PS. This is a preview of Service Training Tips, a newsletter designed for busy customer service leaders. Want more? Subscribe here.
Hey Trainer,
"I don't have time."
That's the number one reason leaders don't give their teams customer service training. It's hard to imagine getting everyone together for a half-day or full-day program when you can barely keep up.
There’s a better way to do it.
The 5-5-5 approach helps you build your team’s skills by spending as little as 15 minutes per week developing your team.
Are you ready to give it a try?
The 5-5-5 Approach
The 5-5-5 training approach focuses on one skill per week. There are three steps that each take as little as five minutes.
This means you can deliver world-class training in just 15 minutes per week.
Step 1: Prep (5 minutes)
Take five minutes to plan one small, quick hit training. Focus on the smallest unit of skill possible, such as greeting customers.
- Identify the topic
- Create a five-minute lesson
You can subscribe to the Customer Service Tip of the Week to receive a weekly training tip to share with your team.
Some managers look for specific opportunities for improvement. For example, a contact center manager I know planned a weekly quick-hit training around reducing escalations.
Action: Pick one specific skill to share with your team this week.
Step 2: Deliver (5 minutes)
The next step is to deliver the training to your team. It should be short and sweet since you’re focusing on just one skill or technique.
Save time and minimize disruptions by incorporating the training into an existing team meeting or discussion. Some teams meet in person, others meet virtually, and a few that work different shifts engage in lively discussions via Slack or Teams.
You can use the Tell-Show-Do approach to deliver the training.
- Tell: Explain the technique and why it’s important.
- Show: Demonstrate the technique or share an example.
- Do: Have employees go back to work and try the technique with customers.
Training delivered via the 5-5-5 approach often feels informal.
The contact center leader shared the top escalations with the team. Everyone spent a few minutes brainstorming solutions that might prevent an escalation from occurring. The team quickly generated a list of techniques to try right away.
Action: Deliver a short, five-minute training session to your team.
Step 3: Follow-up (5 minutes)
Follow-up with the team to check-in on your employees to see how they're doing. Offer coaching and encouragement to help them continue building and refining the skill.
A few ways to do it:
- Send a check-in message to the team
- Follow-up with people individually
- Reconnect at your next weekly team meeting
That's it!
Action: Follow-up with your team on the customer service skill you just trained.
Video Walk-through
I created a short video walk-through of the 5-5-5 approach if you'd like to see more. Watch it here.
More Topic Ideas
There are lots of places to find training topics you can use for weekly 5-5-5 training. The Customer Service Tip of the Week email gives you one per week.
Here are a few more:
Service Standards: Use your service standards to create a rotating list of training topics. Start at the beginning again once you get through the entire list.
Customer feedback: Use surveys, complaints, and other customer feedback to identify pain points. Create short trainings to solve one pain point at a time.
Icebergs: Hunt for customer service icebergs. These are seemingly small issues that could really be a much bigger problem. See examples in this video.
Have a great week!
Jeff
PS. This is a preview of Service Training Tips, a newsletter designed for busy customer service leaders. Want more? Subscribe here.
Jeff Toister
The Service Culture Guide
619-955-7946
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