This past week, I entered the world of kitchen-remodel hell. My idea was to start slowly and nibble away at the work that needed to be done. But, with the discovery of dry rot in my cabinets, the remodel took on a life and a momentum of its own. This is how I found myself at IKEA selecting cabinets and counter-tops.

IKEA is known for its kitchens, and overall I was pleased with the quality and the price. But, the customer experience left much to be desired. In fact, it got me thinking--if companies really want to realize a return on the investment of their training dollar, they should focus on the customer experience.

Training Problems in Search of a Solution

Here are a few of the faux pas I encountered.

Problem 1: I wasn't asked to make some design decisions, such as choosing the type of counter-top edge, until I was at the register placing my cabinet order. At this point, I'd been in the store for quite some time selecting cabinet styles, sizes, hardware, and the like. I thought I was done making decisions. And, then I got hit with a dozen more while literally (and figuratively) checking out.

My Suggestion: Develop a checklist so that customers know everything they need to select before they get to the register. This way customers won't have to grind through the changing of mental gears from placing an order to making design decisions. It will also speed up lines at the register on busy days.

Problem 2: When we got home with all of our various cabinet parts and pieces, I realized we didn't have an appointment to get the counter-tops installed. I called IKEA and was told that their subcontractor would contact me to set an appointment to create a template and another to install the counter-top. The kicker was that all of this could take up to a month during which I'd have to lay boards or cardboard over the tops of the cabinets. Yes, I freaked out.

My Suggestion: Train salespeople in the store to set expectations about what happens next. No one likes surprises, least of all inconvenient surprises.

Problem 3: As we were assembling the cabinets, the instructions didn't seem to make sense. For one side of the cabinet they instructed us to nail through a raw edge, but on the other side they had us nailing through a finished edge. They did, however, show a picture of a happy customer on the phone with the customer support folks. So, we called. The customer representative's response was, "Do whatever seems right."

My Suggestion: Train customer service representatives so that they can actually answer customers' questions. In this case, a mandatory cabinet-assembly course for customer service representatives would have done the trick. There is nothing like having to follow the instructions to really understand them.

Training Worth Doing

There were a few other faux pas as well. But, you get the picture. They are all easily and cheaply solvable by the Training department, and I have no doubt that the solutions will contribute to customer loyalty and increased sales--a worthy ROI for any program.

Having worked in the field of Training & Development for many years, I know that you are frequently asked to develop training that you know in your heart of hearts won't make a difference. But, using training to improve the customer experience is well worth doing. In fact, it may be even more critical than sales training. Happy customers buy more and recruit more customers. They can lower the acquisition cost of a new customer dramatically, which means the company gets to realize a profit on that customer sooner.

To find out where to target your training efforts, shop your company if you can. Talk to customers to find out what frustrates and inconveniences them. Talk to your customer-facing employees to learn what complaints they hear most often. Talk to any subcontractors who deal directly with customers. This is the low-hanging fruit of training. So, why not pick it?

Oh, and wish me luck on the remodel. I have the feeling I am going to need it!