Appearance equals
attitude. What I learned from running a call center years ago and how that
applies to today’s workplace.
EXPERT OPINION BY HOWARD TULLMAN, GENERAL MANAGING PARTNER, G2T3V AND CHICAGO HIGH TECH INVESTORS @HOWARDTULLMAN1
NOV 5, 2024
Many years ago when they were still
viable businesses because consumers still answered their
landline phones, I ran an outbound call center for the major American
automobile manufacturers. The center made millions of calls each year to
collect and measure customer satisfaction with sales and service experiences at
car dealerships. I realize that there’s an oxymoronic aspect to that very idea,
but there were still plenty of people at the time who were interested in paying
us to try to figure out why buying a car or having it serviced at a dealership
was such a painful and unpleasant process.
After years of analyzing massive
amounts of research and consumer feedback, I’m not sure that the manufacturers
learned anything of real value or changed their approach in any meaningful way.
Certainly, the dealers themselves were rarely interested in our suggestions and
reports on how they could do a better job. This is why we now have firms
like Carvana,
which are intent upon disintermediating the dealership experience in its
entirety.
But we still discovered a great deal
about how to successfully run a call center that employed hundreds of people of
all ages and from every different kind of background, education level, race,
color and creed. This is not an easy business because attrition and employee
burnout rates are massive which, in turn, makes it very hard to justify
extensive investments in careful training. In addition, it’s a real-time
service, which makes it difficult to manage and correct errors made by customer
service agents. And finally, it’s almost impossible to assess team attitudes
and emotional states because everyone is “a business of one,” locked into a
cubicle, insulated with headphones, and basically all on their own.
I spent a fair amount of time every
day walking the aisles and listening to one-sided bits and pieces of ongoing
conversations my employees were having with pleased, pissed off, and – to a
frightening large extent – utterly disinterested customers. As you might
imagine, this was a fairly primitive way to monitor the discussions and, in the
decades since then, new technologies and tools have emerged to make the task
much easier and valuable to all concerned
as well. But, to be honest, management by walking around will
never work in the WFH world of today.
There are a couple of important
lessons that we did learn that I think have immense value in the new
post-pandemic work world, where so much happens in an environment that seems
equally remote and closed off. Whether it’s a matter of phone contact, etiquette
and attitude, or Zoom/Teams behaviors and protocols, so many of the same
attributes and work conditions we dealt with are extremely relevant now given
the persistence of WFH along with millions of gig employees working anywhere
and everywhere.
Posture Matters
One of the most obvious and
correctable actions we dealt with in the call centers was posture. That might
seem strange in a room full of seated folks. But the fact is that if someone
was slouching, hanging off their chair, staring around the room, or otherwise
checked out, we knew for sure that they weren’t connecting effectively with the
person on the other end of the line. You see this same issue in teleconferences
all the time– where team members aren’t leaning in and focused, but instead are
half asleep, snacking, texting, or simply not paying attention. It matters and
it’s worth calling out if you’re running the session. Sit up straight,
lean in, and smile.
Appearance Matters
I realize that the pandemic
demonstrated to the world that you could party, pray or participate in
virtually any remote activity in your pajamas. And as certain notable
columnists and commentators learned – much to their embarrassment and chagrin –
you could do a host of other questionable things as well. But it’s very clear
that, if you care about your business and you want to send the right message,
what you wear shows everyone just how much you care. This is just as true for
an underdressed slob who’s driving an Uber, someone handling your groceries
that you wouldn’t want near anything perishable, or any delivery moron who’s
vaping on your front porch while waiting for you to answer the door. Paying
attention to your appearance and how you are seen by others is part of being a
professional. Unfortunately, that’s a message that’s been lost on
millions of inbound employees.
Time and Details Matter
The pros know a simple fact – the way
you conduct any part of your life and business automatically bleeds into and
informs the entire rest of your activities. If you’re an “on time” person who
respects other people’s time, those people will respond in kind and appreciate
your concern and courtesy. If you’re a slug who shows up late or whenever it
suits your schedule, you’ll soon be looking for work elsewhere. If you’re a
person who sweats the small stuff, pays attention to the details, prepares for
calls and meetings, people quickly get that message as well. It’s important,
it’s contagious, and it’s what all great leaders do. You want to be the one
who’s everyone’s first choice for tasks, responsibilities, assistance and
promotions – not the last resort.
Bottom line: all of these behaviors
and attributes point in the same direction to a particular conclusion: that you
are present, that you care about the work you do, and that you take pride in
how and why you do that work. It’s not going to be easy to remotely build and
maintain company cultures, but it starts in every case by paying attention to
the small personal details that matter most in the long run.
