“Skin in the Game” is necessary to ensure that your team is working to deliver the best Customer Experience possible.
Lisa Ford, a renowned speaker and trainer in the field of Customer Service, Satisfaction, and Loyalty shared her method of keeping your team accountable for working in the best interest of your customer during a discussion we had about the ultimate Customer Experience.
“I think people have to be held accountable for it.
Are we making a part of performance appraisal? Every three months are we reviewing some numbers? We don’t just wait and do it annually. But I think people have to have it reinforced at a very tangible level.
I think a portion of individuals’ pay, supervisors, frontline, all the way up, has to be tied to customer satisfaction numbers.
It may be 5 percent, it might be 25 percent. But I believe there has to be enough – they have to have enough so-called skin in the game for them to be willing to make the kind of changes needed to continue on the path of exceptional customer service, and then, therefore, satisfaction.
Again, it’s accountability, it’s talking about it; it’s team meetings, it’s getting people excited about it.
It’s getting peer-to-peer recognition going, also. Not just putting it on the shoulders of a supervisor who cannot be everywhere at all times.
It’s letting peers be okay with saying, “Ooh, let me tell you the cool thing I saw Chris do! Ooh, let me tell you the great thing I saw John do with a customer yesterday.”
So that we get that kind of excitement and momentum also at a team meeting. That stuff’s priceless in the way of reinforcement later down the road.”
Lisa’s advice to have compensation directly tied to customer service is an area that many of you have voiced hesitancy toward. But the fact is, when folks realize that their compensation is directly related to how well they work in the best interest of your customer, you’d be surprised with the results.
Please keep your questions and emails coming. I’m always happy to help.
Helping you focus on your customers,
Kristina