The CX Leader Podcast: "Empower Your Frontline" [title tentative]: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

The CX Leader Podcast: "Empower Your Frontline" [title tentative]: this wav audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Steve:
Feedback from front line employees can be valuable, but is often overlooked and missing feedback can sometimes cause big problems down the road.

Stephanie:
The service you're getting to the quality of the product to is the order correct – those are things that front line employees are going to get feedback on, and it's very important to make sure that they are empowered to address it, to collect it and to try to do something about it so that it doesn't end up now becoming, for example, an online review.

Steve:
The importance of front line employees communicating unsolicited feedback on this episode of The CX Leader Podcast.

Announcer:
The CX Leader Podcast with Steve Walker is produced by Walker, an experience management firm that helps our clients accelerate their XM success. You can find out more at walkerinfo.com.

Steve:
Hello, everyone, I'm Steve Walker host of The CX Leader Podcast and thank you for listening. As we say each week, it's never been a better time to be a CX leader, and this podcast explores the topics and themes to help leaders like you leverage all the benefits of your customer experience and help your customers and prospects want to do more business with you? CX pros know that the front line employees can be a great source of customer insights, and customers often supply feedback in ways they never realize. Having your employees recognize and communicate that feedback can provide valuable insights and in some cases, warn you of potentially major problems. But if key insights are missed because your front line hasn't been trained or empowered to report their findings, you could be missing out on warning signs in your customer experience. Well, I'm delighted to have my guest on the episode this week who is an expert in these things. Stephanie McFarlane is the senior issue management consultant at McFarland PR and Public Affairs. It's a company that specializes in public relations, consulting, training and development. And Stephanie is also the author of "One Hundred and Fifty One Quick Ideas to Improve Your People Skills." Stephanie, thank you for being a guest on The CX Leader Podcast.

Stephanie:
Well, thanks so much for having me today. I'm glad to be here.

Steve:
Well, we're delighted to have you. And this is a topic that we've explored multiple times in in podcasts. But yeah, your frontline employees really are kind of the proxy for your customers and how they deal with the processes and products and technology that your organization offers. But before we get into our topic, maybe just for a little bit of context, if you wouldn't mind introducing yourself to our audience just a little bit more on your own personal background, personal journey and how you got to to this point in your career?

Stephanie:
Well, I'll try to make this short and sweet. I actually got my first start in real customer service, helping to run a family business growing up. So by age 14, I was helping to do payroll. Actually, I was doing the payroll once a week and then I started actually working in the summer with the family business on a pretty much on a full time basis. And then I actually started managing teams when I was probably around 17, 18. And then I went out after I went to college, and when I was working through my undergrad, I took about a year and a half off. And in that process, I got my first like, real full time job and I was and again I was… I was going back and working through my undergrad, and that was in a call center for an electric utility company right here in Indianapolis. So I was taking about one hundred and fifty two hundred calls a day, and we had a really, really good, very well buttoned up customer service practice there. And so that that experience has stayed with me throughout my whole life, and it's been a big influence on how I position our company regarding public relations. You know, a lot of people think public relations is media relations or it's about spin or it's about putting out a news release or working with the news media. But that's an incredibly narrow, very minuscule view of what the actual PR field is. Public relations, by formal definition is identifying it's rather, excuse me, it's the management function that identifies, builds and maintains mutually beneficial relationships between the organization and its stakeholders. And of course, consumers is one of those really big, most influential, if you will, in, you know, those are the folks that they hold the goal and they make the rules. So one of the things that we do in our company is we look at an organization and we help them be able to build relationship capital. And customer service, and most importantly, customer experience is one very important way in which you do that.

Steve:
Yeah, actually, it's interesting that you I did not know that you came out of the regulated utilities, but not only is that sort of, in many ways, the birthplace of the contact center, but it's also really the birthplace of of the customer satisfaction measurement field. Most of this occurred from the businesses that were monopolies, and they basically used their customer service levels as sort of a bottom line of how they were running the business. And often on our show, we sort of see this convergence between those folks who kind of came out of the contact center background versus those of us who came more of it from the research side and trying to put the metrics around these kinds of employee and customer experiences. So is most of your practice around the contact center still?

