Understanding the Iceberg Issue in Customer Service

A customer emailed me with an unusual problem.

My first instinct was to help him quickly and move on. But I paused and wondered if this could be an iceberg.

Icebergs are hidden customer service issues that cost you time, money, and customers. It's something customer service leaders don't talk about enough.

In this article, I'll explain the iceberg concept, share an example, and give you some practical steps find icebergs in your own organization.

What is a customer service iceberg?

A customer service iceberg is an issue that seems small on the surface, but is really a much bigger issue.

Icebergs can be hard to identify. You might only receive a complaint or two. In other cases, the problem seems easy to fix but reoccurs without you noticing.

This makes iceberg-hunting a critical skill in any customer-focused organization.

What do customer service icebergs look like?

Icebergs are typically issues that are unusual or hard to explain.

For example, a Customer Service Tip of the Week subscriber emailed me because he was having trouble subscribing.

The specific problem he described was something I hadn't seen before. Here's a video walk-through:

Icebergs can sometimes hide huge problems.

One customer service leader found a few errant lines of code created a billing problem that cost the company $50,000 per year.

A customer experience leader discovered confusing instructions were causing over $1 million worth of products to be returned every year just because customers couldn't figure out how to use them!

Yikes!

How can you find and fix icebergs?

Three steps can help you identify and fix icebergs before they get too big.

Step 1: Avoid Assumptions

It's tempting for customer service reps to focus on solving the issue for the customer they are assisting. You might assume the issue is now done.

Assumptions like that help icebergs avoid detection.

I know I was tempted to help the Customer Service Tip of the Week subscriber get subscribed and then move on to something else. The unusual nature of the problem made me pause and look closer.

Stay vigilant for unusual or unexplained issues. Look out for problems that theoretically can't happen, but somehow happen anyway.

Step 2: Root Cause It!

Search for the root cause of unusual or unexplained problems.

I'd never seen someone encounter a broken link in the confirmation email for my newsletter. It took some digging to find the problem came from a seldom-used form on my website.

Fixing the link took a couple of minutes.

I also discovered this wasn't an isolated incident. My newsletter data told me at least 24 other people had encountered the same problem. They just hadn't told me about it!

Step 3: Get Proactive

It's time to spring into service mode once you find and solve the root cause of the issue.

I helped my Customer Service Tip of the Week subscriber get squared away, and then made sure the other 24 people affected were subscribed as well.

You can't fix every iceberg. Some issues are outside of your control. When that happens, put a process in place to quickly help customers who encounter the problem.

My first book had a printing problem that caused the pages to fall out. The publisher reprinted the book, but many copies had already been distributed to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other book sellers. This process was completely out of my control, but I still needed a proactive service plan to help customers who bought a defective book.

Conclusion

Don’t let customer service icebergs wreck havoc. Find and fix them as quickly as you can. Watch this short video for a recap of this post:

Train customer service skills faster with 5-5-5

Imagine a customer service training program for your team.

Most managers I talk to picture a big, annual program. It might be a formal class where everyone gathers for a half-day or a series of self-paced courses that take hours.

The all-at-once approach creates a lot of problems.

• Low retention. Reps never remember all that's covered.

• Too long. Full or half-day workshops disrupt your operation.

• Bad timing. Employees don't get any training at all if they're out sick, on vacation, or hired after the annual program.

There’s a better way to do it.

The 5-5-5 approach helps you build your team’s skills by spending as little as 15 minutes per week developing your team.

The advantages of weekly training

The 5-5-5 training approach uses a weekly cadence to develop your team one skill at a time.

Weekly training is far more effective than a single annual course.

• High retention. Employees learn and master one skill at a time.

• No disruption. Short, weekly trainings won’t disrupt your operation.

• Perfect timing. Ongoing training ensures no employee is left behind.

Imagine building one skill per week for an entire year. That's 52 opportunities to get better!

How the 5-5-5 approach works

The 5-5-5 training approach focuses on one skill per week. There are three steps that each take as little as five minutes.

This means you can deliver world-class training in just 15 minutes per week.

Step 1: Prep (5 minutes)

Take five minutes to plan one small, quick hit training. Focus on the smallest unit of skill possible, such as greeting customers.

1. Identify the topic

2. Create a five-minute lesson

You can subscribe to the Customer Service Tip of the Week to receive a weekly training tip to share with your team.

Some managers look for specific opportunities for improvement. For example, a contact center manager I know planned a weekly quick-hit training around reducing escalations.

Step 2: Deliver (5 minutes)

The next step is to deliver the training to your team. It should be short and sweet since you’re focusing on just one skill or technique.

Save time and minimize disruptions by incorporating the training into an existing team meeting or discussion. Some teams meet in person, others meet virtually, and a few that work different shifts engage in lively discussions via Slack or Teams.

