On my way home from work last night I decided to stop at Starbucks for a little early evening caffeine fix. I normally don’t drink coffee that late in the day, but since I had to drive two kids to different sporting events after a full day at work, I needed a little help in the form of my favorite double latte!

Imagine my surprise when I pulled up to my neighborhood Starbucks only to discover that they had closed down for the evening! For training! Who ever heard of such a thing? It turns out that Starbucks actually closed most of their U.S. locations all at once to provide training to energize and motivate over 135,000 employees!

Instead of being miffed about not getting my coffee, I was actually quite impressed! After all, it’s tough to make the decision to literally shut your doors to provide employee training. It reminded me of the challenge many Phone Pro clients face when they provide onsite training for their staff. While their goal is to constantly improve their relationships with customers by providing excellent service, achieving that includes a balance of employee training as well as being there to answer the phones quickly and efficiently.

Have you been considering customer service training but don’t think you can take your staff off the phones? Here are a few tips to make it happen at your company:

1. All Hands on Deck! When you want to have staff off the phones for a classroom training session, it’s time to pull together. In many organizations, the phones are where a majority of employees started their careers. This is a great time for the employees that have moved on to other positions within the company to pitch in and man the phones. With their help, the call center staff can have the chance to be in training to learn and develop new skills. We recently had a client who had their company President answering calls so the staff could go through training - it took him a little longer to handle the calls, but rather than getting upset or impatient, the customers were impressed with his commitment to providing excellent training for his staff so they could ultimately serve them better. And as a side note, they said they were really looking forward to speaking with the regular reps again!

2. “Your Call is Important to Us…” A couple of weeks prior to training, place an announcement on your IVR (or Hold function) letting your customers know that you will be short staffed on certain days to allow for employee training. Place the information on your website as well to remind them to plan accordingly - they will appreciate the heads up, as well as your efforts to serve them better!

3. Short Term Sacrifice for Long Term Gain! Remember, timing is everything! Be sure to conduct the training sessions on slower days of the week, during the off season or even after hours if necessary. Obviously, pulling a significant number of staff off the phones is going to cause service delays. However, considering the improvement in customer service and employee morale, that’s small price to pay. Besides, can you imagine a customer actually yelling “WHAT? You’re teaching them to do their jobs better? What an outrage!” Hardly. In the event that service delays due to training are a major concern, many Phone Pro clients will choose to conduct sessions during the weekend. If you provide food and make it fun, it can be a great opportunity for team building and networking as well!

When I returned to Starbucks this morning, I was greeted by a sign that read, “Your drink should be perfect, every time. If not, let us know and we’ll make it right.” It might have been my imagination, but I swear my coffee tasted a little better than usual. We all know how important employee training and development is and that it requires effort and commitment to do it right. Is it worth it? We think so! And if you’re not sure, just ask your customers. We’re sure they’ll say “Absolutely!”.