Driving customer-centric change: Build a vision and plan to reach your objectives.
When it comes to improving customer service quality, having a clearly defined strategy will ensure that your entire team is on the same page and can work together with greater understanding of customer-centric objectives.
There are three key steps to establish an effective customer service quality assurance plan: (1) Research the customer experience; (2) build your vision; and (3) create a plan. In Part 1 of this series, published in the July issue, we discussed how to research the customer experience. In this article, we’ll look at the next two steps.
Build Your Vision
Once you are aware of which areas you’re struggling in, it’s easier to create a vision of what your company could be like after necessary changes are made. Your goals with customer service will likely align with your company’s overall business strategy and focus on the areas that are important to your staff and clients, including the value of your product and the promise associated with your brand. It’s important to consider the capabilities your company has and maximize the strengths that are already in place. Working on this vision with a group will allow more than one point of view to be represented, making it more likely to appeal to all the members of your team.
An important point to remember when determining which areas need attention is that call center quality analytics, like percentages and other specific data, are more important to focus on than an individual’s opinion. For example, if you have one supervisor who feels that phone agents aren’t friendly enough but your customer feedback shows that 98% of clients are satisfied in this area, it probably doesn’t need to be a concern for your department. When making strategic business decisions, using data as a guide will give your company an advantage over competitors.
Create a Plan
Once you have sufficient data backing your decisions and an overall vision of what you hope to accomplish, the next step is to design a plan that will enable you to reach your goals. There are several important points to remember as you develop your strategy.
Define Roles
In your new initiative, employees may have different roles than they did before. Establishing those in the beginning and making sure that every staff member is aware of each person’s responsibilities will decrease frustration later on and allow all leaders to take ownership of their individual area of expertise. You may even want to consider organizing a quality control team to head the entire endeavor.
Determine Costs
Transforming your call center strategy will likely require extensive time and funds. You may need to pay certain employees more to complete additional jobs, purchase quality monitoring software programs, offer incentives for customer feedback or hire an outside consultant. While each of these methods may require an upfront cost, the benefits and return on your investment can greatly outweigh any amount you put toward the process.
Share the Vision
Sometimes, creating a change in your customer service requires a change in the vision for your entire company. When each department is working together, improvement can be exponentially greater and occur in a much shorter amount of time. This will require a greater level of cooperation and communication, but the results can mean less work in the future and an increase in every area of the business. If your entire company can transform their individual departments to be more focused on the customer, clients are likely to recognize that culture change and feel drawn to your business.
Your plan will likely evolve over time as you improve certain areas and find others that need work. Include a schedule of meetings in your plan that will allow you to come together with your team and review how the applied techniques are improving your company and what additional steps need to be taken.
One seldom discussed benefit of a venture of this type is the effect it can have on the thought processes of other departments within the company. While it will definitely help to have a businesswide customer-centric mentality, moving to a more analytical way of determining success and struggles can also improve other functions of the company. Sales, marketing and operational management all represent additional areas of each business that can use data-based research to locate weak points and develop a plan to improve and grow.
Coach Phone Agents
No matter which system you decide to use, the way that you handle compliance issues with your team members will play an important role in the success of your endeavors. As you receive feedback, either from surveys or call monitoring, develop a positive way to discuss issues that need addressing with your employees. Try to think of the interaction as more of a coaching session than a disciplinary council. Offer tips on ways to combat the individual’s struggles and perform practice calls to give the team member offline experience with handling difficult concerns. It can be helpful to review the call together so that the agent can hear how they sound from an outside perspective and understand why you’re concerned about certain aspects of their customer interaction.
Be sure to always keep feedback constructive and tips useful to avoid losing potential talent due to a negative experience. Focusing on the behavior that needs to be changed instead of the score of the call can take the emphasis off the number and allow both the supervisor and the team member to honestly discuss why changes need to be made and the best way for that individual employee to make them. Making sure that each agent understands the goals you’ve set forth for call center quality is also a good way to stay on the same page and achieve cooperation with all employees.
It’s also important to create a coaching schedule. Whether an employee has the top score on their customer interactions or is struggling with some issues, they need regular meetings concerning their behaviors. Having a designated time to meet with a supervisor eliminates the feeling that a low-scoring agent is being singled out and also allows an overachiever to receive the praise they deserve. Have a set time each month or quarter to let employees know that quality is a priority. Another item to decide is how you will reward the employees with the highest scores. Some companies choose to rank every employee and display that information to encourage improvement, while others keep performance discussions behind closed doors. However you decide to handle this, it’s important to always focus on effective coaching and supportive feedback.
*Additional Tips*
There are some other things to keep in mind throughout the entire process that will help your company create, implement and maintain a strategy that will inspire the changes you are working toward.
Remember the Big Picture
Always keep in mind the main ideals and priorities for your company and make sure the goals you make support that ideology.
Consider What Works
Using tools that your company is already familiar with can eliminate additional training and time spent.
Research New Techniques
If you don’t have experience with any techniques already, researching online and talking to other business leaders about their models can offer great insight. Companies that have similar goals within your industry may be a great place to look for ideas.
Consider Outside Help
While there is some level of improvement you can achieve on your own, consulting with a call center quality analytic specialist can offer invaluable experience and new ideas. These professionals will often have knowledge about specific details, like how to develop metrics, that can be difficult to figure out on your own.
Create a Coaching Schedule
Regular meetings between phone agents and quality assurance agents ensure that values are constantly emphasized and understood. This ongoing communication also gives employees a chance to discuss things about the plan that they have questions about and opens the door for improvement and new ideas. Having a set time each month or quarter to let employees know that quality is a priority and the continued discussion assures that everyone is focused on the same goals.
By following these steps and keeping helpful details in mind, you’ll have the tools you need to conduct adequate research, gather and organize revealing call center quality analytics, develop an effective vision for your team and involve everyone in working together to reach that goal. By improving your processes and establishing a customer-focused mentality, not only can your client satisfaction improve, but also your employee retention and the overall productivity of your company.