You can use the Tell-Show-Do approach to deliver the training.

1. Tell: Explain the technique and why it’s important.

2. Show: Demonstrate the technique or share an example.

3. Do: Have employees go back to work and try the technique with customers.

Weekly training often feels informal.

The contact center leader shared the top escalations with the team. Everyone spent a few minutes brainstorming solutions that might prevent an escalation from occurring. The team quickly generated a list of techniques to try right away.

Step 3: Follow-up (5 minutes)

Follow-up with the team to check-in on your employees to see how they're doing. Offer coaching and encouragement to help them continue building and refining the skill.

That's it!

Conclusion

You can still do larger annual or semi-annual workshops to bookend these efforts. But the real learning happens in those weekly quick hits.

Use the 5-5-5 approach to do it weekly, one topic at a time.

Training Plan for Phone-Based Customer Service

This plan will help you train employees who serve customers over the phone.

It guides you through the Phone-Based Customer Service course on LinkedIn Learning. Make sure your team has access to LinkedIn Learning before you begin.

Phone-Based Customer Service focuses on essential phone skills:

• Building rapport

• Exceeding expectations

• Solving problems

The course is ideal for anyone who serves customers over the phone. This includes contact center agents, customer support representatives, and office receptionists.

This training plan uses a unique approach to training videos.

It divides the lessons into short segments, spaced out over four weeks. This approach maximizes learning and application while minimizing the disruption to your regular operations.

This guide covers:

1. Resources Required

2. Preparation

3. Pre-work

4. Week 1: Kick-off

5. Week 2: Building rapport over the phone

6. Week 3: Exceed expectations over the phone

7. Week 4: Solve problems over the phone

Resources Required

You'll need these resources to use this training plan.

1. Access to Phone-Based Customer Service for all participants. (via LinkedIn Learning)

2. The exercise files from the course.

3. Workshop planning tool (free download).

Contact LinkedIn Learning for pricing and subscription options if you don't already have access.

Estimated time needed: 1 hour per week

• Group activities: 30 minutes per week

• Individual learning: 30 minutes per week

Prepare for Training

Get ready for the training by preparing yourself and your team.

Step 1: Create a training plan. Use the Workshop Planner to create an action plan.

• Identify a goal for the training

• Decide how to prepare your team

• Create a plan to help the team use their new skills

Use this how-to video for more details:

Step 2: Announce the training. Tell your team about the training and what to expect. Address three questions for participants:

1. What is the training about?

2. Why is it important?

3. How are employees expected to use what they learn?

Keep your announcement simple. Consider sharing it in a team meeting. Follow-it up with a short email that contains the pre-assignments.

Step 3: Schedule team meetings. You'll be meeting with your team once per week for four weeks. Each meeting should take 30 minutes.

Step 4: Share pre-work. Share the pre-work with your team. I've included that in the next section.

Pre-work

Ask participants to complete two short assignments before the first meeting.

Assignment 1: watch these videos:

1. Phone service still matters

2. Understand the phone's unique challenges

Assignment 2: Complete page one of the Learning Plan worksheet that's included in the course's exercise files.

This includes:

• Discussion questions

• Learning objectives

Week 1: Kick-off

The initial meeting should set the tone for the course. Start by reviewing the overall goal for the training that you identified on the Workshop Planner.

Next, discuss the following questions:

1. How is this course relevant to the team?

2. What are some opportunities to apply new phone skills?

3. What are some unique challenges when serving customers over the phone?

It's helpful to share a few best practices for getting the most out of this course:

1. Watch just one video at a time.

2. Complete the activity that goes with each video.

3. When possible, try using what you learned from the video before moving on to the next module.

Assignments for next week: Ask your team to watch the following videos and complete the activities described in each one. Videos with an activity at the end are marked with an "A."

1. Develop the perfect phone greeting (A)

2. Create personal connections (A)

3. How to fill dead air (A)

4. Manage holds and transfers

5. Control the call with friendliness

6. Complete the quiz at the end of Chapter 1

Week 2: Building rapport over the phone

This week's theme is building rapport with customers.

Rapport is a process of getting customers to know, like, and trust you. Start by reviewing the week one assignments.

Discussion questions:

1. What impact does your phone greeting have on customers?

2. What is one way that you build personal connections over the phone?

3. How have you filled dead air?

4. Describe one takeaway from the holds and transfers module.

5. What is one technique you can use to move the call forward while still being friendly?

Assignments for next week: Ask your team to watch the following videos and complete the related activities.

