5 Ways to Grow a Culture of Customer Loyalty
Recently I walked into a client’s office to say hello and confirm our agenda for the day. As our cordial stand-up meeting progressed I was really pleased to hear how genuinely pleased he seemed to be with the technical support training that was about to begin. In fact, he went so far as to say that the organization had made the right decision and was sure to benefit. Yes, I was beaming. Then he said, “Oh, and can you make it any shorter?” Sigh. It wasn’t the first time I’d heard that; I’m ever hopeful, each time, it will be the last time.
At Impact, we believe learning – especially learning to communicate effectively – takes planning, consideration, practice and frequent, periodic revisiting of the key concepts. The “how”—whether you employ traditional classroom, eLearning, social learning and collaboration or a combination of all of the above—doesn’t change the fact that learning is a process not an event. Behavior change happens on the job, over time, and for the best results needs the hands-on attention and support of management.
Practical operational considerations drove my client’s desire to shorten his specific training event. While I support short learning segments, I also believe in lots of engaging activities, lots of practice, lots of collaborative opportunities, and lots of learning by doing—and that takes time. I tend to believe that when it comes to learning we’d be better off taking a lesson from the slow food movement.
Is it really inevitable that all communication as we know it, including training, will be truncated by technology? In his blog post, “Getting Shorty—The Elevator Pitch is Dead,” Jay Baer writes about what he calls the “Law of Boundless Brevity” and claims “technology has killed small talk”. He was referring to personal communication not business communication much less training but much of what he wrote struck a chord. Ultimately, he suggests we all create 120-character descriptions of what we do to replace our old elevator pitches. Even though I don’t totally buy the truncation trend I’m willing to give it a try in the spirit of respecting diversity of opinion. So here’s mine: Optimizing performance for sales, customer service, and tech support while sustaining results that make a difference. (118) Very retweetable. (My spellchecker doesn’t think that’s a word. How very 2008.)
Tags: communication skills, customer service, learning, social learning, technical support training
Monica -
Thanks very much for the shout out, and for participating in the 120 character challenge. I’m not sure I buy into it totally myself, and I wrote it! But, having been in online marketing for 15 years, I’ve definitely seen a steady march toward shorter communication. Clearly, it’s not always for the best, but it’s definitely happening.
Ironically, I lot of my business is conducting full-day training sessions on social media, so hopefully we don’t get so concise that nobody can spend a day learning!
Cheers,
j
Great Post,
I recently had a client who hired me because I had billed myself as a cutting edge trainer, using the latest in ‘in-class, high-engagement’ learning methods. And then when it came time to actually pull the reps off the phone, the session had to come in as a 45 minute chalk and talk.
Do you remember (maybe I’m dating myself) the old TV show M*A*S*H*? I loved it, and watched it every time it was on. One of the main characters, Hawkeye Pierce, used to describe the type of medicine they practiced (namely patching up soldiers so they can either be sent on for more thorough treatment, or so they can go back and get shot at again) as “Meatball Surgery.”
Unfortunately, I have adopted the term “Meatball Training” to describe clients who treat training as a kind of field hospital approach to supporting their employees. In fact, when selecting candidates for in-service modules with some clients, I even refer to it as ‘triage’.
My challenge, then, is how to take what is really a day-long lesson, including role play, properly chunked knowledge, and reinforcement through properly spaced exercises, and reduce it to a 15 minute ‘pre-shift’ meeting.
The key for me? Emotional engagement through really compelling story telling. It’s the only way I am able to get anything to stick in that setting. I tell a story about how someone else has done what I’m trying to get them to do - a story that is funny, easy to relate to, and has a dramatic outcome. One such story this morning got one of my clients’ salespeople a round of applause!
Hi Monica, Always an interesting argument! I get the same requests on a frequent basis. When possible, I try and get the partner to give me a shot to have two versions (short and long) of the training and then compare notes.
We recently trained on an important initiative and found that the customer satisfaction numbers were poor in one area and then terrific on another. As we researched it turned out that the 3 hour course was cut to 45 minutes in poor performing area. It was a great endorsement on why it was designed the way it is.
The argument that “brevity is the soul of wit” sure does stumble when brevity’s forced. :) I totally agree with you, though — Some things just take time. And sometimes, the more time spent, the more rewarding the experience can be.
I wonder if it’s available technology that’s fueling the truncation trend, or if truncation technology was developed as a reaction to an existing cultural trend to deal with information overload? After all, I’ve always loved me some aphorisms! :)
Thanks for the thought-provoking article — I’m going to tweet it right now! ;)
Hi Glenn! I wonder, too, if it’s technology that’s driving the truncation trend or whether it’s information overload that’s the culprit. I’d add another trend to your idea — that is a trend driven by a downsized, tighter economic situation that asks the individual to do more in the same or less time. Managers recognize the need to help staff but many have fewer bodies to cover the same amount or more work.
I also think we’re victims of the efficiencies that technology has brought us. I’ll date myself but I remember when the Fax machine made it possible to shave days off receiving a P.O. or sending out technical information. I greeted e-mail as just short of miraculous (at first). FedEx overnight service was another huge breakthrough. Now internet portals allow us 24/7 access to information and services. We’ve come to expect instant access.
It’s easy to forget that easy access to information, easy acquisition of key concepts does not mean a person knows HOW to do something. Learning takes time; it’s a process.
Your comment is very timely. I’m working on a post with a working title: Technology — Bane or Blessing. Any thoughts on that subject? :)
Thank you concerning the wonderful information.
[...] a training plan to which the manager replied, “Can you do it in less time?” Hey, that happened to me! I cringed in recognition when she suggested that the real message behind that question was [...]