Mind maps for customer service: Minding your customers
Featured in the Creative Customer Contact training manual
By Carole Williams
Category: Customer Service
Credit price: 3 download credits (Single user)
It would obviously be a great advantage if people involved in customer service could remember everything about their customers without having to refer to bulky files every time they spoke to them. This customer service training activity can help. You as trainer can show participants how to use Mind Maps® to improve their customer service skills and to recall their customers’ details and so reduce the size of the paper mountain. To present yourself as a qualified teacher of Mind Mapping® you need to be licensed by the Buzan Centres. Buzan Centres have agreed that trainers may use Mind Maps in the context of this manual without such a licence, provided they are not holding themselves out to be experts and charging for that expertise. Mind Mapping is a powerful tool which is not often taught. The mind map technique is more often used by: students; children at school; people who have researched ways in which the brain works; and other who have simply discovered the ease of using the techniques and recognised the benefits of mind mapping. It is, however, an excellent application in a customer service environment, as it affords more time to the customer and helps to focus on the exact customer needs. The result: the customer feels much more valued. In this customer service training exercise, participants are introduced to a powerful tool which, once learned, will make recording and recalling customer data much easier and faster, improving customers service skills. Some obvious reasons for using Mind Maps in customer service are: to record full customer information on a single sheet; it avoids shuffling vast amounts of paper; to condense customer files; to recall details quickly so that customers feel valued; it saves time; and to focus more attention directly on the customer. By developing these skills customer service staff will find that getting to know their customers suddenly becomes much more interesting and fun. Staff will find themselves instantly wanting to know more about all their customers.
The participants begin the training exercise by working as a group. They gain an understanding of why a Mind Map is so much easier for the brain to deal with than normal line writing. The trainer explains the basic elements of a Mind Map and continues to work with the group in identifying possible general uses for Mind Mapping. It is important to focus on other uses outside customer service skills. Mind Mapping is a ‘life skill’. Next, participants begin to learn how to develop their own Mind Maps based on customer information and customer details. They understand the importance of bringing the Mind Map to life with colour and symbols so that the information is much easier to recall at a later date. If you are running a full customer service training course, participants can be encouraged to practise taking notes using Mind Maps. This will encourage development of the mind map technique and provide them with colourful and interesting notes to review later. It will also help them to remember and recall much more of what happened during the custom,er service skills training session.
Who is it for: This training activity is intended for use by trainers to explain to participants how Mind Mapping can be a useful customer service skill for recording and recalling customer information.
- Themes:
- Customer service,
- Mind Mapping,
- Creativity,
| Resource Type: | Activity |
| Min Group Size: | 4 |
| Max Group Size: | 20 |
| Typical Duration: | 02:20:00 |
| No of Pages: | 20 |
Resources: View standard resources for Fenman training activities
Additional resources: Four sheets of A4 paper for each participant.
Purpose: This customer service resource is for use in a customer service training course. The development of a Mind Map during a training course will assist participants in taking notes throughout the rest of the course.
Download the training activity, Mind maps for customer service: Minding your customers as featured in the Fenman training manual; Creative Customer Contact