Read an Excerpt
Chapter 1: It's Who You Are
Assets and Opportunities
In a Nutshell In this activity, participants review skills that are essential to the customer service role, assess their own competence in each skill, and develop an action plan for improving their proficiency. This activity helps new employees understand the assets possessed by top-notch customer service representatives and gives all employees an opportunity to review their assets and opportunities for improvement.
Time
10-15 minutes.
What You'll Need
One copy of the handouts on pages 13 through 15 for each participant.
What to Do
Distribute the handouts on pages 13 and 14. Give participants five to ten minutes to complete the activity.
Then distribute the handout on page 15 and ask each participant to develop an action plan to improve two skills.
Tip! You may want to post these action plans in your department and review them on a weekly basis. Reward employees when they make verifiable progress.
If You Have More Time
Make another copy of the Action Plan Worksheet on page 15. Put participants into pairs. Each participant will write the skills he or she wants to improve on the Action Plan Worksheet on the line titled "Your skill." The participants will then trade worksheets with their partners.
Each participant will create an action plan to help his or her partner become a Super Star in the areas listed on the worksheet. Allow five minutes for this activity.
After five minutes, have participants trade action plans and give them several minutes to review.
Discussion Questions
Q: Is it helpfulto have someone else brainstorm ideas for you?
A: Field answers.
Q: Did your partner think of some ideas that you would not have thought of?
A: Field answers.
Ask participants to review their action plans from time to time in order to improve their proficiency in each skill.
Assets and Opportunities
Whether you plan a life-long career in customer service or view your present job as a stepping stone to something else, the skills inherent in providing good customer service will be assets in any field you choose. What's more, a good attitude is key to success anywhere, anytime. Customer service representatives who stand out in their work are:
- Friendly
- Quick
- Efficient
- Eager to please
- Knowledgeable
- Optimistic
- Diligent
- Able to understand customers' requests
- Attentive
- Creatively helpful
- Empathetic
- Poised
- Upbeat
- Honest and fair
- Solution-oriented
These customer service representatives always:
- Listen attentively.
- Maintain a positive attitude.
- Speak clearly.
- Avoid technical terms or fancy words.
- Give customers a feeling of confidence in them, the information they give, and the company.
- Make every customer feel important.
- Soothe ruffled feathers...
