Who should write your customer service vision?

I could tell my client wasn't feeling great.

Her company had recently written their customer service vision statement, following the process outlined in The Service Culture Handbook. Everyone seemed excited about the rollout, but something didn't feel right to my client.

We talked about it a little to get at the source of that nagging feeling. It finally hit her, "I don't think we had the right people on the vision writing team."

Getting the right people on the team can be a challenge.

You need the right mix of people to represent your culture. Too many executives, too few frontline employees, or too many people who all think alike can cause blindspots.

This post will walk you through how to pick your vision-writing team while avoiding some common pitfalls. I've also included a link to my step-by-step process at the bottom.

Before you get started, check out this post if you want to familiarize yourself on the customer service vision concept.

Top mistakes when selecting your vision writing team

Let's start by looking at a few common mistakes organizations make when selecting the team to write the customer service vision.

Mistake #1: Only executives

Some leaders write the customer service vision at an executive retreat. I've called this the biggest mistake when building a service culture.

That's because frontline employees and middle managers had no ownership stake in writing the statement, which makes it harder to get their buy-in. A statement written by executives usually excludes something important because executives have one perspective on the culture.

Put less politely, a customer service vision written exclusively by executives almost always sets off employees' bullshit meter.

Mistake #2: Involving customers

It might seem counterintuitive, but customers should not participate when writing your customer service vision.

There are many reasons for this (detailed here), but the gist is a customer service vision statement should reflect your organization's culture. Customers aren't really part of that.

Mistake #3: Too many participants

I’ve facilitated vision writing meetings with as many as 30 people when I first started refining this process. It was always too cumbersome having that many people in the room trying to wordsmith a single sentence.

Trial and error taught me that the ideal vision writing team consists of 7-10 people. (More on that in a moment.) Any more than 10, and there's too much noise in the room. Any fewer, and there’s not enough diversity.

Bottom line, when writing a customer service vision, it's important to follow the recipe outlined in The Service Culture Handbook.

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Who should be on your vision writing team?

My client hadn't made any of the classic mistakes. Yet she still felt her company didn’t choose the right mix of people to write the vision.

We talked about it and she revealed that people applied to be on the team. The leadership team got a lot of applications, which was great! But they hadn't created a selection process ahead of time.

In retrospect, my client realized the application itself was an issue. Employees were asked to describe their thoughts on the organization’s culture, and executives selected employees who most aligned with their own thinking.

The ideal team should reflect a diversity of thought within the organization, so critical perspectives are included. Here's how to build your team:

Team Size

The ideal vision writing team should have 7-10 members, plus a facilitator. The facilitator should be someone neutral, and you might want to consider hiring someone external.

If your team will be meeting virtually to write the statement, I recommend keeping the team size closer to 7 people. This makes the process easier to manage, though I've facilitated virtual vision writing meetings with 10 people.

Resource: How to write your vision in a virtual meeting

Team Composition

It's important that the group represent as many perspectives within the organization as possible. I like to start by adding three core people to the team:

• at least one frontline employee

• at least one senior leader

• at least one mid-level manager

There's a few additional qualifications I'd suggest considering for each person.

Frontline employees:

• Customer-facing

• Someone who often "speaks for the group"

• Unafraid to speak up in front of senior leaders

When possible, it's good to have multiple frontline employees on the team.

Senior leaders:

• As senior as possible

• Authority to implement the vision statement

• Influential with the rest of the senior team

• Willingness to listen to employee perspectives

Mid-level managers:

• Positive relationship with frontline employees

• Supervises at least one frontline employee on the team

I often find that employees and their direct supervisor bounce ideas off of each other during the vision writing meeting, so it's good to have them in the same room as long as they have a positive working relationship.

Once you've identified your three core people, here are some additional people to add to the team:

• Additional customer-facing employees

• Non-customer facing frontline employees

• Support employees (e.g. human resources, training, finance, etc.)

I try to include a maximum of three senior leaders on the team. You want the vision statement to capture their big picture perspective, but you also don't want so many senior leaders in the room that other team members are less willing to speak their minds.

The bottom line for this team is representation. (See my interview with J. Israel Greene on why representation is critical to your culture.)

Keep in mind that if you follow the entire process, you will have already surveyed everyone in the organization to ask for their input prior to the vision writing meeting.

Additional Resources

Here are a few additional resources to help you write your customer service vision statement.

Contact Me: Get stuck? Have a question? Please contact me. I'm happy to offer some advice and suggestions at no obligation.

The Service Culture Handbook: This book outlines a step-by-step process for building a customer-focused culture. Chapter three is devoted to writing a customer service vision statement.

Vision Writing Process: This vision writing process will guide you step-by-step through creating your vision. It's the same process I've used with my own clients for many years.

LinkedIn Learning Video: This video on LinkedIn Learning can guide you through the vision writing process. You'll need a LinkedIn Learning subscription to view the entire course.

Write a customer service vision from Leading a Customer-Centric Culture by Jeff Toister

How to improve your reputation with average customer service

Customer service is getting worse.

That's the finding from two recent reports. Companies are struggling to avoid service failures and keep their customers happy. But a third report and two top customer experience experts offer a glimmer of hope.

You can stand out from the competition by being average.

Forget wows. Stop worrying about delight. Don't fret over extraordinary. Just be consistently, perfectly, boringly average.

There are few caveats.

1. Your average has to be just a little better than the competition.

2. Your average has to be consistent.

More on those in a moment. But first, let's look at the state of customer service.

Is customer service getting worse?

Yes. Two prominent consumer studies show that customers perceive that service is getting worse.

The first is the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), which publishes a quarterly national customer satisfaction score for the United States. The composite ACSI score has declined or remained the same for seven quarters.

Image source: The American Customer Satisfaction Index

The second study is the 2020 National Customer Rage Study from Customer Care Measurement and Consulting (CCMC). It found that the number of households experiencing at least one problem over the past 12 months increased by 10 percentage points since the 2017 study.

Image source: Customer Care Measurement and Consulting

There is some hope.

I conducted a survey of 1,084 U.S. consumers in November, 2020 and asked them what type of service they receive most often. Surprisingly, 66.7 percent said they usually receive good service.

Get the Report

Download a copy of the report, “What type of service do customers receive most often?”

Should you try to delight every customer?

No. It’s impossible to delight every customer, and trying to do so can be costly. It might seem counterintuitive, but research shows that delighting customers has no significant benefits.

Customer experience expert, Matt Dixon, is the author of the classic business book, The Effortless Experience.

Dixon told me in an interview that he and his colleagues set out to research customer delight and discovered something unexpected. They found that companies were better off avoiding service failures.

"On average, most service interactions don't create loyalty at all. They create disloyalty."

That's because, try as they might, companies often fail to keep their promises.

• Products don't work

• Services fall short of expectations

• Delivery is a logistical nightmare

CCMC's Customer Rage Study shows that companies continue to make life miserable for customers when something goes wrong:

• 2.9 contacts were needed to resolve a typical complaint.

• 58 percent of customers never got a resolution.

• 65 percent felt rage while trying to get a problem solved.

