Are You Setting Your Quality Team Up For Conflict? Part II

In Part I of my post, I addressed conflict coming from Report Structure Issues.  Conflicts can also arise from the design of the quality program and poor training or the communication skills used.

QUALITY DESIGN FLAWS WILL BRING CONFLICT

When you are designing the tools used by quality analysts, you may be setting expectations based on a checklist rating skills using a “did it happen or didn’t it happen” method.  There are times when the customer interaction requires an agent skill to change or not be used at all.

A manager shared this story of checklist focused quality monitoring:

The agent had a flawless customer experience demonstrating great skills and the customer sounded very happy with the service provided by the agent.  She even complimented the agent during the call.

 At the end of the call, the customer said, “Thanks…you’ve answered all my questions. That’s all I needed.  I’m going to call my husband right now and let him know”.  The agent thanked the caller appropriately and ended the call nicely.

Despite this wonderful customer interaction, the quality analyst scored him negatively for one skill.  According to the quality rating form, the agent did not ask, “Is there anything else?” 

The customer clearly stated that she was satisfied and added that she had all the information needed.

Instead of hearing what the customer said to the agent about having “all I need”, the quality analyst was focused on the quality checklist box for “anything else?”  that needed to have a yes or no.

• Is your quality monitor format rigid without opportunities for the analyst to make exception for certain call types?
• Have you asked your analysts what think their job is?   It’s amazing how many managers expect their analysts to state what’s on their job description, when in reality, the analysts doesn’t see their role the same way.

• Do your analysts just see their role as a check-off of skills or are they listening to what the customer says to judge quality?

• Does your quality program rate technical skills separately from soft skills so you can see if agents excel in both or one of these?

• How often do you review your quality monitoring tools to insure that they are providing you with the information needed for coaching skills?

POOR TRAINING AND COMMUNICATION SKILLS WILL BRING CONFLICT

An agent shared this story with me recently and showed me the emails related to an interaction with a quality analyst who had given him major quality error, which he said was incorrect.  These are the emails exchanged:

Insurance Quality Analyst email sent to Agent:  “You’ve made an error in the data entered for this call.  I listened to the call and you did not speak with the actual customer.  You spoke with his wife.  If you disagree with this error, please respond.

Agent email response: “Yes, I disagree.  I did not make an error.  Please check the customer profile to confirm.

Analyst reply:  “No. You did make error.”

 Agent reply:  “OK”

If you just looked at the dialog in the emails, it appears that the analyst and the agent disagree on the error, the analyst rechecked and confirmed the error, and that the agent finally accepted the error.

However, this wasn’t the end of the story.  After further investigation, the error was finally removed.  So, what actually occurred?

The quality analyst said that she had listened to the call, heard that the agent was speaking with a woman instead of speaking with a customer named Michael Smith directly. This would definitely be a violation of their insurance procedures and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

After the agent’s supervisor listened to the same call, he heard the agent correctly and thoroughly verified the customer’s identification and had shared information with the Michael Smith on file.  Michael was the woman caller’s name.

The analyst admitted that she had not listened to the call a second time or even looked at the customer’s account information.  She said she had missed hearing the woman identify herself as “Michael” at the start of the call.

Then, why did the agent just respond with “OK” to accepting the error when he knew he had not done so?

The agent told me that others on his team were experiencing similar situations with other quality analysts.  When they reported these issues to their supervisor, they were told it had been sent to the quality manager for review, and the agents would later receive a canned “Your error has been removed” email from the original analyst.

The agent added that these false errors still continue and that he and his teammates have decided to stop interacting with the quality analysts who email and just forward these issues to their contact center supervisor with their reason for not accepting the error.

If these issues with communication and poor quality observation skills are continuing, it is obvious that the quality manager is not coaching with his team.

• Is the Quality Manager monitoring and rating calls together with each analyst to coach them on their observation skills?

• Is the Quality Manager pulling some random emails to check on their written communication skills and direct interactions with agents?

• If the analysts are also doing coaching with agents, have you sat in and observed them coach and then coached while they observed you?

Do your supervisors and the quality analysts have similar coaching activities and goals, and discuss with each other so that they are working towards the same results?

……….

This article originally appeared in the Contact Center Pipeline January 2013 issue

Are You Setting Your Quality Team Up For Conflict? Part I

Unfortunately, conflict between Quality teams and Contact Center teams happens more often than it should.  Managers on both sides will say that it is probably due to personality conflicts or simple miscommunication.

