[Customer Service] Building Bridges to Customers

Though the U.S. Congress proclaimed it a nationally recognized event, you won’t find American Greetings offering a display of cards observing National Customer Service Week.

A survey by Aspect Communications found that 82 percent of customers are likely to recommend a company to their friends and family when they are happy with its customer service. And the best way to make customers happy is with happy employees who feel they are contributing to the organization and are recognized for their efforts. A survey by Radclyffe Group found that happy employees mean happy customers which, in turn, result in better business.

Customer Service Week, observed the first full week in October, (Oct. 2-6), is devoted to recognizing the importance of customer service and honoring people on the front lines of service companies. Officially, its purpose is "to create a positive message that lasts all year long and to provide a productive opportunity to generate an even stronger commitment to customer service excellence."

The extent to which a company can observe this fun-filled week is limited only by the imagination of company leaders and employees.

PLANNING THE WEEK. Begin planning Customer Service Week (CSW) activities as early in the year as possible. If you haven’t planned yet for this year, take the time now to create a plan for your festivities. Assign one person to be in charge of overall coordination of events and appoint a committee to be in charge of details.

If your company is a very small one, you can still observe CSW with one or two activities — or something as simple as taking everyone out to eat and presenting hand written thank-you notes to your employees.

Allow time each day for a different team-building, rapport-developing activity or set aside time on Friday only. Games and contests have long been an important part of CSW celebrations.

When employees play together and laugh together, they build strong bonds which help in stressful and difficult moments that can accompany customer service work.

Decorate the customer service area and the entire office with posters, banners and balloons created for Customer Service Week. Hang posters before the actual week to generate excitement for the festivities.

Plan to have food each day. Keep the focus on CSW by ensuring that there are no other events taking place during the week. Publicize the event dates as far in advance as possible to give everyone time to prepare.

To involve your customers, send a Customer Service Week Thank-You card to each one that might contain a photo of the whole staff or a hand written note.Many firms and organizations honor individual front line reps during Customer Service Week. One popular way to do this is with peer-to-peer awards. Another method, which is gaining popularity, is to ask customers to recognize employees they feel provide exceptional service.

The schedule and ideas below can be adapted for use in your pest control company.

MONDAY – BREAKFAST. Bring in breakfast and recognize all the departments that help and support customers throughout the year. Hold this early in the morning before technicians leave for their routes.

Organize skill-building training sessions. Because it’s a special week, start each session with an icebreaker. Ask each employee to match their coworkers with one of the descriptions below. Announce results on Friday with each team member presented a prize and certificate.

• Best smile

• Most talkative

• Most patient

• Most helpful to customers

• Most knowledgeable

• Mr. Congeniality

• Ms. Congeniality

• Funniest jokes

• Most enthusiastic

• Most creative

TUESDAY — TECHNICIAN APPRECIATION DAY. Bring in a speaker to offer stress relief tips. Present small baskets of goodies to each technician. Ongoing activities this day might also include:

Awards presentation. Thank your reps for their valuable contributions with Certificates of Appreciation and special gifts.

Baby picture match contest. Encourage employees to bring in baby pictures to post and encourage employees to match coworkers to their baby pictures.

Read complimentary letters from customers.

Give each technician a snack basket.

WEDNESDAY — OFFICE APPRECIATION DAY. Post photos of employees’ smiles (mouth only) and have everyone try to match the smile to its owner. This is a great way to draw attention to the importance of smiling.

Awards presentation. Thank your office staff for their work and present certificates or other signs of appreciation.

Afternoon ice cream break.

THURSDAY — GETTING TO KNOW YOU DAY. Make a list of volunteer activities or special talents of employees and recognize these individuals.

Morning donut break.

FRIDAY — WRAP –UP:

• Lunch (or early evening dinner)

• Announce winners of awards from descriptions voted on Monday.

• Share information on the number of calls handled in a typical week, the dollar value of cross-selling in the last year, positive survey results, and more.

• Make it a shorter work day by allowing everyone to go home an hour early.

THEMES. Themes are always popular during Customer Service Week, and with good reason. A theme can provide the focus you need to pull your activities, food selection, and gifts together. To make activities and decorating easier, develop a theme for your festivities such as movies, hobbies, sports, circus, Olympics, favorite bug, etc.

WEEK-LONG ACTIVITIES. In addition to daily events, there are several daily activities employees can participate in, including:

• Word search or crossword puzzles

• Best caption to a photo or picture

• Guess the number of items (pennies, candy, marbles, etc.) in a jar

• Distribute badges, pens and other promotional materials

• Issue press releases to newspapers and radio/TV stations about your activities

• Trivia quiz

HAVE FUN. The preceding suggestions for Customer Service Week are just that — suggestions. Put together an agenda that best fits the personalities within your pest control company with goal of making Customer Service Week a fun and productive experience.

The author is owner of Compelling Communications and can be contacted at jvanklaveren@giemedia.com.

Resources

www.csweek.com

www.businessfundamentals.com