1. Tune out distractions

2. Listen over the phone

3. Use advanced communication techniques (A)

4. Deliver moments of "wow" (A)

5. Complete the quiz at the end of chapter 2

Week 3: Exceed expectations over the phone

The focus is understanding customer needs so you can consistently meet or exceed their expectations. Start by reviewing the week two assignments.

Discussion questions:

1. How can you tune out distractions?

2. What are examples of listening techniques you use to understand customers?

3. How have you used visual references when communication with customers?

4. What is one opportunity you've had to delight a customer?

Assignments for next week: Ask your team to watch the following videos and complete the related activities.

1. How to express empathy (A)

2. De-escalate angry calls

3. Friendly follow-up (A)

4. Stay focused while you work (A)

5. Create your action plan (A)

Week 4: Solve problems over the phone

The final week is focused on service recovery. Start by reviewing the week three assignments.

Discussion questions:

1. How can you express empathy with customers?

2. What techniques have you used to de-escalate angry calls?

3. How can you apply the friendly follow-up technique?

4. What have you done to stay focused at work?

5. What is your top takeaway from the course?

Remind participants that they can earn a certificate for their LinkedIn profile by doing the following:

1. Watch all the videos

2. Complete the chapter quizzes

This how-to guide provides additional help with accessing certificates.

Conclusion

It helps to go back to your original goals for this training and note the team's progress.

Your employees should show improvement in their phone skills, but it's likely they also have areas for continued growth.

Set aside time to provide each person with coaching and feedback. You can also give them weekly reminders from the Customer Service Tip of the Week.

How to become a customer service trainer

I'm an accidental customer service trainer.

One day, I was working in customer service as a retail associate. The next day, my boss asked me to train. No materials, no facilitator's guide, no nothing. Figure it out.

I've now been a customer service trainer for more than 30 years. I love it.

Today, I talk to a lot of people who want to become customer service trainers. My goal is to share from my experience.

I'm going to share three steps you can take right now to jumpstart your career as a customer service trainer.

Whether it's part-time or full-time, these steps will help you build the skills and experience to do it right.

Step 1: Become a customer service expert

You have to be an expert to train others.

Imagine you wanted to become an airplane pilot. Naturally, you'd want a flight instructor who was really good at flying planes.

The same is true for customer service. You have to be really good at serving customers if you want to train others.

Experience is the best teacher.

My first customer service encounter ended in disaster. I couldn't answer a basic product question. The customer got angry and stormed out of the store.

I hadn't been trained on our product or what to say to a customer. At sixteen, I didn't yet have the poise, experience, or common sense to say the right thing.

But I so badly wanted to do better.

From then on I made a point to learn as much as I could about our products so I could answer questions with confidence. I learned how to better respond to questions I couldn't answer, such as "I'm not sure, so let me go find out for you."

You've had those experiences, too.

Learn from them. Experiment with different approaches. Try like heck to do better the next time.

Some things will work. Others won’t. Keep trying!

You'll eventually improve. Those hard-learned lessons will be gold when it’s your turn to train someone else.

There’s another reason to grow your skills. A great customer service trainer must have an unquenchable thirst for continuous improvement. This is how you start.

There are many resources that can help you. For example:

• Free weekly tips: Customer Service Tip of the Week

• Training videos: LinkedIn Learning courses

• Books: Check out some of my favs

Step 2: Build informal training skills

Most trainers start informally. Helping someone else grow provides a wealth of experience.

My first training opportunity came when my boss at the retail store asked me to help train a new employee. I loved it.

I sought out every opportunity to train over the course of several years in various jobs. This included mentoring new hires, facilitating short training sessions, and putting together training programs on my own.

It was all done informally. I didn’t know much about the science of adult learning, but I discovered what worked and what didn't. Eventually, I landed a full-time training position based on my experience.

You can do the same thing.

Look for opportunities to develop your informal training skills. It might be in your current job or part of a special assignment within your company.

You can also develop your training skills through volunteering with a nonprofit organization in your community.

Here’s a secret I’ve learned after training thousands of employees: informal training is more important than formal training.

Employees learn more from coaching, feedback, and mentorship than they do from content delivered in a formal program.

Step 3: Develop formal training skills

The final step is to learn specific skills that will help you become a better trainer. This includes the ability to put together a training session and deliver it.

There are a few ways to do this.

Join your local ATD chapter. ATD is the Association for Talent Development, and it’s where trainers go for professional development. Many have mentor programs that pair you with an experienced trainer who can help you grow. Find your local chapter.

Take a train-the-trainer course. If you have access to LinkedIn Learning, try How to Design and Develop Training Programs.

Create a personal development plan. Use the Individual Development Plan worksheet as a guide. LinkedIn also has a great career explorer tool that can help you identify the specific skills you need to build.

Conclusion

I hope you love customer service training as much as I do. It feels great to help someone build the skills necessary to delight the people they serve.