Despite the widespread use of surveys, many companies are doing a poor job identifying the problems that lead to customer rage.

For example, I recently experienced 18 points of frustration when ordering a table and barstools. It's likely the company only identified one.

There's got to be a better way.

How average service can win customers

Average really isn't the right word. Consistency is the key, as Shep Hyken points out in his excellent book, The Cult of the Customer. Hyken has a fantastic definition of customer amazement.

"Amazement is above average, but it's above average all of the time."

Hyken elaborates that companies win customers by being just a little above average, but doing it consistently. It's the consistency that captures customers' attention and eventually earns their trust.

You can hear more from Hyken in this interview.

There are a few things companies can do to be more consistent. The starting point is to create a customer service vision, which is a shared definition of outstanding service that gets everyone on the same page.

I researched customer-focused companies while writing The Service Culture Handbook. A clear vision was a common trait that set elite organizations apart.

The next step is to gather voice of customer feedback. Surveys can play a role, but there are many ways to gather customer feedback without a survey.

It's also important to identify reasons employees struggle to provide consistent customer service. I uncovered ten obstacles in my book, Getting Service Right.

Finally, it's important to understand that every customer is different.

Which brings us back to my study on the type of service customers receive most often. Most people felt they usually receive good service, which is service that meets their expectations.

But there was nuance to the responses. Perceptions changed by age group, gender, and geography. For example:

• More women than men reported they receive outstanding service most often.

• People in the western United States were more likely to report outstanding service.

• Older customers felt they receive more outstanding service.

Get the Report

Download a copy of the report, “What type of service do customers receive most often?”

Take Action

Think about the companies you admire most.

They didn't earn their reputation by wowing customers once in awhile. Elite companies are known for dependably good experiences.

Let your competition flail about trying to delight customers. They'll inevitably fall short. You can stand out by being really good.

What do you need to do first as a customer service leader

You've just landed your dream job as a customer service leader. Now what?

It's a question I've been getting a lot lately. That's great news—it means people are getting hired or getting promoted. That's a source of optimism.

(If you haven't gotten promoted yet, this guide can help you.)

Starting a new job in leadership can be tricky. You'll probably spot a lot of work that needs to be done. Getting employees to buy-in and change their old habits can be a daunting task.

My friend, Jeremy Watkin, started a new job a few months ago. He's the new Director of Customer Experience and Support at NumberBarn, a marketplace for local and toll free phone numbers.

I interviewed Watkin to learn what advice he has for new customer service managers. It turns out, he has a lot of great insights.

Here are some of the topics we discussed:

• What is the first thing you should do when you start a new job?

• How do you stay committed to your own onboarding?

• What should you do before asking for new technology?

• How do you get your new team to buy-in?

• What can you do to build trust with your employees?

You can watch the full 20 minute interview, or read the re-cap below.

What is the first thing you should do when you start a new job?

Watkin suggests creating a plan before you arrive on your first day.

Much of the initial plan should involve listening. Listening to employees, listening to colleagues, and listening to customers.

You might be tempted to make changes quickly. After all, you were hired to get results! But you can't know what's really going on until you spend a lot of time listening and observing.

"One of my priorities was to go through a decent chunk of onboarding," said Watkin. This included taking a hands-on approach to learning the support role.

One surprise for Watkin was how much he had missed supporting customers. He had spent the past five years working outside of daily support operations, and it was refreshing to get back to it. "As hard as customer support work is, I've actually really enjoyed interacting with customers again."

Hear more on this topic at 1:06 in the interview.

How do you stay committed to your own onboarding?

"That is a huge challenge," admitted Watkin.

It's easy to get sucked into putting out fires. You might spot a problem that needs to be fixed, or an executive might pull you into an "emergency" project.

Be patient. There are some big benefits to spending time on onboarding.

“I really went into those first 30 days or so, taking just a ton of notes and prioritizing the high-level things that I think needed to be improved," said Watkin.

This gave him an advantage when it came time to ask for more resources.

"A lot of this stuff costs money." Knowing both the use case and the financials involved helped Watkin prioritize his requests, and make a better pitch.

"When there's a cost associated with it, it really helped me to write it down and try to think about the business case or ROI associated with it."

Hear more at 3:11 in the interview.

What should you do before asking for new technology?

It’s natural for a new leader to immediately spot opportunities for new technology. Watkin made sure he accomplished some more fundamental tasks firsts.

I was happy to hear that Watkin started by learning about NumberBarn's customer service vision and making sure everyone understood it.

A customer service vision is a shared definition of outstanding service that gets everyone on the same page. It's the foundation of the process I outline in The Service Culture Handbook.

The vision can act as a filter that helps you prioritize what needs to be done now, and what can wait until later.

Once Watkin understood the vision, he spent time with the support team determining the key behaviors would be expected for each customer interaction. Frontline employees were asked for their input.

"We came up with eight," said Watkin. "And that became our quality process."

This exercise convinced Watkin to focus on helping the team do a consistent job with every contact before asking for new, expensive technology. "As much as I would love a really nice quality assurance tool, we are accomplishing it all through Google forms and sheets right now."

Listen to Watkin share more about this at 6:20.

How do you get your new team to buy-in?

"I think some of it is a really easy sell," said Watkin.

"It's not hard to prove that if you can provide a customer with an accurate response, if you can empower them so they don't have to respond more times than necessary, then customers will be nicer and volume will go down."

Helping employees see the benefits of a great service was a positive start. Watkin has also spent a lot of time building credibility with the team by leading by example.

"They read the emails that I send to customers, and they absolutely will take a cue from that."

Hear more at the 11:36 mark.

What can you do to build trust with your employees?

Employees are more likely to trust you when you listen and encourage them to open up and share.

Watkin was careful that the questions he asked made it clear he was there to help. "What are your pain points? What do you wish we could take off your plate, or make it easier to do?"

It turned out there was a lot that employees wanted. They asked for product features, new tools, and even better processes.

Those employee conversations helped Watkin learn a lot about what was working, and what was not. It also showed employees he was their advocate.

"They might not be able to back it up with data, but they're talking to customers all day, every day. They have their finger on the pulse of what's going on."

You can hear more on this topic at 15:53.

Additional Resources

Here are some resources to help you dive even deeper into this topic.

Watkin shares a lot of his experiences on the Customer Service Life blog that he co-authors with Jenny Dempsey. Dempsey is another customer service leader who has recently taken a new job, and the two of them share a lot of honest, authentic examples about overcoming challenges in customer service.

He was kind enough to mention The Service Culture Handbook as a helpful guide. You can find it on Amazon or go to BookPal for discounts on 25 or more copies.

Finally, new managers would also be wise to build these relationships.

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How to get customers to wear masks

Two hair stylists in Springfield, Missouri developed coronavirus symptoms, but kept working.

The first stylist, we'll call her Stylist A, got a COVID test six days after symptoms first appeared. She continued serving clients while awaiting the results.

The second stylist, Stylist B, developed respiratory problems three days after Stylist A became ill. She continued to work alongside Stylist A until Stylist A tested positive for COVID.

