Developing a New Employee Training Program to Improve Customer Service

¶ … Customer Service Training Class For New Employees

This memorandum is in response to your request for a customer service training class for all new employees. The memorandum sets forth the justification in support of the use of a needs assessment for this initiative, including five ways in which such an assessment could identify current performance deficiencies. In addition, an implementation plan for the initiative is provided together with a description of the recommended training method and supporting justification. Finally, two ways of motivating new employees who have no interest in attending a training class are proposed, followed by a proforma survey that collect feedback from employees who attend this class. Please let me know if you have questions or comments.

Justification for a Needs Assessment for the Proposed New Employee Training Program

In any business setting, it is axiomatic that in order to improve something, it must first be measured. A needs assessment is the first step in measuring the organization's current customer service performance, but it is also axiomatic that there is always room for improvement (Horrell, 2009). For this purpose, Schultz (1995) recommends using the following needs assessment approach:

Identify the products and services that are most important to customers;

Rate customer satisfaction levels with customer service;

Establish benchmarks for measuring improvements; and,

Identify current areas of deficiency in customer service performance.

Although these steps require ongoing evaluation, the centrality of superior customer service to the organization's profitability is well documented and fully justify the costs that are involved (Tatikonda, 2013). In fact, developing and sustaining long-term relationships with customers is an important part of achieving a competitive advantage. For instance, Tatikonda (2013) emphasizes that, "A key aspect of managing customer relations is building lasting and positive relationships with customers. Acquiring a new customer can cost up to 10 times as much as supporting an existing customer" (p. 34).

Moreover, the extent to which a customer service training plan for new employees can improve customer service levels will be the extent to which the organization will be able to engender loyalty among its existing customers, thereby reducing the costs that are associated with recruiting first-time customers. In this regard, Tatikonda points out that, "The first sale is expensive and time-consuming, involving activities such as advertising, promotion, calls, contacts, demonstrations, and training. It may take many years before a company breaks even on new customers" (2013, p. 35). The research to date indicates that a meager 5% improvement in customer retention translates into an additional 25%-85% for an organization's profitability (Tatikonda, 2013). Taken together, it is clear that our organization can benefits from a needs assessment of existing customer service levels in order to develop an effective customer service training program for new employees as outlined below.

Implementation Plan, Method of Training and Supporting Justification

Following the completion of the needs assessment described above, a customer service training program can be developed that focuses on those aspects of the organization's operation that are most important to customers as well as any deficiencies that were identified. The implementation plan for this training program is set forth in Table 1 below.

Table 1

Implementation plan for customer service training program for new employees

Step

Description

Establish the goals of the training program

These goals will be based on the needs assessment described above

Determine optimal method of training

Based on its ease-of-use and cost effectiveness, the optimal training method for this initiative would be a combination of an in-service PowerPoint presentation outlining the organization's expectations together with a series of illustrative vignettes to demonstrate "rights" and "wrongs." The presentation would be followed by a discussion and question-and-answer session with HR staff. This presentation (together with recordings of salient Q&A sessions) could also be uploaded to the organization's intranet so that new and existing employees could receive refresher training when needed.

Obtain top management approval and support

Virtually any new training initiative in organizational settings requires the approval and ongoing support of top management (Kaufmann, 2010).

Develop quantifiable benchmarks to measure the effectiveness of the initiative in improving customer service

These benchmarks would be based on the needs assessment and the effectiveness of the training initiative evaluated using the proforma survey instrument outlined in Table 2 below.

Two Proposed Methods for Motivating Attendance

The two basic ways of motivating people are using a "carrot" or a "stick." In the case of the latter, the employee training program would be made a precondition for employment with the organization. In the case of the former, new employees could be offered a modest bonus for attending the training session and completing the proforma survey described below or refreshments (i.e., pizza and soft drinks or coffee and doughnuts) could be provided.