There are three big steps to becoming a customer service trainer.

1. Become a customer service expert

2. Develop informal training skills

3. Build formal training skills

Good luck! I'm rooting for you.

Write your CX Vision in two hours

You want to create a customer experience vision.

A CX vision is the foundation of any service culture. It's a shared definition of an outstanding customer experience that gets everyone on the same page.

The one thing stopping you is time.

You cringe at the thought of endless focus groups, exhaustive committee meetings, and months of back-and-forth. All that to create an incomprehensible word salad that nobody likes.

There's another way.

My proven process takes just two hours. The result is a razor-sharp customer experience (CX) vision that everyone can understand and embrace.

In this post, I'm going to explain why:

• Two months is too long

• Two hours is just right

Why two months is too long to write a CX vision

I’ve seen a lot of CX vision projects take two months (or longer). Almost all of them have failed to deliver a useful statement.

The two-month approach relegates the CX vision to a side-project.

Committee members get distracted. Executive sponsors aren’t actively involved. Focus group participants wonder what became of their input.

It leads to a lot of talking in circles. People get confused. The plot is quickly lost. Somebody eventually raises the question, "What are we even trying to do?"

The result is a bloated nonsense paragraph.

One company created a CX vision that covered an entire wall in its lobby. The vision was full of big, impressive words that had absolutely no meaning.

Employees weren’t inspired. They viewed it as a symbol of wasted time.

Why two hours is just right to create a CX vision

Imagine your organization on its best day.

One of those magical days when everything goes right. Customers are delighted. Teams are working in concert. Everyone is dialed in.

Those days happen. Maybe not as often as you'd like, but they happen. And it's on those days that you're fulfilling your CX vision. You just have to describe it.

The two-hour meeting is focused on defining that best day in one crystal clear, razor sharp sentence. It takes just two hours because the goal is to articulate what's already there.

Kitchens for Good provides a great example.

It's a nonprofit that runs a culinary apprenticeship program for people who face barriers to traditional employment. The CX vision at Kitchens for Good is also the organization's mission statement.

Here was the old mission:

Kitchens for Good uses food to transform lives and nourish communities by providing people with the skills and support to launch meaningful careers.

It had some good elements, but nobody could remember it. There were too many words and it wasn’t direct. The mission lacked punch.

A cross-functional team of Kitchens for Good employees wrote a new statement in just two hours. This one is much sharper and easy to memorize:

Transforming lives through culinary arts

The new statement represents Kitchens for Good on its best day. Look at this Instagram post announcing the graduation of three apprentices and you'll see it:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kitchens for Good (@kitchensforgood)

How to create a memorable CX vision

A good CX vision has three characteristics.

• It's simple and easily understood.

• It's focused on customers.

• It reflects both who you are now and who you aspire to be in the future.

I explain the complete step-by-step CX vision writing process in this guide. Here's an overview:

Start with a little preparation:

1. Get input from employees.

2. Gather existing missions, visions, and other statements.

3. Assemble a team of 7-10 people.

The meeting itself lasts just two hours. You'll need a highly-skilled facilitator, so decide whether you need to bring in outside help.

During the meeting, focus on word-smithing a CX vision that reflects that “best day.” It should be one simple sentence that describes what the organization already does well and hopes to do more consistently in the future.

The goal is to write something that immediately grabs people.

"This is exactly why I work here!" exclaimed one participant at a vision writing session I facilitated. The new CX vision clearly captured that "good day" essence.

Conclusion

Writing a CX vision should take just two hours. All you need is a little bit of preparation and this step-by-step process.

It’s the foundation of a customer-focused culture. The type of culture where all of your employees are obsessed with service and always seem to do the right thing.

Get a complete service culture guide in The Service Culture Handbook.

HELP: The four fundamental steps of service

Consistency is a hallmark of service culture.

Imagine if every employee, on every team, in every location served customers the same way. Service so consistent, it became part of your brand.

This level of service is not organic.

Customer-focused companies use carefully cultivated steps of service to guide their employees. These service steps ensure employees take the same approach every time.

There's plenty of flexibility (more on that later). Employees are not robots. They're members of a high-performing customer service team.

The HELP steps of service are the foundation. Use them as is, or adapt the framework to suit your team's unique needs.

Introducing the HELP service steps

The HELP framework consists of four fundamental service steps. You can use these steps in virtually any customer service interaction.

• H = Hello. Offer a warm greeting.

• E = Engage. Build genuine rapport.

• L = Listen. Understand your customer's needs.

• P = Provide Solutions. Assist your customer.

Let's dig a little deeper into each one.

H = Hello

Offer each customer a warm greeting.