Both Stylist A and B stopped working that same day, and Stylist B got tested. Two days later, Stylist B’s COVID test also came back positive.

The county health department traced the stylists' contacts:

• Four members of Stylist A's household contracted COVID.

• None of the Stylist B's personal contacts got the disease.

• None of the 139 clients Stylist A and B served got sick.

How did no clients get sick, despite close personal contact with the infected stylists? An analysis from the CDC points to one factor: wearing masks.

Getting customers to wear masks is critical to stopping the spread of COVID.

Many customer service professionals have told me this can be difficult. Some customers forget, or claim masks are uncomfortable. Others just don't want to be told what to do.

This article describes how you can get more customers to comply.

I've dug into my own research on employee and customer behavior from writing Getting Service Right. You'll also hear from experts such as Professor Gavan J. Fitzsimons at Duke University and Susan Discroll, President of the Crisis Prevention Institute.

Employees must wear masks at all times

Customer service employees can set a positive example by wearing masks themselves. Masks are also an important part of employee safety, since many people contract the coronavirus from coworkers.

Many employees are too lax about wearing masks around each other. Once customers are gone, the masks come off.

I've witnessed maskless employees in retail stores, restaurants, and numerous other businesses. Construction workers, hotel housekeepers, firefighters, and TSA agents have all been seen congregating without masks.

The hair salon in Springfield enforced a strict mask policy with clients. Stylist A and Stylist B reportedly wore masks at all times while cutting hair, and clients were required to do the same.

Yet Stylist A and B took their masks off and interacted with each other once clients were gone. This is likely how Stylist B became infected.

Here’s another example.

The rental car employee and a coworker (you can just see the top of her head) aren't wearing masks, despite being close to another company's customers. They only wore their masks when customers approached the counter.

This behavior is dangerous.

Contact tracing in San Diego county, where I live, reveals more COVID exposures happen at work than any other setting. By far. The chart below shows data from June 5 through November 7, 2020.

Why you need to have a strong mask policy

A clear and enforceable policy gives employees something to point to when asking a customer to wear a mask. It can also help set expectations before there’s ever an issue.

My wife, Sally, and I recently flew for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

We flew Alaska Airlines, in part because Alaska requires all passengers to wear masks. The policy explains when masks must be worn, what types of masks are allowed and not allowed, and that the policy covers all passengers over the age of two.

What's more important is Alaska enforces its mask policy.

Passengers must wear a mask to board their flight. Once on board, anyone who repeatedly refuses to wear a mask is literally given a yellow card.

It's a final warning before being banned from flying Alaska.

Consistent enforcement creates more consistent behavior. On my flight, I observed all Alaska employees and all passengers following the policy.

Meanwhile, a gate agent at a competing airline announced the airline’s mask policy before starting the boarding process. Just a few minutes later, that same gate agent allowed this maskless passenger to board a flight. Credibility gone.

How should you communicate your mask policy?

Sharing your policy with customers is just as important as having one. Use multiple methods of communication to repeat the message multiple times. It helps send a clear and consistent message that customers will be more likely to follow.

In my experience as an adult learning specialist, I've learned that two things can make a message particularly sticky: repetition and novelty.

• Repetition: people are more aware of messages they hear often.

• Novelty: people are more likely to pay attention to something unusual.

The Alaska Airlines mask policy was clearly explained multiple times before I boarded my flight, including when I:

• Booked my ticket

• Checked-in on the app

• Got to the gate

• Onboard the flight

The messages were also communicated in different ways. For instance, when I went to check-in for my flight on the app, I had to click a pop-up acknowledgement that I would wear a mask. There was signage at the gate reminding passengers about the mask policy, and the gate agent shared a verbal reminder.

Alaska also did a great job of providing "subtle nudges" to encourage customers to wear masks. Here are a few examples:

• All employees wore masks.

• Images on the Alaska website depicted people wearing masks.

• Passengers were offered sanitizing wipes on board.

Think about how you can use the principles of repetition and novelty to encourage customers to wear masks.

• Signage

• Websites

• Apps

• Email and text confirmations

• Employees

How do you prevent customers from getting upset about masks?

The masked, cheerful employee asked the unmasked customer, “Do you have a mask?” as soon as the customer entered the store.

You could tell the customer was slightly embarrassed. (After all, his face was clearly visible.) He apologized, left the store, and returned a moment later wearing a mask. The customer apologized again.

The employee told me this was a typical encounter. Most customers simply forget to wear their mask, and quickly put one one when reminded.

A few customers resist. It's important to approach these customers the right way to avoid a confrontation.

Gavan Fitzsimons is a professor of marketing and psychology at Duke University who has done extensive research on reactance. This is a psychological term that refers to a person getting upset when they feel someone or something is trying to control their behavior.

One of his more interesting research findings is that people are more likely to resist expert opinions when it contradicts their own beliefs.

"The best efforts I’ve seen at encouraging mask wearing have two key components," said Fitzsimons. "They provide the customer with a sense of agency, and provide a motivation for the customer to comply."

Agency means giving customers choices.

For example, a retail customer who doesn't have a mask can be given a few options to choose from:

• You can give them a free mask to wear in the store.

• They can opt for curbside pick-up.

• The customer can choose home delivery (where available).

Fitzsimons recommends using positive messaging to enhance customer motivation. "Even when masks are required by law, framing that gives customers motivation and agency will enhance mask wearing substantially." 

An example would be thanking customers for doing their part to keep everyone safe. You can hear more from Fitzsimons in this short video.

(Side note: research shows that thanking customers can be more powerful than an apology in certain situations.)

What can you do if a maskless customer gets upset?

The most important thing to do is avoid a confrontation. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done because our natural instincts are to either argue with an angry customer or get away from them.

This short video explains how to recognize your own natural instinct and overcome it.

Understanding our natural instincts from Working with Upset Customers by Jeff Toister

Susan Driscoll, President of the Crisis Prevention Institute, shared some helpful advice for soothing upset customers on a National Retail Federation podcast.

"Behavior influences behavior," said Driscoll. "You cannot control someone else's behavior. You can control your behavior."

Driscoll explained that an angry customer is experiencing a form of distress. "You have to understand first, that there is distress, and respond as you would to any distressed person. They can be attacking, but look at them as a distressed person."

One way to de-escalate the situation is to give the customer options. Driscoll suggested you might ask the customer if they'd prefer to step out of line and discuss the issue or speak with a manager instead.

Giving the customer options helps bring the customer back to a more rational state of mind.

One final suggestion is to review your company's security policy. The last thing you want is a physical altercation with a customer. All employees should know what to do if a customer becomes dangerous.

Take Action

There's a lot to digest here, so let's recap:

1. Make sure all employees wear masks.

2. Create a clear mask policy.

3. Use repetition and novelty to communicate the policy.

4. Give customers agency to get them to comply.

5. Treat upset customers with empathy.

Finally, please leave a comment or contact me with questions. A few things I'd like to know from you:

• What's been your experience with maskless customers?

• What techniques have worked for you?

• What techniques have not worked so well?

