ICMI's Customer Management Insight - April 2008 - (Page 46)

EXPERT’S ANGLE center with filled seats. The cycle is both predictable and self perpetuating: Individuals hired hastily perform poorly, disrupt work operations and leave quickly. It requires continuous resources to recruit, hire and train. The result is draining in the long run with no resolution in sight. Successful recruiting programs prioritize the quality of recruits over the sheer speed or numbers of applicants. Practices such as rebranding your agents’ job and using employee referrals are proven methods for attracting quality applicants (see JOB BRANDS: CHANGING APPLICANT REACTIONS TO YOUR OPENINGS). They result in quality hiring that improves individual productivity, customer satisfaction ratings, sales results and workforce turnover. • Job Brands: Changing Applicant Reactions to Your Openings BY MALCOLM McCULLOCH Ask a person on the street if he or she would like to work as an agent in a call center. It’s a safe bet the response will not be neutral. It may be something like: “No way! Call centers are sweat shops! All you do is crank through call after call and bug people about something they don’t want to buy. Yuck!” In today’s business lingo, this is a knee-jerk reaction to a “job brand. It may not be fair or ” true, but you need to recognize its existence. Ignore it at your recruiting peril. WHAT IS A JOB BRAND? To bring quality candidates to your door, you have to have them at “hello.” Positive branding — attaching your call center’s name to a reputation for quality benefits for both customers and agents — can increase your desirability in applicants’ eyes. Many people think call centers are populated with agents like Lily Tomlin’s snarky character Ernestine the Operator. The term “brand” comes from marketing. The basic concept has to do with: 1. An automatic, emotional response by consumers. 2. Differentiating a company, product or job from competitors. 3. Communicating the value proposition — the special qualities unique to a company, product or job that make it a superior offering. Starbucks is an example of a company that has worked hard on icmi’s insight its consumer and employment brand. When people hear the words “Starbucks coffee, they are rarely ” neutral: They have an automatic response. The most prevalent reaction is a positive one toward the company — it’s about quality coffee, knowledgeable baristas, inviting cafés and a company that actively engages in philanthropic activities. Job brands are centered on job titles. There is no doubt that people have automatic reactions to many job titles. “Chef” and “cook” are excellent examples. Though the jobs are similar in function, people react very differently to these job titles without knowing actual details of the work at the restaurant. The job title “chef” generates thoughts of flavorful cuisine, careful and sophisticated food preparation, multiple courses, formal training and so on. The reaction exudes respect and deference. The term “cook, on the other hand, conjures ” up thoughts of speedy preparation, www.icmi.com | APRIL 2008 46 http://www.icmi.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of ICMI's Customer Management Insight - April 2008

ICMI's Customer Management Insight - April 2008 Operations: Small Call Centers, Big Potential Ad Index Contents Editor's Page Contact Center Spotlight People: Assessment Tools Recommended Reading Technology: Speech Recognition Special Feature: Best of Show Strategy: Service-to-Sales Success Expert's Angle - High Volume, High Stakes: A Better Strategy for Hiring Experts Angle - Secrets of Recruiting Success/Job Brands: Changing Applicant Reactions to Your Openings Experts Angle - Speech Analytics: Uncovering the Voice of the Customer

ICMI's Customer Management Insight - April 2008

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