Greetings are the first impression in any customer encounter. They set the tone for what's to come.

A warm greeting accomplishes a few things:

• Makes customers feel welcome

• Gets them to let their guard down

• Creates anticipation for a positive experience

E = Engage

Build genuine rapport with each person you serve.

Rapport is a process for getting customers to like, know, and trust you. Genuine rapport is characterized by authenticity. For example:

• Smiling and using positive body language

• Asking questions that display an interest in the customer

• Offering gestures of hospitality, such as a bottle of water on a warm day

L = Listen

Understand your customer's needs.

In conversations, use active listening skills to identify your customer's needs. This includes both rational and emotional needs.

Listening really means reading comprehension when serving customers in written channels. This includes email, text, and social media.

Your goal is to understand what your customer is trying to achieve so you can guide them towards a great experience.

P = Provide Solutions

Assist your customer.

This can sometimes mean service recovery, but not always. Customers come to you for all sorts of advice and assistance. Your ultimate aim is to help customers have a better experience.

This includes:

• Giving useful advice

• Completing tasks to help customers on their journey

• Defusing negative emotions

• Advocating on your customer's behalf

• Solving problems

Can you customize the HELP service steps?

Absolutely! The HELP framework is the foundation.

You can easily customize the steps to fit your team or situation. This includes adding steps or extra details to make them more specific.

For example, there are endless choices around greetings.

• Scripted or unscripted?

• Formal or informal?

• What's the vibe? (casual, fun, polished, etc.)

In-N-Out Burger is famous for its consistency. Visit any location and you'll be greeted a simple, "Hi, how are you?"

You can customize the steps with this guide.

Do employees always have to follow the steps?

Generally, yes.

The HELP service steps are designed to create a consistent customer service experience. It doesn't work unless every employees follow the steps.

There does need to be some flexibility. Employees should be able to adapt to each situation. It’s also important to avoid adopting too many or conflicting service steps.

Here are some examples:

Too Rigid: A grocery store required cashiers to offer carry out assistance with every purchase. I once bought a single pack of gum, and the cashier dutifully asked me if I wanted help carrying it out. The cashier wasn't allowed to deviate from the service step, even when it didn't make sense.

Too Many: A contact center required agents to follow 37 steps of service. Many were unnecessary or not needed on every call. Agents sounded like robots running through a checklist and customer service suffered.

Conflicts: A restaurant chain had 14 steps of service that conflicted with its customer experience vision. Servers were unsure which was the priority.

Conclusion

Steps of service are essential to service culture. They guide employees to deliver consistently great service.

The HELP framework is a great place to start.

1. Tailor the steps to your business.

2. Train employees to follow these steps during every interaction.

3. Provide coaching and feedback until the steps become a habit.

Reinforce the steps with my Customer Service Tip of the Week email. Anyone can subscribe here.

Build your skills in 5 minutes per week.

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Using a CX vision to guide your growth strategy

Service culture starts with leadership.

Providing clear direction is a core part of a leader's job. Customer-focused leaders do this with a customer experience (CX) vision.

A CX vision is a shared definition of an outstanding customer experience that gets everyone on the same page. It’s unique to your company and brand.

Think of it like a North Star that always guides you in the right direction. The best leaders use the CX vision to guide their growth strategy.

Here are three mini-case studies.

Case Study: Transparent BPO

Transparent BPO is a contact center solutions provider. It's landed on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies for eight consecutive years.

CX Vision

Our passion is the success of your brand.

Transparent handles customer contacts for its clients. The CX vision, which is also the company's mission, reflects the company's aim to help those brands succeed.

CX Strategy

Transparent’s mission statement is central to the company’s strategy. "It's everything about my decision-making," said Scott Newman, Transparent's CEO.

One example is client acquisition.

"It's sort of a two-way selection process," said Newman. "We want to make sure that we're the right fit for them, but also the client's the right fit for us so we are able to continue to live our culture."

Transparent only partners with brands it feels they can truly help. Less than 50 percent of prospective clients are a good fit.

This strategy has paid off. Annual client attrition ranges from low-single digits to nonexistent.

Learn more about Newman's service culture leadership from this interview.

Case Study: GreatAmerica Financial Services

GreatAmerica provides equipment financing solutions to businesses. It's the largest family-owned equipment financing company in the United States.

CX Vision

We help our customers achieve greater success

GreatAmerica uses its mission statement as the CX vision. Its primary customers are businesses that sell office, medical, or other types of equipment to their customers.

CX Strategy

The company provides financing solutions to help its customers sell more.

Account teams work hard to understand each customer's unique needs, and then craft a financing solution to help that customer improve sales.

"Our employees care a lot about whether customers win," said Joe Terfler, GreatAmerica's chief financial officer. "We try to say 'yes' to our customers as much as we can."

