Make the right investments in the customer support department, create a process that is better for ... [+]
I’ve been preaching to my clients for years that what happens on the inside of an organization is felt on the outside by the customers. When it comes to the customer service world it is often expressed as, “Happy employees mean happy customers.” I had a chance to interview Baker Johnson for Amazing Business Radio. Johnson is the CMO of UJET, a cloud contact center solution that helps its clients deliver a better customer experience. When we hit on the topic of employee focus over the customer, he called me out.
It’s not that he 100% disagrees with me, but he said that we need to look at it from a different angle. When a customer has a problem and needs to call customer support, he or she is already frustrated. And what often happens next can make the situation worse: long hold times, multiple menus that ask you to push 1 for this and 2 for that, and anything else that creates friction on the way to talking to a live agent.
By the time the customer does finally connect with an agent who wants to help, they are even more frustrated. That’s not fair to either the customer or the agent, but especially the agent who is now in a situation that has been made worse by the process and friction the customer had to go through to finally talk to a live person.
Johnson said, “Very few people ever start out by saying, ‘I want to work in a contact center and make customers happy.’” Most people who get into customer service are part-timers looking for work while they are in school or taking on a second job to supplement their income. They are decent human beings who turn out to be good at taking care of customers, and the next thing you know it’s 20 years later and they are a manager or supervisor.
It doesn’t matter whether that’s the common path or not. What does matter is that these good people find themselves in a job where they aren’t as valued as they should be. The exception occurs when the companies they work for become customer-focused. This is happening more and more as organizations are realizing the power of the customer support department and how it contributes to a better customer experience (CX).
Johnson notes that many companies focus their investments on the sales and marketing departments. This has been where they’ve seen the most revenue generation. Smart companies are seeing the opportunity of making the right investments in the customer support world, as well as other areas that directly impact CX after the sale is made.
It’s more than just hiring and training the right people, although that’s a big part of it. It’s also investing in the right solutions that give both customers and agents the best experience. The result is that when customers have a problem, they become confident about the support they will receive from the company. When they do end up talking to an agent, they aren’t annoyed with the process, which fuels their frustration with the company before talking to the agent. With the right process supporting good people, the result is repeat business, customer loyalty and positive word-of-mouth.
I’ve said for years that the department that manages customers’ questions and complaints should not be called customer service or customer support. A better name might be the customer retention department—or the revenue generation department. If the agents do their jobs well, the customer will know they can call when there’s a question or a problem. If the company supports the agents with updated technology and a great process for the customer to get to them, with little or no friction, they have better conversations with customers that drive future business.
All that said, Johnson points out that many customer support organizations are saying the right things, using terms like customer centricity, but if you ask the practitioners on the front line, they admit they still look at KPIs that are internal and operationally focused, such as average handle time or efficiency, versus metrics that gauge customer outcomes. And furthermore, their companies aren’t making the right investment in technology that serves both customers and employees.
So, back to the original concept. While we must focus on employee happiness, because research points to the fact that happier employees will better engage with customers, we may want to consider the point Johnson is making when he says, “Happy customers make happier employees.” The happiness he’s referring to is what the customer experiences in the process that leads to connecting with a live agent. If it is easy and convenient, the customer is relieved—and even happy—to be able to connect without the friction associated with calling customer support.
Make the right investments in the customer support department, create a process that is better for both customers and employees, and recognize that those investments, like the ones made in the sales and marketing departments, have ROI in the form of dollars coming from future and repeat business.
