1 - Let`s Grow Leaders

 Karin Hurt
CEO, Let’s Grow Leaders
443-750-1249
karin.hurt@letsgrowleaders.com
@letsgrowleaders
Copyright © 2015 by Karin Hurt
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in
any form or by any electronic or mechanical means – except
in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles or reviews
– without written permission from its author.
First Edition, 2015
Table of Contents
Prologue: The Challenge
1
Opportunity #1
Turning a Weak Center Director into an All-Star Director
3
Opportunity #2
Managing Metrics versus Managing Results
9
Opportunity #3
Under-Developing Supervisors versus Developing All-Star
Supervisors
Opportunity #4
Turning People from Bots into All-Stars
27
Opportunity #5
Working for Social Media Instead of Working Social Media
36
Afterwords: About Karin Hurt
@LetsGrowLeaders
Appendices
Important / Urgent Matrix
Creating Connections
14
43
46
47
PROLOGUE:
THE CHALLENGE
There’s nothing so stable as change.
–Bob Dylan
The way the world communicates is changing faster than the
call center industry can keep up. Perhaps you’ve even made
the shift from “call center” nomenclature to “contact center.”
While that’s a start, changing the name won’t change the
game.
I see a lot of seasoned call center execs and managers who’ve
been in the industry forever. There’s movement within the
industry, but not necessarily in and out of it. Call center
people tend to stay call center people. That’s good and bad.
1
The good news: managing a great call center is complex so
your expertise is vital. You’ve built the right muscles to make
balanced decisions when the calls are backed up, your reps
are tired, and the snow starts to fall.
The bad news: when you’ve “been there and done that” for so
long, it’s often tough to see that many of the old ways of
doing things just won’t work in today’s environment.
This book is designed as a conversation starter for you and
your leadership team. I want to challenge you to approach to
your contact center as a true leadership challenge, rather than
a complex management gig. Use your extensive knowledge as
a vital foundation, but also invite alternative perspectives.
I’ve lived the call center world from every angle: Team
Leader, HR Consultant, Call Center Director, Service
Management Director, Sales Director reliant on call center
performance, HR Director, Executive Director leading the
turnaround of VZW’s outsourcing channel, and now working
internationally to create game-changing results.
My goal is to support your success, by sharing what I’ve
learned over 2 decades of working at Verizon Wireless, and
now as an external consultant and keynote speaker.
These are some ideas to start the conversation. I’d love to talk
with you more about your unique challenges. Please reach out
to me to schedule a free consultation.
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OPPORTUNITY #1:
TURNING A WEAK CENTER DIRECTOR INTO AN
ALL STAR DIRECTOR
People have a hard time letting go of their
suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they
prefer suffering that is familiar.
–Thich Nhat Hanh
You cannot have a best-in-class call center without a
rock star director.
This may sound extreme, but I assure you it isn’t. I’ve seen
centers with solid potential downsized and closed far too often
when they could have been salvaged with better leadership.
I’ve also seen amazing turnarounds happen in just a few
months when the only dynamic that changed was the leader.
3
If you’re serious about results, invest in finding and
developing the very best center leader you can and then have
her work tirelessly to build a strong bench of leaders
underneath her who could step in at any time.
SIGNS YOUR LEADER IS NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME
Before we get into the definition of “rock star” let’s start with
signs of trouble. Perhaps you’ll recognize a few of these
characters.
u Cara is deeply invested and extremely stressed. You’re
pretty sure she’s sleeping at the center. You see
toothpaste and mascara hidden behind the toilet paper
in the bathroom. She’s competent, but she’s protecting
her weak team rather than coaching them to greatness.
u Jason has “employee engagement” plans out the yingyang, but absenteeism and attrition in his group are out
of control. Today is pajama day. Tomorrow is pancake
Friday. Oh wait, now we’re talking like pirates. Cute, and
often effective, but you can’t fix deep-seated issue with
schmaltz.
4
u Dennis is all about the numbers. His team knows exactly
where they stand at any given minute of the day.
