Contact Center Articles

Customer Focus

Written by BenchmarkPortal | Apr 5, 2016

Agents exist to satisfy the needs of customers. Most agents feel this keenly and appreciate working for a company that is structured to support the goal of superior customer service. 

Destructive dissonance can creep into companies that talk about customer focus but then don’t “walk the talk” on a consistent, enterprise-wide basis. 

Customer-Focus

5. Strongly Agree

4. Agree

3. Neither

2. Disagree

1. Strongly Disagree

Net Score
top 2 –

low 2

The criterion used to measure my performance closely matches what matters most to our customers.

34.5%

45.2%

13.7%

4.3%

2.2%

73.2%

There is a strong emphasis on customer service throughout the company.

26.0%

44.2%

17.6%

8.9%

3.2%

58.1%

The performance measurements that focus on the customer are effective and meaningful.

43.6%

44.1%

7.6%

3.2%

1.5%

83.0%

We are sincere and honest in our interactions with customers. They can trust us to do what is right.

30.5%

47.9%

14.5%

5.5%

1.6%

71.3%

Category Averages:

33.7%

45.4%

13.3%

5.5%

2.1%

71.4%

 

Overall, relatively high ratings were given to the attribute of measuring customer-centric performance. The net score of 83% on this item was the second highest of all ratings in the survey.

At the other end of the spectrum for this category, the statement “There is a strong emphasis on customer service throughout the company” had a 58.1% Net Score.

 

Interpretation 

Among those surveyed, the overwhelming perception is that their operations are in alignment with customer focus. The results of questions 1 and 3 are reminders that "what gets measured is what matters." Agents surveyed perceive that performance measurement criteria on which they are judged are focused on the customer.

A weaker showing was registered in question 2, which refers to the emphasis on customer service across the whole enterprise, not just the contact center. The implication is that agents do not perceive the rest of the enterprise as being as customer-focused as the call center - - a criticism that echoes similar responses found in other survey responses. Agents appear to see their department doing a better customer service job than others in their enterprise.  

 

Customer Focus

Impact:

·      First Call Resolution

·      Caller Satisfaction

·      Service Improvement Processes

 

My Agent Voices blog posts are the result of research on over 5,000 agent surveys conducted in North America. - - Bruce Belfiore