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Why strong cultures have diversity and representation | J. Israel Greene interview

You've heard these words a lot lately: diversity and representation.

There's probably some confusion. What do they mean? How do they impact my business? Is this another fad project I need to work on?

Let's get one thing out of the way. It's not a fad.

My research into customer-focused cultures, and my own experience, shows that diversity and representation are incredibly important. It’s been an important topic for me since 1993, when I joined a nonprofit organization called AIESEC that helped people gain business skills while learning about other cultures.

But don't take my word for it.

I recently interviewed J. Israel Greene, founder and CEO of Greene Consulting Group. Greene was just named one of the top 10 Trending Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion training experts by All American Speakers.

Like me, Greene is obsessed with organizational culture.

Here are just a few topics we discussed:

• What is diversity, inclusion, and representation?

• How do job postings unconsciously eliminate diverse candidates?

• Why should companies care about diversity and representation?

• How does diversity improve team dynamics?

• How can we make the conversation about inclusion more inclusive?

You can watch the full 20 minute interview, or read through some highlights below.

What are diversity, inclusion, and representation?

Greene gave a few definitions to get us started.

Diversity is "the variations of different characteristics that make a group of individuals unique."

These include characteristics such as race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. Greene pointed out that diversity can also include socio-economic status, disability, age, and even experience.

Inclusion is the process of making a diverse group of people feel like they belong in a group.

Representation occurs when people can see themselves in the workforce because there are other people like them in the group.

One of the challenges companies face is they might have diversity in entry-level positions, but the workforce becomes more homogenous as you move up the management ranks.

Hear more from Greene at :56 in the interview.

How do job postings eliminate diversity?

Recruiters can unconsciously eliminate diversity through the selection process.

For example, a recent job posting included the words, "seeking a recent college graduate" in the advertising copy. Since most recent college grads are in their early 20s, this creates an automatic bias against older workers.

In the United States, it's illegal to discriminate against job applicants over 40, so this job posting is already on shaky legal ground. The posting could also be a turn-off to well-qualified employees who are changing careers or just really like the work.

And not every older worker is interested in climbing the career ladder. I highly recommend The Intern with Robert DeNiro and Anne Hathaway to highlight this point perfectly.

Greene advises companies to screen job postings for unnecessary qualifications that might reduce the number of otherwise well-qualified candidates you receive. For instance, requiring a college degree is often an arbitrary requirement, especially if a particular skill set or area of study is not specified.

We discuss this challenge at 3:01.

Why should companies care about diversity or representation?

This isn't a fluffy concept. Diverse companies have stronger cultures, and tend to have better financial results.

Greene mentioned a couple fo studies that show the impact of diversity on the bottom line.

• Deloitte: diverse companies average 2.3x greater cashflow per employee

• McKinsey: for every 10% increase in diversity, companies average an .8% EBITDA gain

Another advantage is innovation.

"I work with companies in the tech sector," said Greene. "For them, innovation is one of the most important things that they can be doing. So all of a sudden, when you have this diversity in your organization—diversity of thought, diversity of people—you're now bringing innovation to the people."

A study by Boston Consulting Group discovered that companies with above-average diversity on their management teams reported innovation revenue that was 19 percentage points higher than companies with below-average diversity.

You can hear more at the 4:12 mark.

How does diversity improve team dynamics?

What we’re really talking about here is culture—how people think and act in the workplace. Greene described some tangible benefits that come with having diversity.

"Employees, if they feel like they're part of a community, and that their voice is heard in the workplace, they're almost five times more likely to feel empowered to perform."

Diversity can also help employees better cope with adversity. "When something happens, and there's someone to speak up for you, you feel represented."

When employees don't feel included in a company culture, their performance and contributions diminish. "If you don't have a company that speaks up on your behalf, it makes only a portion of you show up.”

Greene said that employees ask three basic questions when deciding whether to follow company leaders:

1. Can I trust you?

2. Do you care for me?

3. Are things going to get better if I follow you?

Go to 7:19 in the interview to hear more.

How can you increase the diversity of your leadership team?

Earlier in the conversation, Greene described a common challenge where there's diversity among frontline employees, but not on the leadership team.

I've witnessed that challenge first-hand while running the talent management function as a corporate training director. Our leadership team was fairly homogenous, and our recruiting team had to work very hard to change that.

Greene makes a few suggestions for companies.

The first is to build relationships with organizations that can help you access a more diverse pool of candidates. For example, Greene is the vice president-elect of the Chicago chapter of the National Black MBA Association. He explained that his organization frequently partners with corporate recruiters to help them recruit the organization's members.

Another opportunity is to nurture internal talent. This includes mentorship and sponsorship programs that help diverse leaders, and potential leaders, feel a stronger sense of belonging and commitment.

Hear more at 10:32 in the interview.

How can you foster more inclusion in the workplace?

Greene shared a quote from Verna Myers that explains it well.

Diversity is inviting someone to the dance. Inclusion is asking someone to dance.

Leaders should try to ask more employees to dance (metaphorically). Look for small opportunities to connect with someone else. It may seem trivial, but taking a personal interest in someone can go a long way.

This is especially important now, when many teams work remotely. It's easy for remote employees to remain unseen if they aren’t physically present in an office with their coworkers.

I once saw a simple example of intentional inclusion while visiting the Starbucks headquarters in Seattle. We were treated to a coffee tasting that was led by a remote employee. This allowed the employee to participate in the onsite event, even though she wasn't physically present.

Go to 14:04 to hear Greene share more ideas.

How do we make the conversation about inclusion more inclusive?

One experience that I've often had is inclusion is not always inclusive.

For example, I've been part of groups where I was told "there's too many white males here." I fit that description, so it immediately sends the message that I'm unwelcome.

On the other hand, I've been part of other groups where someone said, "How can we increase diversity and representation?" This is an invitation that encourages everyone to take part in the process.

"We need to frame things in the affirmative," said Greene. That means using positive statements that focus on how we can do "more of" versus negative statements that might make people feel excluded.

Greene explained that people sometimes view diversity as if it's a piece of pie. There's only so much pie to go around, so if you give someone a bigger piece, people worry that someone else will get a smaller piece.

This thinking can be limiting.

Go to 17:40 in the interview to hear Greene explain a better approach.

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Why you need to see things from your customer's perspective

Was it one friction point or 18?

That's the question from a recent furniture buying experience. One seems minor, while 18 feels egregious. The answer depends on your perspective.

I don't want to name the company, so let's just call them "Ceramics Shed." From their perspective, there was one service failure. Ceramics Shed issued a partial refund on shipping due to a misunderstanding over the delivery process.

From my perspective, there were at least 18 noticeable friction points in the experience. Buying furniture from Ceramics Shed has been a painful process. It's unlikely I'll do business with this company again.

Here's an account of those friction from the customer's perspective (mine).

My intent is not to call out the company for a poor experience, which is why I cleverly changed the name to make it harder to identify. The goal is to illustrate the dangers of missing your customer's perspective.

Discussion question: How many of these issues would have been detected by your company?