Nobody can correlate force to load to sales and quality
better than this guy. But when the numbers don’t tell a
positive story, the team is longing to know what to do to
fix it. That question frustrates and scares him.
u Megan is super nice. She has high-energy. She loves the
reps and gets deeply involved in supporting them in
their personal and professional goals. All amazing
qualities. If call center directors were an elected
position, she would win hands down. But the results are
in the toilet. As you dig deeper there is little strategy
and even less accountability for results.
u Sarah is a high-potential executive, highly
recommended, but needing large-team experience—
that’s why she’s working in this big center. Sarah is
smart–no doubt. But deep down she resents the
rotation, and is skeptical about “these people.” She’s
convinced they don’t care, and just has to get enough
short-term momentum to get out of here.
5
5
SIGNS YOUR CALL CENTER LEADER IS A ROCK STAR
1.
A wildly, passionate commitment to the
customer experience
The rock star leader helps the team visualize and believe
in great customer
service and why it
matters.
He holds high-standards
and takes any breach of
great service as if it had
just happened to his
mother—no, make that
his grandmother. His
energy toward great service serves as a charismatic
contagious vortex that inspires daily action.
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2.
A beacon of calm in the midst of chaos
3.
An “I’m in it with you” attitude
4.
A legacy mindset
This rock star is not easily rattled. When the systems
crash, the calls back up, the customer starts screaming,
she takes a deep breath and moves into action. She can
diffuse the negative energy in a crisis and channel it into
productive action. She’s highly responsive, but has the
ability to consider implications before reacting.
Instead of hiding behind closed doors, this rock star
leader is on the floor, listening, observing and
supporting. He won’t hesitate to hop on a call to
deescalate a tough customer situation. He’s an artful
coach and works to draw out the best solutions from the
team. This rock star’s not a blamer, but consistently
works to bring the right people together to resolve the
problem.
7
This rock star balances day-to-day operations with a
longer term view. She is constantly encouraging
innovation and new ways to make the work more
effective and efficient. She invests deeply in developing
her leadership team. She knows that a true sign of
success is what happens in the center when she’s not
there.
5.
A penchant for process
Finally, the rock star understands that center leadership
is a constant balancing between quality, efficiency,
employee experience and financials. He is constantly
considering cause and effect and the downstream impact
of decisions. He approaches problems in a systematic
way and explores alternative solutions before making
decisions.
YOUR TURN
8
What are the characteristics of your most effective center
directors?
What are you doing to nurture these competencies in your
bench?
9
OPPORTUNITY #2:
MANAGING METRICS VERSUS MANAGING RESULTS
The single best machine to measure trust is a
human being. We haven't figured out a metric
that works better than our own sort of, like,
‘There's something fishy about you.’
–Simon Sinek
Sarah’s face winced as the hourly stack rankings beeped
through her smart phone. She didn't have to say a word. I
knew that look from the inside out. I’ve been on the frantic
receiving end of such beeps. Hourly results coming in 15 times
a day–quality, efficiency, sales–all neatly stack ranked and
constantly reminding me that I wasn’t doing enough. And just
in case the beeps didn’t get my attention, at least one or two
of the hourly blasts were typically followed up by a call from
my boss, “Have you seen the numbers?”
1
Sarah interrupted my painful flashback. “I’m sorry, but I’ve
got to huddle the team. We’ve got to get to 94 by the end of
the day.” “What are you planning as your key message?” I
asked. She looked at me as if I was crazy, “94.”
When I met with her team later in the day and asked what
success looked like, I got more of the same.
“94, 540, and 56.” Well, at least they were consistent.
5W
AYS
FOCUSING ON THE SCORE LOWERS
PERFORMANCE
Metrics matter. A balanced scorecard, with well-selected KPIs,
will reinforce your strategy and align actions with goals. But
when the metrics are the message, the business suffers. If
you’re experiencing any of these symptoms, check your
message. Don’t let the urgency of a stack rank distract your
team from a long-term win.
1
1. False Sense of Competition
A sure sign the stack rank is holding you back is an
inflated sense of internal competition. If, “We’ve got to
beat Joe” is a louder rally cry than “Make a genuine
connection with every customer,” or ______(insert your
most important business behavior here). When you hear
unhealthy competition, your smack talk is backfiring and
it’s time to regroup.
