Excellence requires that we don’t rest on past achievements. The world pressures us to be bigger and better than the year before. We are constantly trying to out-perform or out-smart our competitors. We are directed to keep our eyes focused forward and warned that the past is full of useless and obsolete processes, technologies and people. However, there is great value in telling the story of past challenges and achievements because those stories define the heart and soul of your company and how it treats its customers. I want to introduce you to the 3-R’s of customer service design which can help you to put an old twist on some of the things you have been doing in your customer service department.

Reflect on the past Share the history of your company and your department as a part of your New Year kick-off or 1st quarter meetings. Seek out some of the veterans who were around when the company or organization began who can share the different ways they interacted with the customer then and the technology they had. Ask them to share what they were taught or told about customer service. Then, review the goals and achievements you had for the past year for your department and compare them to the previous 5 years. The day-to-day grind can overshadow what has been accomplished. People take pride in being a part of a team that is moving forward. Re-Imagine the Possibilities Brainstorm with your team on ways you can put an old twist on your approach to customer service. I can remember working at a company in the 1980’s that sent out personalized Christmas cards to its customers. The whole office was involved in signing them and addressing envelopes which added to the feel that we were all a part of something nice. If your organization is too big to send cards to every customer, you can begin by empowering your customer service representatives to send 2 cards a day to your customer base. The cards can be holiday related or a quick thank you. A hand-written note may seem old-fashioned, but it is something that will be remembered and talked about. Re-Tool Training You can’t over train customer service representatives. The basics of excellent customer service such as having a confident attitude, presenting a phone smile or being knowledgeable, are timeless. Presenting what some may feel is old information in a new way will give your team a fresh approach. Create new tools which require the CSR to pay attention and re-program his/her brain. To give you an example of what I am suggesting, let me share with you something I did in my office. I have some very skilled employees who have been doing their job for years. The nature of their work is detailed and they are creatures of habit. The habits of the past were creating blind spots and they were road blocks to creative problem solving. Several new tools were created which changed their focus and increased accuracy. They didn’t like the changes initially, but felt a sense of pride as they improved. Remember that even when things are working they can still be improved.