What'S The Secret?: To Providing a World-Class Customer Experience

Chapter 9. Commandment V: Training to Provide a World-Class Customer Experience

Systems and processes that remove variation and provide a consistent customer experience

Give a man a fish and he'll feed his family for today, teach him how to fish and he'll feed them for a lifetime.

—Unknown

World-class service organizations have an incredible training program for all new and existing employees consists of soft-skill training that increases their service aptitude, giving them the knowledge and tools to provide a world-class customer experience.

If you have successfully achieved the first four commandments, now is the tough work. You have turned standards into systems, but who knows about them? It is critical to ensure every new employee gets trained on these systems, otherwise the next generation of employees will dilute your Service Vision.

A common misconception is that the only way to get better people is to pay more than everyone else. There are many great examples of world-class companies who do not necessarily pay better than their competitors. In fact, employees at Disney are hired from the same labor pool every other organization uses and are paid the going rates. The real reason why their people are so good at customer service is how well they are transformed into Walt Disney Cast Members, which occurs in their training.

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Customer loyalty is won or lost at the front lines of each ...