Stephanie:
No, no, no, no. I mean, it does involve that. We've done everything. We've done everything from and we we do research ourselves. I've probably no word to the extent that you guys do, but you know, we look at everything from where are all of the touch points in your company with your stakeholders, and then we actually we actually look at those and get an assessment of kind of again, a scoring of where are those relationships? Where are they now? Where do we want them to be? And what is it that your company needs to do operationally and relationally to be able to get there?

Steve:
And when do you start your company, exactly?

Stephanie:
About 10 years ago.

Steve:
10 years ago.

Stephanie:
Actually, it was 10 years ago. Yes, 10 years ago this month.

Steve:
Oh, congratulations.

Stephanie:
Thank you.

Steve:
Happy anniversary.

Stephanie:
Thank you.

Steve:
Well, let's get into the topic at hand, Stephanie, and what types of feedback typically do you see front line customers getting from customers and why is this so important?

Stephanie:
Well, you know, it can be anything and everything, right? Just depending upon the context and depending upon your type of business. I think the one thing I think it's probably important to focus on a lot of times you see large organizations, they have some pretty buttoned up operations in terms of customer service or at least working toward that, that top customer experience. But most people out there, most customers, they're interacting with the, you know, the fast food restaurant, they're interacting with the bank, they're interacting with the retail location. That's generally their day. That's most of their points of interaction. And so when you look at that, I mean, that comes down to everything from, you know, the service you're getting to the quality of the product to, is the order correct? I mean, to our my my records correct all the way down to, for example, just simply there's there's been a price change. I know, for example, somebody was just just complaining to me yesterday about the fact that their favorite national beverage retailer has raised prices three, you know, three times in a year. So, you know, those are things that frontline employees are going to get feedback on, and it's very important to make sure that they are empowered to address it, to collect it and to try to do something about it so that it doesn't end up now becoming, for example, an online review, or it doesn't end up becoming something worse that escalates to where it now it can become a news story.

Steve:
Yeah, actually, that's a great explanation there because you think about it and you know, the contact centers. Typically, most of those calls are recorded, and now with text analytics, we can mine a lot of that data. But you know, in lots of these applications like take fast food, for example, you know, the drive thru, they're doing just as many transactions, but it's probably not being recorded and there needs to be some way to get that kind of feedback back in systematically. So, yeah, all sorts of retail hospitality applications, I can see that. And you know, your mention of the presence of social media and you know that that sort of that whole 'nother layer that that we didn't have to deal with before, it really does make this very critical. Maybe could you talk about some of the things that happen if if employees don't handle that kind of stuff very well?

Stephanie:
Yeah, absolutely. Well, I mean, as we talked about, one can be, you know, something becoming obviously an online review. I think that's one thing we see a lot of. So I think that's that's a good one to rest on. You know, and then you start seeing accumulation. You know, now you can start to even go out and you can see yourself, just an average consumer, you can start to see an accumulation of reviews, and you can even start to do your own content analysis and categorizing those by a location, your name and obviously kind of by the tone and the nature of that type of review. And it's important for companies to understand. I… I get a little… I get a little frustrated when I hear companies just kind of blow those off and they just regard them. And I think, no, they're important because they're your calling card. I mean, a lot of people today go out and they will check a review. That's that's part of that kind of innovation of, I should say, rather diffusion of innovation process. You know, first you have awareness, then you have drive people to interest. Then from there, people then start to make some kind of evaluation before they're going to move forward to making a purchase.