While those factors do play a part at times, we need to dig deeper to find out what is really going on.  From my own observations and feedback from center employees, I’ve found that some companies actually set conflict in motion through their reporting structure, the design of the quality program and tools being used, or even poor QA training and coaching.

REPORTING STRUCTURE ISSUES WILL BRING CONFLICT

The Quality Manager and the analysts most often report to an operations executive who may not be actively involved in the day-to-day front line management of the center. The Contact Center Director or Manager and the Quality Manager are usually peers in this scenario.

Although companies design this structure of separation to have what they feel is an unbiased look at quality, they may also unwittingly be setting an “us versus them” conflict in motion.  The responsibility for fostering a cooperative relationship between quality and center operations lies with the executive level manager they both report to.

If the quality manager and center director have an adversarial relationship, their teams will pick up on this and the conflict will happen during their interactions as well.

One activity where conflict between individual analysts and supervisors or between both teams can be seen is during calibration meetings.  In these sessions, everyone listens to agent calls and observes system entries, rates skills together and discusses opportunities to improve.

Many calibration sessions become more about “I’m right and your wrong” finger-pointing with voices raised in argument over the tiniest details.  Of course the customer’s experience is often lost in this type of scenario.  Worse yet, I’ve seen quality and center managers sit back and allow this to happen and then privately talk with their team afterwards about how ridiculous the other team was acting.

Our quality and the contact center operations teams need to come together and agree on goals and missions for the best customer experience and business efficiencies and results.

Quality monitoring must be based on facts, not emotions.  Analysts, supervisors and their leadership must also be willing to admit when one of them erred in scoring or when an agent reporting to them failed the customer.  The ability to admit mistakes and learn from them is more important than grandstanding in front of the group.

Regardless of the reporting structure used, we need to insure that we are committed to the common goals and avoid the blame game or taking things personally.  We expect our agents to take feedback and coaching with an open attitude so the same expectation should be there for our quality and leadership teams in the center.

….PART 2 WILL FOLLOW SOON!

This article originally appeared in the Contact Center Pipeline January 2013 issue

Coaching: Plan Your Work and Work Your Plan!

“Plan your work and work your plan.”

Never have truer words been spoken for the effectiveness of your supervisors or others doing Agent skills coaching. If there isn’t a good plan for coaching, your Coaches will be just going through the motions, missing needed sessions with agents or looking at coaching as just an interruption in their busy day.

Many supervisors have every intention of working with their agents on skills, but find that the week or even a month has gone by with just minimal Coaching done. Feeling rushed, their weak Coaching substitute of “telling the agent what to work on” happens instead of an interactive and focused coaching that brings results.

Effective coaching isn’t a once and done effort. Your Coaches need to plan for skills activities time with their agents and the motivation needed to encourage continuous improvement.

Many supervisors tell me that they are buried under reports and meetings scheduled by their manager. In order to help them be successful, we need to be clear on our expectations for coaching and remove any obstacles that our Coaches have.  We can demonstrate our interest in helping them succeed by our own planning and review of theirs.

Here are some questions to help in your process:

NOT PLANNING WASTES TIME

What are my Coaching mission and goals?  Are they based on a number of coaching sessions completed or focused on results?

Many supervisors are doing a lot of coaching but with minimal results. We must make sure that our supervisors aren’t just going through a coaching checklist to meet coaching “metrics”, but instead are doing what brings results in terms of agent skills development and increased customer satisfaction.

Some Coaches tell me that they see their goal as the completion of X number of sessions.  They make sure that they do the minimum required in order to stay in the manager’s good graces. Others say that they often feel that they are spinning their wheels and making no progress. They work with the same poor performing Agents each month, telling them the same things that are needed for improvement. These coaches are frustrated by the lack of results. Their manager just repeats the mantra “more coaching” without giving direction and working hands on with them to assist in developing a good coaching plan for each agent.

The goals for Customer Experience and development of agents must be clear for your Coaches and you must also provide them with the tools to reach those goals in terms of training and working side by side with them for success.

COOKIE CUTTER COACHING WASTES TIME:

 Am I holding my Coaches responsible for completion of certain results-based activities related to successful Coaching? Are they personalizing the coaching method based on the agent’s skills, experience and learning type?

Responsibility for results, not just actions is a big key to their success. Agent skills differ, length of time on the job varies and so the time that must be spent with each agent varies as well as the type of coaching done.

