Middle Managers Make or Break Customer Service

It is easy to supply training to line employees. You may be suffering from customer service 'impasse', that is you have done the training and you don't see consistent results.
If this is the case you need to go back and work again with the most important group of individuals in your company. They are the middle managers.

Middle managers are caught in the middle, between the line employee and upper management. When a middle manager believes in customer service you have a winner. However, most often middle managers yield what I call the 'Presidential Veto'. In effect they are the President of their specific areas and when they don't own customer service, all your training is for naught.

A good way to become an owner is to become a teacher. When you have to teach, you really do learn the subject matter. Until you become a teacher you can be a passive learner, providing assent but doing nothing with your new found knowledge.

After middle management becomes active in teaching it then needs to be active in executing.
This is where most programs fall on their face. After an exciting training program the desired behavior is not displayed beyond an initial period of enthusiasm. The middle manager needs to manage the post training situation. The first step is to model the desired behavior. The next step is to "script" the words that work and ask the employee to display the words that they use. Then an active period of reward and recognition and reinforcement of employee behaviors starts. This action is commonly known as taking ownership. Owners know that just one activity does not bring success. Multiple repetitions and multiple approaches are required to make customer service a reality. Owners are hands on and involved. Owners are able to state the reason why the company believes in customer service. The owner connects the employee to the purpose of customer service.

The employee needs to know from the middle manager that she is making a difference. Then the employee begins to realize that customer service is meant to elicit a response from the customer.
When the customer connects good feelings with your company personnel you are a winner in customer service. Work with middle managers and let them act like an owner!