Non-Customer-Centric Attitude

[SupportDirector]

To Anyone who Can Lend Some Advice -
Among other duties, I'm the Director of Support for a fast-growing software company. As most call-centers are, we are bombarded at every turn with both internal and external requests for Support. Our TRUE definition is more of a "Support Center" and not a Call Center. We deal with large financial institutions world-wide - everything is real-time, and real money. The overall average attitude is that my staff is not Customer-centric. What is the best way to:
1.) Stress the importance of being Customer-centric
2.) Relieve Stress
3.) Get my staff to realize that if it weren't for the Customer's, we wouldn't be here; and,
4.) What is the best way to go about doing this without being the "hard boss" that I'm not?

Seeking guidance ...

[Andrew Bates]

Dear Seeking Guidance,

Your problem is not uncommon, and without know anything about your operations, I would offer the following two suggestions.

It may well be that your agents are only focused on the productivity goals your set for them (AHT, SLA etc). If you want them to think about the customer, you need to show them what the customer thinks about them.. By adding a customer sat score to the rating system, if might help the agents properly focus their efforts. Of course this may be difficult depending on the culture.

The other alternative is to explore outsourcing. By using and outsourcer, you can wipe the slate clean and hire a partner that will deliver on your expectation for a customer centric operation.

The analogy is a simple. If your 10 year old toaster breaks do you spend $40 to get is fixed by the local repairman or do you spend $25 on a new one that has exactly the features you need.

Now if you would like to hear about how Sykes delivers customer centric support and will save you as much as $10,000 per agent.....give me a call.

[JoelDup]

You have a challenging task but not an impossible one.
Outsourcing is not always the solution either. Try to create shared goals for your people. Develop (with their input) real goals that effect both you and them. If it is possible try to create some type of SLA (Service Level Agreement) with your customers.
Make sure you and your people's incentives are tied in some way to this agreement. This should create team work too. If someone slacks it will be the responsibility of the person's peers to point it out and remedy the situation.

Try not to focus too much on the metric side of things and when you do focus on aggregate statistics and when things are 'out of control'. Create control charts to plot stats (I can help if you wish -email me) and try to predict and stop future problems.

If you cannot help marginal performers improve (behaviour and attitude is a part of performance) don't hestitate to cut them out of the picture.

I'm not seeling anything so if you want any additional unbiased information let me know.

Joel

[Gerry Miller]

Your problem is a common one. One of the centers I have managed was a collection agency, try and get those people to think of those who call as customers some time. You have much the same problem. It is likely form what you describe that your staff are not typical call center workers but technical people who do not see answering the call as their main job but instead have identified fixing things as their primary concern. To change this I would suggest the following :

1. You get what you measure. Take a close look at how you are evaluating staff performance. Place a greater emphasis on the delivery of customer service than anything else, and tie this directly to some type of rewards program ( best if financial rewards included but not entirely necessary)

2. While a positive approach, like the one noted above where you encourage "good" behavior, generally works best over the long haul for a short term gain you might try a negative one. To try and swing the pendulum the next time an instance of really bad customer service ( hanging up, rudeness, lying to the customer)
occurs be incredibly unreasonable, in essence make an example of the person who does this. This can and should be done privately but belive me word will get out that management is serious about this stuff. I would only suggest this as a last resort because it can be dangerous ( particularly if you have a problem getting and retaining staff) but it can work wonders.

Be glad to discuss more, and I'm not selling anything either.

[JoelDup]

Training and exposure to important customer service and cycle concepts is essential. Make sure your people understand the impact of negative customer experiences. Explain the soft and hard impacts. The intangibles can often get lost or missed when technical people are involved.

The office culture can be one of the most difficult areas to foster change. It is important to secure commitment from the highest levels of your organization. Doing so will give you the psychological and financial support to fulfill your goals.

Joel

[Matt Schmitz]

"Customer Service" is defined by the customer, not the agent. The very first step to becoming known as "customer centric" is to find out exactly what the customer expects when they call.

Once you find out what is expected of your agents, training followed up with intense supervision, guidance, and feedback is essential. The agents will never change a behavior unless it is pointed out to them that it is inappropriate for the situation they are in. Given a lack of productive guidance, agents and supervisors will make up their own rules on how to serve their customers. It doesn't take long for those inappropriate "rules" to become the norm and standard way of doing business and are very difficult to change.

