In most call centers, it's a guessing game when the leadership team tries to identify what is important to customers as they communicate with agents.

Most of us are pretty experienced in this business and so many of our guesses are educated, but they are guesses nonetheless. I may have a list of things that I think are important, but I may not know which things are most important to customers.

When we don't have solid evidence, how can we confidently communicate with agents about what they can do to satisfy customers? If agents don't fully understand what they can do to satisfy customers, how can agents make the right decisions day after day as they interact with them? And how can we be sure we appropriately motivate them to demonstrate behavior that satisfies customers?

Some frustrated call center leaders end up with a solution that sounds like this, "We don't have any solid evidence about specific attributes among agents that are most important to customers, so we are going to highlight our educated guesses in alphabetical order. This month we are concentrating on accuracy and next month we will be concentrating on courtesy.

"Each month we will come up with job aids and motivational approaches. We'll provide agents with 'It's Bright to be Right' pins, advise that they check out our 'Accuracy Bulletin Board' on their way out at the end of the day and remind them not to stumble over our mascot, 'Mr. Accuracy!'"

But even after we build these elaborate programs that we think will help to satisfy customers, we are still frustrated because we all know deep down that there must be a better way.

Inside we are saying, "I know there is a way to stop guessing. I want to ensure that:

• We have identified the attributes that are important to customer satisfaction and loyalty.

• All employees, including call center agents, know the behaviors they should demonstrate to improve customer loyalty.

• We are appropriately motivating employees to demonstrate the behaviors that are most likely to improve customer loyalty.

• We are getting the best return on the customer satisfaction incentives paid to our call center employees."

This inner drive for something better is typical of the professional call center leaders of today who are motivated to enhance the loyalty of customers in a fiscally responsible manner. These leaders want to do more than just guesswork.

Above is an illustration that we have found helps people figure out the process required to move beyond guesswork. As the diagram illustrates, there are two parts to this solution. The first part is developing the customer survey process so it feeds the right information into the employee performance management process.

Then you develop the employee performance management process to teach employees how they can contribute to customer satisfaction and motivate them to demonstrate customer-satisfying behavior. The linkages between the two fully developed processes are what produce exceptional team performance, loyal customers and cost-effective operations.

Designing A Customer Survey Plan

The goal of a customer survey is to determine the attributes that drive customer loyalty and to measure how the teams of employees impact customer satisfaction on an ongoing basis.

You will want to develop a plan that brings all important survey information together. Survey programs may last months, even years. Your plan should ensure that even if the composition of the survey team changes, the collection of customer information proceeds effectively and methodically.

Form a leadership team to develop a survey plan that documents:

The intent of the survey program

• Will the survey measure a certain process?

• Will the survey measure the performance of certain teams?

• Will the survey measure certain outcomes of initiatives?

The objective of the survey program

• Is the desired outcome a two-fold increase in the customer base?

• Is the desired outcome a larger share of wallet for each customer?

• Is the desired outcome customer retention?

The method of surveying

• Will it be conducted through the Web?

• Will surveys be sent through mail or e-mail?

• Will surveys be administered by phone?

• Will it be conducted continuously and reported quarterly?

The construction of the survey

• How long will it be?

• Will it have a seven-point scale, a five-point scale or another type of scale?

• Will it consist of yes/no answers?

• Will it contain open-ended questions?

The sample of customers for the survey

• What percentage of your customers will you survey to achieve the desired confidence level?

• Will you have guidelines in place to keep from over-surveying your customers?

Your analysis of the data

• Will you trend the data over time?

• Will you use correlation and regression analysis?

Your use of the survey results

• Will action teams respond to the results within a week?

• By what process will you share information with agents?

• Will you share information with corporate leaders?

The survey plan will be your bible as you go forward with the project. You can change it during the course of the survey program, but unless you do, expect all team members to rely on it for guidance. Use the survey plan to define terms so that there will be no confusion in the months and years ahead. (Response Design offers a template for a survey plan on its Web site, www.responsedesign.com.)

Constructing a Survey Instrument

Now you're ready to construct a survey instrument using the survey plan.

Most leadership teams hold customer focus groups before they decide on specific questions for the survey. This qualitative research may provide insights to attributes that are important to customers that the leadership team hasn't considered before.

The survey should contain questions that are pertinent to the intent described in the survey plan. The questions for this type of survey should focus on attributes the customers deem important for their call center experience to be satisfying. Examples are:

• professionalism,
• knowledge,
• courtesy,
• responsiveness,
• willingness to spend the appropriate amount of time necessary to resolve issues,
• length of hold time,
• authority to resolve concerns,
• clarity of response,
• accuracy of information,
• ability to resolve concerns with only one call,
• follow-through on promises and
• overall handling of situations in which customers speak with more than one agent.

The survey should also contain questions so the company can determine which attributes contribute most to customer loyalty. For example, you can ask customers whether they are likely to buy again from the same company, to continue doing business with the same company or to recommend the company to others.