Instead, many newer Coaches make the mistake of coaching everyone just once a month, using the same coaching method with every agent.  They miss the opportunity to see results from those average or struggling agents who need a boost from increased coaching or approaching the skill needs using more personalized approaches. They will tell me they don’t have the time to Coach more.  Often it isn’t more coaching that’s needed but the right kind of coaching to help the agent change skill behaviors.

Managers need to make sure that the Coaches are not just “tellers” but coaching “doers”, rolling up their sleeves and working with their agents.  Initially more intensive coaching such as role-play, side-by-side call handling while the agent observes them handling calls may be needed.  Once results are seen, the Coach will be able to work on more of a “maintenance” coaching schedule requiring less time with agents who have improved.

NOT SCHEDULING COACHING WASTES TIME

Are they scheduling Coaching activities on their Calendar?

If we are working with our supervisor Coaches on how they communicate with the agent about skills, we may not realize the importance of working with them on their time management for coaching.  I find that if it isn’t on the Coach’s calendar or schedule, it isn’t going to have priority. If your supervisor is a Myers-Briggs type “P” (http://www.myersbriggs.org/) who may like to keep plans to a minimum, keeping a calendar with Coaching and alert reminders for it may not come naturally for them.

Recently, I walked a Coach through his calendar to demonstrate how the amount of coaching needed for effectiveness could be possible.  We discussed the need to be flexible in case an urgent situation conflicts with the time and how to deal with that.

It was interesting to watch his expression when he realized that scheduling blocks of time for his formal and side-by-side coaching sessions for the month made it seem less daunting a task.

NON-ESSENTIAL TASKS WASTE TIME

Do I help them find the time to Coach?

Holding a supervisor or quality coach responsible for results but not giving them the time to do it is a recipe for disaster. I’ve had Coaches tell me that they have the desire to do more Coaching but their manager always assigns them other activities.

Your goal should be to review how they spend their time, then find ways to free them from non-essential activities so they can spend 50 to 60% of their time Coaching.

We attend a great deal of meetings and often pull the supervisors in to tell them what happened or even have them attend some meetings with us.  While communication of information is a key to the success of our business, we should decide which meetings are crucial for the Coach to attend, and which can be summarized in an email you or another attendee sends out to share key information.

Reports are another time eater for many front line supervisors who coach.  Once again, prioritizing with your help is key. Can reports be handled by an agent who has potential for moving into a lead or supervisor’s role in the future?

MOTIVATE COACHES TO SPEND TIME WISELY

What am I doing to motivate my coaches to spend the time needed and get results?

Much as our Agents need motivation, our Coaches need to be rewarded for their efforts and results.  You get the behavior you reward so you need to make sure that you are aware of their daily coaching activities and observe them in action.  If you hear an agent showing improvement when you monitor or if customers give kudos to an agent, it’s a great opportunity to not only praise the agent, but the coach who has been working with them.

Verbal and written praise goes a long way to encourage your Coaches to keep working towards the goals for improved Customer Experience.  Monetary incentives if tied to actual improvements and not just activities can be great motivators as well.

You cannot wait to notice and give positive feedback a month or two later when you review quality reports.  Take an active role in observing and rewarding good efforts and results on a daily basis.

REPEAT COACHING WITHOUT IMPROVEMENT WASTES TIME

Are any Coaches wasting time Coaching the unwilling or unable? Have I given the Coach the tools needed to be successful?

If your supervisor is coaching the same agent without results, is it because the Agent is unable or unwilling, or does your Coach need coaching themselves to learn some new techniques?

Observe the coaching sessions and coaching activities each supervisor does and then meet with them to discuss.  Do they need some coaching skills training?

If your coach is doing all the right things to drive skills improvement and motivating the agent, you need to assess whether that agent really wants to improve or is unable to show further improvement.  Your coach needs to know that you will support them and make a decision to change a coaching situation into a disciplinary one if warranted.

Originally published in Contact Center Pipeline in October 2012

Quality Calibration: You say it’s 80, I say it’s 90…Let’s call the whole thing off!

I love visiting Contact Centers and working with Leadership and Quality teams.  After 30 plus years in the industry, I will say that I’m still happy with my career choice.  I certainly have had a lot of interesting experiences working with all those Centers, but nothing can compare to some of  those knock-down, drag-out Calibration sessions pitting Supervisor against Supervisor, Supervisor(s) against the Quality Analysts, Supervisors against Manager.  You get the picture.

As I’ve sat and observed the interactions, including the eye rolling, the almost name calling and the defense of what some participants described to a Supervisor as “your pet Agent”, I wondered where the Customer Experience was in all of this.

