Purpose: To quantify the need for a properly trained front-line staff.

 Time Required: 10 minutes.

 Size of Group: Unlimited.

 Materials Required: A form similar to the graphic below, prepared in advance by the trainer.

 The Exercise in Action: While few people will argue that having a properly trained front-line staff is critical to a business’s success, it’s an idea that is often hard to quantify. As a result, managers of front-line employees might not know just how financially damaging a single poorly trained front-liner can be.

To illustrate the point, Rick Stamm, a partner with The Team Approach in Brownstown, PA, asks participants of customerservice training sessions to complete the form below. He says he got the idea from the teachings of business consultant Tom Peters. “By the time people finish filling out the form,” Stamm says, “they realize it makes a lot of financial sense to invest some time and money in making every employee a productive member of the customer service team.”