Mr. / Ms. Front-Line Employee: You Are Important To Us, Really, No Really You Are ...

Posted by Susan Hoekstra on September 21, 2009

2 comments | 1808 reads

When you think about your personal good and poor service experiences, many times those experiences come down to the experience had with individual employees who work at the firm. Delivering an excellent client experience is most often dependent upon all the employees we hire; however, no employees are more important than those front-line employees who interact directly with external clients.

Although everyone agrees how important these employees are in providing great customer service experiences, I am consistently perplexed by the job title given to many of these 'very important' people: clerks, customer service reps (or the even more degrading acronym, CSR), and assistants are some of the more common terms assigned to front-line employees. All are terms that imply that your employees are commodities, and are people not empowered to make decisions. At the very least, their title doesn't depict their worth, and does not help their credibility when working with clients.

If you agree your employees are critical to delivering a great experience, review their job title and make sure job titles depict how much you value your employees. Assigning the correct job titles can help your employees deliver better service, as it will remind them of how much you value them as an employee, their purpose and improve their credibility with your clients. The cost? Nothing. The benefit? Priceless.

Susan Hoekstra

Susan Hoekstra is author of The Service Journey. She has a proven 25 year history developing customer service strategies and solutions.

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2 comments »

Haim Toeg

September 21, 2009

Thanks for raising this

Thanks for raising this important point, Title are indeed important, but hardly the only, or even most important aspect of front line employees paradox. It starts with them being poorly equipped an empowered to service clients properly, to being the lowest on the totem pole in the organizational structure, or in receiving any services they need. The sad conclusion is that your employees will treat your customers as well, or as poorly, as you treat them.

Susan Hoekstra

September 28, 2009

Response

Thank you Haim, and absolutely agree. I do believe the titles are indicative of some of the points you raise, however. And for something that costs nothing, why would a firm give so little consideration to their employees' titles?

Susan Hoekstra
Susan Hoekstra & Associates
Author: The Service Journey
Customer Service Consultant
Keynoter
Service Leadership and Customer Service Trainer
www.theservicejourney.com
blog.theservicejourney.com

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