Be Smart

Whenever I have to ring a customer service line regarding a misbehaving gadget, I try to remind myself that the person on the other end is a human being and shouldn't be shouted at.  Now, if I ever call Verizon Wireless, I'll know that they're likely one of the best trained carrier employees too; the company has just been named in Training magazine's 2008 list of "Top 125 Training Organizations in America" for the seventh consecutive year.  And if, like me, you read that and thought "hmm, mentioning 125 probably means they're number 124 or something", think again: apparently Verizon are rocking the number four spot.

"We are honored to be recognized by Training magazine for the seventh consecutive year. At Verizon Wireless, our main goal is to provide customers with the industry's best wireless experience by listening, anticipating and responding to our customers' needs.  Our employees are the core of what makes Verizon Wireless successful, so our training and development programs are designed to help them achieve this goal, and we are proud that over the past year we have continued to grow our employee base, further enhance our training programs and lead the industry in customer loyalty" Martha Delehanty, vice president of human resources, Verizon Wireless

Apparently the company has over 900 full-time trainers and over 800 "subject matter experts" - it seems a lot but when you take into account there are 69,000 employees things are a little more balanced.  At the end of the day, though, it comes down to the experience you have when you call Verizon up; I'd be interested to hear whether you think all that training has done some good and made their staff particularly helpful.  Let us know in the coments