Introduction

How to Use This Book

What’s in This Chapter

• Why customer service training is important

• Determining which workshop agenda will best meet your needs

• What you need to know about training

• Estimates of time required

• A broad view of what the book includes

Why Is Developing Customer Service Skills Important?

You may know the story of a letter to the editor of a newspaper on customer service. In short, the newspaper reported that a local government agency would be committing significant resources to training on customer service. It was expected to be expensive for the agency and time consuming for the staff. A resident wrote the editor that he had the solution at a mere fraction of the cost: “Tell them to be nice.”

As good as that advice is, is it enough? From my experience, it isn’t. Even when service providers are doing all the “right things,” there are a lot of displeased customers because service behaviors are only one part of the equation. Equally critical are service strategies and service systems. Employees empowered to, trained to, and supported in their efforts to improve their service delivery strategies can effect significant positive change on the customer’s experience. And, organizations that are committed to examining and reengineering their service systems can achieve incredible outcomes, related to both the customer experience and profitability.

This book is not limited to telling staff to be nice. Nor is it limited in focus to call center service situations. The workshops in it are applicable to any industry, to any employee, whether delivering service to external customers or to internal ones (think co-workers). The agendas and support materials are designed to

• Elicit specific techniques to manage challenging customers and situations

• Provide practice using a four-step process appropriate to any service interaction

• Prepare participants to respond to conflict

• Explore the current service environment (individually and organizationally)

• Shift employees’ perspectives to that of the customer

• Lead participants to identify customers’ pain points and mitigate them

• Guide participants to create mistake-proof techniques to avoid customer frustration.

Which Program Is Best?

The duration of each program will be a consideration but should not be the basis of your decision. Instead, consider these descriptions.

Half-Day Workshop: Service Behaviors That Matter

This session focuses on service behaviors: resolving difficult situations participants face, identifying conflict-causing and deescalating language, determining how to react when the customer is behaving poorly, and using a four-step HELP process when servicing any customer. It briefly introduces service strategies and service systems at the close.

The half-day workshop may be the right choice when the intended participants

• Deal extensively with angry customers

• Have little experience as service providers

• Will be limited in their authority to revise existing service strategies.

One-Day Workshop: From the Customer’s Perspective

This session integrates a segment on service behaviors (specifically, using the four-step HELP process when servicing a customer) but primarily focuses on service strategies—from the customer’s perspective. Participants will differentiate among service behaviors, strategies, and systems; be introduced to process improvement concepts and techniques; complete a self-assessment; collaborate to identify streamlining opportunities; devise improvements they can initiate; and develop action plans to implement them.

The one-day workshop may be the right choice when

• There is an organization-wide commitment to service

• Participants will be empowered to make inexpensive improvements to existing strategies

• Program sponsors and champions will look for, recognize, and reward application of the concepts following training

• A sustained approach to continuous service improvement is desired and will be supported.

Two-Day Workshop: A Total Approach to Service

As the name implies, this program covers service behaviors, strategies, and systems. Much of the half-day workshop, and many elements of the one-day workshop (above) are in this design, but it also includes creative problem-solving to take service strategies further. A key difference from the one-day agenda is this workshop’s emphasis on service systems, which includes cross-functional process mapping, business reengineering, and collaborative action planning.

The two-day workshop may be the right choice when

• The organization is placing a significant priority on service

• Leadership is open to making big-picture changes in how things are done

• Time will be allocated, post-training, to continue the work of process mapping, business re-engineering, and process improvement

• The organization is pursuing external recognition/certification for being committed to quality service.

How Much Time Will Preparation Take?

Putting together and facilitating a training workshop, even when the agendas, activities, tools, and assessments are created for you, can be time consuming. For planning purposes, estimate about four days of preparation time for a two-day course.

What Do I Need to Know About Training?

The ATD Workshop Series is designed to be adaptable for many levels of both training facilitation and topic expertise. Circle the answers in the quick assessment on the next page that most closely align with your state of expertise.

Two-fold novice: Your best bet is to stick closely to the materials as they are designed. Spend extra time with the content to learn as much as possible about it. Read the examples and sample stories, and plan examples of your own to share. Also, closely read Chapter 8 on training delivery, and consider practicing with a colleague before delivering the program. Take comfort in the tested materials you are holding and confidence in your ability to apply them!

Developing your expertise in one or both areas: Logical choices for you may include using the outline and materials, and then including material you have developed that is relevant to the topic and your participants’ workplace needs. Or, take the core content of the materials and revise the learning techniques into interactive approaches you have used with success in the past. Play to your strengths and develop your growth areas using the resources in this volume that complement your existing skills.

Authority twice over: Feel free to adapt the agendas and materials as you see fit and use any materials that you have already developed, or simply incorporate training activities, handouts, and so forth from this volume into your own agenda. Enjoy the benefits of ready-to-use processes and support tools and have fun tailoring them to your preferences and organizational needs.

What Are the Important Features of the Book?

Section I includes the various workshop designs (from half-day to two days) with agendas and thumbnails from presentation slides as well as a chapter on customizing the workshop for your circumstances. The chapters included are

• Chapter 1. Half-Day Workshop (3 hours program time) + Agenda + PPT (thumbnails)

• Chapter 2. One-Day Workshop (7.5 hours program time) + Agenda + PPT (thumbnails)

• Chapter 3. Two-Day Workshop (15 hours program time) + Agenda + PPT (thumbnails)

• Chapter 4. Customizing the Customer Service Training Workshop.

The workshop chapters include advice, instructions, workshop at-a-glance tables, as well as full program agendas.