Stephanie:
So in that evaluation is where you have the strongest point of influence, which is people just like me. And a lot of times we think it's news media. It's advertising, but you actually lose, you lose that power after the point of interest. And then what becomes most influential to people, media kind of moves down to the last category on the list, and what becomes most important to people is not even influencers that becomes second. It's people just like me. It's peers, family, coworkers, other customers. So people look at that. And then from looking at that review and the experience someone else had, that's a determinant on whether somebody is going to take the next step through the gate. So, you know, you want to try to make sure that if you can get the feedback right there and you can get that feedback taken care of or addressed or, you know, in some way, you can see it as a gift, so to speak, and leverage it. It's important to do it right there during the actual interaction and not let that become something that's going to turn into something or evolve into something that can now be much bigger and much, much more broadly broadcast.

Steve:
Yeah, you know your your mention of reviews. I've actually relocated to the warmer weather here at this time of year, and I'm in a new part of the warm part of the world that we haven't been to before. So, you know, literally the last three weeks, I've been doing reviews on everything from restaurants to alteration places to dry cleaners to, you know, you name it. And that is a big influence now. And you know, you might not be able to totally control it with your culture and your training and stuff, but you can't ignore the fact that it's going on because it's definitely not going away.

Announcer:
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Steve:
So I bet you that you have some ideas or some thoughts about how companies that maybe haven't thought about this very much might go about improving this practice. Could you talk a little bit about how you attack a situation when somebody comes to you and says, Hey, we need to be doing a better job in this area?

Stephanie:
No, absolutely. There's an entire process I can walk you through on that. One thing I do want to just step back on and talk about those reviews is this is the other piece that a lot of companies don't understand. Your reviews can also be collected, and they can actually also be used against you in in litigation. So that's something else that that excuse me. Rather, companies and organizations need to make sure that they're cognizant about. So, you know, the one thing I will, I will say for certain is that you've got to set your employees up to succeed. That's most important. And that starts with one of my former clients and mentors. Name was Andre Lacey. Not sure if you are familiar with Andre or not?

Steve:
I know him well. I knew him well. Rest in peace.

Stephanie:
I was going to say yes with yes. God love Andre.

Steve:
Yep.

Stephanie:
I know you guys are… you guys are also a multigenerational family company. So, you know, Andre used to always say, if you remember atone at the top. And that starts with management culture, management expectations and management accountability. You know, and it's real simple. And this is not anything new that I'm sharing. But if you're modeling it, your employees will, too. And that's leadership at the most basic form. So that's one thing you have to look at first is are you setting your employees up to succeed by example? The other thing, too, is obviously setting expectations. And of course, it's a little bit obvious, a little bit bigger, but we're going to narrow down here into the actual interaction with the customer. But, you know, setting those expectations and making it clear that your culture, what your culture is in regard to customer experience, you know, painting an actual vision for your employees of how you want your customers to react and respond to you what you want them to say about you and then create experiences that will lead to that. So kind of starting with the end in mind, so to speak. Also, you want to set clear expectations on performance behaviors for each employee and you want to reinforce them. In fact, you want to make those a formal HR process. And I know that that is not a new a new theory or a new recommendation, but it is interesting of how many companies do not actually do that.

Stephanie:
And the other thing is, and as you know this investing, investing in training, monitoring, coaching, rewarding and accountability, compensation and even respite. You know, a lot of times frontline employees, they can get out if there's a lot going on with the company. If you've had some ups and downs right now, obviously, we've got a lot of staffing issues with which all companies are dealing with and giving employees opportunities to get some bit of a respite from that is is also helpful for them. So the other thing I strongly recommend to employers is to give your employees parameters. And if you notice I didn't say set parameters, but rather give them parameters. So grant your employees space in policy and practices to come up with creative solutions for customers. Can they can you give them leeway to cancel fees, give refunds set of payment plans, make alternate alternative service suggestions to fit customers changing needs, creative solutions and kind of a whole myriad of facets that are relevant to your business. So that's really important to give them the leeway to almost kind of negotiate in that space. And some businesses do that and some businesses don't. I know, for example, in my experience of working in the call center years ago, that was extremely empowering for me. I had a, I guess you would say, arena of space that I can move in. And I had a whole plethora of different options that I could offer folks.

