How do you motivate your customer service professionals to go above and beyond?

In my experience, the best motivator is an incentive program for agents that are recognized as going above and beyond. Incentives do not always equate to dollars paid to a agent (although money always helps!), but can be something as simple as recognition for that individual in front of the team with a reward that is meaningful to your agents. Examples of rewards include company specific items like Tshirts, a hour lunch break on a day scheduled by WFM, a half day off, lunch with the boss, etc.

DON'T make the recognition program one that is condescending or given so frequently that it becomes meaningless. I know of one call center manager that gave her agents a gold star when they achieved an item that was noteworthy...which the agents hated. As one agent explained "we are not in kindergarden - we are professionals. Why the heck would a "Gold Star" and pat on the back respect my work as a professional?

Make your program fun and meaningful - and you will get great rewards in happier agents and increased CSAT scores.

While most everyone can use a telephone - not everyone is cut out to work in a Customer Service Call Center environment. And while someone may have “The Right Stuff” to deliver great Customer Service & Support – it doesn’t necessarily follow that the same individual is also a good fit for the more demanding & sales-oriented requirements of Up-Sell/Cross-Sell/Customer Win-Back.

Top Performing Customer Care Call Centers drive their Revenue & Performance through Superior Hiring Tactics. Hiring the wrong Customer Service Representative (CSR) to begin with is the Root Cause of most Performance Issues. It’s also a significant drain on your Budget & Bottom Line, on Customer Satisfaction Ratings, and on Up-Sell/Cross-Sell/Customer Retention Results. Every failed hire represents wasted dollars down the drain. Not to mention the Lowered Productivity, Poor Morale & Higher Absences associated with a Poor Job Fit.

Call Center work is generally acknowledged to be tedious, stressful, repetitive & boring. A CSR job requires an employee to uniquely combine reliability with flexibility - and mix adherence to a schedule & procedure with adaptability in order to meet customers’ needs. CSRs are rewarded for metrics such as customer satisfaction, volume of calls taken, sales quota and product knowledge - to name just a few. CSRs have to manage customer interactions constantly – in an environment driven by targets – while their job is constantly monitored electronically. Each of these realities contributes to employee stress – decreases job commitment – increases absenteeism – and potentially decreases the quality of service delivered to customers.

Typically there are 3 grades of CSRs found in a Call Center: (Above Average), (Average), and (Below Average).

(Above Average) CSRs seem to have “The Right Stuff” that pushes them to succeed & a natural compatibility with the duties of the position. They work hard - exceed expectations - do more than asked - achieve high-quality consistent results - can always be counted upon - need little direction & work extremely well with everyone.

(Average) CSRs perform their duties adequately enough “to get by” - but no better. They are the partially competent. Generally they’re strong from a Skills standpoint but missing a key ingredient or two from a Job Fit standpoint.

(Below Average) CSRs are the people who just don’t fit somehow. Sometimes they’re good people in the wrong jobs. They need extra coaching & supervision just to achieve average results. Often they cause unnecessary conflict. (Below Average) CSRs have the Highest Levels of Absenteeism, Lowest Levels of Productivity & Sales, Poorest Performance & Customer Satisfaction Ratings, and generally have a Negative Impact on Team Morale. They represent the real problems in a Call Center workforce. While (Average) & (Below Average) CSRs may seem fully qualified at the Interview Stage – they’re a Poor Job Fit – the cost of hiring them is enormous – with little value add to an organization.

SPAS Call Center Agent Pre-Employment Screening Software is easy-to-deploy, very cost-effective and highly-predictive of an individual's suitability for a particular Call Center job. SPAS Software screens out the Job Candidates who will burn out fast because they aren't suited for the work - and identifies the people with the Personality/Job-Fit, Soft Skills, Motivation, and Work Ethic to be Top CSRs. With SPAS as part of your Hiring Process you will be able to select new CSRs who will fit your specific employment needs better - and stay on the job longer - leading to a CSR Workgroup that has more experience and is more productive.

You can find out about a Free Trial of SPAS Call Center Agent Pre-Employment Screening Software at: http://www.telesoftsystems.ca/64201.html

If you want to build a team of customer service professionals – who go ‘above & beyond’ in delivering superior customer care – make sure you hire the right people to begin with.

While most everyone can use a telephone - not everyone is cut out to work in a Call Center environment. Someone may have “The Right Stuff” to deliver great Customer Service & Support – it doesn’t necessarily follow that the same individual is also a good fit for the more demanding & sales-oriented requirements of Up-Sell/Cross-Sell/Customer Win-Back – let alone Inside Sales.

Top Performing Call Centers drive their Revenue & Performance through Superior Hiring Tactics. Hiring the wrong Customer Service Representative (CSR) to begin with is the Root Cause of most Call Center Performance Issues. It’s also a significant drain on your Budget & Bottom Line, on Customer Satisfaction Ratings, and on Up-Sell/Cross-Sell & Customer Retention Results. Every failed hire represents wasted dollars down the drain. Not to mention the Lowered Productivity, Poor Morale & Higher Absences associated with a Poor Job Fit.

Typically there are 3 grades of CSRs found in a Call Center: (Above Average), (Average), and (Below Average).

(Above Average) CSRs seem to have “The Right Stuff” that pushes them to succeed & a natural compatibility with the duties of the position. They work hard - exceed expectations - do more than asked - achieve high-quality consistent results - can always be counted upon - need little direction & work extremely well with everyone.

(Average) CSRs perform their duties adequately enough “to get by” - but no better. They are the partially competent. Generally they’re strong from a Skills standpoint but missing a key ingredient or two from a Job Fit standpoint.

(Below Average) CSRs are the people who just don’t fit somehow. Sometimes they’re good people in the wrong jobs. They need extra coaching & supervision just to achieve average results. Often they cause unnecessary conflict. (Below Average) CSRs have the Highest Levels of Absenteeism, Lowest Levels of Productivity & Sales, Poorest Performance & Customer Satisfaction Ratings, and generally have a Negative Impact on Team Morale. They represent the real problems in a Call Center workforce. While (Average) & (Below Average) CSRs may seem fully qualified at the Interview Stage – they’re a Poor Job Fit – the cost of hiring them is enormous – with little value add to an organization.

SPAS Call Center Agent Pre-Employment Screening Software is easy-to-deploy, very cost-effective & highly-predictive of an individual's suitability for a particular Call Center job. SPAS Screening Software is a Proven Technology that meets and exceeds all Government Employment Standards Requirements as a Hiring Tool in the USA/Canada/UK/Australia/New Zealand/South Africa and everywhere else in the world where the ‘Language of Work’ is English.

With SPAS Screening Software as part of your Hiring Process you will be able to select new Call Center Agents who will fit your specific employment needs better and stay on the job longer - leading to a CSR Workgroup that has more experience & is more productive.

SPAS Software is sold on an Unlimited Usage License basis - there are No "per Test" Fees - "Annual Renewal" Fees or any other User Fees. Technical Support for the SPAS Software is free & unlimited as well.

You can find out about a Free Trial of SPAS Call Center Agent Pre-Employment Screening Software at: http://www.telesoftsystems.ca/64201.html