Phone Customer Service Foundations Course
$428 per person ex GST (Discounts Available) delivered via 2 x 3-Hour Sessions teaching advanced phone customer service skills.
Transform Customer Interactions with Expert-Led Phone Training
Finding the right phone customer service training can be overwhelming.
With so many options available, it’s hard to know where to start – especially when “customer service” means different things to different businesses.
Providing great phone service isn’t just about answering calls – it’s about creating positive experiences, handling challenges with confidence, and leaving a lasting impression. That’s exactly what this course delivers.
Designed for anyone who interacts with customers over the phone – whether in customer service, reception, retail, or office support – this course builds the essential skills needed to communicate effectively, manage difficult conversations, and provide outstanding service.
What makes this training different? It’s aligned with the Australian Customer Experience Professionals Association (ACXPA) Phone Quality Standards, ensuring your employees learn proven techniques that enhance customer interactions.
Delivered live by industry experts, this interactive training provides practical insights from professionals who know what works in real-world customer service.
This course expands on our Phone Customer Service Essentials program, offering two structured 3-hour sessions (six hours in total).
The extended format allows employees to absorb and apply new skills progressively, covering customer interactions, complaint handling, and managing difficult conversations.
If you’re looking for a training program that gives your employees the skills, confidence, and mindset to deliver consistently great phone experiences, this is the course you’ve been looking for.
Learn more about the course by scrolling below or jump straight to a section:
Phone Customer Service Foundations Course Fast Facts
Providing great customer service over the phone requires specific skills.
This Phone Customer Service Foundations course helps your employees develop the confidence and techniques to communicate professionally, build rapport, and handle customer interactions effectively.
Below are some key details about the course and how it will benefit your employees and your business:
Optimised for Online Learning (Virtual Training)
This course has been expertly designed for live, virtual delivery via Zoom, ensuring high engagement and strong learning outcomes through interactive, bite-sized development methods.
And because it’s delivered online, employees can join from anywhere — whether they’re in the office, working from home, or at a remote location.
The Phone Customer Service Foundations course equips your employees with the essential skills and behaviours needed to deliver superior customer service. They’ll learn how to create positive customer experiences while boosting their own confidence and job satisfaction.
Two short, 3-hour modules provide the flexibility to schedule training with minimal business disruption while maximising learning retention.
💬 Online training doesn’t mean second-best!
With interactive sessions, real-time coaching, and expert facilitators, your team gets the same high-quality learning experience as in-person training – without the hassle and expense.
Our live facilitated virtual training consistently earns outstanding feedback from participants — see what they’re saying here.
Course Suitability
The Phone Customer Service Foundations training course is designed for any employee who interacts with customers over the phone, providing them with the skills to deliver exceptional customer service with confidence and professionalism.
This course is delivered over two interactive 3-hour sessions, allowing employees to absorb key concepts, practice new techniques, and apply their learning between modules for better retention and impact.
The phone customer service skills taught in this course are universal – they can be applied across all industries, products, and services.
Typical roles that will benefit from this training include:
- Call centre agents: Handling inbound customer inquiries, complaints, and support calls.
- Receptionists & office staff: Managing incoming calls for businesses, government offices, and service desks.
- Customer service teams: Providing phone-based support across various industries.
- Small business owners & employees: Improving customer interactions and professionalism over the phone.
- Healthcare & professional services: Managing patient, client, or customer calls in clinics, law firms, real estate agencies, and more.
- Retail & eCommerce support: Assisting customers with product inquiries, complaints, and order-related issues.
What Your Employees Will Learn:
The Phone Customer Service Foundations course equips employees with the skills they need to confidently engage with customers over the phone on a regular basis.
From improving conversations and handling challenging situations to maintaining professionalism under pressure, this course brings together proven techniques from our most popular training programs into one practical and engaging experience.
With plenty of role-playing, interactive exercises, and real-world practice, employees will develop the confidence and ability to apply their new skills in a supportive, fun, and engaging online learning environment.
