Customer Service Practitioner - Intermediate Apprenticeship Apprenticeship Summary Next steps Key information Key learning Delivery model Support from B&FC Assessment Apprenticeship Summary The role of a customer service practitioner is to deliver high quality products and services to the customers of their organisation. Your core responsibility will be to provide a high quality service to customers which will be delivered from the workplace, digitally, or through going out into the customer’s own locality. These may be one-off or routine contacts and include dealing with orders, payments, offering advice, guidance and support, meet-and-greet, sales, fixing problems, after care, service recovery or gaining insight through measuring customer satisfaction. You may be the first point of contact and work in any sector or organisation type.Your actions will influence the customer experience and their satisfaction with your organisation. You will demonstrate excellent customer service skills and behaviours as well as product and/or service knowledge when delivering to your customers. You provide service in line with the organisation’s customer service standards and strategy and within appropriate regulatory requirements. Your customer interactions may cover a wide range of situations and can include; face-to-face, telephone, post, email, text and social media. Apprenticeship standard dates Start date Location Duration Anytime Employer's Premises Enquire now Anytime Employer's Premises Enquire now Next steps As an EmployerIf you would like to offer this as an apprenticeship vacancy within your organisation, enrol one of your existing employees on this apprenticeship or simply find out more about supporting an apprenticeship within your organisation, please complete this form and a member of our Business Development Team will be in touch within 2 working days to advise you on next steps. As an ApprenticeIf you are interested in securing an apprenticeship in Customer Services, please visit our Vacancies page to check for any suitable roles.If there are currently no roles available, please submit an enquiry form using the Enquire Now button above to register your interest. We will use this information to let you know when a suitable vacancy becomes available and also to advise you of any courses we offer that might advance your career goals in the meantime. Key information Entry RequirementsAll Apprenticeships require an initial assessment, interview and employment in the industry. Level 2 applicants are required to hold a GCSE Grade 2 (formerly grade E) or above in Maths, English and ICT (or equivalent) or be prepared to work towards Maths, English and ICT Level 1 Functional Skills. How will the Apprenticeship be funded?As the employerHow your apprenticeship is funded will depend on whether or not you pay the Apprenticeship Levy. If you do pay the Levy, your apprenticeship will be funded out of this, provided you have sufficient monies available. If you do not pay the Apprenticeship Levy, 95% of the apprenticeship will be funded by the Government, with the remaining 5% being funded by you. There may also be some further incentives offered by the Government which we will be able to advise you of when setting up your apprenticeship. Either way, B&FC's Business Development Team will be on hand to help you navigate the funding arrangements and support you through this process.As the apprenticeOne of the benefits of an apprenticeship is that, as the apprentice, you are not required to fund your training. You will also receive a wage for the work that you do with minimum hourly rates set by the Government. Your employer can choose to pay you more than the minimum wage, but they cannot pay you less. For details of current minimum wage rates for apprentices, please visit the Government website. What will my Apprentice learn? KnowledgeBy the end of their apprenticeship, your apprentice should understand:Who your customers are. What the difference is between internal and external customers. The different needs and priorities of customers and the best ways to manager their expectations.The purpose of the business, what the organisation's core values are and what 'brand promise' means.The internal policies and procedures of the organisation, especially those affecting customer service like the complaints process and the digital media policy.Any legislation or regulations affecting the particular sector in which your organisation operates together with any more general legislation which impacts all employees. You should also understand how this legislation impacts your role.The principles of customer service and what makes for a good customer service experience.How to build trust with your customers and why this is important.The products and services of your organisation and keep this knowledge up-to-date.SkillsYour apprentice should be able to:Build rapport by utilising a range of communication skills including active listening, choosing an appropriate tone of voice which reflects the organisation's brand values.Provide clear explanations and offer options that help customers make choices that are mutually beneficial to them and the organisation.Organise workload and plan priorities to meet deadlines.Deal with customer complaints in an appropriate manner, demonstrating patience and understanding and, wherever possible, delivering a win-win outcome for the customer and the organisation.BehavioursYour apprentice should be able to:Take ownership for keeping service knowledge and skills up-to-date.Seek and act on feedback to maintain or improve service delivery.Work as a team, communicating effectively with others for the benefit of the customer.Treat customers as individuals and deliver a personalised service experience which acknowledges their priorities and preferred communications style whilst maintaining the organisations core values and service culture through your actions.Demonstrate personal pride through appropriate dress and/or use of positive and confident language.Take ownership of the customer relationship from first contact through to the delivery of your service promise. Expert TutorsAll tutors involved in the delivery of courses and apprenticeships within the College are approved to teach the subjects and modules they deliver.Our recruitment process ensures that tutors delivering a given programme are suitably qualified and, where appropriate, possess relevant technical and industrial experience and a familiarity with professional practice. This is especially important for apprenticeships where off-the-job training needs to align with apprentices' on-the-job experience. How will the Apprenticeship be delivered? The apprenticeship will typically be delivered over a 24-month period with additional time required to prepare for the End Point Assessment. Apprentices' time will typically be split 80:20 throughout the apprenticeship programme with four days a week spent at the employer premises learning on the job and one day a week spent off-site, undertaking classroom-based and workshop-based training at B&FC. What support will I get from B&FC? As the employerEach employer is supported by an experienced member of our Business Development Team to set up their apprenticeship. For those employers who are completely new to the apprenticeship process, the Team will support them with all the necessary paperwork and administration to get their apprenticeship programme up and running as quickly and efficiently as possible. For existing employers, their dedicated Client Services Manager will be an ongoing point of contact for all their apprenticeship queries, however big or small.We can also help employers who are looking to recruit new apprentices by advertising their vacancy, finding suitable applicants and supporting them with the interview and selection process. Once an apprentice is onboard, our Curriculum Tutors and Apprenticeship Trainers and Skills Coaches also step in to support the employer-apprentice relationship and ensure the apprentice is on track to succeed.As the apprenticeIn the first instance, we aim to give potential apprentices all the support they need to find a suitable apprenticeship. That can mean working with them prior to an application to improve their CV, hone their interview skills and advise them of any additional training that may help them secure an apprenticeship vacancy.Once they start their apprenticeship, we continue to support them with their off-site training and with regular meetings with our Apprenticeship Trainers and Skills Coaches to ensure they are progressing and acquiring all the knowledge, skills and behaviours that will ensure they complete their apprenticeship successfully. How will the Apprenticeship be assessed? What is an end-point assessment and why it happensAn EPA is an assessment at the end of the apprenticeship. The EPA is the apprentice's opportunity to show an independent assessor how well they can carry out the occupation they have been trained for. Apprentices need to complete a logbook of their training during the last eight months of their apprenticeship which showcases all the work they have carried out prior to their EPA.The overall grades available for this apprenticeship are:failpassdistinctionWhen the apprentice passes the EPA, they will be awarded their apprenticeship certificate.Assessment methodsThe EPA comprises three distinct componentsApprentice showcaseAfter 12 months on programme, the apprentice will be asked to compile an apprentice showcase evidencing the work they have done which demonstrates they have acquire the knowledge, skills and behaviours outlined in the occupational standard. This will be reviewed and assessed by the external assessor.Practical observationThe apprentice will be required to carry out a number of practical tasks that will enable the apprentice to demonstrate their customer service skills so that the assessor can observe their level of competency.Professional discussionFollowing the practical observation and to allow the assessor to review any scenarios not covered in the observation, the apprentice will have an hour-long discussion with the assessor to establish their understanding and application of the knowledge, skills and behaviours they have acquired whilst working in the role.