The flashing signal board indicates your customers are waiting in a telephone queue over 15 minutes long. And every single member of your team has a call-back list that rides like a monkey on their already burdened shoulders. By the time your customer service team is able to pick up a waiting call, many of the customers are already frustrated by the long wait they've endured. Welcome to your peak-demand period! 
 

Dealing With Demand 

Every industry has its peak-volume times—in some cases on the telephone, in others in person. For some companies, this period stretches over several months. For others, it ebbs and flows depending on marketing campaigns, public relations events, and the vagaries of the marketplace. 

Airlines face peak volumes during the summer months, over the big year-end holiday season, in lesser holiday periods, and during spring break. Call centers incur high volumes during billing cycles, promotions for new products, or crisis situations. Hotels also experience peak traffic: their reservations staff can be tested preceding conventions, vacation periods, and special events, such as the Olympics or a national political convention. 

One thing is for certain. Practically every business faces the impact of high volume at one time or another. Many companies hire additional staff for these times, with little opportunity to train this temporary staff, particularly in the "soft skills" side of customer service. You can give your new hires a script to read when they answer the phone and teach them how to place an order, answer simple customer queries, or make a reservation, but there's little time to train them in how best to relate to a customer. Likewise, your permanent staff may be inadequately trained to cope with the pressures of this peak-volume period. And, no matter what their training and experience may be, many of their relationship skills are sorely tested under the demands of intense and extra work. 

Most jobs in the American market today are service-related—76% of them to be exact. Yet fewer than 10% of these service staff have received formal training in how to deliver quality service. Workers in the retail industry, for example, who spend an enormous amount of time with customers, receive an average of seven hours of training, the lowest of 14 industries. Many companies feel forced to hire just about anybody to get a "warm body" in place. Most front-line staff do their best, but often that's not good enough, particularly if they're young and inexperienced. 
 

How Well Do You Handle Complaints? 

Perhaps the biggest challenge to staff during peak-demand periods is handling complaints. Not only are there more customers to serve, but more of those customers are frustrated because they have to wait longer to speak with someone and because their needs mean more to them at special times of the year. For example, parents who can't figure out how to operate that new computer they just purchased and who sit with an impatient child screaming to get at the latest software game are understandably under greater pressure. 

Customer complaints statistics, under normal-demand periods, are not encouraging. First, very few people complain. The most widely quoted customer research group, the Technical Assistance Research Programs (TARP), found that 26 out of 27 customers with service complaints will not bother to say anything—to their service providers. Because of the hassles and confrontation involved with complaining, many people allow themselves to get upset before they complain. Second, of the 4% of customers who do speak up, over half state that the way their complaints are handled actually increases their negative feelings. This represents a lot of room for improvement, under normal circumstances. But it becomes even more difficult to handle complaints effectively during peak-demand periods. 

Complaint handling is something that very few people do well naturally. As a result, staff need training in this critical area of customer communication. 

We have found that as little as a half day of complaint handling training can significantly improve customer retention rates, staff retention rates, and customer satisfaction. Such training needs to: 

According to a 1997 customer survey, 90% of customers feel they pay enough to receive the highest level of service, yet 64% say the service representatives they deal with do not care about their needs. The American Customer Satisfaction Index has dropped steadily from 1994 to 1997. Customers cite such poor examples of service as calling in to see if a flight is on time, only to be put on hold for seven minutes, all the while hearing a recording every 30 seconds, "Please continue to hold. We value your business." They talk about staff who don't know their company's products, its procedures, or the names of their co-workers. Customers often know more about the organization than staff who are supposed to provide service. 

When the customers deal face to face with front-line staff, they frequently report that service staff are so busy they don't have time to look at them. When there's no eye contact, many customers feel that the service providers wish they would just go away; they certainly don't get the impression that the staff are delighted to serve them and have their business. 

If this is the norm, what happens when companies face high-volume traffic? The reality, unfortunately, is that staff are unprepared and, regrettably, managers and supervisors are equally unprepared. If companies deliberately plan for and correctly manage this peak-demand period, they have a golden opportunity to win over customers by showing their best service. Remember: your customers are frustrated and pressed for time during your periods of peak demand, and they deeply appreciate the attention and care they receive at these times. 
 

