Customer Service King

Regardless of what anyone says, employees invest their lives into organizations with the hope of making enough money to achieve their own financial goals.  While research apparently disproves this fact, money is the driver that keeps people at work.  Certainly the job environment, the types of contributions one can make, and the relationships that can be forged at work are important.  Nevertheless, work is called that for a reason, and an appropriate level of financial compensation must accompany it.  With that in mind, it is surprising that many managers tend to treat all employees the same way during their annual reviews.  

While the distinctions between top performers and complete slackers can be clearly seen when reading their performance reviews, the financial differences between the two groups are often almost invisible.  This reality can be confirmed in hallways and break rooms the day after annual increases are announced.  Of course, one’s compensation is meant to be secret, but telling the world about their well-earned increase is something most reps can’t help but do.

During this “you tell me yours and I’ll tell you mine” post review discussion, it becomes clear that the difference between excelling for 12 months and contributing little more than carbon dioxide is a 1% raise.  Adding insult to injury is the "small increase accompanied by a large promotion" (In title) phenomenon prevalent in some call centers.  These sad facts are easily avoidable reasons why many top performers leave the organization, while terrible employees seem to linger on….and what’s worse get promoted because all the good people have left.

--Cartoon from callcentercomics.com--

Regardless of what anyone says, employees invest their lives into organizations with the hope of making enough money to achieve their own financial goals.  While research apparently disproves this fact, money is the driver that keeps people at work.  Certainly the job environment, the types of contributions one can make, and the relationships that can be forged at work are important.  Nevertheless, work is called that for a reason, and an appropriate level of financial compensation must accompany it.  With that in mind, it is surprising that many managers tend to treat all employees the same way during their annual reviews.  

While the distinctions between top performers and complete slackers can be clearly seen when reading their performance reviews, the financial differences between the two groups are often almost invisible.  This reality can be confirmed in hallways and break rooms the day after annual increases are announced.  Of course, one’s compensation is meant to be secret, but telling the world about their well-earned increase is something most reps can’t help but do.

During this “you tell me yours and I’ll tell you mine” post review discussion, it becomes clear that the difference between excelling for 12 months and contributing little more than carbon dioxide is a 1% raise.  Adding insult to injury is the "small increase accompanied by a large promotion" (In title and responsibility) phenomenon prevalent in some call centers.  These sad facts are easily avoidable reasons why many top performers leave the organization, while terrible employees seem to linger on….and what’s worse get promoted because all the good people have left.

--Cartoon from callcentercomics.com--

Here is another list of call center videos for all of you.  Remember to bring your snacks and drinks before clicking on the links.  Most importantly, listen through your headsets in case you encounter language only intended for adults.

ADG Security System
True enough, some call centers ask their agents to handle multiple “splits”, or simply put calls from different companies are routed to one agent in a shift.  Usually an agent can do 2 companies at a time, but this agent rocks!

ANZ Ad
A simple advertisement that shows how important a human being is behind those phones. Even with technology advancements in the industry, a customer would still prefer speaking to a live agent.

The Bare Minimum
Here is another perspective of what agents do during their shift.  This is humorous, but the reality is that there are centers out there that run like this.  But, think twice before judging the people manning the phones.  Remember their job is hard enough and they are only human.

Get that popcorn ready!  It’s time to watch some videos today.

I’ve managed to find different videos on the call center industry.  The videos that you are about to see might contain mature or vulgar language, so make sure you don’t have kids around and put on a headset.  Some are hilarious; some portray the industry in a positive light, and most shows what goes on in a call center.  Enjoy!

There is still so much negativity around call center jobs  Watch this clip about the benefits of working in the industry. but the good news is that it is changing.

BlondeStar Series
A new service called BlondeStar has emerged to cater to blondes.  Not only are the customers blond, but also their customer service reps. Don, a subscriber, calls in and asks Portia to help him open his car.
 

The People and the Environment
Okay, let’s get back to reality shall we?  Here is another clip that shows what the environment is like.  What I like about this video is that it focuses on the people within the center, which will translate to providing good customer service.

Let's move on to technical calls and I'm sure you're either handling them currently or have done in the past.  But, would your customer go out of their way to meet you to get your PC fixed?  It seems that someone from Conan O'Brien's staff has gone the extra mile (literally).

More! More! More! You got it!  Move on to the next series of videos now.

Whew! It’s been a while since I posted and I owe a lot to all of you readers out there.  If you’re a call center veteran, you know how it is like at work.  I thought it was really hectic before, but I’ve never been so overwhelmed until a few months ago.  I imagined it to be a busy year and it has been.  It isn’t going to be any easier but definitely exciting.  Sometimes, the load and pace is like a drug.

So, just to give you a snapshot of what my work life has been in the past few months, here are some events that transpired over the last few months.

Call Center Training Convention
I was invited to be one of the speakers in the recent Call Center Training Convention here in Manila.  It was spearheaded by Teledevelopment, a training and consulting company that services the biggest outsourcers in the USA.

It was the first of its kind in the Philippines and the turn out was very good.  I had an audience that represented different cities in the country.  It was a first for me and was glad that I was part of a milestone.

A Merger
Our company has just officially merged with another outsourcer.  It’s been an emotional roller coaster for the executive team and our colleagues.  Anxiety, confusion, resistance, uncertainty and relief are some of the feelings we all felt when people “from the other side” started to introduce themselves.

Today it is my pleasure to announce the new and improved CRM Mastery e-Journal. Here is the Web Link to the new site.

For those of you who access the journal posts via RSS, here is the New RSS Feed.

If you prefer, once at the new site you can subscribe to the RSS Feeds for any of the specific categories of posts which you are interested in.

Anyone who subscribes to the e-Journal email Newsletter will continue to get their emails without making any adjustments.

I want to take this opportunity to thank all of my loyal readers.  Check out the new site and enjoy!