Category: Customer Experience

When an entrepreneur gets funded, it’s often difficult for them to start spending money on assets–the old limits fade slowly. What used to be smart is now dumb. What used to too risky is now the safe thing to do.

When someone gets older or is injured, one of the dangers is that they’ll fail to realize that they can’t do the things they used to do in quite the same way.

And graduating from college means that you probably can’t maintain the lifestyle you used to have…

None of these changes are failures. They’re simply steps in the journey.

We change. That’s part of the deal.

A well-lived life without calibration is unlikely.

Less than 6% of software engineers identify as female, while barely 5% of technology leadership positions are held by women. As such, is it any wonder that 78% of us can’t name a single famous female computer scientist working in tech?  As CX professionals, we have a responsibility to ensure that our experiences are inclusive…
The post Three ways to make your CX team more gender diverse appeared first on Customer Experience Magazine.

Bad drivers do this often, everywhere I’ve ever been in the world.

Instead of gracefully and safely slowing for a light they know will be red by the time they get there, or even a stop sign, they hit the gas and then slam the brakes.

One big reason is that the certainty of on-then-off is a lot easier for them to navigate than a thoughtful approach to transitions. If you’re going to have to stop soon, perhaps you should start coasting now.

And of course, we all make the braking mistake in our daily lives.

A transition doesn’t have to be a crisis, unless we want it to.

The typical online job site lists millions of jobs. And just about every one of them is a cry for expertise.

From the title to the requirements, companies hire for expertise.

Logic helps us understand that only one out of ten people are in the top 10% when it comes to expertise. And that means that most companies are settling for good enough. If the organization needs people with expertise in the top decile, they’re going to have to pay far more and work far harder to find and retain that sort of skill.

So most companies don’t try. They create jobs that can be done pretty well by people with a typical amount of expertise.

That means that the actual differentiator in just about every job is attitude. From plumbers to carpenters to radiologists to pharmacists, someone with extraordinary soft skills (honesty, commitment, compassion, resilience, enrollment in the journey, empathy, willingness to be coached… the real skills that we actually care about) is going to outperform.

If this is so obviously true, then why don’t organizations hire for attitude and train for expertise?

If the original Nike swoosh, on a sheet of paper in a filing cabinet somewhere, disappeared, what would happen to the value of Nike? Or to the way you feel about your sneakers?

If the negative of a famous photo is burned in a fire, or a painting is stolen from a museum, what happens to the symbol it’s related to?

As soon as an object becomes a symbol, the object itself becomes separate from that story. In fact, freeing the symbol from the object gives it more power, and allows it to spread and become ever more relevant.

My town is trying to decide whether or not it should spend millions of dollars preserving a defunct carbon-steel water tower. But whether they preserve it or not, the symbol of the tower remains, and the stories we tell ourselves about place and time remain as well.

Spending the money on education, climate remediation and equity will all make the symbol more powerful than steel restoration ever could.

If you want to turn your object into a more powerful symbol, it might pay to get rid of the object.

Preismanagement fristet in den meisten Unternehmen ein Schattendasein. Die Kompetenzen zu diesem Thema sind meist nur sehr rudimentär vorhanden. Als Pricing Beratung unterstützen wir unsere Kunden, die Preise aus Sicht der Kunden zu analysieren und zu setzen. Dabei empfehlen wir die folgenden 4 Schritte. https://customersx.tumblr.com/post/679350850988146688/die-4-schritte-einer-erfolgreichen-pricing submitted by /u/CustomersX [link] [comments]

While average call center attrition rates range between 30-45%, many businesses experience metrics as high as 90%. As call center leaders, you must be aware of attrition in your business strategy, and find ways to retain top call center agents.
Before you can craft a strong retention strategy, you must first understand what causes call center attrition in your call center. In this article, we’ll run through some of the most common causes for attrition, and how today’s labor shortage impacts the call center industry.
Industry Report: State of the Contact Center 2022
Labor Shortages in the Call Center
According to Worldwide Call Centers Inc., 87% of business owners cite labor shortage as a key impact to call center operations. The COVID-19 pandemic sparked conversations around remote work and scheduling flexibility, and current transitions back to on-site work have fueled this discussion further.
Many call center agents who adopted remote work over the pandemic period are now voicing their desire for improved work environments, and searching for new opportunities if they don’t feel heard by their employer. In fact, this labor shortage is seen as one of the biggest issues the call center industry faces in 2022.
Bottom line? The labor shortage exacerbates agent attrition, but doesn’t outright cause it. The true cause of call center attrition lies within your call center practices and operations.

