What kind of education do companies look for when hiring in Customer Service?

Customer Service or Management Training That Isn't Hype

• I manage customer support at an education software company. My company offers to reimburse money spend on tuition and classes, and I’m being highly encouraged to take advantage of it. I can take any kind of management class, or a class about customer service, or something in that vein (though I could probably take something a little out-of-the-box). However, when I look for these kinds of classes and seminars everything is tripping my scamdar (over-hyped promises to revolutionize your career and the way you support customers, from a guy who once had dinner with the cousin of a middle manager from Zappos). I would love to learn more, and I know there are things we can do better, but I’m having trouble sorting out the people who want to sell me things, or just take my money, from the people who have interesting and effective things to teach. Do you have any recommendations or suggestions?

• Answer:

  I can't point to a vendor because I did internal training, but I enjoyed learning about Six Sigma. It teaches you to think about processes, and assess them and measure them, make changes, and implement the changes. There's actual stuff to learn as opposed to a bunch of woo and it's more applicable to customer service than you might think. Also, a college class on Organizational Behaviors might be interesting.