Are your people systems as strong as your technological systems?

The dynamic growth of the teleservices industry has sent many in this business scrambling to find that special ingredient that will produce the most competitive advantage.

In-house call centers and service agencies alike are asking key questions, such as:

"How can we differentiate our company from others?"

"How are we going to improve the bottom line?"

"How will we reduce turnover?" and, for some,

"Will our company be able to go public?"

Many factors will enhance your ability to be a winner. However, the most critical element in your success is the level of satisfaction you create with your customers. It will simultaneously impact your differentiation, turnover and bottom line.

To assess your customer satisfaction level, begin by answering these questions: How well do your systems interact with customers? Do your systems and personnel complement each other and strengthen your ability to provide superior service, or do they encourage dissatisfaction?

Many companies focus on technology to speed up the process of handling their customers. In the call center environment, companies often spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on technology such as automatic call distributors (ACDs), voice response units (VRUs), interactive voice response (IVRs), predictive dialing units (PDUs) and computer-telephony integration (CTI) as the means to improve efficiencies and satisfaction.

And all of this makes sense. The ACD will increase the number of calls a company can handle because it will distribute the calls or send them to the next available agent. The VRU will direct the call to the proper group or to its proper destination. The IVR will allow a customer to interact with a computer to gain information. A PDU will deliver only live calls to agents. CTI will access the customer's account automatically.

So, a company can increase the number of customers it can handle and eliminate waiting time for customers when they call for service, which means the company is providing superior service. Or are they?

The true test comes when it is necessary for the customer to speak with a representative. How well does this person interact with the customer?

If you have invested in technology to improve service, without investing in the enhancement of your front-line's skills, you have spent a lot of money just to increase the frequency and speed of customer complaints about your service.

Even though technology functions as a tool to improve customer satisfaction, unless you first enhance the skills of the people who are providing the service, your company will be at a great disadvantage.

Ask yourself: Are our people systems as strong as our technological systems? How much are we investing in our people to increase their ability to improve efficiencies and satisfaction?

Refining CSR Skills Involves A Three-Step Process: Planning, Training And Managing

In the planning process, management must determine what its service standards are and decide how dedicated it will be to them. For example, if most of your front-line personnel fail to achieve the standards set, are you going to lower your standards or are you going to keep them high and train your employees to rise to that level?

In this instance, it may not be your standards that are the problem. Perhaps there is a hiring, managing or training issue. Standards can be used as targets to help CSRs improve their performance.

Standards also assist in measuring performance. If they are changed too often, you will lose track of your performance base, which makes it difficult to make accurate comparisons and conclusions.

Standards serve to control satisfaction and productivity, and should always be set high to ensure service remains at the desired level.

Next, it's important to review the processes involved in providing service. Requirements often change and unless you constantly examine how you deliver service, it may deteriorate.

You must continually evaluate, adapt and change to anticipate and meet needs and potential needs. This helps you maintain a proactive, instead of reactive, approach to service.

The best starting point in evaluating your processes is to ask yourself: What are we doing and why are we doing it? Are our processes as efficient as they can be? Can we improve on them to save time and money while improving satisfaction? If we change one process, how will it affect others?

In addition to evaluating processes, conducting a needs analysis is critical. Trying to improve service without identifying the needs of those involved is a waste of time and money.

This includes gaining an understanding of the goals and expectations of senior management, call center management, as well as CSRs. It is also helpful if you have an understanding of your customers' and clients' expectations.

To illustrate this point, a few years ago, our company conducted a study called, "Consumer Perceptions and Business Practices." We were interested in learning what positively or negatively influences customers as a result of the way a company provides service.

We found trends that were consistent throughout all industries we studied. One of which is what satisfies a customer most and what dissatisfies a customer most when doing business with a company. In both instances, it centers on personnel.

Customers also told us what makes them feel they are receiving "more" service from a company. The top three answers, in order, are helpfulness, friendliness and courtesy. Think about it. Of all the things a company can do, these are what impress a customer the most!

On the negative side, customers say they most dislike a poor attitude, unknowledgeable employees and high turnover.

These findings confirm that the individual plays a crucial role in satisfying customers.

