If You Mean It, Measure It

For all the mantras, encouragement, and even training companies provide in the name of improving customer service, the wrong performance metrics will undermine good intentions every time. "Rate employees along metrics of time or cost, and they will respond in kind, even if cutting cost makes for a poor customer experience," write three Bain consultants on the Bain Insights blog on Forbes. Take call centers, which all too often focus their performance reviews around cost-driven data like "average handle time." When representatives then try to keep calls as short as possible, they’re unable to solve complicated customer problems, driving up the number of repeat calls and the level of customer frustration.

But then consider Belgian telecomm provider Belgacom, which switched from using average call time to a combination of two different metrics, one focused on customer satisfaction and another on resolving the issue on the first call. The new approach helped to reduce the overall volume of calls by 20%, while driving both higher customer advocacy scores and employee engagement scores. In other words, put your metrics when your mouth is.

by Paul Michelman

Full Story: http://blogs.hbr.org/morning-advantage/2012/08/morning-advantage-if-you-mean.html?referral=00563&cm_mmc=email-_-newsletter-_-daily_alert-_-alert_date&utm_source=newsletter_daily_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=alert_date