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Use AI to Improve Your Performance - 7/23/24


Many companies are integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into some aspect of their business.  This could greatly change how they operate, how they communicate with customers. This AI wave reminds me of a story from 20+ years ago when a stock brokerage firm launched a new website that greatly enhanced the Read more

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Floyd loves a good hamburger. Any chance he gets to try a new spin on an old standby, he takes it. Recently, a burger joint opened near his house, and Floyd was very excited! It was owned by and named for a world-renowned chef, so it had to be Read more

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There’s a cooking show that a friend of mine watches, and the premise is all about reverse engineering food.  They may take a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, analyze it, and determine the ingredients just by tasting it.  Then they figure out a recipe.  The cook will try to make Read more

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I’ve led enough sessions with clients on continuous improvement topics to have solid experience on how to lead ideation exercises, brainstorming to develop new ideas.  Oftentimes these sessions start with the right question; the first answers may not be the ultimate solution, but they can serve as a jumping Read more

The Power of the Pause - 6/25/24


When I’m facilitating a meeting, and it feels like it’s going off-track or the discussion is going a little longer than it should, I may say something like “let me pause the conversation so that…” or “let’s pause just for a minute and consider…” I don’t like the word STOP. Read more

Handle Interruptions Heroically - 6/18/24


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Freddie was a new business owner in town.  He was launching a franchise, had acquired some funding from a local bank, and was in search of staff who cared about customer service. All the while, he was in the process of renovating a storefront for his business, so he was Read more

There’s Positivity in Patience - 5/28/24


The employee at the financial services firm was working with a new client on a relatively simple loan.  The documentation was about as clear as it could get to the employee, but the customer had lots of questions.  The employee calmly, clearly, and specifically answered each question.  The meeting Read more

The Goal – A Great Experience - 5/21/24


The following is a narrative of a great experience (people, process, service, facility) at a minor league sporting event – key points that could apply to any business are in bold… Mark and I pulled into the parking lot, excited about the game.  The Slapshots had been on a roll Read more

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Create a Training Reinforcement Program

Posted on July 6, 2011 in Business Advice Please leave a comment

You just implemented the top customer service training program that the organization has ever undertaken. The session ratings were sky high. The employee feedback was positive. Everyone is energized.

Now what?

In so many organizations, when customer service training hasn’t been done for a while and customer complaints start to rise, management’s answer is often “let’s put everyone through training.” That might be a fine answer. But that would be an incomplete answer.

If we focus purely on part of what training is supposed to do – improve staff service skills, get everyone on the same page in terms of expectations of behavior and focus, and create some motivation – then a solid customer service training program can be considered a success for the short-term. But if you look at what training is supposed to generate in terms of long-term results, there needs to be something more.

As staff and managers move further and further away from the training date, the need to keep the momentum going gets greater and greater.

To make the skills stick, the common focus continue, and the motivation move forward, the organization needs to create a training reinforcement plan. The plan should be focused on tapping into managers and supervisors to set the expectation that they will perform exercises or facilitate discussions with employees that reinforce the skills learned, discussing customer issues, and having staff learn best practices from each other.

There should be a standard frequency of at least monthly, an accountability if supervisors do not reinforce the skills, and a core set of exercises and facilitation guidelines from which supervisors can select and use in their staff meetings.

If you feel good about your customer service training, make sure you implement a reinforcement plan so that your customers will feel good that staff skills will continue to improve.

Make the successes of customer service training stick for the long-term.

Want to discuss how we help clients create a Training Reinforcement Program? Contact me directly via e-mail…

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