Strategies for Surviving the Peaks 

We suggest a baker's dozen (13) strategies you can use to better manage these periods. You may already be using some of these approaches; others may be new for you. We encourage you to continue with the approaches you're already using and experiment with two or three of the ones you haven't yet tried. Our experience shows us that each strategy can have a dramatic impact on staff attitudes and performance. When combined, they're even more powerful. 

1. Visible Management. At a time when companies are asking staff to go the extra mile, managers and supervisors have to be willing to do this as well. This is the time for managers to get out of their offices and appear on the front line. If managers "carry water" for their customer service staff, this supports those workers and underscores the value of the work they do. 

In many organizations, managers become invisible during high-volume periods. Remember: managers are coaches, mentors, and cheerleaders, so staff under pressure need them to be visible. Even if managers merely listen to staff vent, give them a pat on the back for a job well done, or are available for answering questions, staff will not forget these validating efforts. 

One airline blocked out all vacations for managers over the year-end holiday period—as they had also done for front-line employees. This same airline required all managers, at both senior and mid levels, to work at specific airport locations or to get on the phones and help with reservations—in short, to get down in the trenches with their staff. The managers were trained to assist in any way they could. Rather than sitting in their offices, the managers handled excess baggage, helped travelers board the aircraft, and greeted travelers as they arrived at their destinations. 

These behaviors created a win/win feeling inside this airline. Employees felt supported. Managers felt the value of what they were doing from the feedback of their employees. Customers raved about the quality service they received during a period that most travelers describe as the toughest time to be flying. 

At the reservations center, where the volume of calls doubled over the holiday season, managers helped on the phones or wandered among their staff, helping in whatever way they could. Three times a day the management team went through the reservations center with gourmet coffee carts, cookies, and ice cream sundaes. Try it: it really works—especially those ice cream sundaes. 

2. Prepare People for What They Are About to Face. Let your staff know they're approaching a high-volume period. Staff will have an easier time coping with extraordinary demands if they know what's coming. Help your staff take on the work ahead of them as a challenge, rather than as a burden. In your meetings, talk about the high-demand period before it starts. Your staff shouldn't have to face any surprises. Our experience is that if staff know they're facing greater pressures, they later report that it wasn't as bad as they thought it would be—once they make it through the period. 

Here are some suggestions you can use in your meetings to prepare your staff: 

3. Set Realistic Goals. Many organizations set measurable standards for determining whether they are delivering quality service. For example, they may set the demanding standard that all calls must be answered within 20 seconds. During peak periods, this goal may need to be adjusted to reflect the reality of higher volumes. 

There's nothing worse than to feel defeated before you even start. And if in the early days of your peak volume, they fail to meet any of your performance standards, your staff may feel like a football team that's down by two touchdowns just five minutes into the game. Unfortunately, this feeling is not uncommon among employees who are trying to achieve unattainable goals. This feeling, in turn, gets communicated to the customer in subtle ways through, for example, a depressed tone of voice. When we're honest with both our customers and employees, we set up realistic expectations and maintain a winning edge. 

4. Practice Ongoing Coaching. Above all, don't stop your coaching efforts, even in your busy periods. You may need to reduce the amount of time you spend on coaching, but don't eliminate coaching altogether. That sends the wrong signal about continuous quality improvement. And besides, what better time to coach your staff than while they're in the midst of the action? You can be sure that football coaches don't stop coaching while the team is playing—even in the Super Bowl. 

You may need to work with small groups of people at a time, so the remaining phone personnel aren't overwhelmed. And keep your coaching sessions short, but regular. One effective way to do this, especially with staff who are on the phones, is to have them listen to tape-recorded telephone calls of staff talking with customers. (It may be better not to use calls involving current staff, to avoid embarrassing anybody.) 

Give your staff the opportunity to listen to good examples of customer service. Let them also hear some bad examples, especially calls where the staff person sounded short, arrogant, or irritated with customers. Many call center staff have no idea how they sound on the phone. Encourage your staff to evaluate the calls along the standards that are important to you. For example: 

• • Were we helpful? 

  • Did we sound rushed? 

  • Did we suggest additional products for sale to the customer? 

  • How was the upset customer handled?

Choose the standards of behavior you wish to promote, underscore them, and point out how an interaction could have been handled better. 

