Invitations (Type your text and print or share)
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Customer Service Week Resources
Activities • Bulletins • Celebration Stories and Ideas • Gift • Printables • Puzzles •
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Cupcake Topper (3 designs)
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Candy Bar Wrapper (2 designs)
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Count Off (Remote ready)
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Description This activity was adapted from the classic activity book, The Big Book of Virtual Teambuilding Games. In this activity, participants focus on communication skills and try to avoid talking over each other. The game can be played with local teams, remote teams, or hybrid teams via phone or collaboration platform. As the group struggles…Continue reading
Household Scavenger Hunt (Remote ready)
Description
In this scavenger hunt, remote staff will compete to collect all of the items, snap a photo, and share with the entire team. This fun activity is so quick and easy you can host a new scavenger hunt each day of Customer Service Week.
Materials
None
Directions
This activity can be used over the course of one to five days.
For a five day activity, compile five lists of items to be collected, or use the sample lists below. The lists should include items commonly found in the home along with one or two tricky items.
Distribute the daily list via email or a collaboration platform and ask reps to share photos showing all of the items that they collect.
Photos should be displayed online for all to see. The real fun comes when people realize what they have in common, “We have the same shirt” and what’s different, “Where did you find that rotary phone?”
The winner is the person to find the most items over the course of the scavenger hunt.
Sample
Here are two sets of sample scavenger hunt items:
| Day 1 Elephant Hawaiian style shirt Seashell Spice that starts with the letter M Wedding photo | Day 1 Something in Customer Service Week blue The softest thing you own Something smaller than a penny Something with two ears Flowers or flour |
| Day 2 Cast iron skillet Feather Mercury thermometer Ribbon Rotary phone | Day 2 Something in Customer Service Week berry The last book you read Something round Something with four feet Knight or night |
| Day 3 House plant Record or video tape Salt shaker Slippers Train | Day 3 Something in Customer Service Week goldenrod Something sharp Something that makes you smile Something with a tail Mail or male |
| Day 4 Polka dots Postage stamp Red food Shell Six pins | Day 4 Something a little bit country Something fuzzy The sweetest thing you have Something with polka dots Pear or a pair |
| Day 5 Ball Funny socks Happy Birthday Pantry item with a 2018 expiration date (or older!) Rock | Day 5 Something a little bit rock and roll Something hot Something older than you are Something plaid Son or sun |
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Pages:Count Off (Remote ready)
Quarrelsome Coworkers
| Materials: | Quarrelsome Coworkers sheets for each team member. A Customer Service Week Two-in-One Pen to use. |
| Notes: | The impact of friction in the workplace can be devastating to the reps involved, to coworkers, and to customers. Left unresolved, tensions can lead to lost productivity, staff disengagement, and a culture of negativity. The Quarrelsome Coworkers puzzle shows the wrong way to handle this type of friction. Reward everyone who completes the puzzle with a Customer Service Week Scratch Off Card. |
| Puzzles/ Solutions: | Quarrelsome Coworkers sheets. Quarrelsome Coworkers solution. |
Hidden Number (Remote ready)
| Materials: | Hidden Number sheets for each team member. A Customer Service Week Two-in-One Pen to use. |
| Notes: | Sometimes customers share so much information that it’s hard to get to the root of their problem or concern. Hidden within each of the six phrases in this puzzle is one piece of essential information. The challenge is to see past the obvious to uncover a hidden number. The last question on the puzzle sheet asks participants to create their own challenge. Gather these and share them with your team. Reward everyone who completes the puzzle with a Customer Service Week Scratch Off Card. |
| Puzzles/ Solutions: | Hidden Number 1 sheets. Hidden Number 2 sheets. Hidden Number 1 solutions. Hidden Number 2 solutions. |
Pages:Quarrelsome Coworkers
Amazing Race
Team building games of all types abound during Customer Service Week. One exciting example comes from the Information Services Department at the Cobb County Government in Marietta, GA. The highlight of the celebration was a version of the television show Amazing Race.
The show features 11 teams racing around the world to win one million dollars. The teams compete in 13 activities. And the last team to complete the activity and arrive at the “pit stop” is eliminated.
Rather than racing around the world, these teams traveled through the office. Each day, they were given a clue that described the location of the first “pit stop.” When all teams arrived at the “pit stop,” they competed to complete a task. The last team to complete the task was eliminated.
Each challenge took just 10 to 15 minutes and each person on the team was required to participate.
Following are examples of three of the “pit stop” clues and tasks:
- Pit Stop #3 Clue. You will now make a visit to the place where the Great Oz resides. There you will find task #3.
