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  • How to Get Buy-In from Some of the Top Marketing Leaders: 3 Execs Discuss What KPIs Matter to Them

    Whether you’re creating a new content campaign, launching a YouTube series, or revising your social strategy, you’re going to be asked the same question by leadership before getting their support: “How will this impact our company’s bottom line?”
    That can be a difficult question to answer — which is why it’s critical you know your key performance indicators (KPIs) to:
    a) measure the success of your program, and
    b) receive executive buy-in — which is typically a prerequisite for getting the budget and resources you need to successfully launch any new paid marketing program.
    There are so many different KPIs any marketer might use to measure success, including sales, web traffic, follower growth, conversion rate, or brand awareness. But which ones matter most to leadership? In other words: Which ones should you focus on if you’re seeking executive approval?
    Here, we spoke with executives at LinkedIn, G2, and HubSpot to uncover which KPIs matter most to them in 2023. 
    Coming Soon: Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader [Click Here to Add to Google Calendar]
    What KPIs Matter Most to Execs in 2023
    1. Reach and leads.
    If you work backwards from your company’s primary goal — of increasing revenue — then it makes sense that reaching new audiences and converting those audiences into qualified leads for sales would be two of the top KPIs that matter most to marketing leaders.
    As Jordan DiPietro, HubSpot’s VP of Marketing, told me, “As a marketing leader, it’s important to choose a KPI that is most aligned with your company’s overarching business objectives — it could be a revenue metric, it could be a reach metric, or in the case of HubSpot Media, it could be both! The important thing is that your KPIs and the action plans associated with those KPIs are ones that can be directly connected to the KPIs of the business.”
    For instance, DiPietro told me the two KPIs his team focuses on are overall reach (visits, opens, listeners, and views) and leads (net new contacts driven from media content).
    He says, “Our reach KPI is indicative of the fact that HubSpot wants to grow top-of-the-funnel awareness for the business. Our media team does this by increasing the reach of our blog content, newsletters, podcast network, and YouTube network.”
    He adds, “Our revenue KPI is indicative of the the fact that HubSpot is a SaaS business — so we want to generate leads that can be shared with the sales team in order to turn those leads into qualified leads, and then into satisfied customers.”
    When deciding which KPIs to focus on — whether you’re a marketing leader or individual contributor looking for buy-in — you’ll want to consider which metrics will directly connect to your organization’s broader goals. For instance, if your company is hoping to improve its customer retention, then you’ll want to focus your marketing efforts on KPIs like brand sentiment and churn rate.
    But perhaps most importantly — don’t choose too many KPIs. As DiPietro told me, “In terms of secondary KPIs, keep it simple. I’ve noticed that sometimes marketing teams can get too distracted by measuring and tracking and not focused enough on actual impact. So I think it’s fair to have a main KPI, and then I limit it at two sub-metrics.”
    DiPietro provides two examples of this. In one, let’s say you’re running a newsletter company that relies on advertising. In this situation, your main KPI is likely ad revenue, and your two sub-metrics might be subscriber growth and unique opens.
    Alternatively, if you have a subscription business, your main KPI might be overall revenue, and your two sub-metrics could be LTV: CAC and renewal rate.
    DiPietro advises, “Whatever type of marketing organization you’re leading — a SaaS team, a content team, a web strategy team, a media team — ensure you stay connected to the objectives of the business, ensure your KPI is laser-focused, and limit sub-metrics to two per KPI to avoid diluting your impact.”

    2. Number of marketing-qualified leads (MQLs) and conversions to sales.
    Ultimately, marketers are only one part of the equation. Which means marketers can only pay attention to the KPIs they can control: Namely, leads and conversions.
    As Robin Izsak-Tseng, G2’s VP of Revenue Marketing, puts it, “Though most marketing teams have goals around pipeline, the fact is, marketing doesn’t open pipeline — sales does. Marketing’s role is to create awareness, demand, and inbound interest in your solution. There are factors outside of marketing’s control (changes in sales processes, for example), which can cause wild fluctuation in pipeline production.”
    Rather than focusing on pipeline, Izsak-Tseng suggests marketers focus on two primary metrics: MQLs (Marketing Qualified Leads), and conversions.
    For starters, she says marketers should track a blend of metrics, including MQL production, as an indicator of inbound interest. It’s equally critical that marketing leaders pay attention to SAL (sales-accepted leads), since that is another indication of lead quality.
    A few other metrics Izsak-Tseng suggest marketing leaders focus on include:

    Conversion of total pipeline to revenue: To track how marketing-sourced pipe is performing against pipe sourced by outbound efforts. Since marketing-sourced pipeline is inbound, the conversion to revenue should be consistent and strong.
    CAC (customer acquisition cost): Track this over time. Rising costs can indicate diminishing returns on marketing programs — or show that it’s time to explore new markets.

