As I’ve worked with different organizations, one question has often given me the key to unlocking problems with a particular organization. In a calling center, for example, I’ll sit down with the center manager and ask them to explain how their compensation and especially how their bonus is computed? I explain that I don’t need to know the actual numbers, but just what’s the basis for their compensation and for their incentive bonus program. But this isn’t the key question, this is just the lead in.

Once we’ve discussed WHAT compensation is and how the bonus is computed, I ask what change they could make in their operation that would affect their bonus at the end of the period. Want to know how often I get a blank stare?

Variations on the question might be: If they could improve calling rate by 25%, what would be the impact on their bonus? If they could reduce call times by 25%, what would be the impact on their bonus? If they could get a successful conclusion to 25% more calls, what would that do to their bonus? Very few people could give me an answer and none gave me an answer that stood up to a 2nd look.

In most organizations I’ve reviewed, it turns out that NO ONE knows how changes made today could impact their bonuses tomorrow or next week or next year. In other words, they have no control over their bonus. Even if it there is a way to do what I’ve asked, the people on the front line don’t know it. How good an inventive is it if you create a program where no one knows how what they do will affect their incentive?

Everyone talks about motivating their people, but they really don’t pay a lot of attention to what their compensation systems are motivating people to do. Even worse, they don’t give people a way to take positive action to impact their compensation, because the tie in to actual operational reality is loose at best.

If an incentive program is going to work, then it must be tied to factors that the person actually can control. Sales people working on commission have it better in many cases because they can track their sales and know exactly what they need to do to get more. If something isn’t leading to a sale, they can drop it and move on, working on someone else more likely to generate a sale. However, most compensation programs for people working with Customer Facing Systems aren’t anywhere near that good.

The basic principle then for ANY incentive program needs to be ‘Can my people understand the program and control what they do today to get their bonus?’ If you can’t do that, then face it, you’re not providing incentives, you’re gambling.

Categories: Call/Contact Centers, Customer Service
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Here’s an exercise I often assign during the initial work up on a project. At the point I do this, I have a company team together with front-line people and at least one supervisor or manager. I don’t allow programmers or techies in until we’ve spent some time getting people thinking clearly about what they need.

The exercise came about because I was frustrated with people who could say the words about good customer service, but weren’t doing it themselves. As the saying goes, they could ‘talk the talk, but they couldn’t walk the walk’! In most cases, they didn’t even realize what they were doing.

FIRST … everyone goes to lunch or some other non-company activity like stopping at a book store, visiting a gym, or whatever they do with their break time (when I did this in England, it was often stopping at the Pub)

SECOND … everyone records an outline of their experience, capturing not only WHAT happened, but also how they FEEL about what happened.

THIRD … everyone reports to the group on their experience focusing especially on their feelings about what happened, both good and bad and discussing how the good and bad things that happened are happening or not happening in their own jobs.

It doesn’t really work well without a team, because you really have to hear other people discuss THEIR experiences to get the most benefit from it, but try it yourself anyway. You could even do this exercise over the phone. Try calling your PC Manufacturer for service, or Microsoft, or Apple. Record what happened and how you felt about it. For example …

———————– Phone Service Experience ——————-
I’ve been waiting here for 30 minutes and all I hear is elevator music
I keep hearing that my call is important to them, but no one comes and there’s no way out without losing my place.
OOPS … finally got someone … they’re taking down a ton of information that isn’t related to my problem … what’s this all about … I just want to know why my service isn’t working!
OK … they’re happy, now on to the problem …
D#$N … the person who answered is transferring me to technical service because they can’t help … I’m off on a ringing phone again!
Double D#$N … the phone stopped everything and I got nothing, no sound, nothing …
I GOT THE DIAL TONE BACK! The transfer didn’t work and the person I talked to doesn’t know! I’ll have to start all over again.
I’m FRUSTRATED, MAD, and I’ll take this out on anyone who answers the phone!
———————————————————————-

Sounds bad … that was a real call … I won’t say to what vendor, but the names have been changed, hidden, and otherwise deleted to protect the guilty! Could this happen in YOUR service center with YOUR Customer Facing System?

One of the things I found in using this exercise was that agents became far more aware of how important feelings are in judging the success or failure of a transaction. They learn that you can solve the problem the customer has handed you, but still fail the transaction if the customer isn’t satisfied in some way with the effort. Managers and Supervisors learned the importance of providing a continuous process that smoothly moves the customer through from initial contact to resolution. … AND … I learned where the holes are in their systems so I can think about how best to plug them.

For many people, it introduces a whole new perspective on what they REALLY need to do on the phone or face-to-face with a customer.

Categories: Call/Contact Centers, Customer Service
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