2.
Gaming
3.
Volatile Performance
I’m always astounded by the creativity and lengths
some employees will go to game the system. If they
would spend as much time improving the quality of their
work than working the work around, they’d be knocking
results out of the park. Talking only to metrics
encourages such gaming, a sure sign that employees
are wasting time and on the road to getting fired.
1
You can’t truly respond to metrics on an hourly (or even
daily) basis. And your reaction is likely more annoying
than helpful. If metrics go up when you rant, scream, or
dress like a superhero, and then the numbers come right
back down, take a step back and plan a consistent
approach to reinforce key behaviors, again and again–
five times, five different ways.
4.
Unintended Consequences
5.
Stupid Decisions
If “I fixed this, but broke that” sounds like the sad
country music soundtrack of your team’s performance,
you’re likely focused on one or two KPIs, rather than the
key game-changing behaviors that will lead to lasting
performance. In every business there are one or two
vital behaviors that will improve your overall scorecard.
Be sure you’re focusing on those early and often, and
use them as foundation from which to build.
1
This happens at all levels, but can be particularly
disastrous when an executive becomes focused on a
short-term adrenaline shot to force up results. “Oh sure
we can bring on 500 people in 10 weeks to get the
contract” is not rational thinking. Focus decisions on
what will lead to
consistent upward
trends and sustained
performance.
The secret to sustained
results is identifying the
behaviors that matter
and executing on them
every day. For long-term
results, respond to consistent improvement and celebrate
upward trends.
YOUR TURN
How does focusing on the score hinder performance in your
centers?
How could you streamline metrics to focus on what’s most
important?
1
If you have to fail and something, which metrics are least
important? Does your team know that?
1
OPPORTUNITY #3:
UNDER-DEVELOPING SUPERVISORS VERSUS
DEVELOPING ALL-STAR SUPERVISORS
Example is leadership.
–Albert Schweitzer
The team leader’s job is arguably the toughest job in most
contact centers. Team leaders operate under constant
pressure—up-down-and-sideways—and they are coupled with
limited control. I’ve found similar consistency with the
mistakes team leaders make in corporate and BPO call centers
all around the world.
Their mistakes are often understandable since the supervisors
have pressure from all sides. Pressures from management.
Pressures from the team. And pressures from their personal
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baggage—don’t we all wish we could put down our baggage
more often.
THE BIGGEST MISTAKES SUPERVISORS MAKE
u Under-Communicating The Big Picture
People don’t understand WHY they are being asked to do
what they do. Team members yearn for meaning to
inspire their work.
u Failure To Identify A Galvanizing Goal
Members of the team need to know that THEY can make
a difference based on their actions. It’s a mistake to
think the company mission will be enough to rally the
team at a local level.
u Over-Telling
If leaders keep giving away the answers, the employees
will keep asking, and you’ll have one brain at work
instead of ten. Ask more questions. Leverage each team
member’s strengths to cull-out leadership. Encourage
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team members to work together and support one
another.
u Avoiding The Tough Conversations
It’s easy to look the other way, or to let poor
performance slide. Not telling people the truth will hurt
your results, drag down the team, and stagnate growth.
u Lack Of Connection
Too many team leaders get scared off by the HR
warnings about not getting too close to their team. They
manage them like employees instead of connecting as
humans. Always err on the side of getting to know your
team and how they roll. Sure you should be careful
about hanging out with them as traditional friends, but
ensure your conversations are real and heartfelt. When
they learn how you connect with the team, they will
connect in the same way with the customers. In the
words of Albert Schweitzer, “Example is leadership.”
u Succumbing To Gravity
Team leaders can’t change everything but they can
change many important things. Your job is to remove
road blocks. If something feels stupid, it probably is. Do
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what you can to manage up and sideways to make your
team’s job easier.
u Short-Term Focus
When it’s always urgent, there’s never time for the longterm investment in people and processes that will have
a long-term impact business. Short-term leading can
work for a week or so, but beyond that you’re doing
substantial long-term damage to your team. Ensure
every day includes real work toward longer-term goals.
u Accepting What Is
Leaders see what’s possible. It’s easy to get caught up
in the way we’ve always done things, particularly if you
have a formula that works. If you’re creating
breakthrough results and turning heads, slow down, look
around and talk to your team about priorities that are
met and those that are not met. You might learn how to
focus when you learn what to ignore.
