Employees are the primary customer contact for every business. So if they are not engaged or have a neutral or negative attitude, what does that say for your company? In today’s competitive environment, you cannot afford the neutral or negative customer experiences that will usually result. So what can you do to keep employees engaged and motivated to create a positive customer experience?
Here are the recommendations we use most frequently with our clients:
Be clear on your values and expectations
…fundamental to ensuring a consistent message is communicated. Without clarity from the top, teams are unclear of expectations and rarely achieve them.
Be consistent with your priorities
… align them with activities that customers value. Communicate the reasons for your priorities to all your team.
Lead by example
… walk the talk and consistently reinforce the desired behaviors. Without a demonstration from the top, how do you expect your people to believe in you?
Provide enough information
… in a centralized location on existing clients, products, and services. This will give your team the confidence to answer questions without having to rely on others for information.
Provide coaching
… on all important skills that your employees need. Let them know you want them to have all the necessary tools to do their jobs well.
Don’t provide
… too much direction. Don’t limit their initiative and developing skills. You want to provide some freedoms and decision making authority to try new things in making a positive customer impact. Encourage everyone to share their ideas, results, and successes.
Keep up the motivation
… regularly and consistently. Celebrate even the small successes in customer service. Look for different ways to recognize and reward positive learning, performance, and initiative.
Ensure each employee
… knows their individual roles and responsibilities in contributing to customer engagement and service. Establish backups for each team member with good cross-training of each employee role. Job rotation also goes a long way in the employee development process.
The bottom line
Never be done with your coaching, life is a continuous learning experience. Engaged employees take work and a consistent development process, but you will be pleasantly surprised by the impact they will make on your customers’ experience and service.
