Retaining Customer Service Representatives

"The customer service reps I’m recruiting are turning over at an alarming rate. Many of them are not even making it out of the training classes. This is costing my company millions of dollars."

At Thomas International Canada, we understand how you feel. Most customer service centres face the following challenges:

Few resources and small margins
Competitive compensation packages at competitors
New or inexperienced middle management
Attendance and discipline issues
Customer service reps taking 1-3 months to become proficient at their jobs

All these factors can play into costly turnover and result in a failure to deliver on service commitment to your clients.

Studies show that successful customer service reps that are retained have some or all of the following qualities:

Content to stay at the same area for long periods of time
Work at a steady and procedural pace
Rule orientation and adherence to company policy
Willingness to support and show empathy for others
Friendliness and cooperation while maintaining low call times
Patience and avoids engaging in conflict

"How can I select more customer service reps with these ideal qualities? Do you have a customer service talent management tool that can help?"

Thomas International’s Customer Service Benchmarking identifies your ideal customer service job description and those unique traits that differentiate your top performers from the rest. The process begins with middle managers, senior management, and HR who collectively select the ideal qualities for success in the customer service role at your organization. The ideal qualities are assessed using a DISC-based customer service job test. Top performers who are currently in the role are then assessed using a DISC-based personality test or behavioural assessment.

Trends from the top performing customer service reps are collected and meshed with the ideal qualities from the job test. The result is a customer service benchmark. Some organizations create multiple benchmarks for one role. This helps to promote diversity and can assist in your talent management strategy. The Thomas International Benchmarking process is in compliance with Canadian Human Rights and fits easily into your current process.

With your customer service benchmark established it is possible to assess all future candidates utilizing our DISC-based pre-employment personality test. By assessing future candidates against your customer service benchmark, you will understand how closely they fit your job description, devise possible interview questions to assess their gaps, and determine the training they would benefit from to close the potential performance gaps. Middle mangers can use the customer service job description to manage more effectively with existing employees and new recruits. The Thomas International Customer Service Benchmark process can reduce turnover and increase productivity, saving your business money.

Interested in Customer Service Benchmarking for your business? We want to hear from you.

Call our toll free number 1-888-597-6455 (locally in the Toronto area call 905-270-2331)
Write to us or email us
Complete our online needs analysis form

Cost of Turnover Model for CSR. Seen an example of the cost of turnover for the Customer Service Representitive position in a customer service centre environment.

Calculate the Cost of Turnover in your organization by using this Excel sheet.

Tips on buying a talent management tool. 18 questions you need answered before buying a talent management tool.

Pre-employment testing

Aptitude tests

Behavioural assessment

Select top franchisees

Rocky Mountaineer Vacations

One of RMV’s core competencies is Guest Service Excellence and in order to fulfill this organizational mandate, we needed to have a recruitment tool that was going to assist us in defining exactly the type of characteristics required of employees we were recruiting.