    Izsak-Tseng adds, “All of these metrics give growth leaders a view of the full funnel and help us understand marketing’s impact on revenue (not just pipeline). Much of this can also be applied to retention. In 2023, when budgets are likely to be even tighter, teams that are primarily focused on acquisition need to embrace goals around renewals and customer growth. Finding ways to create greater value for your customers and community will protect revenue — especially during uncertain times.”

    Considering it costs 5-25X less to retain customers than capture new ones, it’s a good idea to focus on customer retention as a primary KPI. But customer retention isn’t always easy. To satisfy and retain more customers, you’ll need to:

    Build trust with your customers. Ensuring your account managers check-in and show support for customers over the course of a year — and not just when it’s time to renew — is critical for demonstrating to your customers that you care about them and their success.
    Implement a customer feedback loop. This will help you collect, analyze, and distribute customer reviews and surveys to strengthen areas of your customer experience that aren’t working for your current customers.
    Provide a personalized customer experience. Providing each customer with tailor-made solutions and content designed to fit their needs is vital for retention. Your customers don’t want to feel like they fit into a one-size-fits-all approach. Ensuring your organization helps them with their specific challenges and needs is critical.

    (P.S. Already a G2 customer? Click here for 20% off eligible HubSpot products, or get started for free.)
    3. Return-on-investment (ROI) and brand strength.
    During times of economic uncertainty when businesses’ budgets are tight, it’s become increasingly important to be able to demonstrate the ROI of your marketing efforts to your leadership team.
    In fact, one-third (33%) of marketing executives, VPs, and directors say that using data to demonstrate the ROI and business value of their efforts became more important in 2022.
    Jim Habig, VP of Marketing at LinkedIn, agrees that ROI is important — but he encourages marketers to think full-picture when they’re considering their top KPIs, too.
    As he puts it, “It’s paramount that we think about the full funnel when it comes to measurement. Of course, ROI is a slam dunk since it represents how our work directly impacts the bottom line.”
    He adds, “But let’s not discount the importance of other measures of long-range brand strength. With only 5% of buyers in-market at any given time, you need to ensure your brand creates pull for decision-makers now and in the future.”
    To create a strong brand identity, you’ll want to:

    Create a memorable brand voice.
    Communicate your consumers’ pain points — and how you can solve for them — effectively.
    Demonstrate how you’re different from your competitors.
    Broadcast your brand’s mission statement and brand values to build connection with your audience.
    Use type, colors, and imagery to represent your brand’s personality.

    If you’ve created a brand identity already but need to build brand awareness, consider channels that will help you reach new audiences — like podcasting, or other social media platforms. Alternatively, perhaps you can create a strong co-marketing campaign to build credibility in your industry and generate new leads.
    Once you’re investing in brand awareness, you’ll want to measure branded keyword search volume to see how many impressions and search volume your brand is getting. This will help you evaluate your brand awareness efforts over time — if your branded keyword search volume is rising, it’s a sign your brand awareness plays are working.
    While this is a strong starting point, you’ll need to do your own research to determine your organization’s goals for 2023, as well as your executive team’s marketing plans in particular. From there, you can determine how your KPIs for a specific marketing campaign or program might fit in.
    If you can’t see a strong through-line between your own KPIs and the KPIs of the business, it might be time to reassess where you’re focusing your efforts and whether shifting your strategy might better impact the bottom line — and help achieve buy-in from leadership.

  • Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader: How 500+ Marketing Executives Plan to Get Ahead in 2023 [+ How You Can Join Them]

    In many ways, marketing leadership has never been harder.
    Over the past year alone, you’ve needed to navigate economic turmoil; a workplace shift to more globally distributed teams; and new trends that felt like they arose overnight (TikTok, anyone?).  
    Which is why 76% of marketing leaders say marketing has seen more change in the past three years than the last 50. 
    Change isn’t always bad, but it is always challenging. And, as we prepare for the year ahead, many marketing leaders are wondering: What should I prepare for? Where should I focus my efforts? And what are my biggest blind spots? 
    To help you create a powerful and agile strategy for 2023, we’ve surveyed 500+ marketing executives on the biggest challenges, opportunities, and trends ahead of us. Plus, we’ve interviewed some of the biggest experts across the industry — ranging from CMOs and VPs at LinkedIn, Uber, Microsoft, Dropbox, SEMRush, and more — to uncover best practices for becoming a better, more effective leader. 
    If you’re not a marketing leader, but interested in becoming one, you’re in luck. We also have plenty of content and best practices on getting ahead in your career — including how to get executive stakeholder buy-in, and how to get promoted on both an individual contributor and manager-level. 
    Let’s dive in. 

    Executive Leadership Survey Results [Top Findings You Need to Know About + Expert Insights] 

    1. The biggest challenges marketing leaders’ expect to face in 2023 include generating revenue, securing budget, and improving sales-marketing alignment.
    When asked which challenges marketing leaders’ expect to face in 2023, 14% said generating revenue and securing the budget they need are tied as the top challenge they believe they’ll face. 
    Both of these concerns stem from the possibility of an upcoming recession. When asked how marketing leaders would respond if a recession were to occur, 30% of marketing leaders say they would respond by increasing their marketing budget, while 1 in 4 plan to reduce their budget in an economic slowdown.
    Other top challenges marketing leaders expect to face include: 

    Improving sales-marketing alignment (13%)
    Having to pivot your marketing strategy due to major events, e.g. recession, pandemic, political turmoil (13%)
    Facing increased competition from other brands (12%)

    Additionally, we surveyed marketing executives in our Marketing Trends report earlier this year, and 14% of marketing leaders say they anticipate ‘adopting a data-driven marketing strategy’ to be a top anticipated challenge of theirs in 2023. While this isn’t a top challenge in our Executive Leadership report, it’s still worth pointing out as many of the experts we spoke with told us it’s a big concern of theirs. 
    Collecting data has gotten increasingly difficult as consumers’ become increasingly concerned with protecting their privacy. So adopting a data-driven strategy in 2023 will require marketers to ensure they’re effectively combining first-party and third-party data. 
    Microsoft’s Global Head of Programmatic Evangelist, Daniel Godoy, says, “Shaping your strategy by leveraging 1P or 3P trustable data becomes necessary to expand potential reach and start piloting your data strategy for the future.”

    Plus, to create a powerful data-driven strategy, you’ll want to collect custom audience attributes (not just basic descriptive information), and then create dynamic prospect lists through audience segmentation. From there, you’ll want to develop unique messaging that resonates with your prospects. 
    ZoomInfo’s Chief Marketing Officer, Bryan Law, told me, “You’ll need to figure out how to convey your ability to alleviate their challenges in a unique way to penetrate the significant market noise. Practice consistency in your overall theme, and include contextual personalization when applicable.”
    The Top Challenges Marketing Leaders Expect to Face in 2023 & How You Can Solve For Them [Expert Insights & Data]
    2. Out of those that struggle with growing a global audience, 62% say it’s their biggest challenge right now. 
    For some context: In our Marketing Trends report, we asked 1,000+ marketers to identify the challenges they’re currently facing. 
    Then, we asked them to select the one challenge they struggle with the most. 
    And over half — 62% — told us growing a global audience is their biggest issue. 
    The good news? We asked Neil Patel, a New York Times bestselling author, one of the world’s most influential marketers according to the Wall Street Journal and Forbes, and co-founder of NP Digital to provide us with solutions to marketers’ biggest challenges from 2022. Take a look at the full video, below: 
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    3. Marketing leaders agree that increasing revenue and sales is their top goal for 2023.
    Increasing revenue and sales is a top priority for most marketing leaders in 2023, with 22% — or roughly one-fourth — saying it’s their number one goal. 
    To increase revenue, marketing leaders will want to identify areas of the customer journey that can be further optimized. For instance, perhaps you’ve observed your audience reach plateau-ing or even shrinking. To continue increasing revenue, you’ll need to consistently reach bigger pools of qualified leads. You might do this by testing out new platforms like TikTok or podcasting. 