So many Calibration sessions become more about “I’m right and your wrong” finger-pointing when the scores don’t agree, than how this call affected the Customer. I’ve even seen some Managers avoid the whole infighting issue by just scheduling Calibration sessions once a quarter or even less frequently instead of taking steps to improve them.

In order to have productive (and yes professional) Calibration sessions, we need to set some ground rules, for instance:

1.  Opinions are just that…opinions.  Our monitoring should be based on facts, instead of rating the call high because “Mary means well” or “John’s worked here a long time”.

Consistency in how we rate Agent skills is important.

♦

2. Listen for “Moments of Truth” for that Customer:  Accuracy, timeliness, problem resolution, empathy, listening – Did we take care of the reason for the call and if not, was it the Agent’s issue or a policy/procedure that prevented resolution (which needs revision if possible)?

Why did the Customer contact us and did we resolve? Why Not?

♦

3. If you don’t agree on the scores, why not?:  discuss rationally, not emotionally.

Don’t take discussion personally

♦

4. Make sure everyone understands what your Customers expect and need to have a positive Experience:  Customer Feedback, Surveys, comments Customer makes during the call, CSAT (Customer Satisfaction Score, or perhaps related to the Calibration fighting, I found out this also stands for Combatshootingandtactics.com ).  Our monitoring may also include checks for sales skills and revenue generation but if the Customer is satisfied we know we have a greater opportunity to sell more.

 The Customer Experience

♦

5. Repeat number 4…the Customer rules and providing what they need and want decides whether this call was an 80 or 90 or whatever scoring applies.

This is just some food for thought and I know there are more great Calibration ideas.  I hope you’ll share some of your Calibration stories here or on Twitter (I’m @mkcallconsult) or LinkedIn

Can You Ever Coach Too Much?

Today’s post is about those who suffer from what I call “Overkill Coaching”.   Too much Coaching without results or effectiveness.  

It’s out of balance.

Overkill Coaching can be approached by a Supervisor from either a positive or negative manner.  And this type of Coaching is frequently accompanied by repetitious Rewards and Motivation. It’s important to coach with every Agent according to their level of skill needs and motivation rather than having a cookie cutter program for one and all.

When too much Monitoring and Coaching is done with top Agents, even if positively done, it may trigger negative reactions in those Agents.

Your most productive and high quality reps may feel that the Supervisor doesn’t trust them to do their job well. They sometimes say to me, “Why is he listening to my calls every single day?” or  “Is she hoping to find something wrong?”

The poor quality Agent has their own take on too much Coaching.

If you are coaching with a low performing Agent day in and day out with no visible progress and this same Agent sees no action is taken by you to turn Coaching into a more serious performance plan including possible removal from their job, your Coaching becomes meaningless despite the amount being done.  They might be unable or unwilling but your Coaching is getting the same results either way.

It all revolves around Coaching for results.

• How much Coaching does each Agent need?
• How much do best Agents need versus those struggling?
• And, when do you decide that the Coaching isn’t working and next steps are required?

Coaching for results must have great planning, implementation and follow-up, not just a series of activities.  Change your monitoring, coaching and motivation activities to personalize your approach with Agents and keep your Coaching interesting.

Guest Post: My Coaching Interview with Assistly

I was thrilled when Alyson at Assistly (http://www.assistly.com/) contacted me for an interview about my Skills Coaching work with my clients.  If you aren’t familiar with Assistly, they designed and market a Customer Care software tool that improves Agent workflow and support ticket management. Their enthusiasm for Customer Service and the Teams that offer Customer Support is evident in their blog posts and in the development of their technology for Contact Centers.  Needless to say, an interview request from a fellow Customer Service advocate was greatly appreciated.

The entire interview post is below.  Hope you enjoy! ~ Melissa

Customer Service Solutions: Coaching in the Call Center

Posted on June 8, 2011 by Alyson

Melissa Kovacevic

Editor’s Note: Melissa Kovacevic (company website: www.mkcallcenterimprovement.com) is a coach with 27 years of consulting experience working with contact centers and frontline retail teams to help them improve process, procedures, strategy, and skills.  She designs and presents customized training programs that help management, supervisors, and agents refocus on the customer as the central character in the support environment. Her role is a complex blend of teacher, diplomat, cheerleader, and psychologist.

The philosophy of exceptional customer service has been receiving renewed attention, and Melissa’s strategies and process working with all the members of an organization illustrate the way companies are aiming at a world-class customer experience. This recent interview with Melissa lets readers glimpse the issues facing contact centers.

