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Here's a controversial statement: Customer service training need not be long, complex or expensive.

While doing research for a new customer service course, I discovered that several firms are using training courses that are long drawn-out affairs.

One particular course was 2 days long, had 8 modules in a 154-page workbook, called for two trainers and a huge amount of choreography to handle several dozen flip charts, and required participants to memorize the names of several complex human behaviour patterns.

And, despite all its complexity, sadly, there was no test for understanding or ability to perform the 'skills' taught.

Another was 4 days long, and required an understanding of transactional analysis!

I'm sorry, but I don't buy it. If it's true that people remember less than 10% of what they've heard 10 minutes after they leave (never mind 10 days after), exactly how much of that is going to be retained?

Please don't misunderstand me. Training is important, but it should produce results! The best learning environment is hands-on, participatory training where the actual behaviours can be observed. As trainers, we need to be able to say to an employer that the learner can do a task because we've seen them do it.

The research revealed that many front-line customer service providers, especially in the retail trade and consumer services sector, are young (15 to 24 years of age), many are students, mostly employed part-time and are most likely earning minimum wage. The most alarming statistic was that only 21.6% of this demographic group actually get any formal classroom training.

Why? Because of the perceived costs of training - course costs, the cost of absence from work while employees are being trained, etc. Are some employers hesitant to send their employees to training because it is perceived as not having much value? If there's no testing for comprehension or ability, how do employers know what they've learned? Do they see training as so complex that they don't expect to see on-the-job performance changes, no actual return on investment?

Are young, part-time, minimum-waged students really going to 'get' it? Will they think they're failures if they don't understand all the facets of the many Myers-Briggs personality types? Will they care?

Can we trust people who describe something like this: "Oh, it's REAL easy. All you have to do is follow these 16 simple steps…"? Anything that involves 16 steps or tasks is NOT easy; it is complex.

A good customer service encounter has only 3 basic elements: you must show you're aware, show you care, and show you're doing your share to meet your customers' needs. It really is that simple.

These 3 simple concepts can be successfully, consistently demonstrated (on the job and in life) using 5 easy tools: listening, empathizing, acknowledging, responding and negotiating, things most people do naturally if subconsciously.

And, with an appropriately sized group, this can be both learned and demonstrated in a half-day session.

Yes, a full day would mean they practice more behaviours, and we get to observe more 'doing', but when the concepts are simplified, the brain quickly tends to say, "I can do that!" Shouldn't that be our goal in the first place?

When learners feel confident, they are more likely to use what they've learned. They say to themselves, "I have done this before, so I can do it again." And their boss has the right to say, "Then let's see you do it again, on every phone call, or with every live encounter. Lets see the results of the training you received. Let's see you make a difference."

If we as trainers concentrate on making tasks 'doable' then the learners are indeed more likely to actually do them. If they do the behaviours on the job, and they are observable and measurable, then people who buy our services will more readily see the value of the training we offer.