The high-friction furniture buying experience

I ordered a pub table and four barstools for a room I'm updating in my home. The first friction point came when I tried to place the order online. It proceeded to get comically worse.

Friction #1: The Ceramics Shed website didn't offer precise delivery dates for the items. Here were the quoted delivery windows:

• Barstools: October 15-19

• Table: October 23-November 6

These are way too broad. Why not just put, “When we get to it” or “Soon” as the delivery window?! The vague delivery dates were a real problem because I knew I'd be home to receive the shipment on some of the dates, but not on others.

Friction #2: There was no obvious way to get a better shipping estimate from the website, so I called to place the order. Cue sad hold music. Nobody likes to call to finish an online order.

I was able to get a better shipping window from Samantha, the customer service rep I spoke with. Samantha promised all of the items would be delivered together on October 28 via "white glove" service.

Friction #3: The total delivery charge for the order was $288.60. This is incredibly expensive, especially when you consider that Ceramics Shed has local stores. Similar local competitors typically charge $99 for furniture delivery. I reluctantly agreed to the charge because the table and chairs were exactly what I wanted.

Friction #4: Ceramics Shed sent an email recapping my order. It gave the original shipping windows I had seen from the website, rather than confirming the October 28 delivery date I had agreed upon with Samantha.

Friction #5: Another email. This one told me the barstools had shipped and would be delivered on October 14. Did I mention Samantha told me the order would arrive on October 28? Avoiding this hassle was the whole reason I called in the first place (see Friction #2).

Friction #6: The barstools were delivered on October 13. Ceramics Shed clearly plays fast and loose with time. If you're keeping score, that didn't hit any of the three promised delivery windows:

• Website: October 15-19

• Samantha: October 28

• Email: October 14

Friction #7: The barstools were left outside my front door in large packages. Samantha had promised me "white glove" delivery when I placed the order and paid an exorbitant $288.60 for shipping. She had confirmed that white glove means the delivery team would place the items inside my home and haul away all the packaging.

Friction #8: The cardboard boxes the barstools came in were too large to fit inside my recycling bin, so I had to break them down and drive them to a recycling center. That chore took more than 30 minutes.

Friction #9: I called to follow up on the table delivery since I was no longer confident it would arrive on October 28 as promised. Just in case it’s not clear, I don’t enjoy repeatedly calling customer service lines.

Friction #10: I had to navigate through endless menu prompts, key in my order number, and then wait on hold for several minutes. Right about now was when I decided to write a post about my experience with “Ceramics Shed.” Fortunately, I had time to start outlining the key points.

Friction #11: An employee named Rebecca answered the phone. The first thing she asked me for was my order number, even though I had already entered it into the phone menu. Rebecca explained that the order numbers don't come through to her system. (Then why did I have to key it in, Ceramics Shed?!)

Friction #12: Rebecca checked the status of my order without asking the reason for my call. She told me the barstools would be delivered on either October 14 or 15. I heard this with my ears while I was staring at the barstools that had already been delivered. (Side note: I was proud of myself for not verbalizing the joke in my head about building a time machine.)

Friction #13: Rebecca couldn't help me with my actual problem, so she transferred me to another department. Ceramics Shed really needs to update its phone menu. If I have to navigate through several layers of options, it’s not unreasonable to expect to be connected with someone who is able to assist me.

Friction #14: I was put on hold again. For some reason, I started imagining an alternative version of Willie Nelson's song, "On the Road Again." "I'm on hold again. I'll just wait, 'cause I'm on hold again."

Friction #15: I’m connected with Rashida. It was a cold transfer, meaning Rebecca didn't introduce me or my story to Rashida, so I had to repeat my order number and re-explain my problem. I find myself empathizing with Bill Murray’s character in Groundhog Day.

Friction #16: Rashida initially focused on contradicting Samantha, the person who took my order. “No! No! No!” she said. Her tone was very scold-y as she told me that the barstools and table could not have shipped together. By now, I'm getting weary of all the misinformation coming from Ceramics Shed and its employees. I don't even know who to believe.

Friction #17: Rashida tells me she can't give me a firm date when the table will be delivered. She explained the delivery team will call to schedule the delivery once the table is ready to be delivered. I do not trust this will happen. Rashida does agree to give me a partial shipping refund of $161.67.

Friction #18: I’m waiting to hear from the delivery team so I can get the table delivery scheduled. Something tells me this story isn’t over yet. Yay.

Conclusion

Now back to the discussion question. How many of these friction points would you have detected if this had been your company?

There's one simple way to detect most, if not all of these friction points: view the experience through the eyes of your customer.

• Follow the customer's journey placing an order with your company.

• Be a customer yourself, and experience the actual journey.

• Listen when customers share feedback.

That last one is key.

I called customer service twice and shared my feedback with three employees, but I haven’t completed a survey. CX expert, Nate Brown, has an amazingly easy way to collect and organize all the unstructured feedback customers share when they contact us.

Ceramics Shed has lost a long-time customer. It's not just due to a poor experience. It's their general corporate obliviousness to friction.

I suddenly recall my last order was painful, too.

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What skills do you need to be a customer service trainer?

Quite a few people have contacted me recently for advice on becoming a trainer.

I've mentored trainers for over 20 years, and there are six skills that are absolutely essential. And while my focus is on customer service training, these skills are universal.

Any trainer should have them.

This post highlights each of the skills. You'll also find some some additional resources, including links to some of my LinkedIn Learning courses, that can help you fill any gaps.

You'll need a LinkedIn Learning subscription to view the courses, but a 30-day trial is available. The great thing is your subscription gets you access to the entire library, not just my courses.

As always, please leave a comment or contact me if you have any questions. I'm happy to help!

Skill #1: Customer service skills

Too obvious?

A trainer needs to know the content they're training. As simple as that might sound, it's not always the case.

Corporate trainers are routinely asked to train leadership skills, even though they've never led a team. They're asked to train sales teams, even though they don't sell. And they're asked to train customer service, even though they've never served a customer.

You can test the absurdity of trying to train something you don't know by picking a different topic. Would you...

• Take guitar lessons from someone who couldn't play guitar?

• Take dance lessons from someone who didn't know how to dance?

• Take driving lessons from someone who had never driven?

Of course not!

So the first step to being a customer service trainer is to make sure you're awesome at customer service.

One resource that can help you develop elite skills is my LinkedIn Learning course, Customer Service Foundations. Over 150,000 people have taken this course because it covers a broad spectrum of essential skills, including building rapport, exceeding expectations, and solving problems.

Skill #2: Perform a gap analysis

This skill can save you a lot of effort. It involves identifying the gap between where you want to be and where you are now, and then analyzing how to get there.

Many of the training requests I get are too vague. Here are some real examples:

• We want to improve customer service.

• We need help with upset customers.

• We need a refresher.

The trouble with these vague requests is it's impossible to know what training is needed, or whether any training is necessary at all.

Here's a different example that might help. Imagine I'm going to the hardware store. What tool should I buy?

That question doesn't make much sense without more context, does it? You'd probably want to know more about the project I'm working on, what tools I already have, and my general ability with tools.

A gap analysis helps you get more specific with training.