Section II is standard from book to book in the ATD Workshop Series as a way to provide a consistent foundation of training principles. This section’s chapters follow the ADDIE model—the classic instructional design model named after its steps (analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation). The chapters are based on best practices and crafted with input from experienced training practitioners. They are meant to help you get up to speed as quickly as possible. Each chapter includes several additional recurring features to help you understand the concepts and ideas presented. The Bare Minimum gives you the bare bones of what you need to know about the topic. Key Points summarize the most important points of each chapter. What to Do Next guides you to your next action steps. And, finally, the Additional Resources section at the end of each chapter gives you options for further reading to broaden your understanding of training design and delivery. Section II chapters include

• Chapter 5. Identifying Needs for Customer Service Training

• Chapter 6. Understanding the Foundations of Training Design

• Chapter 7. Leveraging Technology to Maximize and Support Design and Delivery

• Chapter 8. Delivering Your Customer Service Workshop: Be a Great Facilitator

• Chapter 9. Evaluating Workshop Results.

Section III covers information about post-workshop learning:

• Chapter 10. The Follow-Up Coach.

Section IV includes all the supporting documents and online guidance:

• Chapter 11. Learning Activities

• Chapter 12. Assessments

• Chapter 13. Handouts

• Chapter 14. Online Tools and Downloads.

The book includes everything you need to prepare for and deliver your workshop:

• Agendas, the heart of the series, are laid out in three columns for ease of delivery. The first column shows the timing, the second gives the presentation slide number and image for quick reference, and the third gives instructions and facilitation notes. These are designed to be straightforward, simple agendas that you can take into the training room and use to stay on track. They include cues on the learning activities, notes about tools or handouts to include, and other important delivery tips. You can download the agendas from the website (see Chapter 14) and print them out for easy use.

• Learning activities, which are more detailed than the agendas, cover the objectives of the activity, the time and materials required, the steps involved, variations on the activity in some cases, and wrap-up or debriefing questions or comments.

• Assessments, handouts, and tools are the training materials you will provide to learners to support the training program. These can include scorecards for games, instructions, reference materials, samples, self-assessments, and so forth.

• Presentation media (PowerPoint slides) are deliberately designed to be simple so that you can customize them for your company and context. They are provided for your convenience. Chapter 7 discusses different forms of technology that you can incorporate into your program, including different types of presentation media.

All the program materials are available for download, customization, and duplication. See Chapter 14 for instructions on how to access the materials.

How Are the Agendas Laid Out?

The following agenda is a sample from the two-day workshop.

Day One: (9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.)
TIMING	SLIDES	ACTIVITIES/NOTES/CONSIDERATIONS
	Slide 1	Create a Positive Learning Environment Display this opening slide and welcome participants as they arrive.
9:00 a.m. (10 min)	Slide 2	Welcome/Learning Activity 26: Wall Graffiti Use this learning activity to create immediate involvement and to draw out the participants’ perspectives, not as housekeeping, introductions, or generalized “welcoming” comments (you will do that later in the workshop). Set the tone for the learning event as an active, contributory, and fun experience.
9:10 a.m. (5 min)	Slide 3	Program Objectives/Learning Activity 27: Prioritize Learning • Handout 27: Learning Objectives This individual activity introduces the workshop’s learning objectives for both days, encouraging participants to begin engaging with the objectives.
9:15 a.m. (10 min)	Slide 4	Ground Rules/Learning Activity 28: Social Agreements Guided by your facilitation, this activity will help participants generate a list of guidelines that will drive their behavior for the two days. During the debrief, reach consensus on how the group will monitor and correct breaches of these agreements (so that you are not placed in the role of sole enforcer).

How Do I Use This Book?

If you’ve ever read a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book, you will recognize that this book follows a similar principle. Think back to the self-assessment at the beginning of this introduction:

• If you chose authority, you can get right to work preparing one of the workshops in Section I. Use Section II as a reference. Each of the chapters in Section II features a sidebar or other information written by the author who has much experience in the topic under consideration. This advice can help guide your preparation, delivery, and evaluation of training.

• If you chose developing expertise, read Section II in depth and skim the topic content.

• If you chose novice at training and the topic, then spend some serious time familiarizing yourself with both Sections I and II of this volume as well as the topic content.

Once you have a general sense of the material, assemble your workshop. Select the appropriate agenda and then modify the times and training activities as needed and desired. Assemble the materials and familiarize yourself with the topic, the activities, and the presentation media.

Key Points

• Improving an organization’s customer service climate may require more than just focusing on service behaviors.

• The service culture and service goals of your organization should factor heavily into your workshop selection and modification choices.

• The workshops in this book are designed to be effective at all levels of trainer expertise.

• Good training requires an investment of time.

• The book contains everything you need to create a workshop, including agendas, learning activities, presentation media, assessments, handouts, and tools.

What to Do Next

• Review the agendas presented in Section I and select the best fit for your requirements, time constraints, and budget.

• Based on your level of expertise, skim or read in-depth the chapters in Section II.

• Consider what kind of follow-up learning activities you will want to include with the workshop by reviewing Section III.

Additional Resources

Biech, E. (2008). 10 Steps to Successful Training. Alexandria, VA: ASTD Press.

Biech, E., ed. (2014). ASTD Handbook: The Definitive Reference for Training & Development, 2nd edition. Alexandria, VA: ASTD Press.

Emerson, T., and M. Stewart. (2011). The Learning and Development Book. Alexandria, VA: ASTD Press.

McCain, D.V., and D.D. Tobey. (2004). Facilitation Basics. Alexandria, VA: ASTD Press.

Piskurich, G. (2003). Trainer Basics. Alexandria, VA: ASTD Press.

Stolovitch, H.D., and E.J. Keeps. (2011). Telling Ain’t Training, 2nd edition. Alexandria, VA: ASTD Press.