Of all the challenges team call center supervisors face, among
the biggest is prioritization. Everything is urgent and it’s
hard to find time for the really important work like coaching
and process improvement. 1
Helping your supervisors understand where they’re getting
stuck is a good first step in the prioritization process.
Helping your team to
prioritize their focus and
work is one of the
toughest roles of a
manager. It’s hard
because you face similar
pressures. You’re still
required to meet all your
targets and objectives,
so teaching your team to
place an item on the bottom of the list is scary. What if they
really don’t get to it? There are no easy trade-offs in this “Yes
and” culture (we need this AND that) we live in. Prioritizing
and balancing competing priorities are essential elements of
the leadership dance. Knowing what to move to the top of the
list when to move it, and how to keep the other plates
spinning at the same time is the balancing act of the
supervisor. Help your team recognize the common traps that
are sabotaging their ability to prioritize well.
COMMON PRIORITIZATION TRAPS
Perhaps you have some of these characters on your team.
Here’s how you can help.
2
u Windshield Watchers
Windshield Watchers look deceptively productive.
They’re moving fast and getting a lot done. They’re
often the first one to respond to any task because
they’re taking the Nike “just do it” approach to whatever
hits their windshield. The adrenaline brings a familiar
rush to their day. Windshield Watchers actually attract
more urgent work because people know they’ll drop
everything and get on it. The biggest problem with
Windshield Watchers is that they have no real basis for
prioritization. Urgent always trumps important in such
team members, so although they’re getting a lot done,
they are not necessarily making progress toward bigger
goals. Windshield Watchers often struggle with
feedback, because they know they’re busier than
everyone else. The resent having to talk about it right
now, with all the emails coming in that require attention.
Help Windshield Watchers by developing a strong
calendar-based system and working backwards from
deadlines. They will benefit if you teach them the
Urgent / Importance Matrix (see Appendix).
u Wheel Greasers
Wheel greasers hate conflict and are particularly
sensitive to pressure from above. They prioritize based
on whoever’s screaming the loudest (or with the most
“important” voice). Which means, the problem may be
2
hard for you to detect (after all, you appreciate how
seriously they take your requests). Wheel Greasers
often feel overwhelmed from the stress of trying to
please all the people all the time. They feel like they can
never do enough, because there’s no objective measure
of success. Help Wheel Greasers by working with them
to define objective criteria on which to prioritize their
work. Recognize if they have a tendency to drop other
work to do what you need because you’re the boss.
Explain why and how you differentiate noisy requests
from urgent issues.
u Whack-A-Molers
These well-intentioned folks care deeply about
outcomes. They pour their heart and soul into the most
important work. It’s hard to argue with their priorities.
The challenge is that in their laser focus they often miss
the unintended consequences caused in the aftermath.
Sure customer service metrics improve, but financials
suffer. Or the financials look great, but employees are
miserable. Help Whack-A-Molers by encouraging them to
see the big picture and brainstorm downstream impacts.
Encourage them to pilot their ideas before spending
significant energy on large scale implementation.
2
u Work-Harders
Bless their hearts, Work-Harders will do everything they
can to get it all done, no matter how many hours it
takes, or how little they’ve slept. The problem with these
hard workers is that they often are so busy doing the
work, they don’t take time to consider the best way to
get it done. They overlook possible support from others
or more efficient ways because they’re so lost in the
doing. Help Work-Harders to step back and consider the
best approach to getting work done. Help them build
some white space into their day.
CUSTOMIZE YOUR COACHING
Rather than teaching a generic system of time management or
prioritization, consider starting with the tendencies that are
getting in the way and helping each person find more effective
approaches. Ask: Which of the above characters does this
person most relate to and how does that work to get them
into trouble?
2
The Biggest Mistakes Managers Make When Developing
Their People
Let’s be real. The biggest mistake managers make when
developing their people is that they don’t spend enough time
doing it. Or, even worse, they aren’t spending any time at all.