What is the gating factor for a customer care consultant? Why would an organization bring in a coach?

Companies may recognize that they have talented people and also some who have not “gotten it,” or who can’t make the transition from book knowledge to applying that knowledge on the job. They may recognize a need for one-on-one training with any or all of the agents, or just with the supervisor. Some are seeing a decline in customer satisfaction or are having complaints from agents about how a supervisor is coaching them.

What kinds of things get in the way of a call center’s success?

One common practice is that management sets metrics for coaching to be done by the supervisors. It might be to monitor (listen in) to a certain number of calls a month, or fill out a skill rating form. Sometimes this is complicated by complex scoring, etc.

So, as a result, supervisors can spend most of their time trying to meet these metrics—thinking only in terms of those demands, and it’s a rush to the finish every month, rather than really seeing these tasks as an integral part of their everyday job. Coaching by the supervisor shouldn’t be performed to a checklist but rather to results.

This goes back to the maxim: “You get the behavior you reward.” If your reward to the supervisor is about meeting the numbers, that’s what they’ll give you. If you reward for quality improvement, forward motion, you will see a different path to meet the goals.

How exactly does the process play out as you conduct coaching?

The supervisor might single out agents who are responsive to coaching, with good attitudes. Then I ask for a few more challenging agents. The supervisor and I listen to the agent’s calls together and discuss how they handle skills such as empathy, asking appropriate questions, being proactive and other skills related to the customer’s experience on the call.

First, they observe me conducting an interactive coaching session and later, I will observe the supervisor conducting one. I teach supervisors how to uncover why those skills are lacking or are continuing issues for the agent and then how to be interactive with coaching activities related to those skills. I might suggest that the supervisor role play, and/or conduct side-by-side calls. Then we get back together to follow up and take a temperature check. It’s very much in the “teach a man to fish” philosophy. They learn by observing, doing themselves, and see the changes that occur.

How does management identify where to concentrate a coach’s expertise?

Often they want someone from the outside to assess and coach not only the supervisors, but also underperforming agents, including new hires or long-time agents with skills issues.

New hires sometimes need a training boost that a supervisor is unsure how to provide. Or the supervisor may realize that they were a bad hire but just continues to coach instead of realizing they are going nowhere.

And burnouts — well sometimes I work with agents who have been in the same phone position for 15 years. And they get stagnant, and the sad part is that the managers let them stay that way because they’re “legacy” agents who have been inherited during a merger or acquisition or from a previous manager . It sometimes becomes about keeping the legacy employee happy with the detriment to the customer. That type of agent may feel entitled to their job and forget that the customer needs to be the focus of their efforts. I help management look at these agents and decide if they are willing and able to improve or not.

How does burnout manifest itself?

Increased sick days, frequent absences, and “gaming the system”—finding ways to avoid working during times when they are permitted extra time to update records or other administrative duties. These techniques are all trackable by studying an employee’s availability at the desk and attendance.

But the biggest thing about this category of agent is that it seems more difficult for them to accept change and coaching. There’s an additional need to get them to change their attitude, and sometimes that is not possible. With these folks, it’s not about skills alone, it’s about a complete change of heart.

You really can’t train or coach attitude. You can train someone on people skills, what I call ‘soft skills’, but you can’t coach attitude. If a person is unwilling to change, that’s the hardest thing.

How long do you try to retrain someone in this state of mind?

If you coach the right way—and I mean interactive, helpful coaching—for 3 sessions, during a 4-8 weeks period to implement the ideas, you’ll be seeing an accurate picture of what that agent is able to do. We are not looking for perfection in a short window but if there is no improvement, management needs to move to the next step of disciplinary action.

Let’s talk about the role of management in this story.

Sometimes managers are hired for their bottom line skills and have no interpersonal skills. They have great operational skills. Or you can get the opposite—people who don’t have any operational skills but are excellent at the warm fuzzy stuff.

Organizations should look to promote not only based on seniority, but for skillset application. Do they know how to coach, motivate, and inspire a group of people? Ideally, you’ve got to end up with a blend of both operational and soft skills. As with the Agent coaching, sometimes you can teach people skills. Other people never get it.

Surprisingly, some managers don’t see the need for praise and support as part of their job. But it’s critically important to publicize good behavior all through the hierarchy. Some managers resist this. I’ll tell them, “You need to recognize the supervisor. They need praise and recognition. You need to pay attention to finding their strengths and tell them publicly how they are succeeding, or surprise them with something special.”

How important do you think it is to involve the C-suite in this process?

