Differentiating your brand is a crucial step to make sure you stand out among competitors. And one untapped resource that can make or break your brand’s reputation is your agents.
Agents are the ones who represent you to customers every day. They’re inherently connected to your brand.
So when it comes to making your brand unique, developing a comprehensive strategy to keep agents engaged, motivated, and satisfied is fundamental.
Here’s why—and how to do it.
Improving the agent experience is the best way to differentiate your brand.
What the agent experiences, customers experience too. When an agent is supported by the contact center they work for, the customer feels that difference—and receives better service.
Although better AX leads to better CX, not many contact centers give adequate thought to the agent experience, instead driving the point that customer experience is key. And this makes agent experience a great place to focus on when differentiating your brand.
So, build a culture where agent experience is the primary focus. Devote a team to improving your agent experience, so you deliver customer experience that stands above the rest.
“The difference between great companies and mediocre ones is whether they’re doing the agent experience right. The best companies have a team dedicated to agent experience that’s separate from the customer experience team. It’s an intentional strategy with real investment behind it.”
—Stacy Sherman, Podcast Host of Doing CX Right
Invest in your agents’ success.
Creating dedicated, engaged agents that build up your brand requires a clear strategy that covers all areas of support, from performance to community to wellbeing.
1. Let purpose drive your brand.
Customers increasingly value brands that are driven by purpose and actively talk about it. Your agents are the same.
They need to know why your contact center is a valuable place to work and understand how their role contributes to your mission.
Define your contact center’s purpose and embed it into your agents’ roles, from training to everyday responsibilities. When agents feel connected to a purpose, they put in 110% effort.
2. Create space for open dialogue.
Agents need a community where they can help each other. If you don’t provide this space, your agents will create it for themselves—but that means you don’t have control over what’s being said about your contact center.
Establish a safe space for agents to build each other up. Let them offer words of encouragement, coaching, and other advice. Be open to dialogue about process improvement and other feedback.
This keeps your call center in the loop on what agents are looking for, helping you keep agents engaged while building a reputation for being a great place to work.
3. Provide customer support for your agents.
Typically, agents don’t have their own form of customer support to assist them when they’re unable to help a customer or when they have technology issues.
Give your agents a clear method to ask for help, whether that means submitting a ticket, consulting other agents, or setting up a meeting with a manager. This simplifies their job, preventing agent frustration or helplessness and keeping them focused on success.
4. Prioritize compassion.
Mental wellbeing is extremely important to your agents’ performance. When agents are going through personal issues, focus on the support your contact center can provide instead discussing their performance.
This establishes a level of trust between you and your agents. So that when they do return at full capacity, they remember being treated with compassion and respect and feel motivated to improve.
See your brand succeed.
When agents are dedicated to your contact center, they create customer experiences that go above and beyond. And they solidify your brand as one customers can trust.
