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December 22, 2005
Tools for Moving Your Customer Care Team Towards Excellence
We all expect front line customer service executives to treat customers well. We get upset if they are unhelpful or disrespectful. As managers who can influence their behavior, we first need to put ourselves in their shoes and understand issues that make them behave the way they do. Observing excellent customer care executives shows that these people know that they are valued by their company. The manager makes it a point to let them know how important they are to the company’s success. Their managers also continually reinforce that message, by recognising what the executive does well.
To convert our mediocre customer service representatives into excellent executives, we must first change our attitudes that assign them a second-class status. This change can be initiated by you - the manager - who can give people the respect, dignity and value they truly deserve. You can make a significant difference to how your staff performs, in a number of ways. Show the representatives that they matter. Recognize and appreciate when they are 'doing it right'. When they seem to be running low on fuel, give them time to regain a good state - ensure that they get a chance to recover themselves. You can convince your management to resource enough customer carers to be able to give people people regular breaks.
Another important aspect is the environment. Be sure that the environment is pleasant. The 'physical' environment issues include natural light, fresh air, color of walls, ergonomic furniture, comfortable seating arrangement, pleasant plants and pictures, individual and personalized work-spaces, opportunities and spaces for interpersonal interaction. easy access to drinks and snacks, and a pleasant cafeteria. It is important to note that in spite of the physical environment meeting all these requirements, it is still possible that the ‘feel’ of the place is oppressive, affecting work quality. You can influence the ‘feel’ by being with the staff, and by encouraging people to have fun. Also, it is vital that you give them permission to be human. CRM Today reports:
Sometimes they will make mistakes. How we deal with these mistakes can either reduce or enhance the likelihood of it happening again. It happens: the useful question is not, ‘Why did you do that?’ but, ‘What can we do to have a more useful result next time.’
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