The Customer Authority

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A recent survey came out on what makes employees happy in the workplace. I can related to these surveys because I’ve conducted my own with my associates when I was a manager at Coca-Cola. I was always somewhat surprised at the varying answers I would receive.

I assumed, for most of my direct reports, the answer would have been money. This was mainly because I knew many of them had been working there a long time, and the job is time-consuming and demanding. Not to mention it was always the hot topic of conversation come review time when they didn’t get as much of an a pay increase as they had hoped (not my doing, but because of the on-going tightening of the budget).

So it was to my surprise that only a couple of people opted for money as what was their driving motivation. Some simply wanted recognition. Others enjoyed helping customers and the feeling of satisfaction that came with it. Still others enjoyed being a leader amongst their peers.

And according to the article, those finding coincide nicely with the typical responses the survey has received over the years.

Until now.

Apparently I’ve finally been proven right. Money has taken over the top spot of what employees want most out of their workplace. Per the writer of the story, he feel the reason is due to fear.

With the global economy the way it is, I don’t feel he’s too far off the mark. Although, in my opinion, if it were fear driving them, I would think that job security would be at the top of the list instead of compensation. And in return, I would assume most would be dissatisfied with how much they make in lieu of so many companies cutting back on bonuses and the like.

As a business owner, it’s important to know what will make your employees happy and do what you can to satisfy those needs. Knowing today that it is most likely money can be tricky. For one thing, if your employee’s mind-set is only on money, and their worry over it, this could potentially transfer into a lack of productivity and motivation.

In the meantime, there is still hope the economy will be turning back around sooner rather than later. During that time, continue to reassure your employees and help ease their fears if you know your business is still stable. Knowing they won’t be the next one in line for the unemployed can do wonders for the psyche.

(read full article here)

I was browsing around the internet again and ran across a press release from a business called Contact Centers of America. They were promoting how they were going “Re-Invent the Contact Center Industry” (read article here).

My curiosity was aroused, so I decided to read further. I wanted to know why they thought it needed to be re-invented. And I wanted to know just exactly how they planned to do it.

As I read further, they mentioned how they wanted to change the focus of businesses from “bottom-line revenue and outsourcing” to “Customer Service and Satisfaction. Couldn’t agree with them more that this needs to be done.

When it came to the “how” of how they were going to do this, I was mildly surprised. As per the CCA’s president/CEO and founder, Joe Jacoboni states, his vision is to “bring contact center services back to America and to use the natural “human resources” we have in this country as its workforce.” He goes on to say, “My vision for CCA is to reshape and revolutionize the contact center industry”.

Use the natural human resources we have. Really? That’s the big “re-invention” he has in mind? Not to sound immodest here, but I could have told him that.

Don’t get me wrong, I applaud the desire to turn attention directly back on the customer and building their satisfaction. Heck, this blog wouldn’t even exist if I thought there wasn’t a problem out there in the first place.

I just don’t consider his idea a “re-invention”. Perhaps “re-focus” would be the better term to use here.

Nevertheless, I agree wholeheartedly with CCA’s idea of extreme customer satisfaction. Any company trying to make a better experience for the customers out there is a good one in my book.

But as you know I like to preach, customer service excellence is about common sense. It’s about learning about your customer, knowing your customer, and catering directly to your customer to the best of your abilities and more. No “re-invention”. No “revolutionary”ideas. Just simple caring, understanding, and action.