FACT:
Call centers face a 30-45% overall attrition rate.

Top 5 Causes for High Call Center Attrition
Ineffective training and onboarding practices.
Agents – especially new hires – must learn how to effectively perform their job duties while aligning with established processes. Your onboarding process should clearly outline all of the above — if it doesn’t, you risk having alienated or confused your trainees.
Poor onboarding and training is a top cause for attrition, as new employees need the right guidance to feel confident and prepared for the job. If they don’t feel confident in their daily tasks, it’ll be harder for them to feel engaged in their work. If the job feels like an uphill battle, they’re more likely to leave for a role that they find more fulfilling.
How to mitigate: Regularly review your onboarding and training programs, and seek out feedback from agents and managers. Ensure the contents of your programs directly address any knowledge gaps or goals your department has identified. For more info, check out our list of call center training methods.
Outdated contact center technology.
Contact center software benefits everyone, from your team members to the customers they serve. What’s more, the right software can make or break an agent’s experience.
Without the right technology, performing their daily duties can become a struggle. For instance, customers forced to wait on hold for extended periods are more likely to start the conversation with the agent on a negative note. Because of this, agents may feel frustrated and unsupported, leading them to seek other opportunities.
How to mitigate: Invest in call center technology that makes your agents’ jobs easier. Consider the biggest challenges your department faces on a regular basis, and evaluate your current tools to determine whether you need to consider an upgrade.
For instance, call centers who face high call volumes regularly would benefit from Voice Call-Backs. Not only does it eliminate the need for hold time from the customer, it improves customer satisfaction, while reducing the burden of high call volume and spikes on agents.
Ineffective leadership tactics.
Hiring the wrong agents hurts your call center performance, but hiring an ineffective manager can have disastrous results. In fact, most agents cite poor or ineffective leadership as a main reason for leaving their work.
A good call center manager should be empathetic, communicative, and experienced in motivating a team. Some managers are well-versed with the call center industry but don’t have the soft skills necessary to manage a team or set meaningful goals.
How to mitigate: When hiring for leadership positions, know what qualities to look for and the pain points you want them to address. You can also apply these findings to leadership training, so your current management staff have an opportunity to develop their skills further.
How to Spot (and Hire) a Great Call Center Manager
Lack of career advancement opportunities.
Call center work should not be considered a “dead-end” job. If you want to retain quality call center agents, you must offer them opportunities to grow their careers.
Remember that your most motivated employees will only maintain that enthusiasm as long as they feel supported, appreciated, and seen for their potential. A lack of career advancement opportunities can squash that drive quickly.
How to mitigate: Prioritize hiring call center managers from within your team of agents, rather than hiring externally. Encourage your call center leaders to create performance plans with actionable paths towards career growth for every employee, and support them in their growth.
Undefined company culture.
Call center agents are more likely to enjoy their job if they align with a call center’s values. But a written declaration of company culture isn’t sufficient — employees want to see more commitment to these values from call center management.
The key to maintaining a strong company culture is consistency. If your call center values work-life balance and mental health, implement flexible scheduling or a benefits package that offers financial support for health issues. If your call center values transparency, keep agents in the know about big developments and new hires.The post The Top 5 Causes of High Call Center Attrition first appeared on Fonolo.

The origin of the editor’s mark “TK” is murky. It’s what you write when there’s a fact or addition you’re waiting on. Instead of stopping everything, simply type “TK” and you know you can come back and fix it later.

The modern purpose of TK is that there are few words in English that contain these two letters juxtaposed in this way, so it’s super easy to use Word to search your manuscript. (Except for ‘latkes’ and ‘pocketknife.’) But I think it predates search.

The magic of TK is more interesting. The existence of TK means we don’t have to stop and wait for everything to be perfect before we proceed.

If the flooring for the kitchen hasn’t arrived yet, TK and then move on to wallpaper the dining room.

Our lives are filled with TK moments. It’ll come. No need to stop and wait for it.