For example, GreatAmerica helped one office equipment supplier combine billing for multiple product lines into a simplified monthly invoice. The simplified invoicing made it easier to sell more services, which led to a 20 percent revenue increase.

GreatAmerica’s customer focused strategy has helped it become the envy of the competition.

One rival executive told me GreatAmerica was hands-down their top competitor. He was frustrated because his company consistently lost business to GreatAmerica because of their superior customer experience.

GreatAmerica is featured in Chapter Four of The Guaranteed Customer Experience, How to Win Customers by Keeping Your Promises.

Case Study: Waterton

Waterton is a real estate investment and management company that focuses on multifamily and hospitality properties. It manages approximately 30,000 apartment units.

CX Vision

Resitality®

Resitality is Waterton’s brand promise. It’s a combination of the words "residential" and "hospitality." It reflects Waterton's commitment to managing its properties in a way that residents feel welcome and at home.

"Hospitality is meeting a stranger, and embracing that stranger as a neighbor," said Stephanie Brock, Managing Director of Property Management.

CX Strategy

Waterton is a value-add investor. It invests in apartment communities and increase their value by making improvements to the property and the resident experience.

Improving properties makes it easier to attract new residents and retain existing ones. Brock also stresses the importance of building community.

"Providing those opportunities where they can come together and get to know each other, they want to stay where they're known, and where they know their neighbor," said Brock.

Properties host a wide range of community activities, such as wellness talks, community service projects, and even parties with food trucks.

These events attract as many as 50 percent of a community's residents, and help residents build stronger connections between themselves and the community.

Waterton's community-focused, value-add approach has contributed to steady growth. It now has more than $10 billion in assets under management, a more than 60 percent increase in the past three years.

Learn more about Brock's customer-focused leadership from this interview.

Conclusion

Customer-focused leaders use a CX vision to guide strategy.

It creates better consistency and execution. That helps companies win more customers and retain them longer. Customer retention is the fuel that helps companies grow faster.

I've assembled some resources to help you.

• Create your own CX Vision: Get my step-by-step guide

• Build your leadership skills: Service Culture Leadership

• Get my full process: The Service Culture Handbook.

The Service Culture Handbook

A step-by-step guide to getting your employees obsessed with customer service.

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How to set expectations with customer service reps

I love the movie, Office Space.

It's a comedy set in a soul-sucking office. There's a famous scene where an employee named Peter is scolded for not putting the new cover sheet on his TPS report.

It’s hilariously awkward.

It also highlights a problem with expectation setting. Bill, Peter’s boss, relied on a memo to set the new cover sheet expectation. "Did you see the memo about this?" he asked while looming over Peter’s desk.

Watch the short scene here:

Expectation setting is essential for customer-focused teams.

Employees perform more consistently. They make fewer mistakes. And you spend less time having conversations like the one between Bill and Peter.

This post covers three steps to setting better expectations:

1. Communicate clearly

2. Verify understanding

3. Gain agreement

Step 1: Communicate Clearly

Employees aren't mind readers. They won't know what you want them to do unless you tell them. Expectations must be clear and unambiguous.

Yet, many of us have been guilty of being a boss like Bill.

I asked a group of customer service leaders how they typically set expectations. The scenario was something small that didn't require training. Like using a new cover sheet.

The results were very similar to Office Space:

• 95% primarily use messaging (email, Slack, etc.)

• 50% admitted this is their only communication method

Most agreed this approach doesn't work. They fired off a message because it was fast, not necessarily because it was effective.

That might save a few moments up front, but there’s a cost. More mistakes get made. Service quality suffers. You have more cringe conversations with employees like Peter.

Avoid that by asking yourself three questions:

1. What do you want employees to do?

2. Why is it important for employees to do it?

3. What is the best way to share this message?

Using visuals or multiple methods is often most effective. For example, you can combine messaging with video or an in-person explanation.

Step 2: Verify understanding

Setting expectations requires two-way communication. Ensure employees fully understand what they're expected to do, and why it's important.

There are many ways to do this:

• Have employees describe the expectation

• Ask employees to explain the importance

• Monitor employee performance

I once worked with a manager named Brian. He was a master at making sure his team knew exactly what was expected. Brian asked a lot of questions to verify employees knew what to do. He also worked side-by-side with them so he could observe their performance and model the right procedure.

Brian’s employees appreciated it. They saw that he was there to support them and help them perform.

Step 3: Gain agreement

Make sure employees agree to do what you've asked them to do. Setting clear expectations won't matter if employees choose not to follow them.

Gaining agreement requires two-way dialogue.

Ideally, your employee agrees to follow the expectation. That makes your job easy. You might just need to follow-up and make sure they don’t forget.

