Here are 10 inspiring Call Center Workforce Optimization Best Practices quotes we thought you'd enjoy reading and sharing with your colleagues as you celebrate Customer Service Week:
1) “Put employees first and customers second.”
Herb Kelleher, former Chief Executive Officer of Southwest Airlines 
At first this may seem contrary to the notion of having a company that is customer focused. Southwest has instilled a spirit of entrepreneurship in all its employees. The philosophy is that Southwest Airlines is in the people business and it just happens to run an airline. Companies that consider they are in the people business are companies that provide excellent customer service.
2) "Empower and engage employees. Create a culture where employees feel comfortable initiating conversations and listening to customers instead of just answering questions as fast as possible. It drives agent attrition down—and customer satisfaction up."
Laura Basset, Avaya
When people are encouraged and empowered to collaborate and make a difference for customers and each other, they will rise to next levels of care and accountability, making your customer service objectives their own.
3) “The American dream is shifting from owning a fancy house and a nice car to having the flexibility to incorporate your life while working for a company whose cause you're passionate about. Contact centers that embrace performance-based shift bidding (vs. tenure-based) and the work@home model will thrive.”
Patrick Botz, Vice President of Workforce Optimization, VPI
Ask your employees. Don’t just assume they are best motivated by money or gift cards. If flexibility is what they value the most, you can give it to them in ways that benefit your business and motivate your employees at the same time. They will give back multi-fold in loyalty to your business improved attitudes towards your customers.
4) "Make your product easier to buy than your competition, or you will find your customers buying from them, not you."
Mark Cuban, Businessman, investor, and owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks
There has been a lot of talk lately about the measuring the 'ease of doing business with a company' or Customer Effort Score (CES) since research by US Corporate Executive Board (CEB) was first published in 2010 by Harvard Business Review (HBR). The Customer Effort Score tracks the amount of time and effort that customers put into solving their post purchase problems. There is research basis for concluding that customer loyalty is related to the amount of effort the individual puts forth to purchase a product or service. Like NPS, the metric is determined based on customer surveys. Customers are asked to respond to the question “How easy was it to do business with ‘Company’?” on a 5-or 10 point scale from ‘I find this company really easy to do business with’ to ‘I find this company very difficult to do business with.’ An index is developed based on the responses. Evidence indicates that customers prefer to do business with organizations that require less effort to make the purchase, even if the cost is slightly higher than that of a competition.
5) "Smile - your attitude is showing! Give each employee a small desk mirror to remind him or her to smile when talking to customers."
Debra J. Schmidt, Loyalty Leader
Create "Extra Mile" or "Positive Attitude" Awards to be given to employees who have been selected by their co-workers for delivering exceptional customer service.
6) "Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning."
Bill Gates, Founder and Former CEO of Microsoft
Your unhappy customers earned back due to your true listening and improved care almost always become your greatest advocates.
7) "Statistics suggest that when customers complain, business owners and managers ought to get excited about it. The complaining customer represents a huge opportunity for more business."
Zig Ziglar
Companies spend so much time and money on customer survey projects trying to get customers to talk to them about their service experience. That’s a valuable effort, but make sure you put it into the right perspective with attentive listening to the customers who care enough to talk to you proactively about their problem experiences with your business.
8) “Customer service isn't just a department. ... We’ve aligned the entire organization around one mission: to provide the best customer service possible. Internally, we call this our WOW philosophy.”
Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com
Zappos indeed wows customers with fresh attitudes and treatment of customers as individuals, instead of just people that need to be enticed to spend money. And again, it begins with treating their employees as individuals, valuing their creativity that can and does contribute to laughs and true teamwork. No wonder this fresh experience inspires customer loyalty.
9) "Draft Customer Service Standards - define your service standards, make sure every employee is aware of those standards. ... You can't measure or enforce what your employees don't understand."
Laura Lake, Marketing Consultant and Strategist
Having a clear document that explains acceptable standards will help in setting the customer's expectations. Clearly outlined standards will help with measuring the performance of your employees and creating training programs to help them to excel. Create your customer service standards to be specific, concise and measurable, based on the requirements of your customer, written in your job descriptions, and used in performance reviews.
10) "Identify and anticipate needs. Customers don't buy products or services. They buy good feelings and solutions to problems. Most customer needs are emotional rather than logical. The more you know your customers, the better you become at anticipating their needs. Communicate regularly so that you are aware of problems or upcoming needs."
Susan A. Friedmann, CSP (Certified Speaking Professional)
Your contact center agents buy good feelings and solutions to their problems too, in the course of their work for your contact center. Look for creative ways to marry what motivates them with what motivates to your customers.
Not sure where to begin? Let's talk!
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