Employees who receive thorough training feel as if you are investing in them and their careers.
Recently, I was asked how I would keep employees motivated to deliver the best customer experience possible. Specifically, the question was focused on customer service reps who may be working at a support center or remote location (home); however, my answer also applies to many employees outside of customer support and customer-facing responsibilities. I started listing a number of ways, and in a matter of moments, I had come up with more than ten ideas. Here are my favorite ten ways to motivate your employees and improve the customer experience:
1. Train employees – People want to learn to do their job well and learn new skills to help their careers. Employees who receive thorough training feel as if you are investing in them and their careers. This motivates them to engage better with customers (and other employees) and can also increase the likelihood that they will stay.
2. Empower employees – If you want to demotivate people, all you have to do is take away their power to make decisions. So instead, do the opposite. If you’ve hired good people and trained them well, empower them to do what you trained them to do.
3. Motivate with the right metrics – There are many ways to measure success. However, measuring with the wrong metrics will destroy employee morale. For example, in a support center, Average Handle Time (AHT) on a phone call is important, but at the same time, this metric causes stress for the agents. They know that AHT is being measured and feel pressured to keep the call short, which in their mind becomes a higher priority than giving the customer the correct information and the best experience.
4. Implement the right technology – The right technology and processes can potentially make the employee’s job easier and save time, allowing them more time to focus on critical issues, such as taking care of higher-level problems and questions.
5. Keep it easy and simple for the customer – This tactic ties to the last point. Customers want an easy, convenient experience—and so do employees. Using technology and creating the right processes for customers will make life easier for employees.
6. Managers and supervisors must become coaches – Employees who are mentored and coached feel good about their work. There are plenty of stats and findings that prove one of the top reasons employees leave is because of their boss.
7. Make employees feel like part of a team – This is more important than ever with today’s remote workforces. We must make employees feel connected to the company. If there isn’t an emotional connection to the company, the job becomes just about money. Then, if the employee is offered ten cents more an hour, you could lose them. You want an employee working for the company, not for a paycheck.
8. Provide a 360-degree view of the customer – In the customer support world, agents need to know as much as possible about the customer to personalize the experience. They need to know the customer’s history, when and why they last contacted the company for help, their most recent purchases and more. As you work to provide this knowledge for the agent, determine who else in your organization needs to have this type of customer information. Your team must be equipped with all the appropriate info!
9. Providing self-service solutions – Getting customers to use self-service options frees up the agents to help customers who have more complex issues. Customer support agents like not having to answer the most simple, basic questions that could easily be handled by a self-service solution. And, 71% of the customers we surveyed said they are open to using digital self-service solutions.
10. Train agents to train customers on how to use self-service solutions next time they need support – This is a follow-up to No. 9. Often the customer doesn’t know that the answers they need are on a website. If the questions are simple, teach customers how to use those self-service solutions so they can save time the next time they need help.
Final comment: What’s happening with employees on the inside of the company will be felt by customers on the outside. You must create the right employee experience that is motivating and fulfilling if you want to have a chance at creating the right customer experience.
