How many organizations use customer service training as a quick soap on a rope to clean off dirty new hires and then hangs the soap on the rope for the next batch of new employees? What would happen if these organizations would infuse the authentic emotion of caring into their customer service training? Do you think the end result would be loyal customers instead of just satisfied ones?

For many years, the traditional customer service paradigm focused on developing satisfied customers. To achieve this goal, customer service training delivered almost antiseptic behavior from the soap on the rope experience. Sure, the customer service associate smiled, but you as the customer sensed that she or he truly could care less about you as a customer. There was no emotional connection.

How do I know this? Simply because I cannot count the number of times I have heard from the cashier waiting on me at the department store to the bagger carrying out my groceries to the teller processing my deposit, the following: Just another hour and my shift will be over.

Do these people truly care about me as a customer or do they care more about just putting in their time? And more importantly, do I want to go back to a place where everyone is just putting in their time?

In today's world where customer loyalty is so much more profitable, an effective customer service training program should always demonstrate how much you care about your customers. Caring is an empathetic (emotional) response. And as John Maxwell as been often quoted: People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.

When we C.A.R.E. about the customers, we Communicate this feeling of empathy non-verbally, para-verbally and verbally. Years ago, a researcher determined that communication could be broken down into these percentages:

55% non-verbal - body language, physical gestures, etc.

38% para-verbal - syntax, loudness, softness, speed, etc.

7% verbal - actual words heard

Some have disputed these percentages and breakdowns, but most agree with Ralph Waldo Emerson who said: What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say. The delivery of body language trumps the actual words heard 99% of the time.

The Attitudes (habits of thought) of your customer service employees will always be focused on creating and enhancing those Points of Connection. (Note: Point of Connection is anything a customer can see, feel, smell, taste or hear.) Would you want to go to someplace where everyone is looking to get off work or where people truly want your customer service experience to be the very best each and every time you visit?

Additionally, there is a Resolve, a shared belief, that everyone is a customer. This resolve translates into ethical behavior to both internal customers (customer service employees) and external customers (clients).

Exceptional interactions specific to each Point of Connection are the bottom line because these behaviors lead to exceptional profitability. What the customer sees, feels, smells, tastes or hears will always be the best that it can be.

When we truly C.A.R.E. about the customers both internal and external, this emotional connection will be noticed and appreciated by the customers. We must remember that no one wants to be sold, but everyone wants to buy. By leveraging those emotions through communicating positive attitudes that demonstrate resolve and exceptional interactions will indeed provide you with an incredible competitive strategic advantage - loyal customers.