As we enter the season of goodwill, I wonder, why do we call it season of goodwill? Surely every season should be about goodwill?
I am proud of what we have achieved at ContactCenterWorld and know we have come a long way from our roots in Guildford, England but also know we have a long way to go. My personal wish list grows ever longer and my team and I constantly discuss enhancements – never ends! That’s what makes it such a great company to work in – never a dull day! And a special BIG thanks to all our members who, over the past 12 years, have helped us in so many ways.
Back to goodwill, I had a few minutes to spare and thought how I can get us thinking about goodwill all year so thought I could make a few suggestions to every reader out there. Sorry they are not in any particular order of priority – just some lose thoughts.
Here are my thoughts -10 things every person in the industry can do now, into 2012 and beyond!
1. Say thanks – to your staff when they do anything for you. It costs nothing and goes a long way. You don’t need someone to do something very special – look for ways to say thanks all the time!
2. Say please – along with thanks, let’s not lose sight of the simple things like manners. When you ask for anything always say please!
3. Smile – a smile is infectious and makes us all feel better. Probably prolongs life so there’s another benefit!
4. Ask questions - I welcome members asking for help – although I don’t know all the answers, I know there are many out there that do and asking for help is not a weakness at all – far from it! So anytime you need some information, ask a question.
5. Help one another – following on from asking questions, lets invite our staff and customers to ask questions so we can help one another. If we can’t help at that time, don’t be rude about it, just say sorry and try and find some other solution like directing them to another contact.
6. Treat everyone with respect – let’s remember where we all came from. Doesn’t matter if you are a now a CEO or high powered executive – you started somewhere so let’s respect everyone no matter who they are and help others aspire to great things as well.
7. Learn about each other’s culture - I enjoy networking with all different races and religions – its fascinating and rewarding to make the effort and its very much appreciated by those you interact with.
8. Understanding – we all make mistakes. We are only human after all, so allow people to make mistakes. Often it simply is a mistake and what we need to do is revisit the way we do things. So next time someone you work with makes a mistake ask yourself, what was it that caused it and correct the process.
9. Recognition – in our industry just like most other customer facing industries, it’s often the lowest paid staff who manage customer interactions. Lets make a point of recognising their work and finally, on to my last suggestion
10. Reward – pay staff what they deserve. I often see feedback in surveys about motivation and it’s not just about money. Staff want to be recognised, want security, to work for an understanding boss and company and they often leave the company because of their boss. Let’s be the good bosses our team deserves, reward them with praise, security, recognition and paying them what they deserve.
Wishing you all the best for this holiday season and lets treat every day as the season of goodwill – we don’t need any excuses!
Raj Wadhwani
About Raj Wadhwani đ:
After leaving Kings College in London with a degree in Physics, Raj Wadhwani, President of ContactCenterWorld.com, spent his early years in a sales & marketing role with market leaders such as Unilever & Lafarge. In 1996 he set up his own call center consultancy & training company. Over the next 3 years his company won awards for customer care, he trained hundreds of managers from major corporations on how to manage their call centers and advised corporations on strategy & performance management. In 1999 he set up CallCenterWorld.com and changed the name to ContactCenterWorld.com in 2001
About ContactCenterWorld:
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ContactCenterWorld is The Global Association for Contact Center & Customer Engagement Best Practices. Today we have over 215,000 corporate 'individual' members have joined the association's website 'ContactCenterWorld.com'. We were established in 1999.
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Published: Sunday, December 25, 2011
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