FROM THE PAGES OF CONTACT CENTER PIPELINE
Improvement program awards. Having trouble with customer experience, customer satisfaction, long call times or other metrics? Go to your agents and together create a program to reward them for the solutions. Set up an idea program where good ideas are incorporated into the contact center and the idea with the biggest bang gets a prize. Most issues you are experiencing can be solved by talking to your agents— they’ re the ones who handle the contacts, and they are also the ones who have great ideas to improve the processes.
Peer reward program. Your employees do something good every day. Are they able to recognize each other? Maybe someone handled a tough call particularly well; helped a co-worker fix a challenging issue they were stuck on; or volunteered to give someone a ride home. Whatever the good deed, it should have the chance to be recognized. When employees appreciate each other, and are able to show that appreciation publicly, they build bonds that decrease attrition.
Small and spontaneous. One word: donuts. Have you ever met someone who didn’ t appreciate a surprise donut offering? While larger rewards are likely the most impactful, small acknowledgements of gratitude are also meaningful. Did your team have an especially busy week? Did they handle a shift in direction gracefully? Reward them by bringing in donuts and coffee one morning, or cookies and pop in the afternoon.
Recognizing your team during Call Center Appreciation Week in October is a great start, but really, you need to put energy into recognition all year long. With a few thoughtful tweaks to the processes you already have in place, you could soon be managing a strong, cohesive, fully engaged and record-shattering workforce.
BY SUSAN HASH
Since it was established over three decades ago, the number of companies participating in Customer Service Week festivities has continued to grow. And while the annual appreciation is much anticipated by customer service staff— and well-deserved— most center leaders agree that thanking agents for their valuable contribution should take place frequently and all year long.
Here are some ideas to get you started.
SURPRISE CELEBRATIONS Keep your agents on their toes with impromptu appreciation celebrations. Did an agent just hit a performance goal, score a perfect rating on a QM session, save a customer? Break out the kazoos, silly hats and balloons and take a minute to publicly rejoice in their achievements!
LET AGENTS SIT IN ON MANAGEMENT MEETINGS You can recognize top performers and show your support for their ongoing growth and development by allowing career-minded agents to attend management meetings. Have an agent accompany you to the next department head meeting or send someone to attend in your place when you’ re not available.
FIND REASONS TO PRAISE Look for reasons to praise your agents— someone demonstrating the behaviors or skills that you’ ve covered in coaching sessions, going above and beyond to help a customer, successfully cross-selling a product. Offering praise on the spot reinforces the positive behaviors and boosts agent morale and motivation.
Practical pointer: Praise should be specific to be effective; for instance, saying“ Good job, Jim!” is nice, but it doesn’ t tell the agent what he did right. A better approach might be:“ Jim, you did a great job calming the customer during that complaint call. Your tone was respectful, and the phrases you used really demonstrated your empathy for the situation. Thank you for your professionalism!”
MAKE A MEAL … AND SERVE IT What employee wouldn’ t enjoy the chance to be waited on by his or her manager— or even better, senior management? Get the leadership team to make breakfast for the entire center— and then deliver it, white-glove style, to the agents’ desks.
WALL OF FAME The Wall of Fame is a long-standing call center practice for publicly displaying agents’ achievements, photos, letters from customers, and praise from peers, supervisors and senior management.
This technique can be adapted to include virtual or workfrom-home staff by creating a space on the company intranet to share photos and stories that celebrate your agents’ accomplishments, and where team members can add their comments and kudos.
Practical pointer: Call attention to agents’ accomplishments at team meetings by reading aloud entries from your physical or virtual wall of fame. It’ s a positive way to kick off meetings and highlight good deeds that otherwise may have gone unnoticed.
SHOW YOUR SUPPORT OF AGENT DEVELOPMENT The best leaders are those who focus on what’ s important to each member of their team and who help each individual to achieve their personal goals. Show your interest in agents’ professional development outside of the annual performance review. Schedule time to meet with individual agents at the office or during an offsite lunch to talk about their goals and offer your guidance on their short- and long-term career plans.
If an agent shows interest in moving into another department or area of the company, review with that individual the skills needed to make the crossover, and work with the department head on ways to increase the agent’ s exposure to that function; for instance, by participating in projects in that department.
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