    Alternatively, maybe you notice your marketing team is attracting plenty of leads, but they’re not converting at high rates. To combat this challenge, you’ll want to create stronger offers or a more effective lead generation strategy.  
    Gaurav Agarwal, Chief Growth Officer at ClickUp, says increasing revenue and driving sales is a top priority for his team in 2023.
    He told me, “As a fast-growing company with industry-leading NDR, adding in new revenue sustainably is our top priority. We are hyper-focused on building out different growth and sales capabilities to achieve that goal. As we embark on our 2023 planning, we do so with a renewed focus on efficiency and clear goals around our different self-serve and sales-assisted motions.”
    Michelle Keene, Dropbox’s Sr. Director of Global Marketing, Document Workflows, agrees that increasing revenue is a top-priority.
    As she puts it, “In 2023, a year that is expected to be dominated by economic uncertainty, the shift to profitable growth [rather than growth at all costs] will only be accelerated — moving from a nice idea to a requirement.”

    The Top Goals of Marketing Leaders in 2023 [New Data + Expert Insights from Uber, Dropbox, and ClickUp]

    4. Sales is the KPI that matters most to marketing leaders, followed by customer retention.
    To uncover which KPIs will matter most to marketing leaders in 2023, I spoke with executives at G2, LinkedIn, and HubSpot. 
    Here’s what they say matters most: Reach, leads, MQLs (marketing-qualified leads), conversion to sales, return-on-investment, and brand strength. 
    Ultimately, choosing your primary KPIs comes down to aligning with company goals for 2023. As Jordan DiPietro, HubSpot’s VP of Marketing, puts it, “As a marketing leader, it’s important to choose a KPI that is most aligned with your company’s overarching business objectives — it could be a revenue metric, it could be a reach metric, or in the case of HubSpot Media, it could be both! The important thing is that your KPIs and the action plans associated with those KPIs are ones that can be directly connected to the KPIs of the business.”

    KPIs can vary greatly. For Robin Izsak-Tseng, G2’s VP of Revenue Marketing, leads and conversions matter most. She says marketers should track a blend of metrics, including MQL production, as an indicator of inbound interest. It’s equally critical that marketing leaders pay attention to SAL (sales-accepted leads), since that is another indication of lead quality.
    ROI is another equally critical metric for many marketing leaders — and that importance is only growing. In fact, one-third (33%) of marketing executives, VPs, and directors say that using data to demonstrate the ROI and business value of their efforts became more important in 2022.
    Jim Habig, VP of Marketing, LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, agrees that ROI is important … but it’s not the only metric that matters to him. He told me, “Let’s not discount the importance of other measures of long-range brand strength. With only 5% of buyers in-market at any given time, you need to ensure your brand creates pull for decision-makers now and in the future.”

    The data aligns with this. In our Executive Leadership survey, we found: 

    60% of marketing leaders say sales is one of the most important metrics to track when measuring the performance of your marketing activities (when allowed to select up to three).
    Sales is followed by customer retention (44%), ROI (43%), and brand awareness (43%) as the most important metrics to track.
    The top ten metrics that marketing leaders track to measure performance include: Sales (62%), customer retention (55%), return on marketing investment (47%), brand awareness (45%), web traffic (42%), customer testimonials (40%), customer acquisition (39%), organic traffic (38%), conversion rates (38%), and customer lifetime value (37%).
    Sales, leads, and conversion rates is the KPI the majority (49%) of marketing leaders use to assess the performance of their website.

    How to Get Buy-In from Some of the Top Marketing Leaders: 3 Execs Discuss What KPIs Matter to Them
    5. The most effective strategy for getting leadership buy-in is clearly demonstrating the impact adopting the new idea will make on achieving the company’s business goals. 
    Getting leadership buy-in isn’t easy, particularly when budgets are tight and marketing leaders’ need to be especially careful about where they spend money. 
    Which is why it makes sense that clearly demonstrating the impact adopting a new idea will make on achieving a company’s business goals is the number one most effective strategy marketing leaders’ reported for getting buy-in. In our survey, we found roughly one-third (31%) of marketing leaders believe it’s the most effective strategy. 
    A few other potentially effective strategies include: 

    Clearly demonstrating the impact the new idea will have on other teams at the company, e.g. a tool that will improve sales/marketing alignment (29%). 
    Demonstrating how the new idea aligns with company-wide goals/initiatives (25%).
    Providing examples/case studies of other companies who adopted the new idea successfully (24%).
    Demonstrating the challenges the new idea will help solve (23%).
    Demonstrating the opportunities the new idea presents (22%).