Sometimes, employees will point out a challenge or concern. It's the employee telling you they don’t feel empowered to do what you’ve asked them to do. That should lead to a conversation about how to empower them.

For instance, an employee might tell you, "I'd like to use the new cover sheet, but I don't have a copy of the template." That’s probably an easy fix.

In rare cases, employees flat out refuse to do what you ask them. Employees who ignore expectations without good reason create a lot of problems. Many of them are toxic.

This is probably someone you don’t want on your team. Consult your HR manual on that one.

Conclusion

Set better expectations with customer service reps by doing three things:

1. Communicate clearly

2. Verify understanding

3. Gain agreement

Learn more about being a customer-focused leader by visiting this resource page.

Want to build more customer service management skills? My LinkedIn Learning course, Managing a Customer Service Team, gives you step-by-step instruction for running your operation.

Here's a preview:

Elevating a customer service team from Managing a Customer Service Team by Jeff Toister

How to measure customer service skills

The feedback session was going poorly.

A quality assurance analyst was reviewing a contact center agent's calls. The agent was upset about her quality score. The agent bristled at receiving zero points for friendliness.

The analyst pointed out that the agent sounded disinterested. Irritated at times. There was no warmth in her approach.

"Well, that's friendly for me," was the retort.

The analyst was stymied. The agent clearly wasn't friendly. But a specific, observable, and measurable description of “friendly” was elusive.

You might face that problem, too.

Hiring, training, and giving feedback would all be easier if you could accurately measure customer service skills like rapport, listening, or empathy.

In this post, I'll show you how.

Step 1: Identify specific skills

Start by identifying the specific skills you want to measure.

Friendly is an adjective, not a skill. The analyst would have had an easier time if she could focus on the specific skills that made someone seem friendly to a customer.

Customer service skills includes a broad range of skills sets. Here are the big three:

1. Rapport

2. Understanding

3. Solving

There are many skills under these categories. Rapport is most connected to friendliness, so let's go with that for this example.

Step 2: Define each skill

Find a clear definition for each skill that everyone can agree on. Don't assume that everyone has the same understanding.

I frequently turn to the dictionary. Here's a good definition of rapport from the Merriam-Webster dictionary:

a friendly, harmonious relationship

especially : a relationship characterized by agreement, mutual understanding, or empathy that makes communication possible or easy

This definition would have made the feedback session a little easier. The agent did not establish harmonious relationships with her customers. There was no agreement, mutual understanding, or empathy.

It’s a start, but there was still more work to be done.

Step 3: Identify observable behaviors

Make a list of behaviors associated with each skill. You need to make concrete observations if you want to measure a skill.

Let's go back to rapport. What would you need to observe to determine someone was creating a "friendly, harmonious relationship?"

Here are a few things:

• Warm tone of voice

• Positive phrasing such as "I'd be happy to help you"

• Demonstrating sincere interest

Observable behaviors would have made it much easier to explain why the agent wasn't building rapport on her calls.

This is what the quality assurance analyst observed the agent do:

• She spoke to customers in a monotone.

• Used sharp, abrupt phrases such as "No," or "That's it?"

• Displayed no interest in the customer.

See the difference between observations and inferences here:

Step 4: Create a rubric

A rubric is a guide that lists specific criteria for measuring each skill. This includes the level of proficiency.

Here's a sample rubric for the friendly skill:

Step 5: Calibrate

There's still going to be some level of subjectivity with these skills. The final step is to calibrate everyone to the rubric so the team views each skill the same way.

A calibration session should include all stakeholders:

• Managers

• Recruiters

• Trainers

• Quality Assurance Analysts

• Employees

Here's a method that works well:

1. Gather the team

2. Review an interaction (video, call, email, chat, etc.)

3. Score the skills used in the interaction independently

4. Compare scores

5. Discuss differences

The goal is to gain agreement. Everyone should be able to observe the same interaction and give the same score.

Keep calibrating until this consistently happens.

Conclusion

Yes, this takes a lot of extra up front. That's why most people don't do it.

But that extra work has a big pay-off. Making customer skills specific, observable, and measurable invites consistency. You can now:

• Hire people for specific skills

• Train people to serve customers a certain way

• Evaluate performance against objective criteria

Bonus: Discover practical ways to measure customer service training from my LinkedIn Learning course, Measuring Learning Effectiveness.

Customer Service Foundations Training Plan

This training plan is for customer service managers and trainers.

It helps you use the Customer Service Foundations course on LinkedIn Learning with your team. Make sure everyone has access to LinkedIn Learning before you begin.

Customer Service Foundations focuses on the three essential skills:

• Rapport

• Understanding (includes listening)

• Solving (includes serving upset customers)

The course is ideal for people new to customer service. It also helps experienced customer service pros refresh their skills.

