By Justin Smith
Keeping customers happy is a mission that requires a special mix of patience and effectiveness. With this in mind, managers often go to great lengths to make sure that only the best people are being hired for customer support. A great team consists of top tier problem solvers, compassionate listeners, and people who work great under pressure. They push the limits of what can be done to keep satisfaction high. What happens once you have your dream team assembled? You need to keep them motivated to provide lasting and exceptional service. A properly motivated team delivers award-winning results and adds a high level of value to your product. Here are 3 tips for keeping your team up to the challenge.
Outstanding Culture
Culture is a huge component of fostering a motivated group of customer support superstars. The dirty secret about support is that it can be a difficult place to perform. Dealing with the rapidly changing needs of customers along with quickly evolving products can be a big challenge. Creating an environment based on group camaraderie sets a great tone. Ideally, you want to set people up to succeed by providing an environment where they are able to learn from each other and act as helpful peers. This also requires having a management team that listens and observes as closely as possible (without micromanaging), to fairly assess the needs of the team and act quickly to address any concerns that can come up.
Clarity
Great leaders agree that setting up clear and concise expectations can propel any group towards success. Taking the time to think about which accomplishments are important will help you avoid pushing towards achievements that seem pointless or unattainable to your team. Coming up with a departmental mission statement is a great way to clearly set an objective that a group can work towards. It is especially important for leaders to show how they are a part of this effort as well and are not just looking for production from their team members. Communication about the status of changes is also very helpful. It is easy to work together to clear up issues if people are aware that things are changing, but it requires clear and careful communication with your team.
Power & Responsibility
Once a group goal is set up and presented to the team, the next big step is empowerment. Give members of your support team the power to make the best decision for the customers they are entrusted to help. Unsurprisingly, people love to help others when they know there is something they can do to solve problems. Listening to your support group will help you to pinpoint areas of customer and employee frustration. Just like the customers they are serving, your team wants to be heard. Using their input and then demonstrating how their feedback has driven organizational changes can be the formula for keeping everyone on the lookout for best practices.
These tips can help you motivate your team who then attract customers with a fierce loyalty to your brand. That same loyalty will energize your team. When you set people up with an environment of success, allow them to understand what’s expected of them, and give them the tools to execute on those expectations, you set a strong foundation that keeps them excited about the work that they are doing every day. It’s simple math: Happy employees plus an investment in motivation equals great customer interactions.
Need help motivating your Customer Success team? The Success League is a consulting firm that works with success leaders who want to unlock the the retention and revenue potential in their team and drive true change for their customers. www.TheSuccessLeague.io
Justin Smith - Justin is an enthusiastic and determined customer advocate, who builds and leads award-winning technical support organizations. For almost a decade, Justin has worked with customer-centric companies like Fed-Ex and VerticalResponse to create exceptional client care experiences. He currently works for Say Media, holds a BA in English from the University of California at Davis, and resides in Oakland, CA.