The fact that you’re reading this indicates that you care, and
are trying.
Even imperfect
development beats what
many employees are
telling me they’re
getting–nada.
The only way to achieve
exponentially greater
results is to get every
member of your team to function on more cylinders, as
individuals and then as a team.
Good managers spend at least 10-20% of their time
developing their people.
Be sure you’re investing your time well by avoiding these
common traps.
2
5M
ISTAKES
MANAGERS MAKE WHEN DEVELOPING THEIR
PEOPLE
1.
They forget they’re still learning too
There’s a weird imaginary threshold I see too many
managers cross. They creep into I’ve-got-this-and-nowmy-job-is-to-teach-it-to-you-land. Almost every
manager goes there at some point in their career, and
many get stuck in its delusional abyss. The only way to
be an effective leader is to scurry back to reality as fast
as you can. Leadership is never handled. See also a post
I wrote on this topic: 60 Reasons Leaders Stop
Learning.
I’ve learned the hard way that our teams see our flaws
and mistakes better than we do. Even if they love you,
there are at least 17 reasons they don’t want to lead like
you.
Be sure the learning and listening is a two-way street.
2
2. They invest only in the “high potentials”
“I don’t have time to develop everyone, so I’ll really
invest in the top 5%, maybe even 10%,” is the cry I’ve
heard many times. I’m all for giving extra effort the box
9s. And goodness knows I’m grateful for every ounce of
extra effort folks poured into me as I climbed the ladder.
But imagine the possibilities when you tap into the
majority of your team, building on everyone’s strengths,
and helping them see themselves as more than “alsorans”?
3.
They focus on individual development but
don’t develop the team
A team of superstars who don’t know how to work as a
team can’t win. Egos get in the way, conflict sucks the
life out of productivity, and a focus on self-promotion
prohibits real creative breakthroughs that involve
integrated thinking.
I once worked for an executive who painstaking
recruited the very best players in every discipline, and
2
then got us in a room and announced his plan. Our
bonuses (a large percentage of our salary, usually stack
ranked) would all be exactly the same, based on our
performance in his experimental organization. He’d
received permission from HR to try it. If we blew it out
of the park, he’d get money added to the pool. If we
sucked, he’d give it back. Either way, we’d all be paid
the same percentage.
We fought like brothers and sisters, but we figured it
out. We nailed it. In fact, 20 years later, we’re still
amazing friends (I even dated one of the guys a decade
later, see also: Never Date the Guy Who Hates HR –
just kidding. I haven’t written that book... yet!
4. They ignore the unique gifts and strengths of
each individual
It’s easy to develop leaders in our own image, but what
if they see the world in an entirely different way? What if
they never say a word? Go deeper. Get to know them.
In every MBA class I teach, I’m blown away by the men
and women who I worried about at the beginning. Go
deeper. Go there.
2
5.
They underestimate the capability of each
person to grow horizontally as well as vertically
Everyone wants to move up, and it’s easy to focus on
promoting the best and the brightest in your discipline.
The truth is, people choose a path early on and it’s often
a crap shoot, or a direction that was overly influenced by
someone else’s advice. Give people opportunities to
draw on new skills, test them in wacky environments,
and see how they grow. My career was built on doing
things I knew nothing about. I bet there could be more
of us high achievers out there if leadership would give
them the chance.
By developing each member of your team, they will produce a
return on the investment that is beyond measure.
YOUR TURN
What skills are most lacking in your supervisors?
How have you tried to develop your supervisors in the past
week, month, year, or over their tenure in the call center?
2
Where could you use some additional support (feel free to
contact me to discuss)?
2
OPPORTUNITY #4
TURNING PEOPLE FROM BOTS INTO ALL-STARS
Character cannot be developed in ease and
quiet. Only through experience of trial and
suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision
cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved.
