At Baudville, our Spirit Team is busy meeting behind closed doors and completing top secret projects in preparation of Customer Service Week starting next Monday. Who’s the Spirit Team ? They’re a group of employees representing several different departments at Baudville who put on their party planning hats and organize our employee events. Customer Service Week is one of their biggest since they have to plan for an entire week of appreciation and fun.  And they do a great job! Our Customer Service Week celebrations are always a favorite among the Baudville staff.

We’ve found two major benefits to planning employee events as a team. First, it helps distribute the workload among several individuals. Events like Customer Service Week require a lot of work! It can be too much for one person on top of their full time job responsibilities. Second, the additional minds lend to more creative, original, and unique ideas. With a recurring annual event like Customer Service Week, getting new ideas is imperative to making your team feel appreciated during this holiday. If you’re not currently planning this event as a team, consider recruiting a few individuals to help you next year.

In the meantime, you have the entire Baudville team at your disposal to come up with creative Customer Service Week ideas your team will love! If you’re still searching for a few great ideas to celebrate your team, try our five resources for last minute ideas. I guarantee you’ll find at least one idea both you and your team will love!

1. Browse our Recognition Resource Center. We have resources dedicated to Customer Service and Sales recognition, including lots of articles, tips, and ideas on Customer Service Week!

2. Shop our recommended Customer Service Week gifts and themes. Our team has pulled together some of our favorite Customer Service Week gifts to help you start shopping.

3. Call a Recognition Specialist at 1-800-728-0888. Our team is always ready and willing to help you plan your employee recognition event! They have great product and event knowledge that they are dying to share with you.

4. Engage with us – and your peers! – on social media. One of the best places to get ideas for Customer Service Week is from your peers. Ask us a question on Twitter or Facebook, and our
followers will share their ideas, too.

5. Get ideas on Pinterest. One of my favorite places for event and recognition ideas these days is Pinterest! We’ve created boards for all the major employee recognition holidays, including Customer Service Week, to inspire you and give you some great ideas. 

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Cori is Baudville's in-house Recognitionista (she's officially a Certified Recognition Professional, too)  and a member of the Millennial generation. Get her employee recognition tips and special discounts by liking Baudville on Facebook.

 When it comes to celebrating Customer Service Week, we recommend taking advantage of the holiday to express appreciation for customer service professionals. Customer Service Week is a nationally-recognized observance week taking place October 1 – 5, 2012. The recognition holiday provides companies the opportunity to put the spotlight on frontline customer service representatives. 

We recommend companies start by brainstorming Customer Service Week themes. Using a theme makes the event more memorable, and saves time and money during the planning process. A theme serves as the branding for your event or program. Our designers spend weeks perfecting themes and searching high and low for the newest gift items. 

One of Baudville’s best practices for Customer Service Week includes Pocket Praise, our popular mini-note cards. Every year, our managers write a note to each employee and have it waiting for them when they arrive in the morning. This has become a favorite part of our week-long celebration that you can hear more about it in this Recognition TV webisode.

The easy part of writing notes to your team is picking the card design and putting the cards on their desks. The hard part is knowing what to write! When sitting down to write your Customer Service Week notes, use these tips and ideas to draft meaningful messages to your team.

1. Say thank you. Thank the individual for their contributions. Let them know you couldn’t do it without them and you’re thankful they’re on your team! Try to write “thank you” or “I appreciate” at least twice in your note. I usually include it once at the beginning and again at the end.

2. Be specific. What specific qualities or characteristics does this individual have that are valued at your organization? Do they have the patience of a saint with not-so-saintly customers? Are they a creative problem solver who can get the product into customers’ hands no matter what? Identify what makes each team member unique and put it in writing.
 
3. Talk about values. I’m confident that regardless of your type of work or where you’re located, your organization has values that drive how it does business. If you want employees to embody those values, then you need to recognize them! Customer Service Week is a great time to do that. Which value do you see this individual exhibit day-in and day-out? Tell them about it!

4. Avoid criticism. Remember that Customer Service Week is all about appreciating your frontline employees. Sure, there are areas where each of your employees could improve, but don’t be tempted to include criticism in your note! The purpose of this note is to tell your team thanks and let them know what they’re doing right. Save the coaching for another day.

Not get started! Just because Customer Service Week 2012 is October 1-5 doesn't mean you can't get a head start! For more positive feedback ideas and phrases you can use in your notes, visit our Recognition Resource Center for our popular Give Positive Employee Feedback with your own Positive Words article. 

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Cori is Baudville's in-house Recognitionista (she's officially a Certified Recognition Professional, too)  and a member of the Millennial generation. Get her employee recognition tips and special discounts by liking Baudville on Facebook. 

Customer Service Week 2012 is October 1-5, and it’s always a big celebration at Baudville because we believe every member of our team has a part in providing an excellent customer experience. We take great pride in the service we provide our customers, so we celebrate Customer Service Week as a whole company! Our celebration always includes a Customer Service Week theme, activities, prizes, and often a lunch for the team to enjoy together. As you can imagine, our events are pretty memorable!

In our latest Recognition TV webisode, I asked four of our Customer Service Representatives about their favorite Customer Service Week ideas, tips, and celebrations. Here’s a summary of what they had to say:

 
Meet our Customer Service All Stars! From left to right, Mikki, KJ, Amanda, and Amber. 

KJ’s favorite Customer Service Week theme was Made in Michigan from our 2011 celebration. She loved the team ArtPrize competition and playing corn hole with her teammates during lunch.

Mikki knows that Customer Service Week is important because treating employees well will make them want to do more for the company and the customer! She gives some great insight into the recognition event in our Recognition TV webisode.

Amber’s favorite part of Customer Service Week is getting a handwritten note from her manager. Baudville managers often write a personal note to each of their employees during Customer Service Week and have it waiting on their desk first thing in the morning. Take a tip from Amber and write a note to your staff!

Amanda loved our Hollywood celebration when employees were given a movie ticket to a showing of short Pixar movies and a gift of a Star Performer Twist Top Tumbler. She still has the personal award she received from her manager displayed at her desk! 

To hear all the tips from our Customer Service Representatives and get our high five Customer Service Week ideas, watch the full Recognition TV webisode. It’s the shortest webinar you’ll watch – it’s only 9 minutes long! 

 

With Baudville being its own little universe, a veritable Mulligan Stew of unique personalities and talents, it’s always been my fantasy to have more team members contribute to this blog. This week I got my wish with a guest star from our stellar Customer Service Team. I am geek-tacularly excited!