At the end of the course, employees will receive a certificate of achievement, but more importantly, they’ll walk away with valuable skills that will enhance their performance, boost their confidence, and drive better outcomes for your business.
Key Course Outcomes Include:
Interactive, High-Impact Customer Service Training
The Phone Customer Service Foundations training course delivers 6 hours of expert-led learning across two highly interactive 3-hour sessions.
This approach ensures minimal disruption to your operations while giving employees time to absorb and apply their new skills between sessions.
Session 1 (3 hours)
We’ll equip your employees with the critical skills and behaviours used by the world’s most successful customer service professionals to deliver exceptional experiences and achieve efficient first-contact resolution.
The training aligns with the Australian Customer Experience Professionals Association (ACXPA) Phone Quality Standards, ensuring your team is equipped to consistently provide outstanding service across all customer phone interactions.
1. The Psychology of Customers
Includes an exploration of what customers want and need from any customer service interaction and why customer service is so critical for business success.
We’re often told this module can be quite inspiring, setting the tone for the training by helping participants understand the ‘why’ behind great service.
2. How to Engage
Learn how to create a strong first impression and have impact at the start of any interaction by showing strong ownership and intent, managing expectations, and building trust and confidence.
3. Better Needs Discovery
Learn and apply techniques used by the FBI for enhanced customer conversations that identify and confirm the root cause of issues and customer needs in an efficient manner.
4. How to Educate
Participants learn how to proactively educate customers through consistent checks of understanding, comfort, and suitability with key information and solutions provided.
5. How to Close any Call or Conversation
Your employees will learn how to avoid those often awkward, clunky finishes through a simple method of strong final checks, expressions of gratitude, and a warm farewell.
Session 2 (3 hours)
Dealing with frustrated customers is an inevitable part of any customer service role.
Equipping your employees with the skills and confidence to navigate these challenging situations is essential for maintaining positive outcomes.
This session empowers employees to handle difficult phone interactions with confidence. It goes beyond outdated advice like “smile while you speak” or scripted phrases like “I can tell you’re frustrated.”
Instead, your team will gain practical insights, proven techniques, and actionable methods across four focused modules – enabling them to listen effectively, diffuse tension, show genuine empathy, and confidently steer conversations toward resolution.
1. The Psychology of Complaints
We’ll teach your employees how to identify and understand the different types of difficult customers and what they need from their service experiences when they voice concerns.
This module also includes an exploration into the science behind emotions and how they impact brain chemistry and functions—empowering your employees to better manage challenging situations.
2. Empathy and Intent
Your employees will learn how to validate with empathy to diffuse emotion and take ownership to satisfy both a customer’s emotional and transactional needs with a powerful 2-step response method for handling customer concerns.
3. Handling the Most Difficult Customers
Exploration of various vocal and body language techniques used to diffuse heightened customer emotions and how to respond to more inappropriate customer behaviours while maintaining professionalism.
4. Group Practice
Putting the learning into practice with fun, engaging group role-play activities that enable participants to apply key customer service and complaint handling skills in a range of contexts and scenarios.
About Your Trainer
The Phone Customer Service Foundations training course is facilitated by Simon Blair, one of Australia’s leading Customer Service Trainers.
Simon is a father of 4 and lives in the Eastern Suburbs of Melbourne. His twin girls keep him busy running around following their footy careers (one is an AFLW footballer with Collingwood) and he has a great love of music.
He does land the odd corporate or private gig around town as an acoustic guitarist and singer belting out rock and pop classics.
He has great adventures with his partner Ines, loves the North Melbourne Kangaroos footy team and every now and then escapes into other worlds when playing Dungeon & Dragons with his mates. He likes to call himself a ‘cool nerd’.
Looking for a Different Type of Customer Service Training?
These courses focus specifically on phone-based customer service training. If your team also handles face-to-face interactions, technical support, or sales calls, explore our other training options below to find the perfect fit.