- Task #3. The task is to eat the collard green pie. The last team to finish the pie will be eliminated from the race. If your team completes this task successfully you will be given the next clue.
- Pit Stop #5 Clue. Navigate your way to this office where very few Information Services staff visit, but they support the entire county’s needs for all geographic locations. There you will find task #4.
- Task #5. The task is to complete the crossword puzzle provided within 10 minutes. If you do not complete the crossword puzzle within 10 minutes your team will be eliminated from the race. If your team completes this task successfully you will be given the next clue.
- Pit Stop #7 Clue. Customer service is defined in this area. This area handles all your technical support needs. There you will complete the final task and the winning team will be announced!
- Task #7. Today your team will answer some tough questions. Pick a captain and when the question is asked talk among your group and come up with the correct answer — hit the bell and you will be given a chance to answer. If you get the answer wrong — two points will go to the opposing team and they will get the opportunity to answer the question. The team to get 100 points first wins the Amazing Race.
Additional popular game show activities include Fear Factor, Jeopardy!, Cash Cab, and Survivor.
Pages:Call Me Maybe Lip-Dub
Getting to Know You (Remote ready)
Description
This popular Customer Service Week activity provides an opportunity for team members to learn a little bit more about each other. When they do, stories are shared, bonds are formed, and cooperation and teamwork soar.
Materials
Getting To Know You Questionnaire
Prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners
CSW Scratchers for all participants
Directions
A few days before Customer Service Week, ask each team member to complete the questionnaire. Then decide how you will play:
Option 1: Email all of one person’s “answers” to the team and ask them to identify the person described in the email.
Option 2: Email all of the “answers” to a single question, such as “what is your favorite movie?” to the team and ask them to match the movie titles to their coworkers.
As each round of the game is completed, share the names of the winners and the correct answers.
Finally, keep in mind that your goal is to have as many winners as possible. After all, the more ways in which team members connect, the stronger the team. So be sure to encourage everyone to play, even if they have to guess, and award prizes to all participants.
Remote Tip
This is a good at-your-desk activity, when played via email, or a collaboration platform.
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Pages:Listening Skills
Listening Skills
Description
This simple exercise will focus attention on the importance of active listening by illustrating how information can become lost or distorted.
Materials
Copies of the “story” for all observers
Directions
Have the group arrange their chairs classroom style or around a table.
Assign five or six people to be the participants. The remainder will be observers. Ask all but one of the participants to briefly leave the room. While they are gone, read a short story to the remaining people. Explain that the story will be retold and that the observers should note any errors or changes that occur.
Now invite one participant back into the room. Ask the first participant to tell the story to the second. Invite one more participant back into the room. Ask the second participant to tell the story to the third. Continue until everyone is back in the room and the last participant has shared the story with the group.
Finally, ask the observers to relate what elements of the story were changed or omitted.
Discussion
Take a few moments to discuss the perils of lost or distorted information when working with customers. For example:
- In general, how did the story change from the first telling to the last?
- What does this mean to you as a communicator?
- How does this activity relate to our daily work with customers?
Sample
Sample story:
The Texas spirit of fun and hospitality lights up Paseo Del Rio, the San Antonio Riverwalk. This festive and popular travel destination shimmers with color and light. Along the left bank, two lines of brightly colored café umbrellas — tropical red, Cancun blue, emerald green, lemon yellow — shelter outdoor diners and adorn the cobblestone walk. Above the rainbow rows of umbrellas, white lights strung between oak trees along the walking path glimmer softly in the dusk.
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Pages:Building Rapport
What Did You Say? (Remote ready)
| Materials: | What Did You Say? sheets for each team member. A Customer Service Week Two-in-One Pen to use. |
| Notes: | Working with customers across town or across the globe, reps will encounter a range of accents and dialects. Listening carefully to ensure accurate understanding is essential. In this puzzle some fun homophones highlight the need for excellent listening skills. The last question on the puzzle sheet asks participants to create their own challenge. Gather these and share them with your team. Reward everyone who completes the puzzle with a Customer Service Week Scratch Off Card. |
| Puzzles/ Solutions: | What Did You Say? sheets. What Did You Say? solutions. |
Rhyme Time (Remote ready)
| Materials: | Rhyme Time sheets for each team member. A Customer Service Week Two-in-One Pen to use. |
| Notes: | For a puzzling time, try a rhyme. In this rhyming challenge, puzzlers must solve each clue with a word that rhymes with the last word of the clue. The last question on the puzzle sheet asks participants to create their own challenge. Gather these and share them with your team. Reward everyone who completes the puzzle with a Customer Service Week Scratch Off Card. |
| Puzzles/ Solutions: | Rhyme Time sheets. Rhyme Time solutions. |