Radclyffe Consulting, LLC

Coaching Doesn't Have To Be Painful

Many front line supervisors, managers and call quality coaches really dislike coaching CSRs.  That's why all there are so many excuses.  Here's what I hear:

• It takes too much time
• I have too many projects
• I have too many direct reports
• We don't have recording equipment
• Our recording equipment doesn't work
• I'm in so many meetings
• We're implementing a new CRM system or a new phone system or workforce management
• And so on.....

While I agree, time limitation is always a factor, when you lead a contact center the service you provide is your product.  Why would you let the "product" go out the door to a customer without checking the quality?

Wake Up, Reps! You Are Sealing Your Own Fate!

Another controversial topic...

I have the greatest respect for representatives who handle customer interactions all day long. Really I do.  Imagine being tied to your desk, having to go to the powder room, knowing that there are 20 calls in queue.  Imagine all of your business interactions being recorded and you being "scored" on every aspect of that interaction.  Now imagine that a number of your colleagues called in sick and now you have to work through lunch. And now imagine that you are one of the lowest paid people in the company.  It's a hard job, especially if trained properly to use some pretty sophisticated call strategy skills to navigate through the interactions effectively - controlling the customer call to a successful conclusion.  It's a hard job both to be a representative and to manage a contact center.

There is a very dark side to the contact center and representatives should really understand their impact on the company's decision to outsource. 

CEO's Commitment to Service - or Lack Thereof!

This is going to be controversial...if you are going to be offended, don't read on...

How many times have you heard the CEO say how important the service organization is to the company's overall success?  That "our front line staff is the voice of the company to our customers" or "the service organization is the heart of our business?"

I once asked my CEO at a Fortune 500 company for which I worked a very pointed question right after he told me how important my department was to the company - "Then why are the representatives one grade level higher than a mail clerk?"  Naturally, he sputtered and then admitted he didn't know.  While at the time I had a lot of respect for this particular CEO, it occurred to me that he really wasn't in touch at all.  As a result, I made it my mission to get him to understand the what it takes to run a World Class contact center with high caliber individuals.  I did it, but it was the longest and perhaps the most frustrating three years of my life.