Author: JoAnna Brandi

What would you do if you had a customer care coach? What if you had someone who would help you understand the things you and your whole team could do to create consistently rewarding and positive customer experiences? You do!

 

Customers. What would you do if you had a customer care coach? What if you had someone who would help you understand the things you and your whole team could do to create consistently rewarding and positive customer experiences?
 
You do! 
 
When I am coaching my clients, on the phone or in person, I help them understand the theory of building solid customer relationships and then I give the practical applications in the form of exercises they can do with their teams to increase their level of expertise. 
 
Since people learn differently I make sure I have a variety of things people can do to improve their performance a little every week. Over time these little improvements show big results.
 
A client just told me yesterday how pleased she was with the results of working for the last few months -  a little bit at a time - every week - to build a team of positive customer caring people. She is getting rave reviews from her customers - as well as her staff members - for the improvements.
 
So today, I thought I might share a simple exercise that you can use with your team to shed some light on the number of small but important things that add up to big relationships gains.     
 
Customer Care "Expert" Exercise

 

Do you have what it takes to care for your customers? Exquisite Customer Care goes beyond good customer service and takes us into the territory of building long term profitable relationships. Let's see what it takes!
 
Put an X on the line closest to how you score for each item.  Connect the lines and draw a circle around the three highest and three lowest scoring items.  List the highest scored items under "three greatest strengths, and your lowest under "three improvement opportunities." Make a commitment to yourself to boost your strengths and use them to tackle your improvement opportunities. 

There are many ways to use this exercise. Each member of the team can use it alone and then you can work with them afterwards to discuss how they will build on their strengths and use them to uplift themselves in the not so strong areas. Click here or on the image above to download pdf.

Here's one way I have used it in workshops with a group:
 
Each person does the exercise alone first. Then in a group of three, each person chooses one characteristic from the list that they really want to improve on. It could be a strength or improvement opportunity.  Each person takes a turn sharing the area they want to improve and with their partners generate 5-7 ways to do that. 
 
Help each other create many different and fun ways to improve relationships skills - in and out of the workplace. Write down your individual improvement plan and set a date to meet with the group again to celebrate your accomplishments. 
 
Have a happy day,

JoAnna

 

Copyright 2009 by JoAnna Brandi. Used with permission.