Do You Listen To Your Support Staff?
TeleworkPH
Published: August 16, 2021
Staff are hired, in most cases, for both skill and experience. A frontline support staff taking in customer calls is no exception. Most companies want to have people with experience in handling not only everyday calls, but at high volume and even those difficult or delicate cases.
But to what extent do they actually tap into that experience that they are hiring for? Does it stop with just knowing how to handle calls and navigate through a CRM?
Never Judge A Staff By Its Job Description
There’s more to the experience of your support staff than simply knowing how to perform, or perform at a certain level, the task they were hired for. There is the entire atmosphere of the previous company they were with that they brought with them. They are the eyes and ears of what was going on and what that company actually may have done internally to reach the very same goals you may be after.
Now, Before you pay for another coaching or another webinar, have a look at your staff. Who around you has perhaps been in another company that was going through the same landscape that you are facing now? Who came from a skyrocketing startup? What idea for growth can they bring to the table?
A lot of CEOs and business leaders let positions get to their heads. How potentially fatal. With the thought process that absolutely no one else inside the organization could have a clue beyond their specific tasks, they could be setting themselves up for utter disaster. Then seek outside help from people who make claims, but have nothing really to show for it.
If a business leader hires for experience, wouldn’t it make sense to plug into that gold mine sitting right there in front of them?
Do You Listen To Your Staff For Strategy?
Or just the “board” or a certain level? Do you ever take a question now and again to the front liners and personally ask them what they think? Some do and then some don’t feel their staff is worthy enough to make strategic suggestions.
But sometimes those obscure, out-of-the-box ideas are exactly what you need.
Ask yourself, are those around you too afraid to contradict you enough to speak up? You may not think you have created this type of culture, however, this is a situation many companies face.
The higher people get, the more afraid they are to lose their positions. They instinctively turn into “yes” people. That’s not what any business leader needs. Leaders need to be challenged (in a constructive, respectful way of course) and the goal is to create and cultivate a culture that promotes suggestions.
We’ve all seen it in comedy movies from time to time in a business or office setting. Throughout the flick, the sarcastic, cynical secretary is taking a lot of grief from the boss, but in the end, it’s the secretary who saves the day.
The point is you don’t know what goes on in other people’s minds unless you ask. You can’t perceive things like they do. You may be hyper-focused on the bottom line, but someone on your staff just may have a better idea or at least a different view on how to generate more revenue or brand loyalty. But in a roundabout way.
Getting into the mindset of “that will never work” can ease a company right into ruin.
A Little Salt And Pepper Goes A Long Way
The concept of getting suggestions for running your business from the staff is just not in the office setting or business world. It can be applied to all industries.
I once worked for a chef who ordained himself a demi-God. He had an amazing talent and impeccable palette, I’ll give him that, but he would hire cooks (like yours truly) for skill and experience. However, once the apron was on, his ears were closed.
And we watched him struggle. He simply would not listen and thought he knew it all. We were all worms. He had reached a point in his life where he just stopped listening to the end that he just stopped learning.
His restaurant was a hotspot in Akron, Ohio for quite a few years. But after time, it became outdated and eventually closed. Luckily, I saw what was happening and abandoned the ship before it all came to ruin.
This CEO Listened. And Got The Benefit
We have a client here at TeleworkPH, a good client, who was in a similar situation. The CEO was not a huge fan of offshore outsourcing for whatever reason. However one of the new hires he brought in had previously worked with a company that used offshore outsourcing with great success. This new hire saw a few opportunities and took his ideas about outsourcing to his department head. The department head thought it was a grand idea since he too had used offshore outsourcing in the past with other companies he’d been with.
After a month or two of discussion, the CEO finally caved and allowed the department head to “give it a try”
They got in touch with me, and we made a plan. We started with just 2 customer support agents. Then monitored the CSATS and other metrics.
After one month, the CEO gave the go-ahead for 6 more agents to work alongside their in-house, local staff. We delivered the results. The CEO saw the benefits.
Hire A Staff That Has Something To Bring To The Table
Whenever we bring on a new client for customer support help, one of the main requirements they ask for is experience. They want solid agents who have worked in the support environment, dealing with difficult customers, and processes of resolution.
Many of the clients we take on are in a pickle when it comes to support. Either their support has fallen by the wayside, lost funding, or just hasn’t proven to be effective. For whatever reason, they need high-quality help.
We build teams that drive results. And what’s more, our agents are not afraid to make suggestions in difficult areas. They live to use their experience to the fullest.
If you’re ready to bring some expert experience into your customer support department, contact us now, and let’s hop on a 30-minute strategy call.
Your customers will thank you.
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