5. Employee Rewards and Recognition. Show your staff you care and that you value their extra efforts during these critical periods. When the peak period has subsided, have a celebration party and sincerely thank them for their support. Let them know you're planning a celebration, so they can look forward to it. If it's not possible to host this kind of party, give each employee a sincere thank-you letter with a small gift or token of your appreciation. You can bet they'll deliver for you again in the next crunch period. 

A celebration party at the end of the peak period is exciting, but that shouldn't stop you from holding "mini" celebrations during the heavy time. Here are some types of things you can celebrate: 

6. Allow Small Breaks After Dealing With Upset Customers. Some customers are truly demanding, even vicious in their attacks on your staff. Allow your staff to take a two- or three-minute "walking" break after such an encounter. Encourage them to get up and move around, get a drink of water, make some noise, and let go of that conversation. Develop a ritual for them to perform after a tough call. Teach them to not let the residue of a negative conversation affect their next telephone call or other interaction. 

It's unrealistic to expect young people (as are many call center staff) to deal with high degrees of negativity and then behave as if nothing has happened. These small breaks will reduce staff turnover by keeping your staff happier—and will also help them treat your customers better. 

7. Encourage Appropriate Customer Descriptions. In short, don't call your customers names—and we don't mean just to their faces. Most staff are sophisticated enough to know they should never call customers names—directly. However, almost every organization we've worked with allows name- calling to go on behind the customers' backs. These names include "turkey," "idiot," "dimwit," and many others that we don't feel comfortable repeating here. But everybody reading this article knows what they are. Some companies even have special code names for their difficult customers. 

Let your staff know this name-calling will not be tolerated. Remind them that your organization doesn't exist without these customers. They are the reason you're in business, and they may be behaving the way they are for some pretty legitimate reasons. Who knows? In their situation, you might be behaving even worse. Perhaps your customers were disconnected three times in a row. Perhaps they've waited 20 minutes when they thought it would be 10, so it's affected their entire day's schedule. We really have no idea why certain people are in the mental state they're displaying to us. 

In the TMI office we make it a practice to never call our customers names. The worst thing we will ever say—even after a vicious attack by a customer—is "That was a challenging telephone call." It helps to create a spirit in our office that values our customers—which we do! 

If you allow your staff to describe your customers in negative terms, you encourage a mood suggesting we are in a battle with our customers. And the more people call their customers negative names, the worse this battle gets. Furthermore, we believe that customers—at some level—know they're being treated disrespectfully. 

8. Pep Talks From Experienced Staff. Your experienced workers can become cheerleaders for your front-line customer response staff. They've "been there, done that." They can relate to specific situations or the stress new hires are dealing with and can share their observations in ways that will be more meaningful, precisely because of their previous hands-on experience. 

As a bonus, your experienced staff will have a greater feeling of being needed and valued, a feeling that their tenure means something. Your new staff will be motivated and feel they are part of a larger effort. 

9. Allow for "Steam Blowers." Let's face it. Everyone needs to vent from time to time, to blow off some steam. Allow your staff the opportunity to talk about their frustrations, their stress, and the reasons for it. 

The key to managing steam blowers is to keep the negativity enclosed, within limits. If everyone is constantly venting, no work will ever get done and staff can easily talk themselves into a negative mood. But periodic interludes for discussions about stress and the pressure of work are a real gift for your staff. 

Hold an open forum to discuss customer interactions. Ask each member of your staff to describe situations that were particularly difficult for him or her to handle, particular customer behaviors that were annoying. Ask how others would have managed these kinds of situations or customers. Let your staff share with each other communication strategies that helped them manage difficult interactions. If you manage the negativity, it will be less likely to spread during work hours into the hallways and the lunch room. 

10. Share Staff Successes. There isn't a better feeling in the world than when you know you've turned a situation around with a customer or handled a frustration so well it never escalated. Staff need to talk about their wins as well as their frustrations. 

This type of sharing can create a strong sense of commitment toward the delivery of quality, as well as allow people the chance to toot their own horns. This feeling can become contagious, especially when staff realize that it's a lot more fun to have these positive experiences rather than negative ones. So, staff become inspired to create more and more of these successes. 

If a customer sends a warm thank-you letter, enlarge it and post it in a prominent place. Broadcast it in as many ways as possible. If you get a lot of these letters, start your morning off by reading one of them. If you receive such a letter by fax in the middle of the day, take a moment and read it during the lunch period, if your staff eat together in a lunch room. All too often we only give people bad news, when a little good news goes a long way toward recommitting attitudes. 