Stephanie:
And I also had the leeway to and to make my own judgments of offering certain things or making certain changes or holding certain things. And it really made a big difference in building a relationship with the customer. The other thing I would say definitely is to listen, listen both to customers first and foremost with your heart. I think that's really important today's day and age. You know, we talk a lot about the lack of civility in society. I think companies out there who interact with customers every day have a perfect opportunity to lead the charge in bringing that back. A lot of times we blame that on social media, but decline in kind of customer service, quality, customer service, you know, has has been around for some time. So social media, I think, is just kind of kind of taken the next step with it. But I think companies can look at that and say, you know, you can be a big part of bringing that stability back to society, and that's just in how you interact with your customers every single day. So the first one is listen, listen with the heart first. And then also, I would recommend that companies listen to their employees, so, you know, I used to tell my graduate students when I used to teach PR graduate classes is that people are creatures of emotion first foremost and always, and they're creatures of logic, second, tertiary or further down.

Stephanie:
So you know, you do have to listen and work from the heart first. Then you engage the head and you help figure out the solutions. So you know, that looks like obviously that's empathy that's being giving people some grace. It's also showing people gratitude. Those are obviously manners. Those are things that all work together to help demonstrate that you're you're listening from the heart. And as you and I both know, formal research is a considerable investment. We're worth it, though. I mean, I definitely vehemently would add that. But when customers give you feedback in the moment, as I said earlier, it's also a gift and it's a literal cost saving gift. So you want to teach and expect your employees to accept feedback in the moment, and you want to help them gauge how to best assist the customer so you get them to listen, to thank the customer for their feedback and to use it to help resolve the issue at hand. You know, write down, collect that feedback and use it to determine are there some trends and patterns? Sometimes we think everything has to be automated, but you can still do some old school just in your own interactions on a day to day basis. And the last thing I would say is set your employees up to succeed when you know there are things coming down the pike, so don't leave them out. They're kind of vulnerable to things that the decisions at the company is making that they may not have any say in or control in.

Stephanie:
And that's what's important also to to listen to your employees, let them bring that feedback to you and again, help you, as we talked about earlier, influence those policies and protocols. But for example, if you're going to be changing prices or if you're in the middle of having a technology glitch, you know, make sure your employees one they're fully aware to, they understand how to talk about it and also that you have solutions in place that they can use to help address concerns that customers may have related to those problems. So if your company, for example, is going to discontinue a product like maybe you know someone's favorite midday styled out coffee drink, then you know, it's important that we make sure those employees can at least explain why the company is making that decision. A response of, I don't know, they just told me they're not going to be carrying it anymore is really not sufficient. I think whenever employees don't have that kind of information and that kind of understanding those conversations can lead to upset customers, and that puts your frontline employees in a real awkward place. It disempowers them from being able to provide that good customer experience. So if you say you're going to do something such as you're going to replace a product or you're going to discontinue a product, it's important to have something that they can use, such as, you know, I just didn't have enough sales where you didn't have enough sales rather from that drink to keep it on the menu.

Stephanie:
But I hope you'll try our new drink and let me tell you more about what that's going to be. At least that's something that they can use instead of just being on the front line, having to accept any kind of ire that's coming from that with no type of response. And then the other one, too, is to teach your employees to speak from the heart. You know, give customers time to vent. That's super important. That was always something I know from my experience years ago is giving people time to vent. And I even know in my role now that's one thing I do. I give people time to vent if they're disgruntled with the company, and I happen to get that call for some reason, I just give them time to vent just to get that out, get that diffused. I validate them with empathy, because that's super important. You know, if you're listening, you're going to be able to find opportunities to be empathetic. Also to tell them how you're going to fix or address the problem. And again, I know none of this is new, but it may not be new, but it's not also common practice. And then also tell them that you appreciate their business and that you want them to have a good experience with your company.

