8 ways to motivate support services

The real battle for lifelong customer loyalty is quiet and invisible. She is led backstage, away from glittering shop windows and front facades. Often battles are won not by top managers, but by support workers. Therefore, a motivated support service is one of the key components of success.

86% of customers are willing to pay more , but enjoy excellent service (Oracle, Customer Experience Impact Report , 2011). In this case, one thing is to find talented employees, and another is to motivate them to work effectively.
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To make it easier for you, we have led eight proven methods to increase the motivation of support staff . Be sure to take advantage of them: satisfied employees show much better results than their colleagues, “keeping out” their proper hours.

1) Evaluate what you deserve

81% of the 2000 respondents ( Glassdoor study , 2013) stated that they are motivated by a high assessment of work. The appreciation of the manager is the cornerstone of employee performance . How you express this appreciation - morally or financially - is up to you. However, another study showed that even the usual gratitude expressed in words can double the response.

Scientists conducted an experiment: people were asked to give feedback on the cover letter of a fictional student. After sending a review, they received a letter from the "student". Half of the participants received a dry request, and half - a letter, where the same request was preceded by gratitude for the feedback. Result: 32% of the first group responded, and 68% of the second.

Encourage employees to achieve them, and they will work even better.

2) Communicate

Support service - front line. Do you know how many battles the troops lost just because the connection between the front line and the headquarters did not work? Do not make this mistake: the exchange of information should be two-way.

To provide excellent service, management should regularly communicate with customer support . Moreover, communication does not mean listening "for show". The supporter communicates the wishes and concerns of customers, therefore, approach this issue seriously.

To get comprehensive information, let the employee feel free. An additional nuance - the right to vote and the attention of management increase employee self-esteem and have a positive effect on work .

3) Take part

Many companies, including Amazon, Zappos and Buffer, use the model of total participation in customer support. Each employee devotes a certain part of his time to working in support . This shows support staff how important what they do and allows other departments of the company to be closer to customers in order to directly learn about their needs.

Don't be afraid to get your hands dirty . Communication with customers is an opportunity to find out the bottlenecks and improve the level of service.

4) Trust

Personnel who are constantly subject to strict supervision work worse than employees who feel the confidence of their superiors. If the employee understands that they do not trust him, he does not expect praise for the work done and, as a result, he does not give all the best.

Remote work and the massive use of online tools have led to the fact that the separation of “home / work” is blurred more than ever . Therefore, it is important to encourage self-reliance: employees are able to determine how and when to do the work. Turn off the paranoid mode and learn to trust .

5) Encourage the competition

Secret competition and friendly competition work wonders. The point is the predisposition to competition, which is inherent in human character. Create the conditions, give a light push and make yourself comfortable :)

An example from Dale Carnegie's popular book, How to Win Friends and Influence People. At one of the plants, the manager inspected the lagging area. He asked the end of the day shift how much they had done in a day. The resulting figure recorded in chalk on the floor. The night shift, coming to the shop, asked the daytime, what is this figure. They explained. By the end of the shift, night workers erased the old figure and wrote another one at the same place — they increased their output and praised the result. A few days later, the shop began to perform, and then exceed the norm.

Note that the element of "random" competition is much more effective than the threat of dismissal, fines and swearing.

6) Provide tools

Easily destroy motivation, forgetting about the quality of equipment and applications for doing work. You can not equip the support service on the residual principle . Sophisticated, inconvenient, and breathing instruments of incense will discourage the desire to work even with a talented employee.

Do not be stingy and provide support with all necessary. This will kill two birds with one stone: let the support workers know that they are not the last people in the company, and increase their productivity.

7) Educate

When hiring support staff, you bring them up to date and master basic skills. However, this can not stop. Regularly conduct trainings, workshops and courses.

Refined skills will certainly bring dividends - remember about 81% of clients from the beginning of the article. Employees are inspired and they increase the level of service. The care shown shows your desire to invest in support services, gives the staff confidence in their own value, and makes it clear that they will be able to build a career in the company.

8) Distribute the load

Avraly is not uncommon in business, but the work of support staff in itself requires high voltage and takes a lot of effort. Regular processing leads to reduced productivity and even disruption . The employee “burns out” and ceases to show previous results. Do not bring matters to this.

Lunch break, sick leave, time off and the transfer of working hours are necessary for the correct distribution of the load. When employees manage to replenish their strength, they are at times better at serving customers .

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Support service is the first and often the only point of contact between a client and a business. The time you devote to caring and motivating employees helps them to open up and directly affects the number of satisfied and loyal customers.