This training plan uses a micro-learning approach. Micro-learning divides the lessons into short segments. It makes training easier to schedule and improves retention.

Here's what this guide covers:

1. Resources Required

2. Preparation

3. Pre-work

4. Week 1: Kick-off

5. Week 2: Building Rapport

6. Week 3: Exceeding Expectations

7. Week 4: Solving Problems

Resources Required

You'll need these resources to use this training plan.

1. Access to Customer Service Foundations for all participants.

2. The exercise files from the course.

3. Jeff's workshop planning tool (free download).

Contact LinkedIn Learning for pricing and subscription options if you don't already have access.

Estimated time needed: 1 hour per week

• Group activities: 30 minutes per week

• Individual learning: 30 minutes per week

Preparation

Get ready for the training by preparing yourself and your team.

Step 1: Create a training plan. Use the Workshop Planner to create an action plan.

• Identify a goal for the training

• Decide how to prepare your team

• Create a plan to help the team use their new skills

Here's a how-to video:

Step 2: Announce the training. Tell your team about the training and what to expect. Address three questions for participants:

1. What is the training about?

2. Why is it important?

3. How are employees expected to use what they learn?

Keep your announcement simple. Consider sharing it in a team meeting. Follow-it up with a short email that contains the pre-assignments.

Step 3: Schedule team meetings. You'll be meeting with your team once per week for four weeks. Each meeting should take 30 minutes.

Step 4: Share pre-work. Share the pre-work with your team. I've included that in the next section.

Pre-Work

Ask participants to watch the videos listed below before the first meeting.

Some videos have an activity at the end (marked with an "A"). Those activities should also be completed. Many of the videos have downloadable exercise files that go with them.

1. Keeping your customers happy

2. Creating your customer service learning plan (A)

3. Defining customer service

4. Identifying your customers (A)

5. Making a difference for customers (A)

6. Avoiding burnout by staying focused (A)

Suggestion: It's a better experience to watch just one or two videos at a time. That also makes it easier for employees to fit the videos into their busy schedules.

Week 1: Kickoff

The initial meeting should review the pre-work. The focus is on the value of outstanding service.

Discussion questions:

1. What does outstanding service look like?

2. Who are our customers?

3. Why should we try to provide outstanding service?

4. How will you earn a thank you letter from a customer?

Assignments for next week: Ask your team to watch the following videos and complete the related activities.

1. Connecting rapport to outstanding service

2. Implementing techniques that build rapport (A)

3. Starting a conversation (A)

4. Enhancing your likability (A)

Week 2: Building Rapport

This week's theme is building rapport with customers. Rapport is a process of getting customers to know, like, and trust you. Start by reviewing the week one assignments.

Discussion questions:

1. When can we build rapport with customers?

2. How can we build rapport with customers?

3. What questions can we use to break the ice?

4. How can we make it easier for customers to like us?

5. Have you earned feedback that matches your thank you letter?

Assignments for next week: Ask your team to watch the following videos and complete the related activities.

1. Uncovering customer needs

2. Actively listening to customers (A)

3. Identifying emotional needs (A)

4. Managing expectations (A)

5. Going the extra mile (A)

Week 3: Exceeding Expectations

The focus is understanding customer needs so you can consistently meet or exceed their expectations. Start by reviewing the week two assignments.

Discussion questions:

1. How can we actively listen to our customers?

2. How can we uncover our customers' emotional needs?

3. What can we do to manage customer expectations?

4. How can we go the extra mile?

5. What skills have you used to build rapport in the past week?

6. Have you earned feedback that matches your thank you letter?

Assignments for next week: Ask your team to watch the following videos and complete the related activities.

1. Taking ownership of problems (A)

2. Empathizing with customers (A)

3. Preventing negative emotions (A)

4. Defusing angry customers (A)

5. Anchoring your own attitude (A)

6. Expanding your influence (A)

7. Becoming a customer advocate (A)

Week 4: Solving Problems

The final week is focused on service recovery. Start by reviewing the week three assignments.

Discussion questions:

1. What was a problem you solved for a customer? (How did you do it?)

2. How did you help an upset customer feel better?

3. What are ways you can help customers avoid getting upset?

4. How did you build rapport with a customer in the past week?

5. What did you do to understand your customers in the past week?

6. Have you earned feedback that matches your thank you letter?

Conclusion

Ask participants to watch the final course video and complete an action plan to implement new skills from the course.

Participants can earn a certificate for their LinkedIn profile by doing the following:

1. Watch all the videos

2. Complete the chapter quizzes

3. Pass the exam

Here’s a how-to guide if you need help accessing certificates.