No. 4. in a series on Enlightened Service Leadership

Study says front-line reps would trade gift cards for more praise from their supervisor

Imagine that a friend asked for your advice about how to repair his troubled marriage. He shares his strategy for saving his marriage. “I thought I’d take her on a cruise or send her to a spa. Or maybe buy her that bracelet she has her eye on.”

You can’t believe your ears. It’s absurd to think that bribing his wife to stay with him would actually work. You want him to understand that what she really needs is his time and his attention. He needs to let her know by his actions that he values her.

Now think about what you do to reward and recognize your employees. If the way you typically show your appreciation is to give them goodies, you may want to think again. While there is nothing wrong with giving out gift cards or having a celebration during Customer Service Week, what really matters to front line employees is genuine, on the spot recognition from their supervisor.

Ascent’s 2009 Reward & Recognition Best Practices study bears this out. Front-line reps ranked “praise” as most important. Tangible gifts came in fourth. The study also found that praise is best delivered on the spot. “Recognition and rewards can be formal or informal. Informal recognition, meaning, spontaneous or immediate — simple thank you’s or expressions for a job well done. In fact, most of a company’s recognition activity should be informal. Informal recognition is a critical component in human nature and the social structure — it’s a major motivator and results in people feeling good about themselves and their achievements.”

The report pointed out that while some supervisors are naturals, most don’t know how to reward and recognize their individual employees. “Managers and supervisors should receive the proper training that will develop the skills needed to praise and reward desired behavior and performance.”

This week stop by and give your employees a complement for a job well done. It will do you good.

Enjoy your week and the 4th of July Holiday.
Look for the next Monday Aha! on July 12.

Resources:
For information on how you can transition your supervisors from ineffective “firefighting” mode to a service model that is proactive and intentional.

It’s just as true now as it was in the 60′s when Bob Dylan wrote the lyrics to, “The Times They Are A-changin’.” But this time we aren’t urging a generation to heed the call for social justice; this time we are urging companies to heed the call of customers who want a more enlightened approach to customer service.

If you are in the service delivery business (and who isn’t?), you may have noticed a gradual rise in customers’ expectations. Gone are the days when customers were okay with being transferred from department to department to get an answer. Heck, they were just grateful to be able to call you on the phone instead of having to write a letter or fax in their complaint and wait a week for a response. Or, worse, having no choice but to physically show up at your place of business.

Fast forward to today when customers are more infinitely more savvy and sophisticated. Today’s customers expect convenient web-based self service options accessible 24/7. On those rare occasions when they do have to call to fix a problem, your customers want to talk with an intelligent, knowledgeable representative who has the authority to solve their problem on the spot. Oh yes, one other thing, customers to be treated like a human being.

How did this rise in expectations happen? Blame it on companies like on line retailer, Zappos. When your customers receive a “wow!” service experience from a company with great service (even if it’s a company that offers a very different product or service), that experience instantly becomes the new standard for what they believe is possible. So, when customers call you and don’t get a great feeling, they wonder why. If Zappos can do it – why can’t you?

In my recent visit to Zappos’ call center, their upbeat, “let’s get it done and have fun” culture, reminded me of a newly hired employee who enters a company all bright-eyed and optimistic; convinced that they have found a place where they can really shine. Their positive can-do attitude gets noticed and they are fast-tracked to a promotion, leaving the other employees in the dust, scratching their heads and wondering – what’s he go that I don’t ?

The good news is that your company has what Zappos’ has – smart, talented people who want to give their all. Give them the opportunity to shine. Power to the people.

“Please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway
Don’t block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There’s a battle outside
And it is ragin’.
It’ll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin’.”
– Bob Dylan, poet and songwriter.

Think about it.

Harris Faulkner of Fox News, interviews Barbara Burke, the author of the The Napkin, The Melon and The Monkey. Continue Reading…