Making sure agents champion your products and services can improve brand advocacy in your contact centre and help your agents take their customer conversations to the next level.
But how do you achieve this? Our Editor, Megan Jones, spoke to Adam Boelke, Marianne Withers, Nate Brown, and Shep Hyken about how to inspire your agents to love your products and services just as much as your customers do.
Ways to Make Sure Agents Love Your Products and Services
1. Show Agents the Joy Your Products and Services Bring to Customers
It’s important to connect your agents to the value and the joy that your products and services are creating for your customers. One way to do this is to bring agents and customers together (in person) for a shared experience.
“Here’s an example of an organization I worked with that sells equipment to physical education (PE) teachers.
The customer service workers had become disconnected from these PE teachers, so we launched this really cool initiative to get these PE teachers more involved with our team, brand, and new product launches, giving visibility to the customer service workers on the impact that it makes on the end user – the kids!
When they saw the joy and excitement of the products in use, it helped them to see first-hand that their work was helping these teachers to create healthier happier lives for children.” – Nate Brown, Head of CX Advisory for Metric Sherpa
2. Get Your Frontline Involved in Product Development
Another effective strategy is to create inclusion and a sense of ownership around the products and services your contact centre supports. This is a win–win situation!
After all, nobody knows your customer’s thoughts on your products better than your frontline staff, so they’ll be able to fine-tune your products to what customers really want. Not only that, but including your frontline in product development will also bring your agents closer to your brand.
“One of my favourite quotes from Stephen Covey is “No involvement, no commitment”, so be sure to get your agents as involved as possible in creating and improving products, as this will create a really strong connection to the brand.” – Adam Boelke, Managing Partner at The Alignment Advantage Group
Your frontline staff are a valuable resource to understand how your customers feel. For advice on how to get them to share feedback, read our article: Want Your Frontline Staff to Share More Customer Feedback? Try This!
3. Hire People Who Already Believe in Your Brand
Look for people who are already using your products and services… And hire them into your contact centre!
“There’s nothing more effective than bringing someone into your team who is already a brand advocate.
For example, Lush Cosmetics is big on no animal testing, so if that’s really important to you as a customer and you come and work for the brand, it will be equally important to you as an employee too.” – Shep Hyken, Chief Amazement Officer (CAO) at Shepard Presentations LLC
It doesn’t need to be in the essential criteria on your job ad, but it’s still an important aspect to consider in the interview and application process, as it can help you to identify a whole segment of candidates who are really going to align with your brand from Day 1.
For expert tips and advice for improving your job adverts, read our article: Are Your Job Ads Holding Back Your Contact Centre Recruitment?
4. Stop Your Team Obsessing About Product Challenges
Are you hearing your agents say a lot of phrases such as “I hate this product…”, “This service issue is dragging down my performance…”, and “I’m not hitting my targets because…”?
If so, you need to start having honest conversations with your team about what you can all do to make this situation workable and move it forward, as this will remove any obstacles and help your team fall in love with your products and services again.
“Stop using the word challenge! Climbing Kilimanjaro is a challenge! Most other things are simply problems to look at and solve.
If you put your heads together, you’ll get it sorted out quickly! A lot of the time, your agents just need a bit more training and coaching to overcome the issue in front of them.” – Marianne Withers, Founder of withers jones
5. Make Sure Agents Know “What’s in It for Me?”
Always make sure the conversation comes back to “what’s in it for me?”! It’s harder for agents to buy into a product or service when the only purpose appears to be to make money for the shareholders.
If you can emphasize their job stability, career development opportunities, and the wider journey the brand will take them on as they work to support their families, it’s far easier for them to champion the brand they work for.
6. Start Referring to Your Employees as ‘Partners’
To truly connect with a brand and its products and services, employees need to feel connected to something bigger than themselves. One way to do this is to change how you refer to your people – calling them ‘partners’ instead of ‘employees’.
“I’ve been following the new Starbucks CEO, Brian Niccol, and I noticed that one of the first things he did was to connect with his people – including putting out an open letter to all of the employees calling them partners, which I love!” – Adam Boelke
This is a great example of how a simple tweak could help agents to feel more emotionally invested in the brand and its purpose – rather than just a number!
