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\nA recruitment shift is happening in customer services. The contact centre has traditionally been considered a function which attracts entry-level talent with fewer formal qualifications and less room for career progression, yet organisations and job seekers alike are now recognising that this hub of the business can be the ideal starting point to build key skills and company knowledge for an upward career path.<\/p>\n
Direct customer interaction often starts in the contact centre. As the eyes and ears of a business, customer service agents typically provide the first \u2018human\u2019 touchpoint between a company and its customers in an increasingly digital world. They hear first-hand what customers want and need, and liaise with them to build a rapport. A fast-paced and ever-changing environment, the contact centre is the front-line of most businesses.<\/p>\n
Time spent in the contact centre, fielding customer enquiries and complaints, and nurturing customer relationships, whether through calls, emails, live chat or social media, equips customer service agents with unique, first-hand insights into your customers. At the same time, this work touches every business department, from marketing and sales through to technical support and finance, as they strive to find resolutions to customer issues. They also often interrogate your products in such a way that gives a wealth of experience which can be shared with the wider business.<\/p>\n
This exposure to the wider business gives customer service operatives a holistic understanding of an organisation from the inside-out. By continually connecting with multiple departments to share customer feedback and challenges, they quickly learn about the different roles within an organisation and the power of their insight. Coupled with the unique knowledge gained from speaking to customers on a daily basis, many agents develop core skills that can be transferred to other roles within a company. It\u2019s also talent you don\u2019t want to lose to a competitor. The challenge is to retain it.<\/p>\n
We consider training to be crucial to attracting and retaining our customer service agents. We ensure they fully understand our service and processes, as well as our customers, enabling them to take ownership of issues that customers raise. This allows them to develop deeper customer relationships, at the same time as working with other colleagues to solve problems and roll out service improvements.<\/p>\n
Richard Branson\u2019s wise words are directly applicable to the contact centre: \u2018Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don\u2019t want to\u2019. Since a lack of opportunity to advance within an organisation is the second most<\/a> common reason millennials leave a company, graduates in customer-facing departments should not be considered temporary resources, but instead provided with adequate training to nourish their skills.<\/p>\n As managers, it\u2019s our responsibility to create an environment where this can happen. We need to provide the encouragement, support and opportunities our agents need to grow and develop. This doesn\u2019t mean over-promising, but instead providing support so that when opportunities or promotions arise, they\u2019re ready to take them. Our contact centre provides a fantastic launchpad for our agents to expand into other roles within our company. In fact, around 7% of our employees who start in the contact centre move on to other roles and departments. Every agent is different so it\u2019s important to identify and nurture individual talents.<\/p>\n Your agents have the potential to become your customers\u2019 and your company\u2019s biggest advocates. When changes are made to products or services that directly affect customers, it\u2019s the former agents who will immediately consider the impact and know the right people to involve. We can demonstrate this using the famous \u2018Lean Startup\u2019 methodology, used by some of the world\u2019s most successful companies. The methodology replaces the traditional \u2018build it and they will come\u2019 approach to product development, with customer-centric processes focused on customer feedback and iterative design. It\u2019s former agents who are well-equipped to provide this feedback.<\/p>\n Companies are increasingly understanding the value of great customer service and placing more emphasis on the role of their contact centre. In fact, nearly three-quarters<\/a> of buying experiences are based on how customers feel they are being treated and 93% of customers<\/a> are likely to make repeat purchases from companies that deliver brilliant customer service. Keeping your agents happy and fulfilled is a sure way to help your company grow and thrive. Take Simon Donaldson from Ikano Bank. He started in a customer-facing role and now heads their Customer Operations. Likewise, Abigail Johnson, the Chief Executive Officer of Fidelity Investments, made sure she gained experience in the customer service function on her journey towards becoming CEO.<\/p>\n Without understanding your customers, you risk developing products or services they don\u2019t want or need. Without customer feedback, you can\u2019t innovate to stay ahead of competitors. And without paying customers, you don\u2019t have a business. Happy customer service agents create happy customers.<\/p>\n
![\"Stewart](\"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Stewart-Kitson-SmartDebit.jpg\")
Stewart Kitson is Head of Customer Service at\u00a0