Have you ever sworn at or been rude to a customer service agent or CSA. I blush as I admit I have. Yet I suspect I would last about 3 minutes on the front line as a CSA and maybe you are the same. These people are literally the voice and the ears of our organisations and yet they are likely to be the lowest paid, with the least meaningful support and career development opportunities. So how can you involve the heroes of the 21st century: three things, recruitment, resources and rewards.
Are you recruiting people with CSA experience rather than people who could charm you into anything? Just because they can work your phone system does not make them a good CSA and you may be better off hiring people with the right outlook for your organisation and offering them technical training.
Are you giving your front line people (these are the people who speak to your customers every hour of their working day) the right resources to do an effective job? They need good telephony, but also need information resources, and structured breaks away from us, the whining public.
Finally how are you rewarding them for a day of solving the most important issues in your organisation (your customers’ issues) and dealing with the most difficult people affecting your organisation (your customers)? What to know how to get this right? You could start by giving your CSA a call “Thank you for responding within the agreed service level timings, this is Your Manager speaking, how can I help you today.”