    6. Leads, conversion rates, and total monthly visitors are the SEO metrics that matters most to marketing leaders.
    SEO is an undeniably powerful strategy for audience growth, brand awareness, and increasing sales. 
    In fact, 43% of marketing directors, VPs, and C-suite executives reported SEO as one of the most effective strategies their companies currently leverage.
    But there are so many SEO metrics that it can be difficult to determine which ones actually matter. Is it organic traffic? Conversions? Keyword rankings? 
    Our data uncovered these are the SEO metrics that matter most to marketing leaders when it comes to assessing the performance of their website: 

    Sales, leads, and conversion rates (49%)
    Total monthly visitors (43%)
    Traffic from social media (40%)
    New vs. Returning visitors (39%)
    Click-through rate (38%)

    It’s interesting to note — organic traffic or rankings on the SERPs don’t even hit the top five when it comes to important SEO metrics for marketing leaders. 

    Additionally, I spoke with Semrush’s VP of Brand Marketing, Olga Andrienko, to uncover the SEO metrics that she’d advise leaders pay attention to in 2023. Some of her tips include: 

    Focus on the metrics that tie directly back to revenue — like conversions and new MRR.
    Don’t forget about branded keyword search volume.
    Consider click-through rate and how it correlates to organic traffic.
    Don’t ignore rankings, backlinks, domain authority, and user behavior metrics.

    Which SEO Metrics Matter Most to Marketing Leaders, According to Semrush’s VP of Brand Marketing

    7. A content strategist is the top role marketing leaders’ plan to hire in 2023. 
    When asked which role marketing leaders’ plan to recruit, 32% say ‘content strategist’ is their top priority in 2023 — followed by content marketing manager (23%). 
    This makes sense. A strong content creation strategy is one of the most effective marketing plays. As we enter the new year, many companies will need to hire strong content creators to ensure they’re continuing to create unique and compelling content for audiences that likely already feel overloaded. Additionally, many content creators will need to become adapt at shifting the types of content they create for various channels.
    A content creator in 2023 might be tasked with creating a TikTok reel one day, then a blog post, and a YouTube video after that. 

    Additionally, 37% of marketing leaders say ‘a lack of qualified candidates’ is their biggest challenge in hiring right now. Marketers are expected to be increasingly skilled in niche areas such as TikTok, podcasting, or video creation, so the pool of qualified applicants becomes smaller as companies expect more from their candidates. 
    A few other highlights when it comes to hiring and promoting: 

    14% of marketing leaders say hiring top talent is the biggest challenge they expect to face in 2023.
    Leadership (39%), communication skills (33%), and problem-solving skills (33%), are the most important qualities & traits marketing leaders look for when promoting an IC to a senior position. 
    Leadership skills (27%), a strong work ethic (23%), and communication skills (22%) are most important to marketing leaders when they’re considering promoting a people manager to a director+ position.

    8. When promoting individual contributors, 24% of marketing leaders look at an IC’s ability to pivot their marketing strategy in response to major events (e.g. recession, pandemic, political turmoil). 
    If you’re hoping to get promoted as an individual contributor (IC), it’s important to know what marketing leaders’ look for when promoting an IC to a senior position. 
    These are the promotional factors that matter most to marketing leaders right now when it comes to ICs: 

    24% of marketing leaders’ are tied on three factors that matter most when promoting an IC: Their ability to pivot their marketing strategy in response to major events (e.g. recession, pandemic, political turmoil) or new opportunities; Their ability to strategically plan for both the short and long term; and expertise in their industry.
    23% of marketing leaders care about an IC’s ability to keep up with and experiment with new platforms and features (e.g. BeReal, YouTube Shorts) when considering a promotion. 

