Hire Creative People for the Win

Ask yourself a question. What will the world look like in 5 years? What will your market look like in 5 years? 10 years?
If you think you have a good idea then great. You are ahead of the curve. But what about the things you don’t know or aren’t aware of? In 2005, how much did you think your house was going to be worth in 2008?
Creative employees are better able to handle issues and changing environments than employees who show up for their paycheck. Their natural curiosity often leads to better service and new solutions to nagging problems.
Here are some ways you can bring out latent creativity in your current workforce or attract the Picasso of customer service.

1. Show appreciation for a job well done. They will be more willing to share additional ideas or accomplishments.
2. Give them the opportunity to do more. Creative people often get bored quickly. The chance to tackle new issues or learn something new will be attractive to them.
3. More responsibility. By limiting the scope of responsibility, you often hamper an individuals chance to affect positive change. Sure you mitigate risk this way, but a wider set of parameters empowers your team.
4. Room to fail. There is always a downside. Sometimes, these creative people get dumb ideas. But by fostering a forgiving/ learning atmosphere, you create an environment that will nurture your company’s future.
5. Hire freelancers for projects. They are creative and self-dependent enough to go it alone, making them great candidates for your most important projects. Plus job stability in enticing and you have the chance with what amounts to a long interview over the course of a project to think about hiring them full-time.

Ken Robinson on Creativity

How do you treat New Customers?

See Like An Outsider In 3 Not-So-Easy (But Worth It) Steps

If you’re already an insider, this won’t be easy. Once you’re “inside the bottle,” reading the label on the outside requires serious mental contortions

Angled towards copywriters, this article contains valuable insight into methods for looking at your business as a new customer. The ability to see your customer service through this lens can be an eye opener.
I particularly liked the the last two suggestions:

Frame ideas like Martin Scorsese
Movie directors frame their shots in order to force viewers to focus on the intended point of action, while live stage theaters literally spotlight performers. They both make it easy for the casual observer to know exactly what to focus on, to know what’s important at that moment.
Picture yourself as a man from Mars, with no background information whatsoever, who just landed at your website for the first time.

Don't assume that your customers know what you are talking about. Make sure that your CSR team focuses on building the relationship and establishing credibility. The sales will come.

Do the “which means ” exercise, then ask “Why?”
Copywriters frequently do the “which means” exercise to draw out the benefits from features and to understand the customer’s real motivations.

Along the same idea as before. By clearly defining the benefit, the feature is explained. Make sure that jargon or shop talk is reserved for inter-office communication. Keep it away from your customer

Bad customer service getting more expensive

“A customer who gets good service will tell one person yet a
customer who gets bad service will tell 10 people”

How true is that today? Does that include conversations held in person? What about emails, instant messaging, twitter, blogs, forums. Etc? With newer forms of communication, the complaints or issues become indexed, searchable, and stored for others to find or receive at the time they are thinking about your business.

Websites like planetfeedback.com, consumerist.com, and my3cents.com drive their traffic and ad revenue from complaints. Making issues searchable by of type service, date, and company ensures that they will receive the attention of an increasing population that researches their purchases.

Re-investing in your customer facing operations is a great way to inoculate yourself against these trends. Focus on what your employees need to do their jobs to the best of their ability. Empower them with responsibilities anchored in a strong company ethos.