Remember Me

T+D, Sept, 2003 by Bill Ellet

Reviewed by Bill Ellet for Training Media Review

Now in its third edition, this video has an updated visual facade, but its core message remains the same: Each time you forget the customer, you damage your company. And the customer may not always be right, but he or she always wins.

Refreshed with new footage and improved with a meeting opener and closer, the latest edition of Remember Me is a compact package teaching a few customer service basics, each indispensable. The implicit message is that every service rap carries a substantial responsibility because his or her actions determine whether a customer stays a customer.

The brevity of the video makes it a favorite for the compressed training schedules in call centers and other service operations. You'll need to weigh the benefits of this program against the high-end price.

Secret Service Awards Reviewed by Bill Ellet for Training Media Review

This video teaches the basics but not in a painstaking or condescending way; it assumes viewers have more than a cursory knowledge of customer service. It's also outstanding on diversity. How many videos would have a guy complaining about a rash from a skin lotion?

Peter Quarry has produced a fun video intended for young customer service employees. The delivery is intelligent and isn't spoon fed with bulleted lists. Effective vignettes cover more than the basics and require more than perfunctory participation. Viewers will have to watch them carefully and track what the service reps are doing with the help of a service scorecard on the screen at the same time.

If you want to put some snap into training sessions with the young and yawning, try this one on them.

Smile! Reviewed by Dan Michaluk for Training Media Review

Smile! tells the story of a singing and smiling bus driver named Reggie Wilson. It's a story that will make your customer service employees feel good. Moreover, it will help you cultivate an infectious positive attitude that will improve customer service. Smile! is a unique and compelling video because of Wilson. Enthusiastic motivational presentations may help sales and service employees improve their attitudes, but Reggie's story makes the case better than words alone. If you need to encourage a positive service approach (or have a difficult or "poisoned" service environment), Smile! is a great training choice.

Bill Ellet is principal and editor of Training Media Review. His chapter "Is E-Learning Better Than ...?" (written with Alaric Naiman) appears in the AMA Handbook of E-Learning; wellet@tmreview.com.