–Helen Keller
“The other day, a customer tweeted at me, ‘are you a bot?’ At
first I was really offended and wanted to tweet back “I AM
NOT A BOT!” But when I thought about it some more I got
kind-of sad. I realized that by following the scripts and all the
rules, I sounded very robotic. That’s not what our customers
want or need. They come to social media because they want
some upbeat and friendly interaction. I could provide better
service if they gave us a bit more freedom to do what we
know is right.” – Social Media Service Rep
3
It’s not just social media reps who feel that way, it happens in
a lot of roles in many call centers. Reps with scripting and
rubrics so tight, they appear to squeeze the common sense
out of the interaction, or supervisors so focused on their
quality score sheet that they fail to acknowledge it was a
damn good call.
3W
AYS
CALL CENTERS TAKE THE HUMAN OUT OF
HUMAN RESOURCES
1.
Relying on “bots” for hiring
Many call centers use expert systems to identify and key
competencies and sort candidates into categories of
Red, Yellow, and Green. Theoretically the system learns
3
as it goes. Great in theory, and possibly helpful in
practice.
The challenge is when companies focus on speed to hire,
they can be lured into a false sense of security with such
systems. Instead of
being used as an initial
screening, it’s viewed as
the first phase of the
hiring process. If the
resume looks great, they
pass a typing test, and
answer a few questions
my 9 year old could nail
(I’ve tried it), they move on to the drug screen, without
ever touching a hiring manager. Why? Because they
were categorized by some pre-defined system as Green.
When it comes to hiring go slow to go fast. If you hire
the right people, you don’t have to spend time scripting
their words or over-monitoring their actions.
2. One Size Fit All
In my experience, I often find there’s typically a direct
correlation between the “bot” epidemic and the size of
the center. Larger centers can feel unwieldy, and when
3
results drop, it’s harder to get to root cause and recover
quickly. Panicky managers may be more likely to issue
decrees of what “every rep must do on every call,”
rather than taking the time to explain the bigger picture.
The manager often addresses the problems at the
lowest common denominator, addressing everyone at
the level of those who are lowest in confidence or those
who are lowest in competence. For this type of manager,
the safe bet is to be overly prescriptive.
The percentage of employees who “just don’t care” is
actually very low in most organizations. I find that what
looks like disengagement is often an employee in one
quadrant of the Confidence / Competence cocktail.
The figure below is a representation of what I call the
The Confidence / Competence Model.
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3
The Confidence / Competence Model
The next time you’re dealing with a performance
management problem, try assessing the situation with
the Confidence / Competence Model.
u High-Competence/High-Confidence
“Challenge Me”
This could be an employee in the perfect sweet spot of
positive energy and flow, or may be becoming a bit
bored and longing for more. At best, they’re your “A”
players, although the high confidence/competence
combo can sometimes manifest itself in feelings of
superiority, particularly if the rest of the team is weak
(read more about that here).
u High-Competence/Low-Confidence
“Encourage Me”
The good news is you’ve got skills to work with. The low
confidence may appear as disengagement, but don’t be
fooled. Try these to encourage her to reach her full
potential.
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u Low-Competence/High Confidence
“Coach Me”
This employee needs help seeing his strengths and
developmental opportunities more clearly. Offering
feedback through 360 assessments, specific examples,
and coaching will help bring his skills in-line with his
self-perceptions.
u Low-Competence/Low Confidence
“Teach Me”
This chicken or egg situation is still potentially solvable.
Train and teach this employee the skills she needs for
success. There may also be a skills mismatch. Have
deeper developmental conversations to determine if
there is a better fit for her within your organization.
3.
Lack of Connection
It happens on teams, it happens in training classes, it
happens on dates. A rush to achieve without connection
will backfire. It’s tempting to rush in, get started and get
stuff done. Sure the out-of-the-gate progress feels great
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at beginning, but if you don’t take time to create
genuine connections and build relationships, somewhere
down the line you’re going to derail.
SHELLY’S STORY
Shelly (not her real name) was completely frustrated with her
team’s call center results. She brought in extra training,
introduced a clever incentive program, stack ranked and
managed the outliers, implemented every best practice she
could find, and even invited her boss in for a quick
motivational talk.
Nothing worked. The team’s results still sucked.
“What can you tell me about the folks on your team?” I asked.
Her response was filled with “attitude problems,” “absence
issues,” and a smattering of stats.
