How to Attract and Hire Customer Service Champions
Americans have been observing Customer Service Week since 1992.
This weeklong event has become international in scope. More than 40 nations now observe Customer Service Week, underscoring the importance of customer service and the people who serve and support customers on a daily basis.
This year, Customer Service Week is themed Service Champions™, highlighting the key customer service beliefs: LEAD by example, ACHIEVE success, EXCEED expectations.
3 Essentials of Service Champions
So, how do you find and hire Service Champions who will lead, achieve, and exceed? By focusing on these three essentials:
1. Interpersonal effectiveness
Whether employees are in direct customer-facing positions, or working behind the scenes—how they relate to external clients and internal customers (coworkers and team members) is one of the strongest predictors of job success. Regardless of the job or industry, employees who are friendly, courteous, empathetic, and approachable will help you build strong teams and loyal customer relationships.
2. Effective problem solving
Service champions are good listeners. They take time to understand what customers want (and need). These employees recognize that what the customer asks for may not be what the customer actually needs. Stellar customer service relies on employees who connect with customers, quickly analyze their wants and needs, and offer solutions that meet and exceed their expectations. Customer satisfaction is impossible without a team of effective problem solvers.
3. Conscientiousness
If your company has friendly, effective problem solvers, then you’re 2/3rds of the way there! The final factor in delivering service excellence is employee conscientiousness. Let’s face it, you can’t monitor every customer interaction. So you need confidence that each employee performs at a high level, treating your customers like you treat your customers. Conscientious employees are hard workers. They require minimal supervision, persist in solving difficult customer issues, support team members without being asked, and go the extra mile to ensure that your customers are happy.
How to Attract and Hire the Best
Now that we’ve identified the three essentials of Service Champions, the next step is finding and hiring those people! Fortunately, our new gaming and simulation technology makes the hiring process fun, easy, and extremely accurate.
Using high-end graphics and compelling storylines, our EASy Simulation® Virtual Customer gives you everything you need to pinpoint top talent. Virtual Customer is an online assessment that immerses applicants in real-life workplace and customer situations. The simulation quickly and accurately pinpoints top performers who will greet your customers with warmth and enthusiasm, resolve issues, confidently promote products and services, exceed expectations, and build customer loyalty. The Virtual Customer is the ideal hiring tool for any entry-level or service-related role.
Start attracting and hiring Service Champions today!
Call for your FREE test drive: 888-332-0648.
About Customer Service Week
Customer Service Week originated with Customer Service Group, Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, nearly 30 years ago. In 1992, Congress proclaimed Customer Service Week as a nationally recognized event to be celebrated during the first full week in October.
Now, nearly three decades later, thousands of companies across the United States and around the world celebrate Customer Service Week. They represent leading financial, healthcare, insurance, manufacturing, retailing, hospitality, communications, non-profit and educational organizations, as well as government agencies, and others.
What brings these companies together to celebrate Customer Service Week is their sincere commitment to quality customer service. We share that commitment. As the leader in simulation testing for talent prediction, Employment Technologies helps our clients achieve success by exceeding their expectations in attracting, hiring, and retaining Service Champions.