints, retention or customer experience role. Familiarity with telecommunications products and common subscriber issues is expected, but prior formal training is not required.

Bring examples of recurring customer issues, service measures, complaint themes or retention challenges from your workplace if organisational policy allows. A laptop or tablet is useful for adapting templates, although course materials are provided.

The course is designed for service managers, team leaders, retention specialists, complaint handlers, retail service managers and customer experience professionals. It also suits staff moving into roles that manage customer loyalty or churn.

This course focuses on telecommunications service journeys, subscription churn, cancellation handling, retention offers, billing and fault contacts, CRM case records and service measures. It goes beyond basic communication skills by connecting customer treatment with loyalty, profitability and operational improvement.

Participants leave with reusable templates for journey mapping, complaint handling, retention conversations, quality monitoring and service improvement. The application plan identifies one current issue, an agreed measure, actions, ownership and a review date.

The course runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day and provides approximately 32.5 contact hours over five days. Time is divided between instructor input, cases, group work, customer-contact simulations, analysis and application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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