Even the best of us need a little help staying focused on outstanding customer service.  Difficult customers, demanding bosses, flaky co-workers, and the sheer volume of work we need to accomplish can all make it hard to keep outstanding service top of mind.  A strong customer service vision is essential, but it’s important to take steps to stay focused.  Here are five techniques that have worked for me. 

#1: The Thank You Letter
This powerful exercise helps you make your vision a reality.  Start by writing a ‘thank you’ letter to yourself as if it was written by an actual customer.  Describe the service you provided and how it made an impact.  Next, read the letter at the start of every work day for three weeks and then try to receive a real version of the letter.  It’s amazing how well this works!

#2: Make it Visual
Customer service visions are truly meant to be visual, so you can really make yours memorable if you translate the words into pictures.  Some people draw their vision while others use pictures from the internet or magazines to make a collage that represents their vision.  I decided to make mine into a short video:

#3: Ask a Customer
A customer service vision describes how you hope to serve your customers, but you’ll need a real customer to tell you how you are actually doing.  I often ask my customers for testimonials and their words allow me to synch my vision with what they’re experiencing.  Here’s what one customer wrote not long after I did exercises #1 and #2:

"If I had to choose only one outside company to help with some training initiatives this year, that would be Toister Performance Solutions; Jeff is reliable, dependable, and flexible to incorporate the organizational culture in whatever he presents."
- Gabriela Alvarez, Training & Development Manager

#4: Tell Stories
Great customer service stories provide memorable examples of your vision in action.  They also provide a connection between the lofty ideals of a vision statement and your day to day activities.  Share your customer service stories with co-workers, colleagues, and even your boss.  (Hey – those great stories will help you come review time!)

#5: Reflect and Reconnect
It’s easy for the big picture to get lost in our daily work.  From time to time, I find it helpful to step back and reflect on my customer service vision.  It helps me reconnect my core values with my work and make sure I’m still heading in the right direction.  This exercise only takes a few minutes but I find it to be very powerful.