5 WAYS TO CELEBRATE YOUR CUSTOMERS AND EMPLOYEES ON CUSTOMER SERVICE WEEK.

Fresh off the back of CX Day, Customer Service Week starts next week! Here’s BARE’s top 5 ways you can celebrate with your employees and consumers.

It’s time to appreciate the customer experience as National Customer Service Week kicks off this year on Monday, Oct. 7. While originally designed as an opportunity for companies to recognize the efforts of their employees, now it’s time to include your customers as well.  The week is designed to focus on getting businesses and organizations to deepen their understanding of the impact that the customer experience has on the satisfaction and loyalty of those customers.

Why You Should Celebrate

According to CSWeek, Customer Service Week provides a unique opportunity for service and support professionals around the globe to join in a celebration of the important role that customer service plays in every organization.

The five core goals of Customer Service Week are:

1. Boost morale, motivation, and teamwork.
2. Reward frontline reps for the important work they do all year long.
3. Raise company-wide awareness of the importance of customer service.
4. Thank other departments for their support.
5. Remind customers of your commitment to customer satisfaction.

So how can you incorporate Customer Service Week into your business? Here, BARE International gives you 5 fun ways to involve your employees and most valued customers, ensuring that your organization fosters a long-term partnership with employees and customers alike.

1. Plan the week

Build excitement for the week with company offers, competitions, promotions and newsletters — leaving no one unrecognized. Make sure to send your plans ahead of time to build awareness and excitement with an incentive to a fun Monday morning and week ahead (like a complimentary kick-off company breakfast and decorating with balloons and banners).

2. Incorporate your customers

Make special efforts to thank your customers for their business or asking them to be part of thanking the people who deliver great experiences through a testimonial, email or social media post. Recognize the individuals and groups that support your department. Present them with Certificates of Appreciation and include them in your activities.

3. Plan activities for every day of the week

By offering something every day, you’ll keep momentum going and spirit high for the entire week. The ICSA suggests scheduling out something like this:

• Monday. Kick it off by spreading the word that you’re celebrating service, customers and the experience. Send emails, put up banners and/or post it on your company intranet. Invite folks from other areas to visit to see customer service in action.
• Tuesday. Trade places. Invite company leaders to your front-line customer service operations. Ask them to take a few calls or emails, and spend some time on social media (with a skilled service pro by their sides to guide them, of course). Also, ask the leaders to recognize the team for their year-round efforts.
• Wednesday. Eat up. If not today, pick one day to have a group meal. Some companies get other employees to handle customer demand while the customer experience team can enjoy time together. Other companies just shut down service for a short time, letting customers know they’re celebrating hard work and when they’ll be back to help.
• Thursday. Have fun. ICSA suggests a dress-up or dress-down day based on the opposite of what your normal dress code is. Or some companies pick a dress theme — sports teams, movie characters, favorite color, etc.
• Friday. Recognize and reward everyone who makes the customer experience possible. Have a ceremony, picnic or all-out fun event with games and prizes. Recognize everyone, and reward the champions of excellent customer service.

4. Include a learning incentive

Many companies use Customer Service Week as a launch pad for new training or service initiatives. Asking your employees how you, as a business, can help improve their job roles is a sure way to show you care while offering the opportunity to advance skill sets internally. Helping both your workers, customers and ultimately bottom line. Customer Service week is a perfect time to focus on improvement and development because spirits are high, people are more open to change and everyone is getting recognized for the efforts they’ve put into the experience.

5. Finish on a high

Finish the week with a closing ceremony thanking all of the people who gave their time and efforts into making the week a success, delivering any final prizes of gratitude to the accomplishments of your employees.

In short, Customer Service Week is a great time to bring your customers and employees together. Reflect on past customer-based successes, celebrate recent employee achievements, and re-energize your team so they can deliver the best possible customer service for the next year to come. We’d love to hear what ideas you come up with this year! Feel free to leave your comments on our Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram pages!