I tried again, “What can you tell me about the human beings
on your team? Are they married? Do they have kids? What do
they do for fun? What do they enjoy most on the weekends?
What did they do last weekend?”
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I got a bit of a blank stare, and then “With results like these, I
don’t have time to ask about all that. Plus, this is business.
It’s not personal.”
“Which team leader is knocking it out of the park?” I asked.
She answered, “Joe” (also not his real name). I looked at her
in the eyes and said, “Please go talk to Joe again. But this
time, don’t ask him about best practices. Ask him how he
connects with his team.”
She came back with a laundry list: meeting each employee at
the door as they came in, spending the first 2 hours of his day
doing nothing but sitting side by side with his call center reps,
starting each one-on-one talking about something personal,
hand delivering birthday cards, following up on “no big deal”
stuff like how their kid did in the soccer game last week. She
tried it. Yup, you guessed the outcome. She connected with
members of her team and began hitting numbers out of the
park.
BUSINESS IS ALWAYS PERSONAL.
If you could use a starting point for connecting your team,
you’re welcome to use the Creating Connections
Worksheet (see Appendix) I wouldn’t suggest pulling it out in
front of your team members, but use it to remind you what to
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ask and how to inspire. My goal in writing this tool is to help
you create more meaningful connections. If you give it a try,
please drop me a line and let me know how it goes.
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YOUR TURN
How well do your team leaders know the human beings on
their team? What could you do to encourage deeper
connections?
How can you create more opportunities for your reps to show
more of their personality when they interact with customers?
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OPPORTUNITY #5
WORKING FOR SOCIAL MEDIA INSTEAD OF
WORKING SOCIAL MEDIA
When I hear people debate the ROI of social
media? It makes me remember why so many
business fail. Most businesses are not playing the
marathon. They’re playing the sprint. They’re not
worried about lifetime value and retention.
They’re worried about short-term goals.
–Gary Vaynerchuk
When it comes to social media, most companies experience a
phased evolution. The marketing guys and gals own it first,
pushing information out to enhance and promote the brand.
They’re mostly focused on image and attention.
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When customers start tweeting back wanting help, marketing
folks realize they’re out of their league and don’t have the
information or processes to help at this scale. So they
reluctantly reach out to customer service and simultaneously
try to maintain as much control as possible.
Of course tweets beget tweets, and soon the few reps you
pulled off line to help is not enough. To manage the new social
media department, you will need tools, processes, competency
models, selection criteria and training.
The contact center is positioned well to operationalize and
scale, but there’s often a reluctance to go there. Calculating
the ROI can feel overwhelming, not to mention the politics
involved with channel deflection.
In my work across both corporate and outsourcer call centers,
I’ve found 5 myths hindering the development of a robust
social media strategy.
5M
YTHS
HURTING YOUR SOCIAL CARE STRATEGY
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1.
Customers will call us when they need
support
Oh sure, they may eventually call, or email or chat. But
if they’re really ticked off, customers are more likely to
have vented and vetted the issue on Facebook and
Twitter, where they’re met with the empathetic response
of kindred “friends” and strangers who’ve faced similar
frustrations.
Once they’re sufficiently riled up, they will call your
center, where they may or may not be met with the
same level of empathy.
It is far better for management in your centers to
proactively jump into the social media mix master,
respond with empathy for all to see, and then have the
conversation with the offended individual offline. Not
only will the customer feel heard, but the echoes of
caring will resonate across the social media community.
Plus, after the customer has already felt like the victim
of poor treatment, how much better it is for her to be
heard, rather than to navigate through an IVR, listen to
“on hold” music, being told by a digital voice told how
important her call is.
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You can’t have a best in class contact center without a
strong social media listening post and a team of trained
professionals providing offense.
2. The best strategy is high differentiation,
saving your very best treatment for your most
lucrative customers
This is the most controversial statement I will make in
this article. Sure there’s value in providing concierge
level service to your most loyal customers. I like when
my Starwood call gets routed automatically to the
Platinum line. But… in a highly connected world, there is
a big difference between your loudest customers and
your most lucrative.
