Recently our Vice President of Customer Service asked how we can help build morale and/or improve our customer service.  This got me thinking so I researched ways we could put a twist on our customer service and life in general.  How can we make our same old routines more fun and interesting yet keep customer service at an outstanding level?

I found a few customer service games that I thought were very intriguing and could be used in our professional, and possibly personal life:

Group Games

1. Alphabet Game. Announce that each person must name a strategy to meet or exceed customer expectations. The catch is the first person to start must name a strategy that begins with a letter “A” such as “Answer a call on the first ring.” The next person must name a strategy that begins with the letter “B.” This fast-paced game should get the juices flowing in a positive direction.
2. Never Say No. The goal of this game is to rephrase words, comments or phrases that may evoke a negative mental picture.  Start by dividing the group into smaller teams. Ask them to list, within a time limit, possible scenarios where the use of the word “no” is needed, then have them write responses without using the word “no.” After time runs out, have the teams present their lists, and remove any phrases, words or sentences that can still leave a bad impression. The team with the highest number of positive responses wins!

After playing these games, post the results to remind employees to apply what they learned.

Individual Games

1. Poker. Select a certain area of concentration. When your service agent meets the chosen goal, give them a playing card. Following the general rules of poker, after agents receive their full hand, they may begin to trade cards with the dealer in hopes of achieving their desired hand. At the end of the determined cut-off time, the team member with the best poker hand wins the pot. The pot may consist of a prize like a gift card, free lunch, or bundle of fun office supplies.
2. Bingo. Bingo is a popular game customer service representatives can play while tied to the phones. To create the bingo cards, make a grid with 9 or 25 squares resembling a bingo card. In each box, write a word employees are likely to hear during the course of a day. For example, names of products or services or industry jargon. Give all representatives a bingo card at their workstations. Anytime they hear one of the words on the card they mark it. The first person to mark out a row horizontally, vertically or diagonally, gets “Bingo” and wins!

These are just a few games I found to liven up customer service.  Do you have any ideas for bringing an element of fun to your service department? Please share them here!

Game suggestions courtesy of www.ehow.com.