How to show the Value of a Call Center Career / Customer Service Career?
Recently I received this question on showing the value of a call center career or customer service career from one of our newsletter subscribers."What I am trying to achieve is to educate customer service representatives both current and in the future, to see customer services as a career and not a stepping stone for something else.
"As you would be aware that it is vital to have a good team within your company, and we have built our reputation on this fact with our customers. I am trying to portray this role as a vital position within in our company and should be looked upon as a professional career, not just a job.
"I am hoping you can help with idea's, information, what ever you can to help me with my research."
Unfortunately, because of this there is a strong perception amongst workers that customer support is either an entry level job (indeed a stepping stone for something else), or a good place to be if you have no career ambition whatsoever. As a result you attract people who are either not interested in customer service -OR- not interested in a career. Or both (ugh!).
How to change this around?
Does Management See the Value of Customer Service?
First
of all, I feel there should be a clear commitment from the top, that clearly
acknowledges the importance of customer service in the total customer value
proposition, and as a unique selling point.
If management doesn't see how customer service adds to the bottom line of the business, they are more likely to see it as a cost center.
And management loves to drive down cost.
If you can quantify (in cold hard cash) how much the customer service
department is actually adding to the bottom line, then you have an argument to
turn customer service into a profit center. ROI talks.
This is a major hump to take, and oh, ye lucky ones who have top management that has seen the light!
What is your goal?
The 2nd thing I'd like to address is the goal of making people view customer
service as a career. Most likely you are having a serious issue with stability
in your team. First you have to find people with the right attitude, train them,
and then have them learn it on the job. And when they finally become a
contributor, they hop to another job. I've seen it a million times.
I don't think you should necessarily go for career chasers. What you really need
are people with a passion to help other people. Some want a career, others don't.
the fact that someone doesn't want or need to make a career should not directly
disqualify him or her for this work.
I'd even go so far as to argue that for a stable team, you need people with a drive forward, and people who like to stay put. Somewehere between them is a mix that allows people to flow in and out of the team, while maintaining a certain critical mass of knowledge and experience. But first and foremost, it's the passion to help that counts!
Do you have a Career to Offer?
Since you focus on customer service as a professional career, I'd like to discuss that as well. For people to see it as a career, you need to have a career path. What consecutive functions can you offer to employees? How can they better themselves in terms of personal development, recognition, and (last but not least) salary? Does this match the criteria of the kind of employees you'd like to attract?
If you indeed have a career path to offer, I'd say you have a major URP (Unqiue Recruitment Point) that you can use to recruit personnel into customer service positions. However, because of the perceptions, you should expect some resistance to that message.
In any case, to attract the right people into your team, you should really sell them on it. Just like you would sell a product or a service. Focus on
the benefits, rather than the features. Let the price be right. Give them
responsibility and recognition. Show them how they can further themselves by
training and experience.
And even for those who look for a stepping-stone... make it a magnificent stepping-stone. That shouldn't be too hard...
Anyone who can demonstrate an initimate knowledge of what is in the hearts and minds of customers, is so much closer to just about any high-valued function.
Links to other Call Center Career / Customer Service Career pages
A Quality
Call Center begins with Quality People
Describes the roles of all the people you can typically find in a call center
setting, and maybe a starting point of laying out a call center career /
customer service career path.
Customer Service Job Descriptions
To better understand what a support job entails, read these customer service job
descriptions closely. If you know the job, you have a better chance of landing
it, right?
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telemarketing, telesales, help desk, sales and CRM industries, from entry level
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