What Qualities Make a Difference in Customer-Facing Employees?

Say you’re pur­chas­ing a new cloud-based cus­tomer rela­tion­ship man­age­ment (CRM) sys­tem for your com­pany. You’re faced with sim­i­lar prod­uct options, and the pric­ing struc­ture is com­pa­ra­ble. At com­pany A, the sales rep is help­ful, but not very engag­ing. He is knowl­edge­able, but isn’t very friendly, doesn’t fol­low up, and you can tell that though the sales rep knows the prod­uct well, he isn’t par­tic­u­larly enthusiastic.

At com­pany B, the sales rep is pas­sion­ate, knowl­edge­able, engaged, and pleas­ant to work with, with­out being too hard on the sell. You know, from brief expe­ri­ences with both sales reps, that com­pany B will be much eas­ier to work with.

Which company’s prod­uct will you choose?

With cost and prod­uct fea­tures being sim­i­lar, your choice isn’t even a con­test. You’ll go with com­pany B. After all, you rec­og­nize that being able to get assis­tance, prod­uct updates, and hav­ing your ques­tions answered will go much smoother with the sales rep from com­pany B.

In this sit­u­a­tion, the sales rep from com­pany A didn’t do any­thing “wrong” per se, but there was a lack of engage­ment, which became clear when con­trasted with the rep from com­pany B. This gets you think­ing: What is it, exactly, that sep­a­rates a great sales rep from a mediocre one?

Let’s look at the qual­i­ties of stand­out customer-facing employ­ees so that you can under­stand what areas to train your employ­ees in, and what to look for when hir­ing.

Pride in the job

Employ­ees with cer­tain tem­pera­ments may nat­u­rally dis­play more pride in their work, but for many employ­ees, their level of pride will be a reflec­tion of the work­place. Do you offer train­ing so that your employ­ees are knowl­edge­able and con­fi­dent about their prod­uct? Are the employ­ees treated well, given ade­quate time-off, and respected? Do you specif­i­cally tell your employ­ees to show their pride when deal­ing with cus­tomers? Cus­tomers notice employee pride, so when hir­ing and train­ing, make sure this qual­ity is one of the top char­ac­ter­is­tics that comes through.

Your com­pany val­ues should shine through

Your employ­ees will have dif­fer­ent per­son­al­ity char­ac­ter­is­tics and ways of han­dling cus­tomers, but they should all be able to work off of your core com­pany and brand val­ues. In other words, your customer-facing employ­ees need to be able to show a united front. Do they make deci­sions based off of your cor­po­rate ethos? Employ­ees should be able to think cre­atively and flex­i­bly, but your job is to ensure that they under­stand what your com­pany stands for. Cus­tomers should not get dras­ti­cally dif­fer­ent expe­ri­ences from dif­fer­ent employ­ees. Make sure your employ­ees are able to demon­strate your val­ues. Put effort into com­mu­ni­cat­ing and train­ing your employ­ees so they reflect your com­pany culture.

A flex­i­ble attitude

Flex­i­bil­ity is a per­son­al­ity char­ac­ter­is­tic and a qual­ity that can be encour­aged. Customer-facing employ­ees should be able to adapt, think out-of-the box, take on new adven­tures, and adjust to changes. When deal­ing with cus­tomers – who can be frus­trat­ing or demand­ing – customer-facing employ­ees need to demon­strate a way to mod­ify and come up with solu­tions. Rigid, uncom­pro­mis­ing per­son­al­ity types do not do as well in customer-facing roles; make sure you take note of this when you are screen­ing applicants.

Empa­thy

Empa­thy can be improved through soft-skills train­ing, but some employ­ees def­i­nitely have an innate knack at show­ing empa­thy. Empathic employ­ees make cus­tomers feel val­ued, and even when the employee can’t directly solve the prob­lem, the employee shows that he or she under­stands and val­i­dates the customer’s concerns.

A friendly per­son­al­ity goes a long way

Friend­li­ness is one of those qual­i­ties that seems straight­for­ward, but if you think back to your own expe­ri­ences with cus­tomer ser­vice reps, you can prob­a­bly name sit­u­a­tions where cus­tomer ser­vice reps were not friendly and didn’t have a light atti­tude. In customer-facing roles, peo­ple want to look for­ward to work­ing with a rep, and when your employ­ees radi­ate a friendly atti­tude, this can make all of the difference.

Friend­li­ness is cer­tainly a qual­ity you can look for when hir­ing, but it’s also a char­ac­ter­is­tic worth point­ing out and encour­ag­ing when you are train­ing your reps.

Employee-facing employ­ees are the face of your brand

Remem­ber the exam­ple from com­pany A and com­pany B in the begin­ning of this arti­cle? A good employee really can make the dif­fer­ence in a pur­chase deci­sion. The qual­i­ties of customer-facing employ­ees should not be dis­counted, and don’t make the mis­take of think­ing that employ­ees will just “improve” with time. When screen­ing and hir­ing, look for employ­ees who show the char­ac­ter­is­tics high­lighted above, and then spend time train­ing and arrang­ing your work envi­ron­ment to get the best out of your employ­ees. Your customer-facing employ­ees can truly make or break a sale, and they are the face of your brand, so it’s worth invest­ing in employ­ees who will rep­re­sent your com­pany in the best light.