It takes a generic request for "customer service training" and transforms it into something specific by digging deeper. Here are the three steps to conducting a gap analysis:

1. Identify the goal.

2. Identify the present state.

3. Analyze the gap between the goal and the present state.

For example, if your customer service team has an 85 percent customer satisfaction goal, and the current average is 83 percent, you know the gap is two percentage points. Before doing any training, you'll want to know why the rating isn't already at 85.

That's where a gap analysis comes in handy. I've put together this guide to help you out.

Skill #3: Identify training issues

Not every workplace performance problem is a training issue. A good trainer should be able to tell the difference between a training problem and a non-training problem.

A client once contacted me for team building training. She wanted to send her entire team through a half-day workshop designed to improve their internal customer service skills.

When I asked her a few probing questions, she admitted the real problem was one employee who had an abrasive personality.

Training wouldn't have helped. It might even have made it worse, if employees resented having to attend training when the source of the problem was clear. What the leader really needed to do was address the issue with the abrasive member of her team.

You can only fix three problems with training. A gap in:

• Knowledge

• Skill

• Ability

Trainers often refer to these as KSAs for short.

Training won't solve problems caused by a lack of resources, conflicting priorities, defective products, belligerent coworkers, or inefficient procedures.

You can learn more about determining whether something is a training issue from this short video.

Is this a training issue? from How to Design and Deliver Training Programs by Jeff Toister

Skill #4: Create learning objectives

Imagine you're asked to train employees to respond to customer inquiries. What content would you share? How would you decide whether learners had been fully trained?

Trainers often write vague statements and call them learning objectives, but they aren't really. Take this one, for example:

Learn to respond to customer inquiries.

This statement isn't a true learning objective because it lacks specificity. What specific content needs to be trained? How can we tell if someone has developed the right KSAs?

The ABCD model can help you quickly transform vague learning statements into real objectives. It's an acronym that stands for:

• A = Audience: Who is being trained?

• B = Behavior: What behavior does the audience need to do?

• C = Condition: Under what conditions will the behavior be evaluated?

• D = Degree: To what degree of accuracy must the behavior be demonstrated?

Here's how that customer inquiry objective might look using the ABCD model:

Customer service representatives will provide a timely response to a customer inquiry during in-class simulations five times without error.

You can see the breakdown:

• A = Audience: Customer service representatives

• B = Behavior: provide a timely response to a customer inquiry

• C = Condition: during in-class simulations

• D = Degree: five times without error

There's still some wiggle-room in this objective, such as what constitutes a timely response, or what customer inquiries will be used. However, it's far more specific and can better focus the trainer and learners.

You can download an ABCD objectives worksheet to help set your own learning objectives. This short video will provide even more information.

Develop learning objectives from How to Design and Deliver Training Programs by Jeff Toister

Skill #5: Facilitate learning

There are lots of ways to deliver training, but sometimes the simplest approach works great. That's why I recommend the tell, show, do method to trainers.

Many trainers spend too much time telling. In technical terms, this is what’s referred to as the “boring lecture.” The tell, show, do method helps trainers correct this issue. 

For instance, let's say I want to train my contact center agents to deliver a great phone greeting. The tell, show, do method might go like this:

1. Tell: Explain how to deliver a great phone greeting.

2. Show: Demonstrate a great phone greeting.

3. Do: Ask participants to practice giving their best greeting.

This LinkedIn Learning video provides an example of what that lesson might look like.

Develop the perfect phone greeting from Phone-Based Customer Service by Jeff Toister

Skill #6: Evaluate learning

All that training has to result in something. A trainer must be able to evaluate whether learning has occurred.

The easiest way to evaluate learning is to go back to your learning objectives. Can the learner demonstrate that they are able to fulfill the objectives?

For example, imagine your objective is this:

Customer service representatives will provide a timely response to a customer inquiry during in-class simulations five times without error.

You’ll know someone is trained when respond to mock customer inquiries five times in a row without error. On the other hand, a learner who makes a few mistakes will need some additional practice until they can finally go error-free five times in a row.

This is where a more advanced technique is needed.

You might have heard about something called the "learning curve." There really is a curve, and it consists of four distinct stages. Assessing where someone is on the curve is a critical skills for trainers.

Here are the four stages:

1. Unconscious incompetence: you don't know what you don't know

2. Conscious incompetence: you know what you don't know

3. Conscious competence: you know what you know

4. Unconscious competence: you don't know what you know

Most learners are at stage 3, conscious competence, when they complete learning objectives. It means they can demonstrate the required performance, but they might be overly conscious about it. Think about when you took your driving test to get your license. That’s a perfect example of what conscious competence feels like (assuming you passed!)

Innate skills reside at the unconscious competence level. That's where learners can use skills correctly without even thinking about it. For example, you can probably drive a car today without even thinking about it.

This short blog post explains the progression of a new hire from unconscious incompetence to unconscious competence.

Additional Resources

There are a few resources that can help you develop your skills as a trainer.

One is your local Association for Talent Development (ATD) chapter. Many chapters offer mentor programs that will pair you with an experienced trainer who can guide your development.

If I had to recommend just one book for new trainers, it would be Telling Ain't Training, by Harold D. Stolovitch and Erica J. Keeps. It covers the basics very nicely.

Finally, my How to Design and Deliver Training Programs course on LinkedIn Learning will walk you through all the basics. You'll need a LinkedIn Learning subscription to view the entire course, but a 30-day trial is available.

Training programs that get results from How to Design and Deliver Training Programs by Jeff Toister

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The one tool you need to write a customer service plan

"I need help creating a customer service plan."

That's an email I've received several times over the past few weeks. It's always some opportunity for improvement that triggers the request:

• Customer complaints are rising.

• It's time for annual business planning.

• The customer service leader is new to the role.

In any event, they're looking to give their team some direction. The challenge is knowing where to start.

So I'm writing to share the same advice with you that I've shared with all of these leaders. The most important tool you'll need is a gap analysis.

A gap analysis looks at the gap between where you are now and where you want to be, and analyzes the reasons you aren't there already. It's deceptively simple, yet highly effective.

Here's how to conduct one.

Step 1: Set customer service goals

Your customer service plan should have goals that are tied to the overall business strategy. We'll need those goals to perform a gap analysis and ultimately write the plan.

I've seen the examples below in many plans. These are definitely not goals:

• Improve customer service.

• Conduct customer service training.

• Explore new customer service channels.

• Reduce customer churn.

• Deliver world-class customer service.

These statements are too vague to be clear goals that change behavior and drive performance. Some, like "conduct customer service training," aren't even goals at all. They're activities.

Your customer service plan should be based on at least one SMART goal. This gives you and your team a specific target to focus on achieving.

Here's an overview if you're not familiar with the model:

• S = Specific

• M = Measurable

• A = Attainable

• R = Relevant

• T = Time-bound

You can use this primer to learn more about SMART goals if you get stuck.

The focus of your SMART goal should be something critical to your business. Think about how your team creates value. Here are some questions to help you create that link:

• How does your team increase revenue?

• How does your team decrease costs?