    If you’re an IC who is looking to become a people manager, you’re in luck — we also asked marketing leaders’ what they look for when promoting an IC to a people manager, and 26% say they care most about an IC’s ability to build trust and rapport within their team. That’s followed by 25% who say they look for an IC’s ability to bring people together to solve problems. 
    On the people manager side, marketing leaders say that people managers can make the greatest impact in their roles by motivating and empowering their team (39%). That’s followed by helping their team exceed goals and expectations (32%) and helping their team exceed goals and expectations (31%). 

    As we segue into 2023, it makes sense that both individual contributors and people managers want to know how they can grow at their current companies. 
    If you’re an individual contributor and you’re hoping to get promoted in 2023, VP of Brand at Help Scout, Kristen Bryant Smith, told me a few factors that could help you stand out. These include: 

    The ability to tell stories to express the level of impact you’re having on the team. 
    Being a cross-department translator — in other words, being someone who adds contextual knowledge and listens to others across the business. 
    Being able to set realistic goals and hit them. 
    Being consistent. 

    Alternatively, perhaps you’re a people manager and you’re looking to get promoted to a director-level. As you a people manager hoping to get promoted, Smith says you’ll stand out if you demonstrate: 

    An ability to navigate ambiguity and translate it effectively.
    Providing role clarity to each of your direct reports.
    Thinking on longer timelines.
    Demonstrating empathy.

    Thinking on longer timelines, and being able to strategically plan for the long and short-term, is supported by the data. 25% of marketing leaders say it’s the most important factor they look at when considering promoting a people manager, along with their ability to set clear goals and expectations for their team (24%). 
    What Help Scout’s VP of Brand Considers When Promoting Individual Contributors & People Managers [+ How These Promotions Differ]

    Other Surprising Findings

    On average, marketing leaders think 17% of employees are quiet quitting (which is when employees intentionally do the bare minimum required of them in their role).
    29% of marketing leaders strongly agree that the quality of an employee’s relationship with their direct supervisor is the most important factor in determining whether they engage in quiet quitting. 
    77% of marketing leaders agree that it’s the responsibility of the leadership team to prevent quiet quitting. 
    Marketing leaders are optimistic going into 2023, with 78% expecting their company to perform better than in 2022.
    58% of marketing leaders say their company has performed somewhat or much better since the pandemic started.
    Marketing leaders report social media marketing to be a critical skill marketers’ should focus on for career growth, with 26% marking it as a top skill they look for when hiring.
    On average, marketing leaders say 33% of their overall company budget goes towards marketing.
    Marketing leaders say the most effective strategies for cutting costs in your marketing budget is leaning into earned (free) media (e.g. unpaid news coverage of your company) and leveraging automation or AI in your marketing strategy.
    56% of marketing leaders expect the U.S. economy to grow in 2023.
    80% of marketing leaders have taken steps to plan or prepare for an economic slowdown or recession.
    Marketing leaders say the most effective strategies during an economic slowdown or recession are focusing your marketing efforts on existing customers and adapting your messaging to empathize with what your audience is experiencing.
    Marketing leaders say healthy work-life balance is the most important aspect of company culture for marketers to succeed.
    Marketing leaders say unsupportive management is the aspect of company culture most likely to negatively impact marketers ability to succeed in their roles.
    Just 13% of marketing leaders say their marketing team will work fully remote in 2023. 53% will work hybrid and 34% will be in-office full time.
    36% of marketing leaders say the best way for marketers to get visibility with their leadership team is by stepping into leadership opportunities (e.g. leading a newly created committee, volunteering to present research findings at a company-wide meeting).
    The majority of marketing leaders (53%) say their team’s reliance on third-party data didn’t change in 2022, and 46% don’t believe it will change in 2023, either. Similarly, 52% of marketing leaders say their team’s reliance on first-party data didn’t change in 2022, and 44% don’t expect it to change in 2023, either. 
    74% of marketing leaders say consumers should be directly compensated for sharing their personal data with companies.  