But be careful not to over-differentiate. The guy you
kept on hold for 20 minutes and then spent another 20
arguing about 5 bucks, could just as likely be the one
with 200K twitter followers. Just saying. Treat every
customer with empathy, deep respect, and common
sense.
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3.
Reps need to be motivated to care about
customers
In overseeing the outsourced channel for Verizon
Wireless I spent a lot of time in focus groups with
thousands of reps in call centers working for different
companies in vastly different geographies. The vast
majority of these reps had something very real in
common. They cared deeply and passionately about
customers. When I took the conversation of pay and
scheduling off the table (to be discussed by their
managers in a different way at a different time), the
number one topic of conversation was how to improve
the customer experience.
“This policy is annoying customers.” “This part of the
website is confusing.” “The last experience they had
really ticked them off.” “This tool makes it hard for me
to answer the customer’s questions quickly.” Statements
like these are not made by reps who don’t care. In fact,
these reps see themselves as passionate advocates for
the customer experience.
Start with the assumption that the majority of your reps
really care about your customers and get them involved
in improving the customer experience. Treating your
frontline team with that level of respect will go much
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further than any smaltzy contest with candy bars at the
end.
4. If management doesn’t tell them what to say,
they’ll say something stupid
No one likes scripting. Your reps hate it and so do your
customers. It’s tempting to write, “Millennials do not
want to be told what to do. They need freedom to
express themselves.” Yeah, that’s true. But honestly, no
generation ever wanted a script. Help reps improve their
listening skills and craft empathy statements. Give them
permission to “wow” their customers in meaningful
ways. Allow them to be creative and find out what works
for their customer. Help them craft their own best
approaches. Nothing will impress a customer more than
a genuine conversation with a human being who cares.
5.
Reps want tools that provide clear direction
on what to do
There’s an increased move toward decision engines and
other expert systems that “take the thinking out of
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decisions.” The trouble is, these are seldom nuanced
enough for the toughest challenges. Reps will use tools
that help them provide better service to the customer,
but resent ones that overly script the answer or limit
their ability make common sense decisions.
Reps will use tools that work quickly, have all the
information is in one spot, and help them solve the
hardest questions they couldn’t get to on their own.
For more technical calls, reps want tools that help them
see what the customer is seeing.
If your reps aren’t using your tools, resist the urge to
manage that problem through clicking compliance,
contests, or performance management. Get on the floor,
find out why, and invest in improving the tools so they
become something the reps feel they can’t live without.
YOUR TURN
Which of these arguments do you most agree with?
Which just tick you off?
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What other outdated assumptions are most relevant for your
industry?
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Afterwords: About Karin Hurt
CEO, Let’s Grow Leaders
letsgrowleaders.com
As a keynote speaker, leadership
consultant, and MBA professor, Karin
helps leaders improve business
results by building deeper trust and
connection with their teams. A former
Verizon Wireless executive, she has
over two decades of experience in
customer service, sales, marketing,
and human resources.
A few highlights from Karin’s tenure at Verizon include:
u Transforming customer service outsourcing from a low
performing channel to results at parity with internal
centers by building strong cultures and trusted strategic
partnerships;
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u Developing a sales team that led the nation in store
sales to the small and medium business space;
u Staffing 2000 jobs in 90 days after a significant event,
including complex jobs such as Systems Architects.
Recently, Karin was recognized in Inc’s list of 100 Great
Leadership Speakers For Your Next Conference, Trust Across
America’s Top Thought Leaders in Trust, and American
Management Association’s 50 Leaders to Watch in 2015.
Her award-winning blog, Let’s Grow Leaders, has grown into
a highly interactive, international community. Her book,
Overcoming An Imperfect Boss is available on Amazon.
Karin has a BA in Communication from Wake Forest
University, an MA from Towson University in Organizational
Communication, and additional graduate work at the
University of Maryland, where she currently teaches in the
MBA and Executive Education programs.
Karin lives in Baltimore with her husband and two sons. She
knows the stillness of a yogi, the reflective road of a
marathoner, and the joy of being a mom raising emerging
leaders.
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APPENDICES
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IMPORTANT
URGENT
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