7. Drive a Culture of ‘Destination Employment’
Another way to create brand advocates is to create a fulfilling experience that makes employees want to stay forever.
“Did you know that Brian Keeley, who recently retired as CEO of a major medical system in Florida, USA, embraced the concept of ‘destination employment’? Quite simply, that if you ever come to work here, you’re never going to want to leave.
One way to achieve this is by creating a culture of FUN – an acronym for fulfilment, uniqueness, and next.
It means leaning into opportunities to make the employee experience more fulfilling, playing into their unique talents, and keeping them engaged and interested in the next product launches or development opportunities coming their way.” – Shep Hyken
For advice on how to create a thriving contact centre culture, read our article: 9 Ways to Create a Thriving Contact Centre Culture
8. Give Your Agents Products to Touch, Feel, and Familiarize Themselves With
As part of the technical training on specific products, the team at WeAnswer make sure there are products on site for agents to familiarize themselves with.
We also saw this at Specsavers, where the leadership team help their teams get familiar with new product lines – such as a new range of glasses – by launching them on the contact centre floor, so they get the opportunity to try on and see new ranges of glasses and live and breathe the brand.
9. Create a Narrative Around How Your Products and Services Change People’s Lives
Fuelling brand enthusiasm comes down to creating a sense of purpose and togetherness. Quite simply, being clear about what you’re doing and why.
“Think beyond the product to the wider customer experience!
For example, how buying a cup of coffee isn’t just a transaction, it’s about being in a place where you can connect, create friends, and have interesting conversations.” – Adam Boelke
What compelling story could you create for your customers?
10. Share the Good, the Bad and the Ugly During Their First Interview
The recruitment process can make or break the strength of your brand advocates, especially if they are mis-sold the job. It’s all about what you say to them early on.
“Don’t just sit in your interviews and sell a false dream to people. It won’t take them long to realize the truth once they join you and even leave shortly after.
Instead, you need to have transparent conversations about what’s good about the brand, but also the current difficulties the team are currently experiencing in their customer conversations.
It’s about accepting that when you’re honest up front, you’re going to lose people, but that’s OK because they probably weren’t the right people anyway.” – Marianne Withers
11. Build a Sense of Pride by Celebrating All Wins – Big and Small
A great way to foster a sense of pride in your brand and product line is to celebrate all wins across the contact centre. Whether it’s hitting a company-wide target or an individual’s promotion, make sure you shout about it!
12. Make Sure Agents See and Hear Great Customer Feedback
Shout about good customer feedback to showcase the difference agents are making to customers’ lives.
“Customers give us feedback all the time! These are great stories to share with all of your employees. The feedback shouldn’t just be sat in someone’s inbox or in a board report, everyone should see and hear about it to help drive purpose and connection with the brand and customers.” – Adam Boelke
It’s Essential to Empower Your Agents to Become True Advocates
Empowering your agents to become true advocates of your brand is essential for cultivating an outstanding customer experience.
By connecting agents with the joy your products bring, involving them in product development, hiring individuals who already align with your brand values, and fostering a culture that celebrates transparency and personal growth, you can inspire a team that truly believes in what they are offering.
With thanks to the following people for sharing their thoughts and experiences for this article:
- Adam Boelke, Managing Partner at The Alignment Advantage Group
- Marianne Withers, Founder of withers jones
- Nate Brown, Head of CX Advisory for Metric Sherpa and Co-Founder of CX Accelerator
- Shep Hyken, Chief Amazement Officer (CAO) at Shepard Presentations LLC
If you are looking for more advice on how to get your contact centre employees engaged with your company, read these articles next:
- 50 Staff Engagement Ideas to Motivate Your Team
- 21 Top Tips to Improve Your Agent Onboarding
- Want to Find Out How Happy Your Agents Really Are? Here’s How!
Author: Megan Jones
Reviewed by: Xander Freeman
Published On: 2nd Dec 2024 - Last modified: 4th Dec 2024
Read more about - Call Centre Management, Adam Boelke, Employee Engagement, Leadership, Marianne Withers, Nate Brown, Shep Hyken, Top Story
