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Customer Service Week Agendas —
Connect with Coworkers
Get together for a treasure hunt
This easy to execute scavenger hunt at Stryker helped coworkers get to know each other while searching for common and unusual items.
To encourage cooperation with other departments, managers from throughout the company were invited to team with customer service reps in this exciting hunt.
Each team received a list of items that they had to collect. This included things such as a key chain with the company logo and a copy of the company’s annual report along with some more difficult to find items including a hula hoop, an etch a sketch and a toilet tissue roll, which had to be decorated to look like a person.
There was also a bonus item. The company’s former CEO just happens to work in the same building (albeit for another company). The bonus item was a signed copy of one of his new business cards.
A final added twist was the decorating contest. Each team received a sturdy box to hold their treasure. To qualify for an added gift, teams decorated their boxes.
One box recreated a treasure chest and another was decorated as a pirate ship complete with a mast and a toilet-tissue person on watch.
Bring your team together
Off-site workers were included in this on-site Customer Service Week celebration through the clever use of technology.
Dairyland Healthcare Solutions started their 2007 celebration early. Goodie bags with the week’s agenda, daily puzzles, a pen, and a small treat were distributed on the Friday before Customer Service Week.
Then throughout the week, reps enjoyed a muffin morning, pie and ice cream social, a training seminar, and the return of the popular cube cram in which as many people as possible cram into one cubicle. This year the team beat their previous record of 21-1/2 with a total of 24 people. Just in case you’re wondering about that half, one of the reps was pregnant last year.
Finally, Dairyland hosted a timed puzzle challenge based on last year’s Customer Service Week theme, Connecting with Customers™. Each service team posed for a group photo. Then photos of the off-site staff were added electronically. The completed photos were made into puzzles, which teams of reps tried to assemble as quickly as possible.
It was a wonderful way to include everyone in this important team building activity.
Can you spot the off-site workers?
Use technology to bridge the distance
Managing a multi-location celebration presents many logistical challenges but also many opportunities to create a sense of camaraderie among far-flung coworkers.
The celebration at Advanced Health Media successfully bridged three states with some creative technology solutions.
For example, to play bingo together the team went online. Here’s how it worked. Bingo numbers were posted at the company website three times a day throughout the week. When reps had bingo, they scanned their bingo cards and emailed them to the event organizer.
AHM also hosted several theme days with lots of great creative ideas. One of our favorites was AHM Idol. Based loosely on the popular television program “American Idol,” the contest uncovered lots of hidden talent and again was shared company-wide via the Internet. 
In this Karaoke version, reps were filmed singing along to their favorite songs. On Tuesday, the performances were available via a link from the AHM website. The Customer Service Week committee selected and announced the winners later that day.
To add the music theme on Tuesday, an online trivia contest asked, “Do you know what is in AHM Management’s iPod?” The first two people from each office with the most correct answers won.
Learn more about other departments
The team at Demag Cranes and Components Corp. celebrated with lots of events and activities every day of the week. Two of their activities focused on building strong connections with other departments.
“And, of course,” says organizer Tricia Ater, “there were lots of laughs and fun shared.”
Recognize Co-Workers 
The celebration at Orkin was filled with a wide-range of activities but two that really captured the spirit of Customer Service Week focused on recognizing frontline
reps for their hard work and commitment to service.
The week began with a continental breakfast and motivational comments by the department vice president. Then everyone returned to their desks hoping to
be “Caught in the Act” of delivering excellent service.
This activity is based on what author Ken Blanchard calls the most powerful way to motivate employees: to catch them in the act of doing something right, and then cheer them on.
Throughout the day, many reps were “caught” and duly rewarded with small gifts. Reps names were also posted on the walls of the breakroom as the company’s “Customer Service Stars.”
 Wednesday was Team Spirit and Peer Evaluation day. Teams dressed in their chosen colors. And participation was high because only those teams with 100% participation
qualified for a team prize.
In addition, reps participated in a recognition program Orkin calls Peer Evaluation and Recognition for Excellence. Manager Janet Carmichael reports that this is one of the
most popular activities. Everyone in the company is encouraged to send a note of thanks or commendation to anyone else in the company. To make the process easy, pre-printed Star Cards were created for the event. As Janet says, “It was wonderful to see how faces lit up on receiving a compliment from co-workers.”
Get to know each other with All Star Trading Cards
The Customer Service Week agenda from the Philadelphia
Water Revenue Bureau is absolutely packed with activities,
but two stand out as truly unique.
All week long, team members participated in activities
such as treasure hunts, bingo, secret pals, daily quizzes,
a pie-toss, and more. Reps were rewarded with “Bureau
Bucks” which they used to bid on a wide range of items
in the bureau’s silent auction on Friday.
Another highlight of the week was trading and collecting
customer service All Star Trading Cards. Each trading card
included a photograph of a team member on the front along
with their All Star “stats” on the back.
Prior to Customer Service Week, each employee had
provided information about themselves along with their
personal motto for the card.
