Select your favorite virtual background for online meetings and events during Customer Service Week. Download for free and use on Zoom, Google Meet, GoToMeeting, and more. Full content with purchase
Description This is a fun way to refresh skills during Customer Service Week. It can be used at any time to add a little spontaneous fun and training to the day. Consider introducing it during an ice cream sundae break, pot luck lunch, or any other time that people are gathering. This fun activity demonstrates…Continue reading
This fun activity demonstrates the importance of clear communication and some of the pitfalls when instructions are ambiguous. This activity was adapted from The Customer Service Activity Book.
A jacket or sweater which buttons up the front
Ask the group to form a circle around you. You should be wearing the jacket.
Ask for a volunteer or select someone to participate in the activity with you.
Explain that it is not only important for service professionals to listen carefully to understand customers’ needs and wants, but that reps must also speak clearly and concisely so that customers understand them.
Next, explain the activity. Focus on the volunteer and say, “All I want you to do, standing right where you are, is to give me verbal directions and tell me how to put on my jacket. As you say this, take off your jacket, and as you are doing this, pull one of the sleeves inside out. Then, take off the jacket, ball it up and drop it on the floor. What follows is often very funny.
Now, listen very carefully to the volunteer’s instructions and do exactly what they say. Have fun with it. If the volunteer says, pick up your jacket, pick it up as a ball. If they say turn the sleeve inside out. Turn the correct sleeve the wrong way. If they say button the jacket, misalign the buttons and holes, and so on.
This activity demonstrates the importance of precise communication. How can we apply this to our daily work?
Do we provide specific directions, either written or spoken that seem to confuse customers?
This activity reinforces the idea that there are many ways to give great, personal service. Each participant uses the letters of their name to suggest service-oriented actions. This activity was adapted from the classic activity book, The Big Book of Customer Service Training Games.
Note Pads and Pens for each participant.
Flip-chart or white board and markers for the leader.
Ask each participant to write their first name vertically down the center of a sheet of paper. Demonstrate by writing the following on the flip-chart or white board:
Next, ask participants to use each letter of their name to come up with an action that they can take to offer great customer service. For example: 
Finally, ask each participant to read their list out loud for the group.
Where there any common solutions or themes in the answers? (For example, did several participants focus on listening or empathy?)
Were there any especially creative, or even funny, solutions?
Were there several solutions for a single letter such as M? Ask reps to read their solution to just a single letter and discuss the many, many ways that customers and reps think about great service.
Frontline reps will share service stories and develop a list of what to do and what not to do when working with customers.
Paper and pen, or white board and marker, for the leader.
First, draw a line down the center of the paper. Label one side, “What to Do,” and the other side, “What NOT to Do.”
Ask participants to think of the best experience they have ever had with a customer service rep. Invite three or four people to share their experiences. As they are telling their stories, add key words and phrases in the column headed, “What to Do.” For example, listened, asked great questions, really cared, etc.
Now, ask participants to think of the worst experience they have ever had with a customer service rep. Again, invite three or four people to share their experiences. Add key words and phrases in the column headed, “What NOT to Do.” For example, interrupted, ignored, argued, etc.
This activity works well when the leader shares handwriting on screen via Zoom or another collaboration platform. Discussion will be ongoing while the leader takes notes which are viewed by all participants.
After the activity is completed ask everyone to take a quiet moment later in the day to think about their own work and to ensure that it reflects the team’s dos and don’ts.
Return to Customer Service Week Activities
This simple exercise will focus attention on the importance of active listening by illustrating how information can become lost or distorted.
Copies of the “story” for all observers
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.
Take a few moments to discuss the perils of lost or distorted information when working with customers. For example:
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.
Return to Customer Service Week Activities
This activity was adapted from the classic activity book, The Big Book of Customer Service Training Games.
In this activity, participants practice picking up clues that can help them build rapport with customers. Building rapport, or creating a bond of trust, will help ensure productive relationships with customers.
A small gift for each participant to take away
Prepare for this activity by cutting out magazine photos of people in everyday situations. You’ll need three to four photos per participant.
Briefly discuss the concept of rapport. Explain that in this game participants will practice picking up clues from customers that can help them build a natural connection.
Divide your group into teams of two or three people. Give each team a selection of photographs. Ask them to come up with questions or statements that they might use to make pleasant, light conversation with the “customer” in the photo.
Provide an example to help the teams get started. For example, for a photo of a man in a Denver Broncos shirt with three children at his side you might say:
After about 10 minutes, ask the teams to share one or two of their photos and statements with the entire group.
Return to Customer Service Week Activities
One of the great enemies of good listening is a common tendency to assume that we know what the customer is going to say. When this happens, reps go on auto pilot and attempt to serve the customer without really understanding the issue.
This simple exercise makes a very clear point about the need to listen for the meaning as well as the words a customer is using.
Challenge Questions
Note Pads and Pens
Prizes for all winners
Have your team arrange their chairs classroom style, in a semi-circle, or around a conference table.
Explain that you will be giving a brief, confidential test of listening skills. Each rep will be responsible for grading his or her own test. No pressure here!
Next, pass out plain paper, or note pads and pens. Ask your team to number their responses to each question, one through 10. Remind participants that with this test it is better to guess than to leave an answer blank.
Read each question slowly and clearly. Then move right on to the next question.
After the last question, it’s time to review the answers. For maximum impact, read the question, followed by the correct answer. Groans and sighs are sure to follow as reps begin to see that they have made false assumptions about what you were saying.
Take a few moments to discuss the importance of listening carefully and avoiding assumptions. Ask participants how this principle applies to their daily interactions. For example:
Click here to print the Comprehension Challenge.
Return to Customer Service Week Activities
This classic communication exercise illustrates the importance of two-way communication in a very visual and often humorous way.
8-1/2″ x 11″ paper for each participant
Have participants arrange their chairs classroom style or around a table.
Give each participant a sheet of paper. Ask them to close their eyes and follow your directions as noted below:
No one may ask questions during this activity.
You must keep your eyes closed during the activity — no peeking.
Fold your sheet of paper in half.
Tear off the upper right hand corner.
Fold your paper in half again.
Tear off the lower right hand corner.
Fold your paper in half.
Tear off the upper left-hand corner.
Fold your paper in half a final time.
Tear off the lower left-hand corner.
Unfold your paper and hold it up.
Open your eyes, look at your paper and compare it with the others.
Dispersed teams can easily complete this activity using a video conferencing tool such as Zoom, Webex, or Google Hangouts.
Take a few moments to discuss the importance of effective communication and to ask participants for examples of how this applies to their daily work with customers. For example:
If you were given the same directions, why is everyone’s paper different? (Remember when you communicate with others, they may not receive the message you sent. Individual perceptions vary.)
Return to Customer Service Week Activities