Build Stronger Teams

The team at Taro Pharmaceuticals began celebrating Customer Service Week four years ago and as Carol Augias tells us, “it has grown little by little from a breakfast on Monday, to include a small lunch on Friday, to a week-long celebration that everyone looks forward to.”

But certainly the highlight has to be the Closing Lunch Soiree. A theme is chosen and appropriate decorations and food are provided. At the event, each rep receives an award and Carol gives a carefully prepared speech. In it she talks about the accomplishments of the department and weaves in an anecdote about each rep’s success during the year. She even includes a quote from at least one customer and one outside sales rep.

Additional activities included:

• Monday. Kick-off breakfast, introducing the Customer Service Week theme, schedule of events, goals for the week, and a presentation from the senior vice president of global sales and marketing.
• Tuesday. Seminar on time management, plus a fun afternoon playing Minute to Win It.
• Wednesday. Presentation on the service teams activities, plus announcement of the customer service rep of the year, and a rousing game of Deal or No Deal.
• Thursday. Donuts and small stress relievers are delivered to other departments. Pizza lunch with company trivia contest.

A creative team building activity was the highlight of the breakfast celebration at RACO Industries. The activity was designed to encourage 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.

Manager Tracey Veith asked each person on her team to bring in one item from home. It had to be something that was meaningful to them but not easily identifiable as theirs.

During breakfast at a local pancake house, all of the items were arranged at the center of the table. Throughout the meal reps took turns trying to guess who brought in each item. When all of the connections were made, each person shared a few words about their item and why it is important to them.

Last year’s Customer Service Week celebration at the Cooper Creek Event Center was a huge success.

Organizer Jamie Marie Zamora summed the week up when she told us, “It truly was a celebration of the hard work each employee does! They felt appreciated and were reminded that their positive attitudes and kind acts do not go unnoticed!”

The team celebrated every day, but Jamie says that Friday was the favorite. It was pay-it-forward day, a day to focus on the positive cycle of kindness.

Each employee was given an envelope with a simple act to perform that day. Each person who received a kindness was also asked to “pay it forward” by repeating it or another act of kindness.

The tasks were not complex says Jamie, and included everyday things such as: opening the door for a stranger, writing someone a nice letter, giving a stranger a compliment.

And for one day during Customer Service Week, Cincinnati was a kinder place, thanks to the positive cycle Cooper Creek started.