In the chair

A simple exercise to absolutely revolutionise your customer experience

You need:

- your team, or at least three of them.
- one chair (preferably of the folding canvas variety with DIRECTOR written on the back - but a normal office chair will do at a pinch)
- (optional: one megaphone, one beret, one monocle, one riding whip, one amusing central European accent)

This is what you do:

1. Sit one of your people in the chair. This is the Director (and you can give them the fun props and accent if you like - I know I would). Remember, the Director's word is Law.
2. Get two or more of the team to act out a typical customer service situation. One is the customer, one is the team member.
3. The person playing the customer should be as honest as they can.
4. The director can stop, start, modify, re-run and generally reshape the behaviour, manner, words, posture, actions, choices and facial expression of the team member (not the customer) at any time. They should do this as often as they want until they think the customer contact is just perfect.
5. Discuss
6. Switch jobs.


7. If you are really brave (and want some really telling results) use a real customer. No, don't ask them to play the customer, use them as the Director.

Chair pic by cathycracks at flickr