I just returned from a large Call Center Conference and many of the breakout sessions discussed the need for businesses to focus on “The Voice of the Customer”.

This seems to be the new buzz phrase and I heard many different ideas on how a company can achieve this.

1.    Utilizing Social Media to monitor what your customers are saying about your company or your products.
2.    Listening to recorded calls, hearing where customers are interrupting your agents in order to adjust your presentations thus making them more effective.
3.    Distributing post interaction surveys to customers for comments on their experience, finding out what is important to customers so you can make adjustments as needed.

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I know that sounds like an odd mantra to follow, but it depends on how you view failure. In your company is failure viewed as a disaster or as an opportunity for training?

Every time we try something new, failure is going to be a part of it.
We start off with great expectations and plans, we focus on a new job or a new idea and everyone is excited. But through trial and error, we find what works and what doesn’t.  And what exactly is trial and error? Failure.

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This is a very common question amongst managers. Call centers deal with this all the time because they are always battling high turnover.  Even if your business offers commissions you still need to do more each month for your employees. Every manager training program should have a section on how to effectively handle this issue because contests are a very effective way to increase performance.

There are a few rules I use as a guide when running contests.

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