FROM THE INDUSTRY
CSW has traditionally featured plenty of fun— cupcakes, balloons, pizza, and more. While morale boosts have their place, they often land like a sugar spike: quick but fleeting. To move beyond the gimmicks, activities need to connect to business value, professional development, and meaningful recognition.
And that requires planning. CSW can’ t be thrown together in September. It needs resources, materials, and funding allocated in advance. While there’ s no shortage of downloadable activities and ready-made toolkits, much of the narrative feels tired. We’ ve been recycling the same ideas for decades: peer recognition, executive notes, learning labs, journey maps. Important, yes— but hardly fresh.
It’ s time to get more creative. Bring in a voice coach. Invite a stylist for a“ what colors look best on me?” session. Offer a Zoom coach for remote staff who can’ t share pizza but can share recipes. Ask agents to document,“ What did I learn about my customers this week?” Recognize the best insights. Celebrate smart ideas with questions like,“ What are the dumbest things we do here? What are the smartest?” Reward great attendance. Run a contest for simple process fixes that reduce effort, then celebrate what’ s already been solved this year.
Most importantly, make CSW inclusive. Involve cross-functional partners. Create a“ visitor’ s cube” where colleagues from other departments can sit beside agents and experience the front line firsthand. That kind of engagement transforms CSW from a one-week sugar high into something with staying power.
If we want Customer Service Week to be more than balloons and sugar spikes, we have to treat it like the serious initiative it is. That means planning early, setting a budget, and aligning activities with both recognition and real business value. And let’ s not forget the logistics: if front-line agents are meant to participate, Workforce Management must build schedules that make room for it. Otherwise, the very people we’ re trying to celebrate will be stuck watching from the sidelines. CSW is our annual reminder that customer service is a team sport— plan it, fund it, and staff it so everyone can take part.
RYAN HOLLENBECK
Startup Advisor, Technology Go-to-Market Leader
In the tech industry, customer service is just as important, if not more so, than any other. And yet in my experience it can be overlooked. Given the high technical aptitude of support personnel, maybe some folks think things like“ soft skills” and public recognition are trivial. Think again!
One of our most successful celebrations that had a lasting impact internally and externally was when our customer experience team partnered with customer service to showcase their results for everyone to see and celebrate. For example, we congratulated the service team by extracting actual customer comments from our CX surveys about certain people or level of service and put them on the monitors in the support center, the lobby and throughout the buildings. We also showed the progress that they had made over the past year towards their service goals( as measured in the CX surveys-- it was substantial that year!). Then the whole week was topped off by unveiling a permanent display on the support center walls showcasing the CX mission and goals for all to see internally, as well as visiting customers and prospects.
The positive feedback rang out throughout the building and across the many service centers we had around the world. Of course, we had an advantage with our CX initiatives by having the legendary Nancy Porte( former CXPA, Customer Experience Professionals Association, board chair) at the helm.
In parallel, we leveraged Customer Service Week to place a spotlight on our customers and how they were elevating their CX. Since our technology was deployed by contact centers around the world, we were able to interview, document and share videos and other stories about what extraordinary customer care looks like( thanks to the spectacular efforts of Anne Patton and our comms team!).
As our esteemed colleague, Oscar Alban, used to say:“ Agents are a group that represent the backbone of any company. They’ re on the front line, with direct access to the voice of the customer.” A few simple tips can go a long way toward recognizing agents during National Customer Service Week and throughout the year:
• Remember to say‘ thank you’ for their continued commitment to achieving customer service excellence.
• Provide professional support by offering valuable training, updated tools and increased communications.
“ AGENTS ARE A GROUP THAT REPRESENT THE BACKBONE OF ANY COMPANY. THEY’ RE ON THE FRONT LINE, WITH DIRECT ACCESS TO THE VOICE OF THE CUSTOMER.”
--OSCAR ALBAN
• Be sure to show respect for your agent base, and they will, in return, show respect to customers.
OCTOBER 2025 5