[rickd]

Director

My suggestion is to introduce your staff to Quality Concepts and empower them to establish a Quality Program. Their are many ways to accomplish this and the starting point is critical. I suggest that you first read Philip Crosby's books Quality is Free, and Quality Without Tears.

I teach TQM at NYU and have put Quality Programs in place in NY.

Feel free to ask for any guidance.

The Principle to remember is that the staff needs to respect the customer and to do that they need to respect you, the organization and their cooworkers.

Rick

[Hattie]

In our center we fight the attitude problem daily, by spending time talking to our agents. We find out what kind of work in their past was their least favorite, we share ours. I have found a little reminder about the difficult things we are no longer doing gives us some perspective on the good things about our job now. I had to load semi tractor trailer trucks in the cold on 12 hour shifts, it makes me grateful for comfortable surroundings and work I can do well even when I may be a little off my game. Sometimes when one of our agents seems a little frustrated with an irritable customer I remind them of someone they were able to help just a few moments before. I believe a manager that takes the time to know something about the people that work for them, creates a bond that allows them to overcome an occaisional bad attitude and helps them to recognize those who may not be able to adapt to the workplace requirements.

[Call Centers 2000]

Yours is one of the major issues facing call centers in almost every industry. A highly effective strategy to create "customer centricity" is to execute and maintain a "Strategic Planning for the Call Center".

The strategic planning process is very similar to a corporate level planning session, but focuses on how the call center fits into the organization, how the call center can help the organization meet it's overall goals, what needs to be done to get there, who does what by when and measures success.

It requires significant commitment on your part, but the results are tremendous.

[mnehr]

I am going to take a completely different approach than the others of this thread. Being ‘customer centric’ is not about systems you purchase or ‘strategic planning’; it is about the individual representative’s attitude and willingness to help. No matter what big picture theory you are given, everything comes down to the CSR’s attitude.

First, you must define your goals as to what is ‘customer centric’ for your center. This will include what the reps say, how they say it, steps and procedures they take to help their customers, and additional service they could/should provide.

Secondly, evaluate what policies may interfere with that customer centric vision you defined in step one. Determine if any in-house policies should change.

Third, organize your standards into a set of guidelines that are as simple as possible. Create a ‘Why?’ with each guideline. Most centers make the mistake of writing their ‘Why’s?’ as the benefit for the customer. Instead a WIIFM approach should be taken with the reps.

A simple example of this is the guideline that a representative should use the customerÂ’s name. The standard reason you see in training manuals is:

‘.. a customer loves to hear their name, it is like music to their ears… it shows you care…’

I am sorry but from a reps perspective, that is BSÂ….

If you want the reps to utilize this standard, you need to change it to a WIIFM approach:

‘..using the customer’s name is like talking to a dog…. You can talk and talk to a dog and they will just stare at you with a glassy look on their face.. As soon as you use the dog’s name, however, they perk up and pay attention… a customer is the same way. Using their name makes them pay attention to you…’

I am aware that is a silly example, but I am hoping to make the point that being customer centric is not about major investments in systems, it is about establishing standards that an average CSR can not only relate to, but will utilize with a positive attitude.

The biggest differences you can make is not about investments, it is about relating to the people on the front lines.

If you want to chat about this or have some examples, drop me an e-mail. Mnehreps@netscape.net

[dwalker]

What doesn't get measured, doesn't improve (& vice versa)

The main problem is that measuring the Quality of your service delivery is often time consuming (and therefore additional cost); additionally, it is often (in some way) subjective. However, measuring quality rather than simple ACD metrics has the knock-on effect of reducing handle times (due to ensuring that your reps are following correct processes); reducing errors (& hence callbacks), both of which have a positive cost impact.

Here are some methods of measurement, which you may like to consider.

Random monitoring & evaluation.
Customer Sat surveys (this can be paberbased, or if you use any IVR technology it is possible to set up an end of call survey, and tehn ask the customer whether they will be prepared to take part in a survey & redirect them to the IVR - we have found this to be successful in the past)
Just sitting with the reps & double jacking.
Mystery shopper type calls.

Remember that quality is nto about answering the phones in x seconds; rather, it's about customer expectations. You must understand what your customers expect & need and design a quality mechanism which supports this goal.