• How can your team improve overall company efficiency?

One client approached me to ask for customer service training. I asked the CEO some probing questions and learned what he really cared about was sales conversion.

Customers would contact customer service with questions about the company's products. The customer service rep could convert the call into a sale if they successfully answered the customer's questions.

The CEO wanted the team to covert 35 percent of customer inquiries into sales. He explained that was the level that made the team profitable once you subtracted marketing and operating costs.

So that became the SMART goal: Achieve an average sales conversion rate of 35 percent by the end of each month.

Step 2: Identify where you are now

The GPS on your phone or in your car needs two things to give you directions. The first is a destination. The second is your current location.

A gap analysis relies on the same information. Setting a goal is essential. Once you have a goal, you need to identify your current position. Only then can you create a step-by-step plan to bridge the gap.

This is another common failure point for customer service plans. The leader sets a goal, but doesn't have any data to measure where they are in relation to the goal.

For example, let's say you wanted to reduce customer churn. Great! What's your customer churn rate right now? It's pretty hard to reduce it if you don't have a specific measurement already.

My client wanted to achieve a 35 percent sales conversion rate per month. The team was currently averaging 33 percent.

Why is this important?

Because our strategy to get to 35 percent would be wildly different if we were at 10 percent versus 33. This second step in the gap analysis told us we were really close, and it would likely take just a few small tweaks to close the gap.

Step 3: Analyze the reason for the gap

Now that you have concrete data on where you are now, and the SMART goal you're trying to achieve, you need to analyze the gap between those two numbers.

I like to approach this step like a detective trying to solve a case. You might have some hunches, but you'll need solid evidence if you want to convince people your hunch is right.

One of the easiest things you can do is spend time observing your team and talking to them. Discuss the goal and ask them to share barriers they encounter that currently make it difficult to achieve it.

It didn't take long to help my client analyze the gap between the 35 percent conversion rate goal and the current 33 percent average. The team already knew most of the answers and readily shared them with me.

Scheduling. The team's schedule didn't match demand. Customers had to wait on hold an average of 30 minutes on Monday mornings, making it much harder to sell to people who called. By contrast, the team had very little to do on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon, when call volume was much lower. 

Rapport. Several of the team members admitted they sometimes struggled to uncover customer needs. They knew their products fairly well, but didn't always know the right questions to ask customers.

Leadership. The team leader hadn't been spending much time with the team. As a result, the team members weren't exactly sure what they were doing well and where they needed to improve.

All of these were easy fixes:

• Schedules were adjusted to better meet demand.

• The team attended a 30-minute training session on rapport skills.

• The leader agreed to hold a monthly team meeting to keep everyone informed.

This gap analysis quickly touched on several key areas such as staffing, skills, and metrics. And it gave the team a clear strategy for improving their sales conversion rate, which is what the CEO cared most about.

Just one month into the new plan, the team achieved a 45 percent sales conversion rate, far higher than the 35 percent goal.

Conclusion

A gap analysis is an essential first step when writing a customer service plan. You can use a gap analysis for many other situations, too.

• Reducing customer complaints.

• Identifying your team's training needs.

• Creating a customer-focused culture.

Feel free to contact me if you get stuck. I'd be happy to walk you through one.

If you have a LinkedIn Learning subscription, you can also use my Quick Fixes to Attain Excellent Customer Service course to walk you through more sophisticated gap analysis techniques.

Here's a short preview.

Welcome from Quick Fixes to Attain Excellent Customer Service by Jeff Toister

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How to create the ideal first day for new employees

This is a blog post about your employees' first day. It includes quotes from several real employees who have just started new jobs, so I've changed each person's name to protect their anonymity.

The first day at a new job can say a lot about your company.

For some, a great first day confirms they joined the right organization."It was like the first day at school," said Robert. "I was excited to get started and they were excited to have me join the team."

For others, the first day raises questions about whether this was the right choice.

"My first day was remote," said Warren. "I got a series of emails directing me to fill out paperwork and read through every corner of our website. I highly recommend this approach if you're having trouble sleeping. I did finally get a working computer a week or so later so that was good."

How can you give you team a first day that's more like Robert's, and less like Warren's?

This post walks you through some proven steps that work well whether your employees are working remotely or in-person.

How to prepare for a new employee

A great first day actually starts with the prep work you do before an employee officially joins your company. The goal is to be ready for them when they arrive.

It's disheartening when an employer isn't ready to welcome a new team member.

Warren started out on the wrong foot when his company wasn't ready for his arrival. A first day spent filling out paperwork and trying to get a working computer is hardly inspiring.

Barry, another remote employee, had a far different experience than Warren. "My organization handled my equipment requests before my first day. My laptop, mouse, and keyboard all arrived the week before I started. All my paperwork was sent to me the week before."

For Kendra, who is also remote, getting her equipment ahead of time allowed her to troubleshoot some technical issues that would have derailed her first-day experience.

"My first day technically started the Friday before when I received my new work laptop in the mail. I was so excited to receive a brand new laptop I immediately opened it up and turned it on. I spent the next three hours on the phone with IT resetting the hard drive multiple times because systems were not configured correctly."

Kendra's eagerness paid off, while her fellow new hires spent their first day struggling with computer issues. "I was ready to go for the new hire orientation meeting on Monday morning while other new hires had to call in on their phones and other devices."

Here are just a few things to do before your new employee arrives:

• Arrange all tools and equipment they'll need.

• Make sure they have access to computer networks, buildings, etc.

• Create an orientation schedule and send it to them.

• Send out new hire paperwork ahead of time.

• Order uniforms, name tags, business cards, and other items (if needed).

• Complete all required verifications such as background checks, license checks, drug screenings, etc.

A swag bag or care package is a great bonus if you really want to create a great impression.

Barry told me he really appreciated the package his company sent him.  "My organization sent me a welcome package that contained a book from my supervisor and one from the CEO. It also contained a notebook, pens, and a cool gift: a Yeti tumbler."

What are the elements of a great first day?

The ideal first day finishes off all the legal requirements necessary to complete the hiring process, starts socializing the employee to their colleagues, and gives them a virtual or in-person tour of the workspace.

Legal Requirements

The legal requirements can be tedious, but they are necessary. Various federal, state, and local laws require a variety of notices to be signed. You also need information to input the new employee into your payroll system.

I was once sent to train 100 new hires before my company opened a new location. Unfortunately, I discovered on the eve of the training class that the hiring manager hadn't actually hired anyone. We had to cancel the training and use that time to ensure everyone completed all the paperwork required to legally hire employees and ensure they got paid.

So get that out of the way first. Better yet, send paperwork to new hires to complete before their first day.

Barry shared one word of caution from his experience. Many of the forms he had to complete were PDFs that lacked fillable fields, so the process of adding his name, date, signature, and other information was painstaking. Be sure to make your forms easy to complete on a computer!

Socialization

Connecting with others is critical, especially when so many people are working remotely. It helps new employees feel a sense of belonging, and start building trust with the people they'll be collaborating with.

Help new employees start making connections with their colleagues by sending out a welcome message to greet them when they arrive. Barry received welcome messages from multiple employees, which immediately made him feel welcome.

