I was cruising through the world of customer service blogs today when I stumbled upon Steven Grant's article "Critical Priorities for Extraordinary Service Quality " on Customer Service Manager.com. (Hat tip to Meikah.) The article accurately points out that there are many tiny things that contribute to an extraordinary customer experience, but that there are five key areas that can "make or break" experiences:

• Hire people who care
• Invest in the Value Chain
• Automation
• Training & re-training
• Leadership involvement

It is difficult to find "the perfect employee," but it is true that employees who are passionate about serving your customers cost the same as other reps, but are also more likely to go the extra mile. I've spoken at length in this blog about the Employee/Customer Value Asset Chain, and I am a strong believer in this theory. Happy employees contribute to customer experiences and are our most valuable asset. If you set your employees up for success, you will be teeing up your company for even greater success.

Grant cites automation as a key driver to raising the bar on performance and exceeding customer expectations. In the contact center, CSRs are often tasked with accessing mutiple systems at one time, which can create barriers to providing expedient customer service. What have you done to remove these barriers for your employees?

Training is also a great place to invest in your employees so that they will be equipped to provide optimal customer experiences. As Grant points out, the training cannot end with new employee orientation, nor can it simply be "on the job." Rather, regular communication with employees will make them feel more valued as well as more successful in their positions. Earlier this year, I cited a Gallup study that showed that coaching and training produced lower employee turnover rates, greater profitability and higher customer loyalty. Imagine what regular training and coaching could do in your company? Are you training and re-training your reps today? Have you seen positive results from the training?

Finally, Grant points out that investing in supervisors and other leadership members is critical. Having the right infrastructure and support system in place for frontline representatives will better insure success across the organization. Don't forget to take time to train the trainers!

Post tags: Steven Grant, Customer Service Manager, Employee/Customer Value Asset Chain, call center agent