I think it’s very important. Top management understands the pain, but they’re not involved in the day to-day management. They may need to know that a supervisor or manager is in over their head—maybe they don’t have the education they need, or they’re just overwhelmed. At the mid level of management, people really need a supportive mentor. People who are promoted without that grounding influence may flounder.

Some of ideas I bring to coaching go back to my early career. I was lucky enough to have a mentor who taught me things that he had learned about motivation. I was taught on the job. Other people didn’t have the same time schedule as I did and didn’t have the benefit of that kind of mentoring. I owe a lot of my success to that lucky happenstance.

In what ways does coaching at this level change companies?

One thing, in a call center, sometimes there aren’t enough levels of duties and skills to inspire and encourage employees. For instance, I encourage my clients to let agents grow in different directions.

This isn’t that difficult to do, either. You can create skill combinations. Maybe people begin on the phone, graduate to phone and emails. Then they go to a combination of phone, chat, and emails, and so on. This creates a sort of job progression with opportunities for growth and promotion. I’ve seen companies create unofficial teams of employees responsible for outreach such as survey creation and ambassadorial roles.

You know, I just read something about this! Dr. Nicola J. Millard, Customer Experience Futurologist, has written a white paper titled, “Clouds, Crowds, and Customers: Doing Business as Unusual.” In the paper, Millard suggests that companies should match customers up with the most appropriate person within the organization—a kind of networked expertise. This idea is a lot like Assistly’s Whole Company Support doctrine. We think all customer care solutions and CRM tools should enable this kind of relationship building.

Absolutely. Another way to keep support agents vibrant in a call center environment is to assign opportunities to do something completely different in customer service—man the front desk, work the drive-through. Some contact centers are located in a retail branch location and that opens this opportunity for agents. This has the added benefit that supervisors see how people can handle themselves “under fire” when you have to work with people in person and balance the cash drawer at the same time.

At Assistly, we always say that it’s hard to have happy customers if your support agents are unhappy.

The best companies take a humanistic approach. They understand that they can’t let all the employees just do what they want, but they want to let them know that their focus is on both the customer and the employees. They make the employee aware that as long as it doesn’t compromise customer experience, they’ll work to make things easier and enjoyable for the team. An agent who is motivated and recognized for efforts—who is enjoying a customer-facing role—will definitely be a wonderful ambassador for a company.

Emails – Are Your Agents in the Danger Zone?

We talk a lot about monitoring phone interactions between Customers and our Agents but from my Consulting experience, not enough quality coaching is focused on monitoring Email communications.

Many of our best phone skill Agents are poor writers.  We are dealing with different skill sets for verbal and written and need to plan for hiring, training and selecting those who will have to do both communications with Customers.

As part of my skills coaching, I often review emails for quality and customer experience.  The Manager or Supervisor will pull these for me with a few comments about an Agent having “strong” writing skills or not.  Not much else is said.  When asked if they have a skill monitoring for the emails similar to how they review calls for quality, most of them say no.

I highly recommend setting email quality expectations, how you will review for quality and then train and coach your Agents to meet those expectations.

Here are a few of the email skill Danger Zones that Managers need to watch out for:

1. Too much Agent personal chat in emails: I’m all for rapport and empathy, but should your Agent mention their surgery or flat tire to the Customer.  Unfortunately some Agents love to bare their souls in emails which can be quite embarrassing for your Company and take focus off of the Customer and their needs.  Let the Customer tell you about their problems, not the reverse.

2. Misspelled words/ poor grammar/ poor etiquette:  We all work with systems that have spell or grammar check but apparently some Agents ignore these or don’t have enabled.

3. Adding quirky clip art in Signatures or quotes:  Where do you draw the line?  At one client’s email review session, I found an Agent who had added pink prancing ponies below her signature.  Another had political quotes that made it very clear where she stood on issues.

4. Lack of any signature details:  Signing Mary Smith alone doesn’t tell me if you are an Agent in Customer Service or work in Accounting.  Make sure your Agents have the appropriate contact information you want them to display at the end of emails such as name, title, company, phone number (and extension if appropriate) and company email/website and other information for marketing purposes.

5. Rambling emails and jargon:  An email written to a Customer by an insurance Customer Service Agent went on for two pages of “insurance-ese” technical talk.  It clearly meant nothing to the Customer based on her email back to the Agent the next day.  The Customer  asked the Agent to call her to discuss instead of writing as she was confused.  A one contact resolution opportunity became two emails and a call to solve a relatively simple problem made complicated by the Agents writing style.

