There are many things that play a part in the success of a business. To achieve success and be profitable, you need to sell high-quality products or services, have loyal customers, provide the best customer experience, but most importantly, have a team of great employees working for you.
The best way to ensure success and an amazing customer experience is to have a team of employees with high morale and great engagement. Unfortunately, only 36% of employees are engaged in the workplace, and if this is the case for your business, some things need to change right away.
Here is how you can maximize morale in a way that will benefit your employees and customers.
Throw Virtual Parties
Due to the ongoing pandemic, it’s difficult to organize meetings and parties while ensuring everyone is safe, at least in person. But that doesn’t mean you can’t host a virtual party, which is a celebration hosted entirely online.
This type of event has become very popular among friends, families, but also businesses. Your online party doesn’t have to be limited by anything and it doesn’t matter how many of your team members will attend and from what location.
This is a great way to boost morale as it allows your employees to meet and have fun with one another by doing practically anything. There are a plethora of virtual event ideas you can explore such as playing games, having a movie night, a virtual happy hour, just to name a few. The possibilities are endless.
Use Live Chat
Nobody deals with customers more than your support agents, and they arguably have one of the most difficult jobs in the entire organization. They need to deal with customers who are usually upset, annoyed, and even rude, all of which can take its toll and have a negative impact on morale.
Don’t forget that there are a lot of things customer support agents have to deal with every day. Whether it’s updating CRMs, filling out paperwork, or any other tasks, these employees sometimes need a little break from dealing with customers.
That’s where live chat comes in. This tool allows you to provide real-time service to customers and provide them answers and information immediately.
Live chat has become a standard practice for all successful businesses and customers have learned to expect it from reputable companies. According to live chat stats, 63% of customers said they were more likely to return to a website that offers live chat as opposed to one that doesn’t.
But how exactly does it boost employee morale?
- Minimizes frustration. Live chat software can be filled with canned responses for FAQs you get from customers. So when an employee is asked the same question for the millionth time, they won’t have to become frustrated and annoyed as the software will answer it for them.
- Supports and monitors. You can have a representative monitor all live chat communications and provide support to agents in real-time whenever they need help. Colleagues can also tag one another in conversations and provide help whenever necessary.
- Filled with information. Unlike any other communication method, live chat provides agents with all the customer information they need as well as product/service information. Agents won’t waste valuable time searching for information and can solve customer queries quickly and with much less effort.
Know What To Say To Employees
A customer experience leader is the one who will set the tone for employee morale. If you want your team members to feel empowered and be engaged, you need to be approachable and know exactly what to say in every situation.
There are specific words and phrases that you can use in both good and bad situations which will let your employees know that they’re always appreciated, no matter what.
The most important thing to remember is to give specific praise as often as you can and to all team members who deserve it. A simple phrase like “You deserve a lot of credit” is something you need to say to every employee who proves they’re a hard worker and shows initiative.
If something goes wrong, don’t criticize employees. Instead, use phrases such as “Don’t worry, we will find a way to fix this” or “This isn’t the end of the world” to put their mind at ease and make them realize that no matter what happens, there isn’t a problem that can’t be solved.
Reward Your Employees
A staggering 83% of organizations suffer from a lack of employee recognition, so don’t make the same mistake.
Phrases such as “Good job” and “Way to go” are something that you need to say regularly, but sometimes you need to reward your employees with more than just a nice word and a pat on the back. To truly increase morale and boost engagement, you can start to hand out some rewards.
There are unique pass-along rewards certain companies have started to give out to their employees such as the Smitty Award for example. This award is given out to an employee who has proven themselves to be the best of the best.
You can see this as something similar to “Employee of the month” recognition, but with a special ceremony that goes along with it. You can create a trophy that resembles one of your company’s directors and hold the Smitty Awards once a month as a fun event for your employees.
And of course, don’t forget about regular rewards for individual work which are standard in most companies such as gift cards and certificates. When you recognize hard work and reward employees who deserve it, morale will increase and everyone in the company will start to work hard for their own reward and a sense of recognition.
Final Thoughts
A lot of businesses put most of their focus into making customers happy, and unfortunately, some do it at the expense of their employee’s morale.
However, if you’re a smart business owner, you know that when employee morale is through the roof, so is customer experience. Maximizing employee morale doesn’t have to be hard, just apply all the tactics you just read about, and your employees will be overjoyed.
Author:
Jeff Smores