11. Career Path Planning. Managers need to describe to new hires the genuine parameters of the work they will be doing. Too often, after they've been on the job for only a short time, new employees at call centers will say, "This isn't at all what I expected. No one told me I was going to have to do this." During the hiring interview, let potential staff know the challenges of the position—especially those that will come during the peak-volume periods. Let them also know that your managerial staff will support them in their work. 

Recent studies show that many new hires arrive at work with low or at least shaky self-confidence. You can help your new employees by being honest and direct about what they may face, so the challenges don't further undermine their confidence. We're asking mostly young, inexperienced people to do difficult jobs, and we owe it to them to make sure they grow from this test, rather than being demeaned or shaken by it. 

Sell the job as a critical business skill that will create great value to them in their career path. If you speak openly and honestly when hiring, your new hires are more likely to stick it out during the tough times and build a long-term career with your organization. Many people take jobs in call centers primarily because they see this job as a way into your company, perhaps the best way to get into another position. Over the years, such a person may be a genuine asset to your organization, and you do not want to lose him or her because you did not describe realistically what that first position would involve. 

12. Keep Your Staff as Well Informed as Your Customers. Nothing is more frustrating to customers than to reach someone on the phone who hasn't been informed of a special sale the company is advertising in newspapers or on television. Staff are equally embarrassed to be asked about something that is known to everybody in the world but them. 

Teach your staff how to handle situations when the customer asks about something that they don't know about. Provide them with responses they can use, such as "Gosh. That sounds wonderful. Thank you for bringing that to my attention. I'm afraid I don't know too much about that. But I can get the information I need to assist you." 

Encourage your staff to never pretend they know about something when they don't. Also, coach your staff to not treat customers with suspicion if they're better informed than the service provider. That sometimes happens—and everyone needs to be gracious in those uncomfortable situations. 

13. Manage Your Feedback. Use what you learn in your peak-volume period to ensure that your next high-volume time runs even more smoothly. Gather your staff together and ask them what they learned. You'll learn from them, you'll make them feel more valued, and they'll learn from the process as well. Too many times, we have a wealth of experience we never fully use. 

After you've done your analysis, summarize the main learning points into a plan for the next busy season. You can post these on the wall, or bring them out for the next high-demand period, so you continue your improvement. 

So, there's your baker's dozen! 

Any one of these strategies can help you greatly improve customer service during peak-volume periods. Combining several can create an exponential effect that is truly staggering. The key is to deliberately prepare for what you want to achieve. Maintaining superior customer service during periods of high volume demands advance preparation and continuous nurturing. The results are well worth it in terms of happier staff, satisfied customers, and regenerated managers! 

  
About the Authors 

Janelle M. Barlow, Ph.D., is President of TMI, USA, a partner with the Danish-based multinational training and consulting group. She's the author with Claus Moller of A Complaint Is a Gift: Using Customer Feedback as a Strategic Tool (Berrett-Koehler, 1996). She's also a speaker and seminar leader who has personally experienced the frustrations of managing a company that experiences a high-volume period five months in length! (TMI sells its popular Time Manager product, and thousands of customers order calendar products at year's end.) Visit TMI's Web site at http://www.tmius.com. 

Dianna Maul manages TMI's Pacific Northwest office. Dee Dee brings years of experience in customer service and call centers while working for Nordstrom, Horizon Airlines, and AT&T Wireless Call Center. She was one of the founding directors of Horizon Airlines, where she conceptualized the Horizon Air Training Academy. She honed her ability to handle peak demands while raising five children, including a set of triplets. 

A Complaint Is a Gift, The Training Program  

  A Complaint Is a Gift, The Book  

Note: We have been getting e-mail from our readers asking us to list the names of the companies who get complaints. Our policy is to never list names. The reason for this is because every company fails from time to time, and we wouldn't want to tar some company's name just because of one bad example. Furthermore, we are dependant upon the writer's side of the story. We don't know for sure what happened, and in the name of fairness, we will not post names. Furthermore, the purpose of this corner is not to pass complaints along to corporations. This Complaint Is a Gift corner is designed to look at examples of good and bad complaint handling so we can learn from these experiences. Please, if you have a direct complaint you want a company to learn about, contact them directly. In many cases, we have never heard of the company in question and have no idea how to reach them. Janelle Barlow

TMI,US
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