Customer Servces
Front Line Compensationby John Tschohl
The most important people, in any company, are the front-line employees. These employees are usually the least paid, least trained, and least appreciated.
If you want to build a service culture, you need to train these employees to deliver superior service and then pay them more than the competition and treat them like royalty.
Many corporations spend obscene amounts of money on their top executives, regardless of performance, but are reluctant to invest in the employees on the front-line.
Highly trained employees paid more than they can earn at competitors and treated with respect by their supervisors are less likely to leave.
Many front-line supervisors are young, poorly trained, weak on people skills, and act like the boss rather than a leader. Most supervisors need a tremendous amount of coaching and reinforcement skills.
Management usually believes that the supervisor's skills are critical to supporting and nurturing a service culture and the customer service skills of front-line employees are created from osmosis and without in-depth skill training.
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John Tschohl is president of Service Quality Institute, speaks all over the world, and is author of four best-selling books & a leading authority on customer service. "Time" refers to him as a "customer service guru." Contact John at www.customer-service.
Negotiation