EXCELLENCE IN CUSTOMER SERVICE • CUSTOMER INSTITUTE CERTIFIED • 5-DAY PROGRAM
Excellence in Customer Service
Description
Excellence in Customer Service turns everyday customer conversations into a real strength for your frontline and contact-center teams. Over five hands-on days, people learn to handle any interaction – easy or hard – with clarity, warmth, and confidence.
The week moves from communication basics and body language to handling difficult situations and advanced skills – with far more role-play than theory. Two experienced trainers work with a small group, so everyone gets real practice and honest feedback.
Participants leave able to defuse tension, build rapport fast, and create moments customers remember. The week ends with an optional exam – aligned to German Chamber of Commerce standards – to become a Certified Customer Service Professional.
Certified Customer Service Professional (CCSP)
Certified by the Customer Institute, with a final exam aligned to German Chamber of Commerce standards. The certification fee is included; the exam is the last, optional step.
Ideal for
Frontline teams (hospitality, retail, travel, public sector)
Contact center employees
Sales representatives
Duration
Five days, in person, in a small group of 10–15 (max. 20). Run in-house for your team or as an open seminar.
Formats
• In-house (on-site)
• Public seminar
• Also available: Special airline & healthcare editions
Facilitator
Led by two expert trainers – Stefan Osthaus and Christiane von Schönberg.
Certification
Certified Customer Service Professional (CCSP), issued by the Customer Institute; exam aligned to German Chamber of Commerce standards. Fee included.
Ways to take part
The same five-day program, delivered for your own team or as an open seminar – with dedicated editions for aviation and healthcare.
Public Seminar
Join an open seminar in a small group, alongside people from other industries (typically in partnership with local partners).
In-House Program
The full five days on-site for your team, tailored to your industry and your real customer situations.
Airline Edition
The same program tailored to aviation – check-in, boarding, cabin, and contact center.
Healthcare Edition
A patient-centric version for hospitals, clinics, and medical contact centers.
Agenda
A single 2–3 hour session in five short chapters. Around 80% is ready to run; the [tailored] moments are where we add your own initiative, journey maps, and examples.
Day 1
- Introduction To Communication Skills
- Effectiveness of communication
- Parts of human communication
- The communication process
- Practice exercises
- Body language
- Rapport building with customers
- Empathy
- Self-Test: which kind of communication type am I?
- Decipher your customer’s communication type
- Role-playing exercises
- Summary and feedback about day 1
Day 2
- Deepening Communication Skills
- Communicating clearly under time pressure
- Avoiding misunderstandings with patients
- Structuring conversations for clarity and reassurance
- Translating complex information into simple language
- Active listening in emotionally charged situations
- Recognizing hidden concerns behind patient questions
- Adapting communication to different patient personalities
- Role-playing: explaining processes, delays, and next steps
- Practical exercises based on real-life patient interactions
- Summary and feedback about day 2
Day 3
- Non-verbal Communication
- Understanding body language
- Analysis of body language and observations
- Using body language to enhance communication
- Interactive activities
- Facial expressions and eye contact
- Groupwork: how do different cultures interpret body language?
- Gestures and postures
- Dress code and appearance
- Communication style and behavior in modern business based on international Business Knigge (internationally renowned behavior guidebook)
- Summary and feedback about day 3
Day 4
- Handling Difficult Situations
- Typical complaints in tourism
- Tools for dealing with complaints
- Turning complaints into opportunities
- Role-playing scenarios and feedback
- Conflict solving techniques
- Keeping cool under pressure
- Practice part
- Stress management
- Reflection on typical stressors in customer services roles
- Group discussion and exercises
- Time and self-management
- Summary and feedback about day 4
Day 5
- Advanced Communication Skills And Exam Preparation
- How to lead the dialogue in pleasant and unpleasant situations
- Techniques for persuasive communication
- Techniques for engaging customers
- Creation of memorable moments for customers
- Creative group work to achieve memorable moments
- Review of key concepts during the five days
- Practice sessions
- Role-playing
- Summary and feedback about day 5
- Exam preparation
- Exam: 60-minutes written exam to assess the understanding and application of communication skills. Based on the standards of German Chamber of Commerce
Material: digital workbook – included in the participation fee
Your Facilitators
Stefan Osthaus is one of the industry’s top thought leaders and consultants. He has been a leader in Fortune 500 companies for more than 15 years and has held global responsibility for the customer experience of 120 million customers as well as the employee experience of tens of thousands of employees.
Stefan now helps leading organizations around the globe to combine their Customer and Employee Experience practices and treat them as two sides of the same coin. Stefan is also president of the Customer Institute, a global keynote speaker, and an insightful author.
Christiane von Schönberg has spent more than 20 years helping people communicate better – in customer service, sales, leadership, and conflict. She works with organizations of every kind, from global software and financial-services companies to fast-growing startups, and is known for a warm, practical style captured by one of her most popular talks: humor as a strategy for the difficult moments.
She is certified in the leading tools for understanding how people tick – the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument, the Reiss Profile, and Transactional Analysis – and studied the language of the body with the renowned Samy Molcho. A sought-after keynote speaker and business-administration graduate, she draws on a career in marketing and sales so the skills always connect back to real results at the front line.”
Included in this program
Digital workbook
A digital workbook covering all five days, yours to keep and reuse.
Tools & assessments
Self-assessment profiles, communication checklists, and ready-to-use role-play scenarios.
CCSP Certification
The CCSP • Certified Customer Service Professional certification fee is included; the exam is the final, optional step.
CCSP certificate
A Customer Service Professional (CCSP) certificate, shareable on LinkedIn.
Follow-up coaching
A follow-up coaching session to lock in the new habits back at work.
Small groups
Small groups – capped at 20, so everyone gets real airtime and feedback.
Two trainers
Two expert trainers in the room throughout the week, not one.
Lifelong access to all training material
Handbook, templates, exercises, plus all updates will be accessible to you whenever you need them
Program brochure
The full five-day agenda, certification details, and the airline and healthcare editions in one PDF.
Contact us with any questions you might have – about content, formats, group bookings or invoicing.