By Lara Ponomareff, customer contact practice leader, CEB

No more Mr Nice Guy: to win the loyalty of modern consumers and boost organisational productivity, companies need a new type of customer service worker who is smart, fast and diligent.

Business has entered an era of changing customer needs that are re-defining what empathy means to customers. As anyone in a customer-facing business will know, consumers today are increasingly overwhelmed by the amount of information available to them across multiple channels and touch points. This has dramatically changed the concept of what customers want out of service interactions. Politeness alone is seen as secondary to simplicity and guidance when customers have an issue that needs to be resolved. Yet global businesses are ignoring this shift and jeopardising their customer service.

Recruiters are often faced with the challenge of having to find customer service reps who are able to deal with the heightened expectations of a more informed customer base, while also meeting the demands of their company to improve customer loyalty. The problem lies in the old-fashioned, increasingly irrelevant recruitment criteria typically used to hire customer service reps. In order to deliver the high-quality service expected today, business leaders and recruiters alike should focus on building a customer service team that displays a new type of empathy.

CEB research shows that ‘Empathisers’ are currently thought of as the most popular customer service reps – making up 32 percent of the current rep population. The ‘Empathiser’ will focus his/her efforts on soothing the customer and providing a pleasant experience. Businesses tend to seek such personality types in light of their amicable and caring natures. However, while ‘Empathisers’ like to spend time helping other people, they often struggle when faced with a complex situation or can’t provide the customer with exactly what they want.

In short, this is an outdated personality type when it comes to customer service.

Instead, businesses need ‘Controllers’. They need the strong, opinionated customer service rep – someone who can take charge and guide the customer firmly through a conversation to a solution. The ‘Controller’ far outperforms all of the other personalities, including the ‘Empathiser’, when it comes to low-effort customer service – the type of service proven to best drive loyalty outcomes. This is because ‘Controllers’ can cut through the noise and excess information to guide their customers through each problem efficiently and effectively – providing customers with confidence that their issue is fully resolved. Today, politeness and niceties are expected, but they don’t guarantee customers will be satisfied and loyal in the end. The true value lies in a rep who can simplify things for customers and help them get back to what’s important – their lives.  

However, our research also found that most businesses have a lot of catching up to do on this. In fact, only 15 percent of those in customer service roles fall into the ‘Controller’ personality category. And, only two percent of companies report they would prefer to recruit this strong-willed, single-minded and confident personality type.

From a business perspective, managers concerned about productivity in their workforce should think differently about the assets each personality type will bring to their business. Specifically, companies should focus on three key things when attracting the new high-performer for customer service:

1) Hone In On Personality – Look for the confident, outspoken and proactive rep, and don’t be swayed by ‘Mr. Nice Guy’ – they won’t always be able to just get the job done

2) Use Astute, Specific Job Postings – Move away from the generic job description and company overviews, and start focusing on the unique aspects of the job, the qualities you’re looking for in a rep and the employee value prop that will best attract ‘Controllers’  

3) Consider a Recruiter Immersion Programme – As tested by a leading health insurance company, being able to embed recruiters into a contact centre enables them to have learning moments, and close knowledge gaps around desired candidate profiles, which is especially important when looking for abstract characteristics like personality

If businesses are to improve customer loyalty, whilst increasing productivity within their customer-facing workforce, they should be mindful that 84 percent of consumers today just want their issue resolved as quickly as possible and are willing to be directed to the best option to solve their problem. Ultimately, someone who can simplify the process displays the greatest empathy of all: getting the customer to a solution – and doing so quickly and efficiently. In essence, the ‘Controller’ has become the new ‘Empathiser’.