Training? What’s In It For Me?
The motivation for training in your team is unfortunately not a given. Not everyone in your team is going to be excited about taking training. Not only is training perceived as an interruption, as stated earlier, but there might be other objections. Some reps might not feel they need training, while others might take some training but stop before they can complete their learning pathway. Still, others may be simply unmotivated.
Fortunately, there’s a way to make your training more appealing to your entire customer service team: gamification.
How Can Gamification Help Motivation For Training?
According to Investopedia, gamification describes the incentivization of people's engagement in non-game contexts and activities by using game-style mechanics. Gamification leverages people's natural tendencies for competition, achievement, collaboration, and charity. Tools employed in game design, such as rewarding users for achievements, "leveling-up," and earning badges, are carried into the real world to help motivate individuals to achieve their goals or boost performance. There are many examples of gamification, the most well-known perhaps being frequent flyer rewards programs offered by airlines. Some of the most common elements added to training are:
- Points
Your employees might earn points for various activities, like logging in to the LMS for a certain number of days in a row, answering correctly on a quiz, or finishing a learning module. There are many ways for your employees to earn points, some can even be a bit fun. It is important to be creative when designing a point system. - Badges
Badges are used to show mastery. If a rep has taken all the training associated with a new product line or finished their learning pathway, they might earn a badge which will be displayed on their profile in the LMS, and maybe even in the office or the company’s instant messaging system. Remember to keep your badges aesthetically appealing, both in regards to how the actual badges look and the text that accompanies them. - Leaderboards
A leaderboard lists the top point-getters on your team, showing who has the most points, and maybe even displaying each rep’s badges. Publicly visible leaderboards are great for sparking competition among top performers, but be careful; lower performers may be disengaged by leaderboards, which is something you want to consider and avoid. A leaderboard allows an entirely new level of engagement, as long as it is done correctly.
Gamification is all about motivation and employee engagement. The game elements help increase engagement among learners who might not be into learning for its own sake.
For example, learners who typically drop out of training might be brought back by the promise of a badge or getting points just for logging in. A friendly rivalry between two top performers who otherwise might not want to take a break from work to train might keep both coming back for learning. Others might be more motivated by learning as a team.
Dealing With Customer Service Complaints
No matter your business, customer service is one of your products. Most unhappy customers won’t let you know they’re going to take their business elsewhere. They’ll simply leave, according to research. Only about 1 in 26 complain to the company, but that doesn’t mean disgruntled customers aren’t complaining. They are; 13% of unhappy customers complain to others, both in person and online. That kind of bad publicity is hard to overcome. You have to stop it before it starts by providing exceptional customer service. Do that, and you’re likely to be rewarded; research shows that 95% of consumers will stay with a company because of a positive customer service experience.
While every employee in your organization is tasked with providing an excellent Customer Experience, no workers shoulder that responsibility more than your customer service team. It’s a high-stress job, and just as customer churn can take a toll on your business, so can employee turnover. It’s in your best interest to alleviate complaints about training by making it engaging and valuable, and making sure your reps have the tools and support they need to do their jobs well. The eBook The Top 5 Customer Service Complaints About Training will help you achieve just that! Your customer service team supports your customers. It’s vital to your business that you support them in turn.