Treating customers with dignity and respect starts with treating employees the same way. Employees need to feel it, experience it, and receive it themselves. The beloved companies care for their employees, because they know this internal culture builds trust and inspires great work.
Furthermore, in the wake of the “Great Resignation,” companies in every industry are feeling upheaval. Hiring is frenzied with nearly 11.3 million job openings in January, according to the US Department of Labor.
Practicing Leadership Bravery by Trusting Employees
In 2009, Netflix made cultural history when then chief talent officer Patty McCord and CEO Reed Hastings created a 124-page PowerPoint document entitled “Netflix Culture: Freedom & Responsibility.” This document, which has been shared over 13 million times, states that Netflix intends to thrive—by only hiring courageous employees.  The document provides clarity on what “courage” means in the case of Netflix.
McCord has been quoted to say that the foundation of the Netflix culture is to attract only “fully formed adults.”  For Netflix that means only hiring people who are grounded and self-sufficient, and who thrive with the responsibility that comes with freedom. For example, the expense policy is: “Act in Netflix’s best interest.”  Instead of HR policies, Netflix focuses on hiring people who do not require the oversight that most rules are created for.
Relying on people to use logic and common sense, Netflix does not have a formal vacation policy or annual reviews. While this may seem ‘touchy-feely’ to some, they are rooted in motivating productive human behavior in self-driven people, logic, and financial reward. Reduced policing of travel expenses lifts accountability and reduces cost. Hiring people who prefer regular communication and self-driven management to formal reviews reduces all the paperwork and time of the review system.  The goal is to run a courageous company full of only people who thrive and perform in this type of environment. Netflix’ clarity about how they would and would not grow is what makes their credo so admired.
Netflix Gives New Parents 12-Months of Freedom to Bond
Netflix decided to give all new parents freedom to decide what’s right for their family within the first twelve months of their children’s lives.  To enable this, Netflix gives its salaried employees up to 12 months of paid parental leave to take as they choose. According to Vox, “Netflix by far offers the longest paid family leave out of all the tech companies we asked. Salaried employees, including birth and adoptive parents of any gender, can take up to a year off at full pay following the birth or adoption of their child.” Furthermore, they note that the median paid time off for birth mothers (not all new parents) at these tech companies was 18 weeks.
At Netflix, the benefit applies to both mothers and fathers and includes adoptions. On Netflix’s blog, senior software engineer Ludovic Galibert wrote, “I truly wish more companies would offer their employees generous parental leave and employees would take advantage of it, especially dads. Yes, we too can and should take parental leave to take care of our family and support our spouse, even if it’s not for a first child.”
Attract the Right Talent Through a Culture of Trust
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings was quoted explaining this decision: “Our model is to increase employee freedom as we grow, rather than limit it, to continue to attract and nourish innovative people, so we have a better chance of success.”
This means that employees can decide when and for how long they work during that first year, getting paid their regular salary.  The goal and challenge for Netflix must also be to create the comfort to take that time as desired. Reed Hastings and Netflix’ actions are grounded in understanding the Millenials who are now of child-rearing age. The balancing act is creating an environment of courageous people, while also not making it career limiting to take the benefits offered. Stewart Friedman, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School who has been researching work-life balance policies since 1991 says they’ve nailed it. Friedman states his research validating Netflix’ move: “Millennials saw their parents forsake aspects of life like family life in their pursuit of career success and didn’t always like what they saw.”
For employees cut out of the cloth that lets them thrive in the Netflix environment, they stay and thrive because they are in a place that lets them work with “stunning colleagues.” They greatly value a culture that entrusts them to act as adults and manage their time, as evidenced by how they leave it up to the employee to determine the right parental leave for them.  They are consistently attracting people who seek to thrive in their environment. In today’s competitive environment, their culture is one of their strongest assets.
Case Study: @Netflix employees stay and thrive because they’re trusted, cared for, and they are in a place that lets them work with stunning colleagues. #EmployeeExperienceClick To Tweet
The post Attract the Right Candidates by Building and Defining a Strong Company Culture: a Netflix Case Study appeared first on Customer Bliss.

When Betty Crocker (not her real name) first started selling cake mixes, all you had to do was add water. They failed.

But when they changed the recipe and required users to add oil and an egg, sales went up.

Because people like to feel as though they’re cooking. It made the mix an activity that felt like home making.

If you order a high-end table saw (and you should, so you don’t get injured) you might discover that there are a fair number of nuts and bolts to install. For the premium that’s charged, there’s no reason for this–except that assembling the last bit yourself feels worthy.

And you’ve probably guessed the punchline, so I won’t tell it to you. When you assemble it yourself…