    More Data and Insights

    The Top Challenges Marketing Leaders Expect to Face in 2023 & How You Can Solve For Them [Expert Insights & Data]
    The Top Goals of Marketing Leaders in 2023 [New Data + Expert Insights from Uber, Dropbox, and ClickUp]
    How to Get Buy-In from Some of the Top Marketing Leaders: 3 Execs Discuss What KPIs Matter to Them
    What Help Scout’s VP of Brand Considers When Promoting Individual Contributors & People Managers [+ How These Promotions Differ]
    Which SEO Metrics Matter Most, According to Semrush’s VP of Brand Marketing

     

  • 10 Techniques to Motivate Call Center Agents

    Working in a call center can be extremely rewarding, especially for those who enjoy customer service and sales. But it’s up to management to promote call center motivation and create a work environment where their agents can gain a sense of satisfaction from their work.
    It’s easy to say, “I’ll just hire someone who is self-motivated.” But even agents with strong work ethics are susceptible to burnout over time. If you plan to keep your team together for the long haul, you’ll want to make sure there are structures in place to support agent engagement efforts.
    But which tactics are the right ones for your call center? To help you navigate this process, we’ll break down the different types of motivators and highlight proven tactics to help you and your call center team get on the right path.
    The Contact Center Playbook for Improving Customer Satisfaction
    Types of Motivators (And Why it Matters)
    Selecting the right tactics to motivate your call center team can be overwhelming at first. A quick Google search will bring up a ton of tips and tricks, but it can be difficult to know which ones will work for you.
    Most of these tips will fall into one of two categories: intrinsic and extrinsic motivators. Let’s break down what they mean:
    Extrinsic Motivators
    Extrinsic motivators are perhaps the most common type of motivator associated with the call center. These involve offering external or material rewards for achieving goals, such as prizes, cash bonuses, or recognition.
    Here’s the kicker: while extrinsic motivators drive behavior, they can lower motivation in your employees. These often remind agents of their obligation to work and can reduce the likelihood they’ll go “above and beyond” in their role.
    You can still use extrinsic motivators in the call center, but they shouldn’t be your primary tool for leading your team. Ideally, intrinsic motivators will make up the foundation of your agent engagement strategy.
    Intrinsic Motivators
    Intrinsic motivators, as you may have guessed, nurture agents from an internal perspective. These techniques focus on investing in your agents, developing their skill sets, and encouraging their professional growth and development.
    To understand why intrinsic motivators are so effective, we need to consider basic human needs. Agents who feel supported, well-compensated, and happy at work will be better motivated to perform their daily tasks.
    Once these basic needs are met, the next stage involves appealing to your employees’ sense of autonomy at work, helping them understand how their daily work contributes to the overall business and guiding them in becoming experts in their role.

    TIP:
    While call center metrics like AHT and FCR are great benchmarks for performance, they aren’t great motivators. Prioritizing agent satisfaction and efficiency is the most effective way to achieve results!

    10 Ways to Keep Call Center Agents Motivated
    Now comes the part you’ve been waiting for: our comprehensive list of motivational techniques for the call center. The methods below are all intrinsic motivators, making them all great additions to your agent engagement strategy.
    1. Create a positive work environment.
    Whether you work in an office or remotely, it’s important to foster a work culture that makes agents feel safe, supported, and cared for.
    Agents should be able to keep a good work-life balance and shouldn’t hesitate to take paid leave as they need to. Flexible hours and schedules are also important parts of a successful work environment. In short, your agents should enjoy their time at work, and feel in control of their personal and professional commitments.
    2. Start with management and leadership.
    Remember the phrase, “do as I say, not as I do”? This line encapsulates what NOT to do when working to build agent engagement and motivation.
    Leading by example is the best way to ensure your team emulates the culture and values you want to see in your contact center. Prioritize training your management and leadership teams and hold them to those best practices.
    3. Set clear and attainable goals.
    There are few things more demoralizing than unachievable goals. While managers may see high targets as inspirational, agents will rarely view it the same way.
    It’s important to be realistic when setting targets with your agents and to make sure they are comfortable rising to the challenge. Setting SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-Bound) goals will help you achieve this.
    4. Give them the right tools and technology.
    No job is perfect, and call center work is no exception. At some point, every agent has been bogged down with processes and tasks that get in the way of completing their work. Fortunately, there’s excellent call center software that can automate the drab parts of the job, so your agents can spend more time supporting your callers.
    High call volumes are the bane of every call center agent’s work. Long hold times make for unhappy callers, making phone conversations challenging right off the bat. By offering a call-back solution as an alternative to waiting on hold, agents can spend more time solving customer problems instead of managing their frustration.