Steve:
Well, we can do a couple of podcasts off all the content you just shared there. Really excellent, excellent overview of of the process. So tell me a couple of success stories, if you wouldn't mind just where things turned out well after people got trained or people learned how to use these kinds of tools and techniques.

Stephanie:
Oh my gosh, there's so many I could give you here, but let me let me just pull one out that's relevant to this. It's kind of a say. It's a call into a call center, right? In that case, it was somebody who I know I'm actually actually sharing an experience kind of second hand here. But it was a situation where someone actually called into the IRS and they had a bill. It looks like where there was some problems with the county where the first quarter taxes were under underreported, I guess, and then when they got to the second quarter had obviously to pay more than they had intended, and they needed to make a phone call to the IRS, and the agent was very kind. She was understandable. She actually, even from what I recall, was very jovial with the taxpayer and put the person on hold, said, Let me look in and see what we can do for you and let them know, look, you have options. You're you're not going right, going to come, you know, issue a warrant or we're not going to do a levy or anything like that. And when the rep came back, she just simply said, Look, you've never been late before on your taxes. And so what I'm going to do is I'm going to cancel what would have been the penalty. And because of that, you're actually going to get one hundred dollar refund back. So I'm using the IRS because we all have kind of our own preconceived notions of what that experience would be like with the IRS. So when this person told me of this experience, I thought it spoke very well of how the rep handled it. They did pretty much everything that she would want somebody to do on that call.

Steve:
Nice. That's a great example. And you know, we all experience really good customer service and that kind of makes us spoiled. But that's why we're in this business is, you know, we think that everybody deserves a good experience every time. Stephanie, we've reached that point of the podcast where I ask every guest to give our listeners their take home value. You know, if I'm a person that's trying to help my company improve our overall customer experience, kind of what's your best take home value for these pros today? And that's something that they should be able to take back to the office tomorrow or next week and give us your take home value.

Stephanie:
I think take home value would again just be reminding employers to set your employees up to succeed. I think the biggest thing there really is empower your employees to accept feedback on the job. Don't just delegate that out to a comment card. Don't just delegate that out to escalating that to a, you know, a customer complaint line. Don't delegate that out to some kind of tech or to somebody else that's not there dealing with it in the moment. Teach your employees to handle it right there in the moment, and you will see an amazing difference in what that does and not only correcting the issue at hand, but also making that person a return customer into the future.

Steve:
Hey, Stephanie McFarland, thank you so much for being a guest on The CX Leader Podcast. Very, very nice job. Stephanie McFarland is the senior issue management consultant at McFarland PR and Public Affairs, Inc. She's also the author of the book "One Hundred and Fifty One Quick Ideas to Improve Your People Skills." Stephanie, thanks for being a guest on the podcast.

Stephanie:
Well, thanks so much for having me today.

Steve:
Stephanie, if our listeners would like to continue the conversation, just could you let us know maybe where they can find you, your website or where they might be able to find your book?

Stephanie:
Yes, most certainly they can find the book on Amazon, and they can find us on our website at mcfarlandpr.com. We do all kinds of work with clients to try to help them build relationship capital. Everything from the consumer, all the way to community partners.

Steve:
Well, thanks again for being on the podcast and for all you're doing for our profession and making sure that people have good experiences. If you want to talk about anything else you heard on this podcast or previous podcast, or about how Walker could help your business's customer experience, feel free to email me at podcast@walkerinfo.com. Be sure to check out our website cxleaderpodcast.com to subscribe to the show and find all of our previous episodes. We organize them by all sorts of categories and series. If you're looking for something specific, we now have over 200 on the website, and so almost anything you could think of related to CX is probably out there in one of our previous episodes. You also find our contact information. You can drop us a note or give us an idea for a future podcast. The CX Leader Podcast is a production of Walker. We're an experience management firm that helps companies accelerate their XM success. You can read more about us at walkerinfo.com. Thank you for listening, and remember, it's a great time to be a CX leader. We'll see you again next time.

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