Two weeks ago, I attended our annual Genesys Sales Kickoff (SKO) meeting in San  Francisco. During the week of Main Stage presentations, breakout sessions and training, I learned a lot, more than I can remember. But one statement made by our CEO, Paul Segre @PaulSegre, made me think. The words he spoke, “fail fast” apply to so much of what we do in our daily routines, but more importantly for this post, to our most valuable resources-our employees and customers.

To me, failing fast means quickly recognizing the wrong path has been taken and making a change in direction. For a large Customer Service organization with thousands of employees recognizing failure can be extremely difficult, but changing direction quickly can be impossible without the right people, processes, and systems in place. Here are steps you can take to “fail fast” that will help your organization provide world-class customer service:

  1. Listen to your customers – Speech and text analytics are becoming more and more powerful and allow you to analyze thousands of transactions for key words and phrases that can be used to identify issues and make change.
  2. Listen to your employees – Encourage employees to provide feedback and make it rewarding. Your employees who are using your systems to solve customer issues know a lot about your business and your customers. Make them part of the solution before they become part of the problem.
  3. Utilize Customer Surveys – In addition to speech and text analytics, implement a customer survey that can be correlated to a specific transaction.  Act on feedback and monitor for impact.
  4. Net Promoter Score (NPS) – If you have tried surveys, maybe it is time to move to NPS. What is the likelihood your customer will recommend your product or service?
  5. Service Levels – Set service levels based on your customers expectations by analyzing data by call type and time of day and correlating it back to surveys and or NPS.
  6. Monitor Social Media – Not only should you monitor social media channels like Facebook and Twitter, but listen to who is saying what and have the capability to respond quickly with the right resources.
  7. Reporting and Correlation of Data – With all of the systems you have in place, you need a solid Analytics tool that allows for attached data from multiple sources so to help you understand the results and track and monitor changes.

Finally, once “change” is recognized, commit to making the adjustments necessary to succeed. Your employees will appreciate it and your customers will too. Have pre-identified teams that are available to tackle the challenge and make “failing fast” a positive tool.

To learn more about Genesys Workforce Optimization Tools, click here.