Frontline Customer Service Training
For teams delivering exceptional face-to-face customer service in retail, hospitality, and service industries.
Learn More >Reception Customer Service Training
Training that covers both phone and face-to-face interactions for front desk and admin staff.
Learn More >Technical Support Customer Service Training
For teams providing technical support and troubleshooting over the phone or online.
Learn More >Inbound Phone Sales Training
For employees handling sales inquiries and converting calls into revenue.
Learn More >Why Choose CX Skills?
At CX Skills, we focus on what we do best - delivering expert-led training in customer service, customer experience (CX), contact centres, workforce optimisation (WFM/WFO), and workplace wellness. Unlike generic training providers, our courses are developed and facilitated by industry professionals with real-world experience who know what it takes to succeed.
We’re the official training partner of the Australian Customer Experience Professionals Association (ACXPA), and we’re a small business, proudly Australian-owned and operated.
Trusted by hundreds of businesses and backed by outstanding customer testimonials, CX Skills ensures your team receives training that is practical, engaging, and designed for real-world success.
Customer Reviews & Testimonials
Our customers love what we do! Here’s a sample of what they have to say, or you can read all our customer reviews here >
Amazing course!
The course was amazing, Nant made hard concepts so easy to understand by the way she worded things. She is a very intelligent person! Her knowledge of the human mind and how humans behave in a social setting was on point.
Response from CX Skills
Thanks Nina, we agree – Nant is like a walking encyclodedia of all things health and wellness but not in a nerdy way! Glad you enjoyed the course 🙂
Absolutely Recommended!
Honestly it does not matter which industry you are working within, this live training for Customer Service Phone Essentials is exceptional. Providing the Customer Service Experience to our customers is definitely achievable via using the strategies / steps that Simon Blair covers.
I entered the 3 hour training, I was not bored once, nor did my attention stray from the content and the way that this was delivered so well.
Customer Service is extremely important within any business structure, if you want your business to outshine the rest in your field, let Simon Blair help you with this.
Book your staff into this amazing course.
Response from CX Skills
Thanks Deborah! What an awesome review and we’re super-thrilled that you got heaps out of the course and we agree 100% – customer service is critical in every business and those that stand out are more successful!
A great course
Daniel was fantastic! The course gave me a fresh perspective of how to deal with difficult interactions with customers as well as different techniques when having those tough conversations. I highly recommend this course!
Response from CX Skills
Thank you Saul, love hearing that it provided you with a fresh perspective and equipped you with some techniques you can put to use straight away!
This training session was awesome!
Daniel did an excellent job sharing tips and tricks for handling conversations with difficult customers. I will definitely use the tools he provided! Thank you Daniel & Marcus
Response from CX Skills
Thanks Sonja – thrilled to hear you loved the course!
Friendly, Insightful, Professional
Daniel’s course was a very pleasant experience. His friendly and open approach creates wholesome environments where all participants can engage and ask questions. His course material is also easy to understand, easy to remember, insightful and helpful.
You can really see how applicable his course material is to your work and how teaching this course has evolved based on the feedback he has received while teaching it.
Response from CX Skills
Thanks Sabrina, appreciate you taking the time to leave a review and glad to hear you enjoyed the course!
Engaging and informative training sessions
We engaged Simon and the CX Skills team to conduct a customised training session for our consumer-facing head office staff members. It was a fantastic two days of entertaining and informative training sessions. The team had lots of fun while upskilling in the area. Highly recommended!
Response from CX Skills
Thanks Michael, we had a great time designing and delivering your program – thanks for all your hospitality and having such an engaged team. We look forward to hearing about your successes!
Highly Recommend for any Contact Centre Leader
I completed the course ‘How to Develop Effective Call Centre Team Leaders’ with our Senior Customer Support Manager. Marc was an engaging and thorough trainer, taking us through best practices, operational rhythms and providing us with templates and material so we would put it into practice.