6. Inappropriate Jokes to Internal or External Customers:  No explanation needed here.

7. Too Direct Style: These are Agents who write as if they are the dictators of their own small Service country.  YOU WILL ….  YOU MUST… (yes, some even write a sentence in Caps just to make sure the Customer knows they mean business).

What is my best advice for Agents before sending an Email? First, read it out loud since emails do have a “tone” of voice based on word choices and sentence structure. Second, never email a response to a Customer or co-worker if you are angry or upset. Save a draft, then calm down and read again.

< For More Customer Service tips and sharing, please join me on Twitter: @mkcallconsult or visit my website: http://www.mkcallcenterimprovement.com >

What Customers Really Want…(I think)

I love reading the Customer Service, Contact Center and Social Media posts on Twitter and LinkedIn.  I think sometimes times though that we over-complicate things when it comes to Customers and what they want.

I like to think of myself as a typical Customer, despite being a Consultant in the business.  My needs are simple:  Take care of my order/need promptly, accurately and if I have contact with a live person, I want friendly and understanding. Oh, and I don’t want to spend 20 minutes searching your online help information only to find there is no answer for what I need or maybe I just can’t find it in the jumbled knowledge base you’ve constructed.  Don’t respond to my email with something you’ve copied and pasted and has nothing to do with my question.

Customers really don’t care to hear about our problems either.  When the IVR starts with “Due to high call volume, you’ll have a long wait or call back or go to our website or just do what you want…” (OK I’m kidding about the last one) like most Customers, my first thought is “Well, is that my problem? Why don’t you have enough people to take my call?”   Of course as an industry insider, I know that staffing may be down due to unplanned absences or the high call volume might be due to a billing or mailing error sent out inadvertently. Doesn’t really matter to the Customer why.  They just don’t like to wait.

When the Agent who finally answers apologizes for my wait with sincerity, tells me they will be glad to help me and really listens (not a flat toned scripted, “Sorry for your wait, what is your account number Caller number 3,568…”), my Moment of Truth is going back up to the positive side.  I’m sure most of our Customers are that way too.  If the rest of the contact is positive, friendly, helpful and showing interest in them, they start to move away from the negative feeling they had at the start of their contact with us in queue. We need to remember that the highest percentage of Customers who stop doing business with us do so because someone didn’t show interest in them.  My clients receive occasional “I hate waiting for help” complaints but the majority are because an Agent failed to make them feel that they were valued and their business important.

I know it is hard for us to step back from all of the complex Metrics and Operational issues we deal with in running a Center, but sometimes, we need to do just that and think about what our own expectations are as a Customer when we are on the other side of the call.

We need to realize we will make mistakes.  We will disappoint Customers at times and waits may be long. It’s how we (and our Agents) make up for that disappointment that affects what the Customer thinks about us when the call is done.

Customer Service Skills Coaching Activity or Coaching Results?

A Quality Assurance Manager I once worked with had a great explanation for what was happening with some of the Coaching going on in their Call Center.  He said there was a lot of focus on Coaching “activity” and not on Coaching “results”.  He was right.

Some of the Supervisors and Quality Assurance folks were waiting until the end of month and then doing a mad dash to get the number of required calls monitored.  They also rushed through coaching sessions, just to check off as completed.  One even did long distance coaching where they simply placed the monitoring information in the Agent’s desk file and said “Let me know if you have any questions”.  The assumption of that Supervisor was that the long time Agent didn’t really need any coaching but could figure it out themselves!

Many were simply giving Agents feedback on what they needed to improve in, but not spending the time to actually analyze with the Agent why the skill was a problem, discuss how they could fix it and then practice the skill with them.  And for some, follow-up was non-existent…until the next month’s coaching activity was due.  Agents making improvement were receiving no encouragement in between formal coaching sessions.

Coaching should be a priority.  But unfortunately for many, it’s seen as a drudge. Something that needs to be done to meet a goal set by upper Management.  Supervisors often tell me how tired they are of coaching the same things over and over only to have the Agent show no improvement.  When I question further, I usually find it’s because the Coach knows how to do the Coaching activity, but not the kind of Coaching needed for results.

