The Enthusiastic Call Center!
14 Oct, 2011
By: Aaron W. Taylor,Judy McKeeNorman Vincent Peale once said: “Enthusiasm is the difference between mediocrity and accomplishment.” In the Customer Care world, enthusiasm is a key ingredient in driving a ‘Culture of Caring’ and is the difference between an OK experience and delivering one of those "wow!" moments to your customers. This enthusiasm, coupled with a strong intention to create a “Safe Environment,” underscores a culture that always makes the customers right, even when they are wrong!
Judy and I are often asked about the difference between Customer Service and Customer Care. To most, the difference is only in the title or a minor nuance, when in reality, they are worlds apart. I think of a Customer Service call as a very flat, one-sided, interaction. This call is scripted, highly structured, very mechanical, policy driven and places more weight on making sure that representative has read each word on the script, instead of actually listening and acknowledging the customer. On the other hand, we have Customer Care, which requires a strong intention to keep the customer at the center of the call. This call is skill based, focused on the customer, helpful and creates a dialogue leading to a successful resolution and even an “out of the box” solution….a high quality interaction!
William A. Foster once wrote, “Quality is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution.” The same is true for Customer Care!
The intent to be enthusiastic starts long before the phone rings and our agents answer, it starts from a strong intention from management to create a “safe environment” for our front-line staff. When the environment is not “safe” for the agent to help and support the customer with care, the spirit of “enthusiasm” for the service, the product and the customer is non-existent. The enthusiastic approach reminds us of the choice we have, serve the customer or do business as usual? Read the script and quickly get off the phone or go off the grid to support the customer's needs? Customer Service or Customer Care?
I saw a sign in a call center once that had a cartoon of an eagle trying to fly with a bunch of turkeys closing in on him. The caption read: “How can I fly like an eagle when I am surrounded by turkeys?”
I went right up to the sign and tore it off the wall. I said to the management of the call center, “This is not a room full of turkeys, this a room full of eagles.” Interestingly enough, both management and the front-line staff thought it was very funny and that I was not being a good sport. I will never be a good sport about calling my agents turkeys, and expecting them to fly like eagles. I think they are all eagles and can fly that way but only when we create that “safe environment.”
Intention is always the key. Letting go of "business as usual" is very hard. It starts with the leadership level not only loving their job, but also their agents and of course the customer. Peale was certainly right about the big difference between mediocrity and accomplishment. We can accomplish great things in the call center when we light the fire instead of expecting the agents to light it for us.
Selling out your enthusiasm is not the way to build agent engagement or to deliver one of those "wow!" moments for our customers. Executives, managers and supervisors need to lead from the front in order to engage the front-line. Enthusiasm for the customer must come from the top, because in case you forgot, “every attitude is contagious”….turkeys breed turkeys and eagles breed eagles!