I would recommend the course for any contact centre leader – it will help you develop your Seniors and team members. We had many takeaways that we are embedding with our other Managers and Seniors.
Response from CX Skills
Thanks Michelle, Marc has a ton of experience and is passionate about helping others forge their career in the industry so thrilled to hear that the training hit the spot and their are some takeaways that you are already embedding!
Great Time Spent with Justin!
The Introduction to Contact Centre Management Course with Justin Tippett was incredibly insightful. The course was packed with new learnings and industry-based work hacks that are immediately applicable. Justin’s expertise and engaging teaching style made complex concepts easy to understand.
The practical examples and real-world scenarios provided a solid foundation for anyone looking to excel in contact centre management. Additionally, the interactive sessions and hands-on activities ensured that we could apply what we learned in a practical setting. Overall, this course is a must for anyone in the industry looking to enhance their skills and knowledge.
Response from CX Skills
Thanks Katie for the lovely review. Justin is certainly very passionate about all things contact centres and we’re thrilled to hear there were lots of takeaway!
Great course!
I highly recommend completing this course. Marc was a very engaging facilitator and opened the floor to some impactful discussions on each topic.
We had a smaller group session and it was the perfect way to absorb all the learnings.
Response from CX Skills
Thanks Stephanie, thrilled to hear you enjoyed the course! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review 🙂
Great Trainer!
I felt Daniel was a wonderfully positive and communicative presenter.
Response from CX Skills
Thanks Lauren, indeed – he’s terrefic and we’re thrilled to work with him on a regular basis!
Some of the Organisations We've Trained
We’re proud to have worked with a diverse range of organisations across multiple industries, sizes, and sectors. 👉 See the full list of our customers here >
Pricing and Payment Options
The price for the Phone Customer Service Foundations course is $428 AUD per person ex GST for the entire six hours of online facilitated learning (2 x 3-hour sessions); however, discounts are available depending on the number of employees you would like to train.
Select the preferred date at the bottom of this page to purchase tickets to that course or speak to us about a private booking just for your employees.
Each employee who attends the training will receive:
- Six hours of live, facilitated training from a highly engaging industry expert.
- Course workbook containing key action points and prompters.
Payment for the course can be made by credit card, or you can request an invoice (payment must be received before the course commences).
Available Discounts
- Save 15% when booking for three or more staff in the same transaction (note: the discount will be applied on the final checkout page, and no other discounts apply).
- ACXPA Members instantly save 25% off all CX Skills courses (including this one), plus membership includes 15 self-paced training courses and a host of other benefits. Learn More >
- Do you want to train your whole team or multiple employees? Contact us for customised pricing and availability.
Purchase a Ticket to a Public Phone Customer Service Foundations Course
All the publicly available Phone Customer Service Foundations courses are listed below – click on your preferred date to purchase tickets.
If you have larger numbers (more than 6) and would like more flexibility with dates and times, contact us for pricing and availability on a private course.
New public course dates are published on a regular basis!
May 2025 Customer Service Foundations
Online via Zoom Price: $428.00 AUD ex GSTThe May 2025 Customer Service Foundations training course teaches premium phone customer service skills delivered via 2 x 3-hour sessions.
June 2025 Customer Service Foundations
Online via Zoom Price: $428.00 AUD ex GSTThe June 2025 Customer Service Foundations training course teaches premium phone customer service skills delivered via 2 x 3-hour sessions.
💡 Save 25% Instantly on This Course – and Every CX Skills Course!
Want to get an instant 25% discount on this course and all future training?
As a member of the Australian Customer Experience Professionals Association (ACXPA), you’ll unlock exclusive discounts, expert resources, and professional development opportunities to enhance customer interactions and service quality.
📢 Annual Memberships start from just $35 per employee – making it a smart investment whether you're upskilling yourself or training your team.
🚀 Learn More & Save 25% Before You Enrol >