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Plan a celebration. October 6-10 is this year's customer service week and it's a great time to honor the two groups of people who have the power to make your business thrive: your customers and anyone who touches them. Without customers there is no business and without HAPPY customers there is no positive word of mouth marketing out there. There are some things you can do to make the week memorable and special.

Plan a celebration. Oct 6 - 10th is this year's customer service week and it's a great time to honor the two groups of people who have the power to make your business thrive. The customers and anyone who touches them.

Without customers there is no business and without HAPPY customers there is no positive word of mouth marketing out there. Your merely "satisfied" customers aren't doing a whole lot on your marketing behalf. So crank it up this year and even if your budget is tight (whose isn't?) there are some things you can do to make the week memorable and special.

This week take one hour (two 30 minute segments) one for brainstorming and the other for getting things into action and choosing the ideas you'll implement and how. Sit down with your team and come up with a variety of ways you can celebrate your customers and your customer care team.

Here are some ideas to get you started:

C - Come together with the purpose of having fun, building stronger relationships and learning something together. Set an intention to make this a team building activity that keeps on working.

E - Energize your team with all kinds of fun and unusual activities. Team games head the list - sports themes, travel themes, treasure hunts, building contests, baby picture contests, Olympics style challenges (see this week's blog) all pull the team together for fun. Find games where people can collaborate and you get an extra bonus. Do some team charity events (maybe with your customers) and someone else gets the extra bonus too.

L - Love, love, love. Show them the love. Emotions are contagious - make sure this week in particular you express all the many reasons to love doing business with your team and your company. Start the conversation about things you can do daily - all year round - that generate positive emotions and spread them around.

E - Educate. The best time to learn is when you are having fun, so when you are planning those games build in some learning as well. Have a "happy customer design a poster contest" and have teams write the 10 things that you can do to keep a customer happy and coming back. Compile the best of them and get your resident artist to make them look great and hang them around the building. Get copies of books and get everyone on the same page. If you haven't done it already, start with my Building Customer Loyalty - 21 Essential Elements in Action and have teams come up with skits for each one of the elements. I have clients doing this successfully and with great enthusiasm..

B - Be kind. Find spontaneous and even anonymous kind things to do for each other all week. Spread the "Random Act of Kindness" philosophy in and out of the company. Be kind in your language and learn to communicate without blame or judgment. Ask yourself before speaking "Am I saying this the kindest way I can?" You CAN be powerful and kind at the same time.

R - Recognize and reward the unsung heroes in your company. Sometimes Customer Service is the "forgotten" department. Viewed as a cost center (instead of the profit center it can be) it's often overlooked. This is the week to make sure that this week people get the recognition they deserve. Plaques, pins, awards, crowns, capes and other adornments can say "special." Be sure to recognize people for their unique strengths as well.

A - Appreciation. Set in motion your customer appreciation days. Declare four days a year where you take the time - and the marketing opportunity - to really let the customers know how much you care and appreciate their business. And of course this IS the week to appreciate all those who take such good care of the customers. Be specific and tell each member of your team what in particular you appreciate about their unique contribution.

T - Thank you cards, thank you notes, thank you balloons and even thank you cupcakes. Buy a copy of the wonderful new book Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier by Dr Robert Emmons (Click on the image to the right) and learn about the power in even simple gestures. Boost your endorphins at the same time as your bottom line. Create a thank you song to sing to all the in the company that help you do your job better. Travel around (holiday caroler style) and spread the cheer. Add "thank you for holding thank you for waiting, thank you for stopping by" part of your gracious language.

E - Elevate the position of customer service in everyone's eyes. Send a CS Week memo to everyone in the company. Make a top ten list of things you do to keep customers and keep them happy. Toot your own horn and do it more than once a year. Start a regular line of communication that goes out from the customer touching people to everyone else. You know a whole lot about the customers. Help make the whole company more customer focused.

Celebration is such an important part of any relationship, do it often.

All the best,

JoAnna

JoAnna Brandi is Publisher of the Customer Care Coach® a weekly training program on mastering "The Art and Science of Exquisite Customer Care." She is the author of books such as "Winning at Customer Retention - 101 Ways to Keep 'em Happy, Keep 'em Loyal, and Keep 'em Coming Back" and "Building Customer Loyalty - 21 Essential Elements in ACTION."

A Speaker and consultant, she is publisher of the bi-weekly Customer Care Tips Bulletin. To receive her free bi-weekly tips bulletin, sign up at www.returnonhappiness.com. You can also reach JoAnna at 561-279-0027 or e-mail joanna@customercarecoach.com.