Kevin started remotely, and spent much of day one connecting with coworkers via virtual meetings. "I had a meeting with my boss and then meetings with a few other teammates to introduce myself and get to know them."

Aaron's first day was in-person. "We wear masks, avoid in person meetings, and social distance when feasible. The on boarding process was different because we didn’t have a big classroom full of new hires, it was handled individually and in small groups."

All those safety precautions didn't prevent Aaron from having a great experience.

"My boss met me at the door, cleared his morning schedule to spend time orienting and teaching, and then took me to lunch. That level of investment and personal attention for new employees confirmed the positive culture and strong leadership that was conveyed in the interviewing process."

Diedre works remotely, but enjoyed starting her first day with a group of fellow new hires. 

"The experience at my new company was incredibly organized, probably the most organized of any company I’ve ever worked for. They did a great job bringing 20 new folks into Zoom calls, making us all feel welcome even though we were spread out all across the world. We did activities together, including playing virtual games, daily themed Zoom backgrounds and pop quizzes on what we’ve learned so far."

Technical issues aside, Kendra also appreciated starting her first day with other new hires. "In new hire orientation, I met our HR contact and other new hires and was invited to a group slack chat with just this group. I liked the group chat because it gave us a safe place to ask dumb questions and get to know some colleagues from other departments both locally as well as the other side of the country."

Tour

Employees need to know the basics of where they’ll be working, whether it’s a physical location or a virtual environment.

For employees reporting to a physical location, this involves a literal orientation. Show employees how to get into the building, where to clock in, where to find the restrooms, and other important locations. And of course, show them their own workspace.

It's a little different for remote employees. They will need to learn how to navigate through the company's network, and how to get assistance if they get stuck.

Kendra's boss created an orientation document that provided a virtual tour. "The doc included each slack channel I needed to join, links to corporate strategy video recordings and lots of documentation, reoccurring meetings I should have on my calendar, and a list of colleagues to reach out to and topics to discuss with them. So I spent the rest of my day filling my next 3 week calendar with 1-on-1 deep dives with colleagues, watching recordings of organizational presentations, and reading strategy documents."

There's one bonus item that can make a great first day even better.

New employees are anxious to make a contribution, so give them something valuable to do on their first day if at all possible. For example, one company has new employees give feedback about the company's products, which is often used to make improvements.

Is remote onboarding difficult?

Some people worry about remote onboarding. It doesn’t have to be difficult, if you follow the steps above. It can even be beneficial!

Here’s how Heidi described her first day of remote onboarding:

“The onboarding team took great strides to make sure we felt welcomed and made sure to have resources centrally located (as much as possible). I was definitely nervous and had first day jitters, but then I remembered I didn’t have to deal with commuting, trying to avoid boring water-cooler conversations (and gossip) and weird looks from Accounting, or finding a place to sit in the break room for lunch.”

Be intentional about creating a great experience for your new hires, and everything should be fine. It just might take a little extra planning.

Additional Resources

LinkedIn Learning subscribers can access my course, Running Company Onboarding. It will walk you through all the steps necessary to create an outstanding onboarding program.

If you don't already have a subscription, a 30-day trial is available.

Here's a short preview video that highlights the differences between a good and bad onboarding process.

Understanding the importance of onboarding from Human Resources: Running Company Onboarding by Jeff Toister

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Why you should thank customers after a delay

It's a busy day and your next customer has been waiting for awhile.

What should you say to acknowledge the delay?

• "I'm sorry for the wait."

• "Thank you for waiting."

• Nothing.

Most of us know saying nothing isn't a great move, but what about the first two options? A series of experiments has revealed that thanking your customer is the best approach.

The experiments showed that saying "thank you" instead of "I'm sorry" when a customer experiences a delay or another minor service failure can increase customer satisfaction and improve survey participation rates.

The first study was published in 2018 by Yanfen You. The second study was published in 2020 by Yanfen You, Xiaojing Yang, Lili Wang, and Xiaoyan Deng.

Here is a summary of the most interesting results.

Why do we apologize to customers?

Small issues, such as a delay, can damage a customer’s self-esteem. It makes people feel disrespected or less valued. An apology can help restore a customer’s self-esteem and make them feel better again.

This short video illustrates what emotional needs look like in a customer service encounter.

Tending to emotional needs from Working with Upset Customers by Jeff Toister

How thanking customers after a delay is more effective

Research shows that thanking a customer after a delay or another small service failure is even more effective at boosting the customer's self-esteem than apologizing.

Here's a quote from Yanfen You, who was involved with both studies.

"Specifically, while an apology strategy restores consumers’ self-esteem (bring it back to the pre-service delay level) through admitting fault and establishing fairness, an appreciation strategy increases consumers’ self-esteem by honoring them as a benefactor and highlighting their merits and contributions."

Four of the experiments in these studies were particularly revealing. Here are the highlights of each one.

Study 1: Restaurant wait time

In this experiment, a restaurant server set the expectation that food would be delivered quickly after guests placed their orders. In reality, it took between 30 and 50 minutes for the guests' food to arrive.

The server did one of three things after delivering the guests' meals:

1. Thanked the customers for waiting

2. Apologized for the delay

3. Did not acknowledge the delay

Afterwards, the server placed a survey card on the table and asked the guests to complete it. Far more guests completed the survey when they were thanked.

Study 2: Delayed compensation

University students were promised compensation for participating in a study. The payment was promised by 8pm that evening, but wasn't deposited until 8pm the following day.

Students received a message that either thanked the students for waiting or apologized for the delay. The participants were then sent a survey link to ask for their feedback about the compensation.

Just like in the first study, more students who were thanked (91.1%) completed the survey than students who received an apology (78.4%). Average satisfaction was also higher for students who were thanked.

Study 3: Inferior gift

In this study, university students were asked to choose between two small gifts for participating in an unrelated laboratory study. Afterwards, they were approached by a lab assistant and asked to complete a short survey about their satisfaction with the lab.

The survey instructions reminded students about the small gift, and mentioned that the actual gift would not be as nice as the one shown to them at the beginning of the study. Some students were thanked for their understanding, others received an apology, and another group didn't receive either a thank you or an apology.

Here are the lab satisfaction ratings for the three groups:

Study 4: Wrong survey

University students were approached by a research assistant and asked to complete a short survey about self-perception in exchange for a candy bar. Students who agreed to participate were handed a tablet with an electronic link to the survey.

When the students handed the tablet back to the assistant after completing the survey, the assistant pretended to realize she had accidentally loaded the wrong survey. She handed the students a card with a QR code printed on it, and explained the QR code would link to the correct survey.

One group of students was thanked for their participation in the study, while another group received an apology for the broken link. More students who were thanked used the QR code to access the survey later on:

Conclusion

Thanking a customer is a more effective than an apology when addressing a customer's emotional needs after a minor service failure such as a delay.

The studies also examined some theoretical situations that suggest combining an apology and a thank you might be even more effective, though this wasn't tested with real service failures. Anecdotally, I’ve often found this technique works well.

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