In most call centers, it's a guessing game when the leadership team tries to identify what is important to customers as they communicate with agents.

Most of us are pretty experienced in this business and so many of our guesses are educated, but they are guesses nonetheless. I may have a list of things that I think are important, but I may not know which things are most important to customers.

When we don't have solid evidence, how can we confidently communicate with agents about what they can do to satisfy customers? If agents don't fully understand what they can do to satisfy customers, how can agents make the right decisions day after day as they interact with them? And how can we be sure we appropriately motivate them to demonstrate behavior that satisfies customers?

Some frustrated call center leaders end up with a solution that sounds like this, "We don't have any solid evidence about specific attributes among agents that are most important to customers, so we are going to highlight our educated guesses in alphabetical order. This month we are concentrating on accuracy and next month we will be concentrating on courtesy.

"Each month we will come up with job aids and motivational approaches. We'll provide agents with 'It's Bright to be Right' pins, advise that they check out our 'Accuracy Bulletin Board' on their way out at the end of the day and remind them not to stumble over our mascot, 'Mr. Accuracy!'"

But even after we build these elaborate programs that we think will help to satisfy customers, we are still frustrated because we all know deep down that there must be a better way.

Inside we are saying, "I know there is a way to stop guessing. I want to ensure that:

• We have identified the attributes that are important to customer satisfaction and loyalty.

• All employees, including call center agents, know the behaviors they should demonstrate to improve customer loyalty.

• We are appropriately motivating employees to demonstrate the behaviors that are most likely to improve customer loyalty.

• We are getting the best return on the customer satisfaction incentives paid to our call center employees."

This inner drive for something better is typical of the professional call center leaders of today who are motivated to enhance the loyalty of customers in a fiscally responsible manner. These leaders want to do more than just guesswork.

Above is an illustration that we have found helps people figure out the process required to move beyond guesswork. As the diagram illustrates, there are two parts to this solution. The first part is developing the customer survey process so it feeds the right information into the employee performance management process.

Then you develop the employee performance management process to teach employees how they can contribute to customer satisfaction and motivate them to demonstrate customer-satisfying behavior. The linkages between the two fully developed processes are what produce exceptional team performance, loyal customers and cost-effective operations.

Designing A Customer Survey Plan

The goal of a customer survey is to determine the attributes that drive customer loyalty and to measure how the teams of employees impact customer satisfaction on an ongoing basis.

You will want to develop a plan that brings all important survey information together. Survey programs may last months, even years. Your plan should ensure that even if the composition of the survey team changes, the collection of customer information proceeds effectively and methodically.

Form a leadership team to develop a survey plan that documents:

The intent of the survey program

• Will the survey measure a certain process?

• Will the survey measure the performance of certain teams?

• Will the survey measure certain outcomes of initiatives?

The objective of the survey program

• Is the desired outcome a two-fold increase in the customer base?

• Is the desired outcome a larger share of wallet for each customer?

• Is the desired outcome customer retention?

The method of surveying

• Will it be conducted through the Web?

• Will surveys be sent through mail or e-mail?

• Will surveys be administered by phone?

• Will it be conducted continuously and reported quarterly?

The construction of the survey

• How long will it be?

• Will it have a seven-point scale, a five-point scale or another type of scale?

• Will it consist of yes/no answers?

• Will it contain open-ended questions?

The sample of customers for the survey

• What percentage of your customers will you survey to achieve the desired confidence level?

• Will you have guidelines in place to keep from over-surveying your customers?

Your analysis of the data

• Will you trend the data over time?

• Will you use correlation and regression analysis?

Your use of the survey results

• Will action teams respond to the results within a week?

• By what process will you share information with agents?

• Will you share information with corporate leaders?

The survey plan will be your bible as you go forward with the project. You can change it during the course of the survey program, but unless you do, expect all team members to rely on it for guidance. Use the survey plan to define terms so that there will be no confusion in the months and years ahead. (Response Design offers a template for a survey plan on its Web site, www.responsedesign.com.)

Constructing a Survey Instrument

Now you're ready to construct a survey instrument using the survey plan.

Most leadership teams hold customer focus groups before they decide on specific questions for the survey. This qualitative research may provide insights to attributes that are important to customers that the leadership team hasn't considered before.

The survey should contain questions that are pertinent to the intent described in the survey plan. The questions for this type of survey should focus on attributes the customers deem important for their call center experience to be satisfying. Examples are:

• professionalism,
• knowledge,
• courtesy,
• responsiveness,
• willingness to spend the appropriate amount of time necessary to resolve issues,
• length of hold time,
• authority to resolve concerns,
• clarity of response,
• accuracy of information,
• ability to resolve concerns with only one call,
• follow-through on promises and
• overall handling of situations in which customers speak with more than one agent.

The survey should also contain questions so the company can determine which attributes contribute most to customer loyalty. For example, you can ask customers whether they are likely to buy again from the same company, to continue doing business with the same company or to recommend the company to others.