15 ways to re-calibrate your Frontline after holidays

After long weekends or holidays, it can be a bit of a struggle for Frontline customer service staff to get back into the swing of providing excellent service. The Frontline of any business rarely get to schedule their customer interactions, they have to be ready for any and every behaviour and they often don't get time to de-brief after difficult interactions. This means they have to be focused and this can be tough when they are coming off a break that was full of fun, family, chocolate, late nights and lazy days.

Sure, everyone in a business needs to choose a positive attitude and interact professionally with co-workers and customers, but the Frontline are who your customers interact with first and a customers first impression can make or break a business.

To return your Frontline team to their customer service best after this Easter Break, you need to get some smiles on those dials and some pep in those steps as soon as possible. Welcome back your "Frontliners" by trying some of these actions. They encourage team work, laughter and smiles and they are a great way to confirm that their role is highly valued in the business.

Frontline staff should never be taken for granted, or you risk losing them and their skills.

1. Run a Quiz - General knowledge questions that you ask throughout the day with a prize at the end of the day/week for the winner
2. Get a Pet - An office gold fish, rock or even a plant. Run a competition for the best name and include customers in the competition.
3. Hide a Prize. Wrap up a little something and hide it really well in the workplace. Leave cryptic clues. 
4. Guess the Baby. Ask everyone to bring in a photo of themselves as a baby. Pin them up in the staff room for staff to guess who is who.
5. Jar of Beans. An oldie but a goodie. Fill up a jar with jelly beans and staff to guess the number of beans. Nearest the number wins the jar.
6. 20 Second Reviews. Ask staff to share what they did on their days off in 20 seconds BUT, they can only use words starting with the first letter of their first name.
7. Toilet Door Funnies. What's the most looked at and underused staff space? The back of a toilet door. Put up some cartoons or funny motivational quotes. 
8. Bad Tie Day. Hit the Op Shops and find bad ties. Staff to wear them and customers to vote for the worst/funniest/ugliest.
9. Sponsor a Cause. Let your Frontline choose the cause and how they want to support it.
10. Ask. Ask your team for ideas of ways to keep them positive and smiling. 
11. Music. Ask everyone for the 1 song that makes them want to dance and create the Frontline Playlist. 
12. Create a Library. Staff to bring to work a copy of the book or movie they love and put it in a bookcase for all to enjoy.
13. Birthday Cake Lucky Dip. All names in a hat with birth dates under the name. Everyone to pick a name and bake/buy a cake for everyone to share on that persons special day. 
14. Encourage the Backline. Remind them to acknowledge the efforts of the Frontline.
15. Smile. It can be as contagious as a yawn so welcome back your Frontline with a good dose of smiles.

If you want more ideas of how to keep your Frontline kicking customer service goals,  there are 3 Key areas you must address. Book your FREE Customer Service Analysis today and find out what you can do to keep the service excellence lights of your team on full power.

By Cate Schreck - Author of  "The A - Z of Service Excellence". Chapter F is for FUN.