How to Assess Your Customer Service Reps

Providing outstanding customer service is critical to every business.

The primary role of a customer service representative is to help customers and prospects with their service needs, in person, via email and/or on the telephone. Specific work tasks may include answering questions, gathering and updating customer information, providing product demonstrations, cross-selling and up-selling, and entering customer orders. A high performing customer service representative can swiftly build rapport with and delight customers, handle difficult service problems and will consistently follow company policies and procedures. To assess employee performance consider a variety of tools and techniques, such as monitoring telephone calls, observing work in progress and reviewing customer feedback.

Things You'll Need

• Pen
• Writing implement
• Job description
• Computer
• Word processing software
• Performance reports

Instructions

1. Define and document the goals and job expectations for your customer service representatives. Outline the definition of career success from both a qualitative and quantitative perspective. Communicate this information to all team members.

2. 

   Use a checklist when monitoring customer interactions.

   Listen to actual or recorded customer service interactions. Use a contact monitoring checklist, to rate the effectiveness of the contact, considering soft skills, qualitative and quantitative information. Document and provide "real time" feedback on the strengths and areas of development within the service interactions. (Note: Before listening to calls, understand whether you need to abide by any legal or privacy regulations.)

3. Sit side by side with your customer service representatives and observe how they use their tools and systems. Watch them enter customer orders in your enterprise's management system. Observe whether they use online or paper based resources. Document and provide "real time" feedback on the strengths and areas of development.

4. Model the behaviors and techniques that you expect from your staff through one-on-one and group role-playing exercises. Alternate playing the role of customer and employee. Observe the role-play performance of each customer service representative.

5. 

   Review feedback from customer surveys.

   Analyze feedback from customer surveys. Identify which customer service representatives provide the best service and which may need more training or coaching, based on customer comments and ratings.

6. Review service representative quantitative performance versus goals and versus group averages. Common key performance indicators (KPIs) for customer service representatives include the number of calls answered, time on the phone, time available, average length per call, sales orders, sales dollars, sales discounts and first-call resolution percentage.

7. Confidentially, survey colleagues and internal customers and ask for feedback on the performance of customer service reps. Gather survey responses and summarize feedback trends.

8. Ask the customer service representatives to complete self-assessments of their performance, compared to the job expectations. Provide the employees with a short list of questions and a deadline for providing the answers. Review the responses.

9. 

   Schedule a date and time to provide feedback.

   Compile and summarize the results from the individual assessment techniques. Compare results with job goals and expectations and feedback from previous performance reviews. Schedule a date and time to share the feedback with the employees in one-on-one, preferably face-to-face, meetings.

10. Deliver the performance assessment feedback to employees. Start the meetings on an upbeat, positive note to help the employees' feel more comfortable. Explain the process you used to gather the feedback, then share your observations. Reinforce and highlight what the employees did well and the areas for improvement. End the meetings on a positive note.

References

• Personnel Policy Service: HR Practice Tip: Reduce the Pain of Performance Evaluations
• ASAE: Five Components of the Performance Process and Review Meeting, Sharon Armstrong, June 2006
• The Training Doctor: Five Rules for Performance Appraisals, Nanette Minor, 1998
• Customer Service Manager: Motivate Your Team For Outstanding Customer Service, Ed Sykes
• HR Village: Call Center Customer Service Representative, Job Description

Resources

• Performance Management & Appraisal Help Center
• Customer Service Manager