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Of course, this is not always true, so the important question is: where this type of interaction is positive and constructive, what is it that makes the difference?

The excellent customer carer

‘I love this job, because every day I can make life easier for people, and that makes me feel good. Sometimes I feel a bit worn down from constantly answering the phone, but our boss is really good at spotting that you feel that way, and gives us a break, stepping in to take the phone calls herself if that’s the only way she can do it. She says we are the most important people in the company, and she really seems to mean it.’ (Financial services help-line desk)

What this example of an excellent customer carer illustrates is that they know they are valued by their company. The manager makes a point of explaining how important they are to the company’s success, but also continually reinforces that message, by recognising what this person does well, and what they need to motivate them to want to continue.

We do not yet have a culture that automatically gives the customer carer importance and status. Many such roles are seen as the opposite – the second-class citizen. It is therefore often up to the manager who can change this story, and give people the respect, dignity and value they truly deserve.


The manager’s responsibility

Managers can make a significant difference to how their staff perform in a number of ways.

a. Show them they matter

We often assume that people know that they are vital to the company’s success, so we don’t bother to tell them. It is worth making it explicit and actually saying so to them. However, it is not enough just to say it, you have to demonstrate that you mean it. This requires that you treat them as a vital part of the company.

We all know some of the things that make us feel important:-

•My boss knows who I am and what I do
•I am listened to and taken notice of
•I am praised for doing my job well
•My well being is catered for These are obvious, but not necessarily common everyday behaviours that require a genuine concern or respect for the individual and their work.

b. Catch them doing it right

We have a tendency to focus on what people do wrong or fail in, and so it requires a conscious effort to catch them doing it right.

I was recently working in a hotel I had used for programmes before. The food had previously been adequate, but nothing more. This time, the food was delicious, varied, on time and hot. I went to the manager and asked to speak to the chef. He was most concerned and wanted to know why. I told him that I was so impressed by the improvement at lunch-time that I wanted to thank the chef personally. Afterwards the manager said to me, ‘Thank you for the reminder you gave me. Although I would protect my staff from customers’ wrath, I didn’t think to pass on a customer’s’ delight.’

Every time you notice and remark on the good things people do, you reinforce the positive behaviours, you make them feel good, and you motivate them to do more. Wouldn’t it be delightful if all those helpdesks which monitor the phone calls used it in a way of catching their staff doing it right?

Give them time to regain a good state

It is vital, if you are to give good customer service, that you are on form yourself. Customers can be very wearing – most of us are not good customers! I find it disturbing when managers say to me that they can’t give their staff a break because the customer comes first. Have you ever been dealt with by the person who is tired and needing a break? What sort of service do they actually give?

As managers, we need to:

a. Ensure that our staff have a chance to recover themselves
b. Ensure that they know how to do that effectively
c. Influence our companies to resource enough customer carers to be able to give people proper, regular breaks.

Ensure the environment is pleasant

Staff need more time for a break if they are working in an oppressive or impersonal environment. We do have a tendency to act as if the environment we are in doesn’t matter and doesn’t affect us, but we are human beings, not robots, and we do react to what is around us, even if we are not conscious of it.

There are 2 aspects of an environment

1. The physical surroundings:

Look around the space your office staff work in, and answer the following questions

•Is there natural light?
•Is there fresh air?
•Are the walls an attractive colour?
•Are the chairs comfortable?
•Are there plants and pictures, chosen by the staff?
•Are their individual work-spaces personalised?
•Is there a space where they can talk easily to one another?
•Is there easy access to drinks, snacks, and a pleasant space to take them in?
•Any staff group will say that these are the elements that make a positive difference to their environment, and their spirits. Some are easy to improve, if they are not good enough. The more no’s you have as answers to these questions, the less valued your staff will feel, and therefore the more you have to compensate in other ways.

2. The ‘atmosphere’

However well set up the physical environment may be, if the overall ‘feel’ of the place is oppressive, it will counteract the benefits. I always shudder when I walk into a customer service centre and the most noticeable thing in the area is a flashing board which says how many customers are waiting. It is a record of failure, not of success. This is made even worse if everyone is on their own little desert island, with a headset and a computer screen.

Managers can change the ‘feel’ of these places by their own way of being with the staff, by encouraging people to have fun, laugh, chat when they can.

Give them permission to be human

Many of the aspects we have looked at so far are about allowing your staff to be human.

There is another way we can add to the list. 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.’

Develop them

Every customer service person is given basic training in what they have to do. But are they trained in how to look after themselves, so they can be at their best with their customer? Are they encouraged to develop the way they apply the process with customers?

Customer carers need the stimulus and motivation that can be gained from a broader and sustained development programme if they are to be excellent. This can be a mixture of on and off-job development, one to one, and in groups. It is an investment worth making that again shows the customer carer that you consider them to be vital to the company’s success.

The organisation’s responsibility

Managers can only do so much to care for their customer carers. They need the organisational structure and culture to be truly customer focussed, to support their behaviours. The systems and processes of the company need to be organised to support and use well the customer carer. Where an organisation is truly customer focussed, you will find:

The customer carer is cared for

The customer carer is empowered to act for the customer, rather than have to refer every decision through for approval or action by someone else
The customer carer is seen to have valuable information about customers and their needs, and their suggestions for improvement are acted on
The job of everyone else in the organisation is to facilitate and support the customer carer.

Conclusion

We have not yet reached the point where the majority of customer carers feel cared for. In some organisations, we are a very long way away from it! Take any of these elements and improve it, and you will make a positive difference. Customer carers are vital to a company’s success, and they are human. Your customer carers will appreciate any action you take that makes them feel you care about them.