Training Increases Performance

Training is a vital part of progress in anything we attempt to do. If you're not conducting effective training now to maintain performance or improve performance, it's not only affecting customer satisfaction levels, but internal personnel turnover and your bottom line as well.

Some of you may be thinking, "Yes, we provide training." But is it effective? Are you getting the results you set out to gain? Are your employees performing to their potential? Are they positive and motivated? Are you satisfied with their performance?

Also, does your training prepare employees to achieve and sustain higher levels of profitability and growth? Or is it going to benefit them and your company only while they are in this particular position or for this particular time frame or only for a specific project?

For the most effective training, be sure to include the following three principles.

1) Focus On The Individual. Concentrate on ways in which CSRs can manage themselves as they perform their jobs. This will give you and your employees a greater chance for success.

2) Educate In Self-Projection. Positive self-projection is what makes the difference between professional service providers and those who are not.

How employees project themselves will influence the customer's behavior and the outcome of the call, which, in turn, will indirectly affect the success of all those involved. If employees are going to be successful, they must learn ways in which they can project themselves that will encourage others to respond to them in a positive way.

Attitude, self-esteem and stress management are three of the most critical areas and will affect the ability of individuals to perform their jobs effectively.

Personal projection is a powerful asset and employees who learn how to use it to their benefit will find it much simpler to satisfy customers.

The following study, which we conducted this past year, demonstrates this point well. We surveyed hundreds of Human Resource departments to learn more about hiring issues. There were no surprises in the area of the qualities companies look for in new hires:

Someone with ability, Someone with knowledge, and Someone with experience. No surprises.

What is notable is they went on to say that if given a choice between someone who had a good attitude, but lacked any one of the technical skills, and someone who had all the technical skills but lacked a positive attitude, they would choose the person with the positive attitude. One respondent summed it up well; "If a person has a good attitude, we can teach them anything!"

Self-esteem and stress management also affect how people interact with others and their environment. A person with a high self-esteem will be a better performer than one who has a low self-esteem. Knowing how to be more successful comes through training and it serves to increase self-confidence as well.

When employees strengthen inner skills and gain more knowledge, it helps them to feel in control. And the more comfortable employees are when interacting with customers and clients, the greater are the chances of them projecting a positive, competent image.

3) Teach Concepts. For many years, trainers have tried to change behavior and improve performance by telling people what to do. However, a basic premise to learning is that the more senses you can appeal to, the easier concepts will be to comprehend and the longer they will be remembered. When you educate in this manner, you are truly developing individuals!

With effective training for the front-line, everyone wins. As employees contribute to your customers' success, they will enhance your company's success as well as their own. It's a balance.

Managing The Process

Rather than staying in your office, walk the floor, talk to CSRs, listen and watch what is going on around you. Your presence will give the perception of accessibility, which encourages communication. Open, effective and honest communication with your CSRs creates an atmosphere of cooperation and teamwork.

With increased communication, you will discover that your CSRs are your best source on how to satisfy customers. CSRs are also in the best position to tell you what inhibits their ability to provide superior service.

Walking around, watching, talking and listening may give you a general sense of how well things are going, although subtle changes and opportunities may not be noticeable. This is why it is imperative to implement feedback mechanisms and measurement systems.

However, reports and data are of no value unless you review, analyze and discuss them. Comparisons of these over time will reveal the progress you have made and what changes, if any, are required.

Learning to balance the constantly changing processes, technology and people is probably one of the most difficult requirements of a manager's job and demands great skill.

The successful manager brings all three elements together to work as one cohesive unit to provide superior service. This positively differentiates the company, reduces turnover and improves the bottom line.

By focusing on the development of your employees as well as technological advancements, your company will gain the competitive advantage it seeks. You can survive with less technology and good people, but you will not survive if you have great technology and poor people.

Dorothy G. Young is chairman & CEO of Learning Dynamics Incorporated, a training firm based in Irving, Texas. Ms. Young, a speaker and author of numerous studies and articles, has recently been named to "Who's Who in Executives and Professionals." Learning Dynamics Incorporated is a trainer to "Top 50" and "Rising Star" recipients.

Copyright Technology Marketing Corporation May 1997
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