Too many managers think they can plan and script and train employees how to handle every customer situation. It’s even worse with offshore call centers. As a customer you can tell when these people are forced to use scripts. It can be a painful process to participate in. And it’s a massively ineffective way to give customers the experience they want. It does not work.
What if you met a new friend and everything they said was scripted? They actually carried around a script and a checklist. And they ended every conversation the same way, with exactly the same words.
How likely would you be to become a close friend to that person? I’d sooner move 1,000 miles away than let that person into my world!
Of course this would never happen in real life. It would be ridiculous.
So why then does it happen in “customer service world”? Why do companies think the way to gain their customer’s trust is to be phony and contrived?
It happens because of management that thinks you can plan and program and measure everything. They see people (employees) as machines. So they try to program them to produce a specific outcome. The problem is they try to create an outcome by controlling the employees actions. But the outcome they produce leaves customers empty if not angry.
You don’t help people create specific outcome by controlling their actions. You do it by helping them understand the outcome desired, giving them the room to find their own way to that outcome and providing tools and resources to help them as they need it.
If you hire smart, friendly and motivated people, they’ll be able to find their way to the outcomes you want them to create with customers. But you have to give them room to do this. You have to trust them. And you coach and guide them along the way.
Let your employees be real and you’ll get better outcomes. More importantly, you’ll get happier employees and more loyal customers.