    TIP:
    Call-backs are a call center’s best friend! Use them to lower abandonment rates, improve customer satisfaction (CSat), and much more. Learn more about call-backs here.

    5. Encourage agent autonomy.
    Your agents want to feel in control of their workdays, but that can be difficult to do if they don’t have the autonomy to do their work well. If they’re constantly waiting on approvals and escalations, it can hinder their overall performance.
    By giving them the freedom to support their clients, you give them permission to go above and beyond in their work. Of course, you’ll need to invest in the proper training to make sure they’re up to the task. Trust us — it’s well worth the effort.
    6. Assign special projects.
    Call center work gets a bad rap for being repetitive and monotonous. Even the best call center agents will eventually tire of doing the same daily tasks over and over again.
    This is where one-on-one meetings come in handy. Encourage call center managers to get to know their agents, their goals, and interests. Look out for special tasks and projects that you can entrust to your team members so they can expand their skill-sets while taking a much-deserved break from the phone lines.
    7. Treat agents the way you treat your customers.
    Did you know that agent satisfaction directly affects customer satisfaction? If agent engagement is low, you’ll start to see CSat dip as well. It’s one of many reasons why it’s important that your agents feel challenged, supported and engaged in their work.
    Many of the tactics used in customer care can be applied to your employees. Focus on building strong relationships with them, and make sure you’re prioritizing their well-being. A workforce management tool can be helpful for tracking your progress as an organization.
    3 Workforce Management Practices to Implement in Your Call Center
    8. Offer feedback to your agents.
    Your agents want to know where they stand with your organization, so offering feedback is key. By highlighting the positives of their work, you remind them that they’re valued. Don’t sit on your compliments — they are meant to be heard!
    Constructive feedback is also an important part of keeping employees motivated. By challenging them to improve their skills and abilities, they will become more invested in their work and growth with the organization. Which brings us to our next point…
    9. Highlight growth opportunities.
    In an ideal world, the agents you hire will stay with your organization for years to come. Agents will be more inclined to act on constructive feedback if they know their efforts are helping them advance their career.
    To help them envision a future with your business, you need to show them the possibilities for career progression. Create a career plan with each of your agents and touch base with them regularly to ensure they’re on a path that will bring them professional satisfaction and growth.
    10. Listen to what your agents have to say.
    Your agents are skilled professionals with the ability to improve your business — so let them! Listen to their ideas and offer pathways to implement great suggestions. If they feel heard and see management taking their feedback seriously, they’ll be more inclined to step up and do their best work.
    Don’t make the mistake of taking your team’s feedback and not following through. If an agent offers a suggestion, the worst thing you can do is leave it on the backburner. Make sure you follow through on their comments and supply updates whenever possible, so they know their comments are making a difference.The post 10 Techniques to Motivate Call Center Agents first appeared on Fonolo.

  • Gatekeepers and judgment

    Infinity is seductive.

    1,000 emails take up just as much space (and cost just as much) as one. An online bookstore can carry every book ever published. And the long tail of music gives every single person a chance to share their work.

    The simplest thing to do is “let the market sort itself out.” No judgment.

    That’s what the algorithms of the tech world purport to do. No judgment about taste, quality or standards. Hands off about sources, repercussions or impact.

    It’s easier. And at some level, it seems more fair.

    Without the scarcity of limited shelf space, it’s easy to embrace infinity.

    But no judgment is still a judgment in itself. When a site publishes every idea on its platform, promoting each based on a non-published formula, they’ve made a judgment about the power of ideas and the way a community can evolve. This is new. Libraries, bookstores, radio stations–all of the keepers of our culture–danced with scarcity and influence and responded with judgment. If you can’t carry or promote everything, then judgment is the obvious response. Because you have to pick something.

    But when companies demur and refuse to make a judgment, infinity and scarcity collide. Institutional reputation and knowledge have value, and by ignoring them, the big tech companies are making a statement about that value. Each seems to be trying harder than the next to help users fail to understand what’s worth trusting.

    The fracas that is kindergarten has a useful function. It helps kids grow up. But if you need surgery, I hope you’ll go to the hospital, not the local elementary school.

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