Interactive Ways to Teach Customer Service to Staff

Lecturing the employees about importance of customer service is not enough; interactive activities play a crucial role.

Training employees in customer service has become more important than ever with customer satisfaction becoming a key point of difference among companies. Companies are increasingly integrating customer service training to teach employees to be sensitive to customers' obvious and not-so-obvious needs and take prompt action for issue resolution. As a trainer or customer service team leader, you could use several training activities to instill in employees the concept of creating and maintaining positive relationships with customers for organizational success.

Don't Say the Forbidden Words

This activity requires participants to come up with alternative sentences instead of "No" or "We cannot" in a customer service scenario. Getting downright negative with customers raises several negative emotions in them, including annoyance and anger. Participants learn how to prevent such situations with this activity. Form participant groups. Ask them to come up with positive alternative sentences they would use in such situations. Examine the words, phrases or sentences that each team comes up with. Discard any alternatives that you think might create a negative impression on the customer. The team with the highest number of positive alternatives wins. Some examples of positive alternatives: "Your question is valid; let me do some checking to answer you" instead of "I don't know." Or: "That is a bit tough; let me look into possibilities for you" instead of "I can't." Or: "I'll have to consult my colleague for more information; could you wait?" instead of "Please hang on."

Mystery Shopping

Have participants visit competitor businesses or business places where they are customers to experience each organization's customer service as an outsider. Participants' focus of study should include different customer service behaviors, including how agents handle customer phone interactions, their responsiveness and the speed of problem resolution. Have the participants regroup and discuss their findings. They should identify areas where they are doing better and areas that need improvement, along with possible strategies for improvement.

What Customer Service Means to You?

Divide participants into small groups and ask them to complete the sentence "Customer service to me is..." There can be a list of sentences per group. After completing the definition, ask each group to come up with a completely new and original idea to improve customer service. Regroup and discuss customer service definitions and ideas; short-list original ideas for future implementation. Emphasize that customer service constitutes not just one skill, but several, along with attitudes and behaviors.

Active Listening

Have a script of any Shakespearean play or any other well-known play ready for this activity. Call out two participants and ask one of them to read out the script; this person plays the role of a customer. The other participant should listen to the script being read, imagine he is in a customer service situation and respond accordingly say to a problem or requirement. This activity improves listening skills and the ability to respond spontaneously in a positive way to the customer.

References

• Entrepreneur: Teaching Good Customer Service
• Customer Service Works: Training Games & Activities
• NorthEast Regional Computing Program: NERComp Training for CS and TB