During the week, each employee received a pack of
five cards. They were encouraged to get together to trade
and collect the cards. As manager Phyllis Chase tells us,
“Trading proved to be an exciting activity and helped to
introduce employees that may not have otherwise known
one another.” All Star Cards also played a role in earning
Bureau Bucks. At activities throughout the week, an
organizer might announce, “If you have a Phyllis Chase
All Star Card, you’ve just won 50 Bureau Bucks.”
Finally, Phyllis tells us that the entire budget for this
event for 250 people comes from the fund-raising efforts
of the bureau. Beginning in January the bureau hosts
two events per month. The events both raise funds and
keep morale and team spirit high throughout the year.
Some of the many fund-raisers include:
- 50-50 raffles
- Two casino trips per year
- Pretzel and water ice sales in the summer
- An ice-skating party in the winter
- A candy sale, and more.
A portion of the funds raised are also donated to a
local emergency shelter.
Spread the word
The celebration at ProQuest Business Solutions combined wacky contests, friendly competition and companywide recognition of everyone who serves customers.
The celebration began when a small gift was delivered to every service associate, members of all supporting departments, and even to the ProQuest corporate chef.
Throughout the week, the customer service team engaged in some friendly competition. Participating in activities such as putt-putt golf, the “fast-paced” tricycle race and the “ever popular” beanbag toss, associates received individual medals for their efforts and won points for their teams.
To spread the word about the important work done by the service team, John Rein, director of customer service operations, prepared a witty two-page article for the company newsletter. His concluding comments emphasized why Customer Service Week was a companywide celebration at ProQuest:
“Great service does not begin or end on the phone in the support center. Everyone reading this touches our customers in one way or another. Those touches are all critical and we’re only as strong as our weakest link. Thank you for your contributions enabling us to once again celebrate service!”
Include everyone
In true Customer Service Week spirit, Brenda Matthews wanted to celebrate with staff at all of her company’s 19 San Diego area locations. The problem was, she just couldn’t fit it all into a single week. So Kaiser Permanente celebrated Customer Service Week for an entire month.
The management team visited each of the 19 locations for a special two-hour lunch break. They even visited one location from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. to celebrate with the night shift.
Each location was decorated with colorful Customer Service Week balloons and banners and team members participated in a variety of teambuilding, training, and recognition activities.
Brenda reports that it was a highly successful event, which reminds us all of the importance of building goodwill during Customer Service Week by including everyone in the celebration.
Build strong bonds with contests
Games and contests are an important part of every Customer Service Week celebration. When we play together and laugh together, we build strong bonds, which last through the most stressful and difficult moments.
One of the contests that has been a part of just about every Customer Service Week celebration is the “baby picture match” in which team members try to match coworkers to their baby pictures. We’ve seen lots of variations on this theme but the folks at the James Madison University Computing HelpDesk, which provides support to JMU students, faculty, and staff, have come up with a fun new twist.
For several weeks leading up to Customer Service Week each frontline employee’s smile was photographed. The photographs were posted during Customer Service Week and everyone tried to match the smile to its owner. What a great way to draw attention to the importance of smiling when we work with customers over the phone or in person.
In a second contest, team members were asked to match each of their coworkers with one of the superlatives listed below. After the entries were tallied, each team member was presented with a prize and certificate recognizing their superlative.
1. Most likely to work at the helpdesk forever
2. Most likely to be president of an IT company
3. Best Helpdesk smile
4. Best Helpdesk customer service
5. Most talkative
6. Most knowledgeable
7. Mr. Congeniality
8. Ms. Congeniality
9. Most talented
10. Funniest jokes
11. Biggest gossip
12. Most likely to be seen at the helpdesk when they aren’t working
13. Most spirited
14. Most creative
Bring together many locations
For organizations with far-flung customer service reps it can be difficult to celebrate together. ABE Services solved the problem with this fun activity, which involved weeks of planning and brought everyone together for a big surprise.
ABE Services has staff at several branch locations and onsite at client locations. To involve everyone in the celebration, managers went undercover. During the weeks leading up to Customer Service Week, they "snuck" into each location and taped scratch-off lottery tickets to the bottom of each rep's keyboard.
Then, on the Tuesday of Customer Service Week, an email message was sent to all service staff with the subject line, “Ready, Set ...” and the first line of the message was, “Look Under Your Keyboard!”
At 10:00 a.m. when the email was delivered, staff at all locations were turning over their keyboards and sharing a special moment together.
According to client services manager Jennifer Lauth, “It was a big hit.” And to top it all off, the person who won the largest prize in the scratch-off contest also received an additional prize from the company.
If you’d like to share your agenda and photographs, please send them to CS Week Relationship Manager, Mary Dalessandro. You may email them to mdalessandro@CSWeek.com or send them through the mail to Customer Service Group, 712 Main Street — Suite 187B, Boonton, NJ 07005.
Host Festive Activities
Host Challenging Contests
Connect with Customers
Focus on Training
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