Our new book “Don’t Fear The Gig Worker: GigCX And The Employment Reboot” picks up from the earlier book, “GigCX: Customer Service In The Twenty First Century”, I wrote with LiveXchange CEO and founder Brian Pritchard and the CX analyst, Mark Hillary. The earlier book focused on the question ‘what is GigCX?’ The new one explores how GigCX connects to The Great Resignation
.
I’d like to explore another of the key themes in the new book and that’s the role of the contact center agent. Most agents are hired by contact center companies for their ability to pass some aptitude tests and then allocated to whichever client needs resource
If you just applied to your local contact center for a job working in customer service then this is understandable, but this process can work quite differently in the GigCX environment.
• Agents can choose to work supporting a specific brand
• Agents can select the days and hours they want to work based on their own availability and when the client needs people on the team
• Agents can stay at home – no need to commute to a contact center
• Brands can seek out potential agents and ask them if they would be interested in helping the customer service team on a part-time basis
All these points are unusual when compared to the typical contact center experience, but take a look again at this last one. Brands can seek out potential customer service agents? How does that work?
Suppose you are managing the customer service processes for a fast fashion chain. People are buying your clothes and sharing new looks online. Some of the people creating these social media posts might even classify as micro-influencers if they have a few thousand followers.
You already know these micro-influencers are into your products – they are sharing the images on a daily basis. They know your range inside out. They post pictures of new product launches as if they are running a press release. Why not send them a private message asking if they want to earn some cash every time they help out a real customer? No need to commute to an office. Choose your own hours.
Best of all, it’s their favorite brand asking for help. How would you feel if your own favorite brand recognized you as an expert in their products and asked if you could help their customers for a few hours each week? Imagine how quickly you could seed your customer service team with influencers who are not just handling customer calls for cash as they watch the clock. These are people who know your brand well and love your products.
This idea doesn’t just apply to fashion. You could seek out gamers to support gamers, runners to support an athleisure brand, and recipe wizards to support grocers. Finding the people who love your brand and then inviting them to be a part of your customer service team is an extra special benefit of the GigCX approach.
This creates brand ambassadors, not just agents. A diverse team that builds advocacy for your products by regularly sharing tips and ideas. Compare the traditional idea of a contact center agent with a brand ambassador and then consider how many more advantages the GigCX model might be hiding!
Please click here to order your copy of “Don’t Fear The Gig Worker: GigCX And The Employment Reboot” – if you prefer to support your local bookstore then just use this code to order a copy: ISBN: 979-8-782-45926-0.
CC Photo by Kristian Egelund
