Course Outcomes

This customer service course will:

  • Explain branded service.
  • Help participants identify service touchpoints.
  • Discuss the importance of authenticity.
  • Outline a process for determining the look and sound of a service brand.
  • Describe steps organizations must take to embed behaviors in a brand’s DNA.

Course Overview

“Sometimes the service is good and sometimes not so much.”  “You really need to be picky about who you see when you go there.”  Yikes!  Large or small, no business wants to have such comments made about it.  Unfortunately, many do.  This program is built on the premise that people bring their own brands of service to a job.  Without training, even the best-intentioned employees may offer a kind of service that does not align with a business’ philosophy, image, or outlook.  For example, “awesome choice” could be a perfectly acceptable comment to utter in a beach shop, but it makes less sense at a doctor’s office.

Led by an expert facilitator, this interactive service branding course will help participants determine what excellent looks and sounds like in their organizations.

Program Objectives

At this program’s conclusion, participants should be able to:

  • Explain branded service.
  • Identify service touchpoints.
  • Describe the importance of authentic interactions and behaviors that can detract from appearing genuine.
  • Demonstrate their brand’s version of courtesy, listening, engagement, responsiveness, and service recovery.
  • Outline the steps organizations must take to ensure long-term consistency.

The following outline highlights some of the course’s key learning points. As part of your training program, we will modify content as needed to meet your business objectives. Upon request, we will provide you with a copy of the participant materials prior to the session(s).

Workshop Outline 

It Starts with Feelings: Identifying the Desired Outcome

The first step in deciding a service’s brand is identifying the customers a business serves and the feelings the organization wants those patrons to have after each interaction.  In this opening exercise, we will explore the idea of branded service and the choices organizations must make to determine their brand’s message.

Touchpoints: Where Service and Customers Meet

In this segment of the program, participants will create a customer touchpoint map.  Working in teams, group members will consider a customer’s journey and identify the moments in which people will make judgments about the experience.  Following this exercise, the team will sort influencing factors into two categories: those related to a service provider’s behaviors and those affected by processes such as the presence of clear signage and the cleanliness of public restrooms. 

Avoiding Plastic: The Sound of Scripted

More so than ever, customers know businesses collect data about them, market to them, and often plan every aspect of the customer experience.  While there are benefits to being the focus of such attention, customers also know too much of a good thing is not a good thing.  Nobody wants to be a participant in a scripted interaction that is planned to the point it feels plastic.  In this part of the program, we will discuss the importance of authenticity and traps providers must avoid if they wish to have genuine interactions with those they serve.

Courtesy: Where Service Begins

No matter the type of business, most care about courtesy.  This part of the workshop marries academic ideas about branding with practical steps for delivering exceptional service. During this program segment, participants will consider the idea of courtesy and what courteous behavior should look and sound like in their workplace.

Working the Process: The Decisions Continue

Following the same steps they used to discuss courtesy, in this portion of the class, participants will consider engagement, listening, responsiveness, and recovery.  By the conclusion of these discussions, the group should have a foundational understanding of how their brand of service should look and sound.

What’s Next?: Embedding Behaviors

With an appreciation of the process for deciding the behaviors associated with a brand, participants will discuss steps for ensuring consistency and what it takes to embed behaviors in an organization’s DNA.  Group members will learn the importance of training, rewarding, recognizing, and coaching employees to exhibit customer-centric behaviors specific to the brands they represent.

By the conclusion of this interactive workshop, participants should know what it means to brand service and the importance of deciding the ideal customer experience. Furthermore, they should be able to explain what their brand stands for and how it differs from that of their competitors.