What Qualities Make a Difference in Customer-Facing Employees?

Say you’re purchasing a new cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) system for your company. You’re faced with similar product options, and the pricing structure is comparable. At company A, the sales rep is helpful, but not very engaging. He is knowledgeable, but isn’t very friendly, doesn’t follow up, and you can tell that though the sales rep knows the product well, he isn’t particularly enthusiastic.

At company B, the sales rep is passionate, knowledgeable, engaged, and pleasant to work with, without being too hard on the sell. You know, from brief experiences with both sales reps, that company B will be much easier to work with.

Which company’s product will you choose?

With cost and product features being similar, your choice isn’t even a contest. You’ll go with company B. After all, you recognize that being able to get assistance, product updates, and having your questions answered will go much smoother with the sales rep from company B.

In this situation, the sales rep from company A didn’t do anything “wrong” per se, but there was a lack of engagement, which became clear when contrasted with the rep from company B. This gets you thinking: What is it, exactly, that separates a great sales rep from a mediocre one?

Let’s look at the qualities of standout customer-facing employees so that you can understand what areas to train your employees in, and what to look for when hiring.

Pride in the job

Employees with certain temperaments may naturally display more pride in their work, but for many employees, their level of pride will be a reflection of the workplace. Do you offer training so that your employees are knowledgeable and confident about their product? Are the employees treated well, given adequate time-off, and respected? Do you specifically tell your employees to show their pride when dealing with customers? Customers notice employee pride, so when hiring and training, make sure this quality is one of the top characteristics that comes through.

Your company values should shine through

Your employees will have different personality characteristics and ways of handling customers, but they should all be able to work off of your core company and brand values. In other words, your customer-facing employees need to be able to show a united front. Do they make decisions based off of your corporate ethos? Employees should be able to think creatively and flexibly, but your job is to ensure that they understand what your company stands for. Customers should not get drastically different experiences from different employees. Make sure your employees are able to demonstrate your values. Put effort into communicating and training your employees so they reflect your company culture.

A flexible attitude

Flexibility is a personality characteristic and a quality that can be encouraged. Customer-facing employees should be able to adapt, think out-of-the box, take on new adventures, and adjust to changes. When dealing with customers – who can be frustrating or demanding – customer-facing employees need to demonstrate a way to modify and come up with solutions. Rigid, uncompromising personality types do not do as well in customer-facing roles; make sure you take note of this when you are screening applicants.

Empathy

Empathy can be improved through soft-skills training, but some employees definitely have an innate knack at showing empathy. Empathic employees make customers feel valued, and even when the employee can’t directly solve the problem, the employee shows that he or she understands and validates the customer’s concerns.

A friendly personality goes a long way

Friendliness is one of those qualities that seems straightforward, but if you think back to your own experiences with customer service reps, you can probably name situations where customer service reps were not friendly and didn’t have a light attitude. In customer-facing roles, people want to look forward to working with a rep, and when your employees radiate a friendly attitude, this can make all of the difference.

Friendliness is certainly a quality you can look for when hiring, but it’s also a characteristic worth pointing out and encouraging when you are training your reps.

Employee-facing employees are the face of your brand

Remember the example from company A and company B in the beginning of this article? A good employee really can make the difference in a purchase decision. The qualities of customer-facing employees should not be discounted, and don’t make the mistake of thinking that employees will just “improve” with time. When screening and hiring, look for employees who show the characteristics highlighted above, and then spend time training and arranging your work environment to get the best out of your employees. Your customer-facing employees can truly make or break a sale, and they are the face of your brand, so it’s worth investing in employees who will represent your company in the best light.

via Business 2 Community http://ift.tt/1kkBNNz