Front line super important

When thinking about customer service, it is just so obvious that businesses need to focus on the interactions that are important to customers.

Customers do not actually care about systems and processes. It is the manner in which frontline employees actually handle the interactions that are important, that really counts.

In other words, what customers really care about is how they are treated by the employees they meet.

Fundamental to the successful operation of any call centre, agents should very early have a handle on:

• Who are our customers?;
• How you identify and meet customer expectations; and
• How you go about creating positive, lasting impressions.

Successful businesses and managers realise the importance of the employees who directly interact with customers on a daily basis. These individuals have a unique opportunity that is not available to other people in the company.

They have the opportunity to interact with customers on a person-to-person basis and help promote and represent the company. How effective they are depends on the quality of customer service skills these employees have at their fingertips.

It is the front line team that makes all the difference.

The customer game is ultimately won or lost on the front lines - where the customer comes in contact with employees.

The front line team IS the company in the eyes of the customer.  Therefore, the front line team members must see themselves as the heroes they genuinely are. Of course, they will only have real belief in themselves if management believes in the importance of the front line. And the best way management can demonstrate faith, is by supporting the frontline people with the training and equipment needed to serve the customer brilliantly.

Of course, the front line in countless cases today is the phone line in to the call centre and the first thing people don’t want is to receive a busy signal or to be put on hold when they call.

“I want accurate and courteous service from the first person I talk to, without needing to talk to several other people during the call,” is a very common request.

Where the phone is the first point of contact, from the customer point of view it is imperative that the following minimum standards are followed:

• A person with a cheery disposition answers promptly (apart from anything else, a ‘smiling voice’ can head off gruffness from a caller who has a complaint);
  
• The agent must identify himself/herself immediately and clearly (and not speak so quickly that the message cannot be understood);
  
• The agent needs to maintain a cheerful and considerate attitude toward each caller (callers usually can recognise an agent who is bored).

Customer service training should present practical concepts designed to have service reps view service from the customer’s perspective and focus consistently on enhancing service delivery.

Front line staff members need to be aware of the relationship with the customer and what could enhance or detract from that relationship including use of service skills to match customer styles.

Apart from being taught strategies for dealing with angry customers and stress, all agents should be very clear that complaints and mistakes are opportunities to impress the caller with outstanding service.

Established agents, who have been working at the front line for some time, know that it feels good to do that little bit extra for customers. It makes the working day more enjoyable and increases job satisfaction.

Trainers need to know how to enthuse frontline people to encourage them to take ownership of the service they provide. Where this is the common practice, everyone reaps the benefits – the individual who delivers the service, the customer and the organisation.