So how can you help your Supervisors and QA have the “right” Coaching attitude and get results. Just as they need to analyze why an Agent skill is an issue, you need to do some digging too:

1. How are your Supervisors spending their day?  Do some basic time/task observation and recording to find out what is really going on with their daily activities.
2. What are you doing as a Manager to free Supervisors from activities that aren’t productive or aren’t related to Customer Experience quality & Employee Development? Can you help them find more time to coach?
3. Are you leading by example?  How are you Coaching them on their own Customer Service skills and Leadership skills?  Are you the best Coach that you can be?
4. What type of training have your Supervisors been given in how to effectively monitor calls and coach for “results”?
5. Observe the Coaching sessions they conduct.  Are they lecture or interactive?  Does the Agent appear to understand the missed opportunities in the call? Does the Supervisor know how to deal with defensive Agents or those who make excuses. Or are they avoiding conflict? Is there enthusiasm for Coaching?
6. What expectations have you set for the Supervisor to work with the Agent after the Coaching session in order to help the Agent improve?  Have they committed to do side-by-side calls, call demos, role play or other “homework” to help the Agent.
7. What kind of Monitoring and Coaching reporting do you have in place?  How often are you meeting with each Supervisor to review calls, Agent progress, help them with challenging Coaching situations?
8. How are your Supervisors rewarded and motivated for the success they have in Coaching?  What kind of feedback are they getting from you regarding their Coaching skills?  How enthusiastic are you about Coaching?

I truly believe that as skill Coaches we need to Discuss with Them, Show Them (demo), Observe Them, and then Reward Them for any progress made. As their Manager, you need to practice the same great Coaching skills with them.

Dear Supervisor…Please Leave Your Cubicle Sometimes

My first job in a Call Center was with DialAmerica Marketing in the 1970′s.  Because they did Telemarketing and I had a sales background, I was quickly promoted to Supervisor.  In early days of Call Centers, many of us didn’t have computers.  In fact, we were paper driven…Reps stacking cards with Customer magazine renewals on their desk, dialing until the stack was gone and receiving another stack.  Tracking was done by making little piles of these cards on desks:  Sales, No Sales, Call Backs, Wrong Number/Disconnects   Very simple but effective back then.  When I told Greg Levin (@greg_levin) about our “primitive” Call Center, he said Lily Tomlin must’ve been our ACD (remember Laugh-In’s Operator, Ernestine…”One ringy-dingy…”?)   Pretty close.

We didn’t have cubicles either. Rows of desks lined up neatly in an open square room with one big Supervisor desk in the front like a teacher’s desk in a classroom.  A phone for monitoring was prominently located in the center. We had only one chair for two Supervisors, which meant only one of us could sit down at any time.  One monitored and tracked activities/performance up front while the other walked around the center to motivate, smile, offer assistance desk-side.  I had very tired feet at the end of my shift.

I’m sure you are wondering why I bring up all this Call Center nostalgia.

Sometimes I think all of the fabulous technology and all of the beautiful Call Center ergonomically correct furnishings and cubicles which greatly enhance our work today, unfortunately have also brought about the dreaded “Supervisor in Hiding” disease.

I love working with the front line Leaders, Supervisors and Team Leaders. Many suffer from the “Hiding” disease.  Sometimes, getting them to leave their cubicle is like asking them to let you take them for dental surgery. These cubicle driven Supervisors spend hours glued to their monitor, answering email, taking escalated calls, and then leave only to attend endless meetings requested by their Manager, HR, Training, etc., etc.  Hours are spent locked away in their cubicles or in meeting rooms away from the Center action.  Communication with Reps is via email or chat.  Some even email coaching feedback to Reps.

What Supervisors don’t do often enough is “walk the floor” to see and hear what is going on, to offer motivation and praise during these “walk-by” opportunities.  Too often, they monitor and Coach following a rigid process designed by QA or Management.  They check off their tasks as completed each month, putting coaching away until the next month it is due.  They miss the chances to “catch” a Rep doing something right, a Rep working on skills, and reward them for efforts made right then and there.  Stopping by to thank a Rep for their work or compliment them on improvements brings positive results and lot’s of smiles.  I practice this myself when I’m working with a client on-site doing skills coaching.

Sitting “side-by-side” with an established Rep, observing them on their calls and navigating the system is a wonderful opportunity to build rapport and coach on the job.  Handling calls while they observe shows you are willing to roll your sleeves up and do the job too. Many times, this type of on the job coaching is done only with New Hires.

DialAmerica may have been saving money on furniture by having only 1 chair for 2 Supervisors.  Or maybe they really understood the best way to get us to motivate and coach “on the floor”.

Struggling with Time Management?   I hope you’ll enjoy this article by Wendy Hearn,  Principal of Wendy Hearn Coaching, an international coaching company about work “time wasters” as much as I did: http://tinyurl.com/27926lu