Most organizations are reluctant to spend time and money training their workforce on customer service.

There are a variety of reasons:
1. It will do no good.
2. By the time they’re trained, the employees will leave.
3. It’s common sense. Everyone already understands customer service.
4. It’s too expensive.
5. We have too many locations scattered all over. Not possible.
6. We tried it several years ago, and it didn’t work. After six months, they forgot it all.
7. The employee turnover is way too high. Impossible.
8. Customers don’t care.
9. With AI, we no longer need to train our staff.
10. It’s too much work.

The problem is that there are no high schools or colleges that teach customer service. By far, most students learn only bad habits from being customers themselves.

Many young people have undeveloped soft skills, and their social skills aren’t much better. They spend most of their spare time on their phones. Their work habits aren’t particularly reliable, and the Covid-19 pandemic encouraged most firms to lessen their focus on customer service.

That combination has proved destructive. Only through constant training on effective customer service skills can you develop high-performing, customer-driven employees.

Customer service best practices you should know

If you want your customer service programs to succeed, you must include four essential ingredients in every one of them.

1. Focus on personal development. Help employees grow. They’re more interested in “What’s in it for me.”

2. Focus on basics and fundamentals. Employees have two to three seconds to implement what you teach them.

3. Pay attention to quality packaging of all participant materials. About 95% of the materials I’ve seen look awful.

4. Experiential learning: About 80% of the training time should be spent in experiential learning instead of lectures or just watching videos. This is crucial if you want to change attitudes and behaviors.

Most organizations have no faith in word-of-mouth advertising, yet they have unlimited marketing budgets. If you follow the service leaders, they spend virtually no money on advertising.

In previous articles, I’ve shared the financial success of service leaders. There aren’t a lot of them, but their financial performance is incredible: Amazon, Costco, Chewy.com, Northeast Delta Dental, Mayo Clinic, Food City, Stew Leonard’s, and Wilderness in Africa. Many are featured in my book Relentless (Best Sellers Publishing, 2020).

These firms depend on word-of-mouth advertising. This means providing an awesome experience so customers feel compelled to return and bring their friends. It’s such a simple concept. Average customer service doesn’t breed loyalty—a sentiment echoed by Vernon Hill, the world’s top customer-centric banker.

Many organizations believe that hiring more people is the key to great service. That may be true at Apple. It can easily have 40–50 employees in a relatively small area, and they’re all busy. You’ll never see two employees talking to each other or playing on their phones. It could take 10–20 interviews to get a job at Apple, and its employees’ soft skills and customer service skills are light years ahead of most organizations.

Apple’s revenue this last fiscal year was $416 billion, with $112 billion in net income. That’s too much money and profit for most firms to copy. You can call Apple at (800) 694–7466, seven days a week, and get free technical help. Superior customer service is the glue that makes it all work. Apple can remote into your phone or computer and show you how to solve your technical problems with help from real live people.

Underperforming employees are expensive. In developing markets, most organizations have too many employees, which is a waste of money. Service Quality Institute works with organizations across the world that want to develop high-performing, customer-driven employees—firms that value both employees and customers.

If you wanted to learn another language, could you do it in one session of two or three hours? I recently took a nine-week course to learn Russian. It wasn’t easy.

We think customer service is simple. Frankly, it is, but the fundamentals are hard to master. Recently, I took my wife to Outback Steakhouse for dinner before leaving on a business trip. Outback has a loyalty program. I put in my cell number, and up came “John.” The waiter was polite but never once used my name. That employee could easily increase his income by 20% if he started using the customer’s name. Apparently, Outback has never felt it was important to teach these skills. By the way, Apple and Amazon always use your name. Amazon’s net income last year was nearly $78 billion.

If you want to dramatically reduce employee turnover, start teaching your leaders how to master recognition. Everyone wants to feel valued, loved, and appreciated. Ask yourself: When was the last time your boss said, “Kelly, you’re awesome. I love the way you helped Mr. Ortiz today,” or, “Mike, you’re amazing. Thanks for being part of my team. I love working with you.”

Not all customers are nice. If you have weak employees, they can become fodder for your toughest (and often best) customers. Everyone can tell by your smile, tone of voice, and body language if you really care.

Money only brings employees in the door. To win their hearts, love, and commitment, they must be trained to help customers. Great service is an art. Recognition and love are needed every day. Be willing to invest in your employees and provide something new and fresh at least every four months.

Learn more here.

Published June 10, 2026, by Service Quality Institute.