The finance and accounting department typically focus on getting the
numbers right, often at the expense of soft skills training. This is
understandable, since properly crunching numbers is, of course, their
utmost priority. These math professionals are hired because of their
specialized skills and in return, receive commendations for their
ability to fill out the books in an efficient manner, since nobody would
want ledger books riddled with mistakes and careless oversights.However, this doesn’t mean that customer service training should be overlooked entirely, as this is
among the reasons to actually consider outsourcing your finance and accounting team. With customer service outsourcing, the amount of attention placed on getting the numbers right is also given to excellent customer service.
Some of the best business process outsourcing firms recognizes that good soft skills or knowledge on call center outsourcing can spell the difference between losing and keeping customers. It’s also an excellent way to foster smoother inter-departmental interactions among colleagues.
We’ve enumerated five reasons on how customer service training can further assist the finance team.
1. Developed ability to explain and simplify complex data
These professionals spent years mastering their skill sets and spent countless hours with peers speaking the same jargon, but the accounting team will often be required to explain financial terms to non-experts.This is where having a good customer service training program comes in handy. It will teach them to have good communication skills and equip them with the ability to parse complex ideas into understandable bits of information—without talking down to their audience.
2. Fosters positive brand image
For situations that would call for interacting with clients and explaining reports in layman’s terms, customer service training becomes advantageous. This will help them pick up the best manner to communicate with clients, handle complaints appropriately, and resolve issues to establish a good relationship with them. Also, having satisfied customers would result in them becoming as unofficial company ambassadors as they would likely make recommendations to their families and friends.3. Improved active listening skills
Understanding client needs is crucial in achieving business success. The ability to truly listen to what your customers want as well as to respond in a satisfactory manner will earn their loyalty, repeated business, and encourage glowing recommendations—all of these are vital for business growth. Furthermore, it will benefit your internal organization as a whole, as each department would spend less time making up for mistakes that could’ve been avoided if only they understood each another in the first place.4. Encourages rapport-building
Building rapport fosters trust and confidence with people you interact with. If both customers and work colleagues have good relationships with accountants, it will bring about an established positive reputation and a perception that the team is easy to work with. After all, who wouldn’t want to work with a team that makes you motivated and energized?5. Higher tolerance for demanding customers
The finance and accounting team have their fair shares when handling difficult and demanding customers. Explaining complex computations and breaking down the numbers in layman’s terms is inevitable and would require a lot of patience, which is valued when instilling good customer service practices.Not to mention the internal customers as well since co-workers can be difficult to handle too, at times. It’s good to have the ability to diffuse these situations for the benefit of the entire organization, in terms of having shorter turnaround times and smoother relationships among employees.
Committing mistakes when calculating formulas is unavoidable, as even the best number-crunchers are prone to human errors. However, know that committing errors is not the ultimate reason a client leaves; rather the manner of handling mistakes takes precedence over the perfect computations contained in the log books. In the end, acquiring good soft skills will only make an excellent team better, not to mention the overall value they’ll contribute to the company.
Managing your business’ finance and accounting on your own is taxing and does not always result in favorable results. With our customized solutions, rest assured that all your concerns would be addressed accordingly and at the same time, it would allow you to concentrate on other important factors vital for your company’s growth. Learn more!
