Customer Service and the Lowest Paid Employee Paradox

It is an interesting paradox I often observe in Customer Service Experiences...

• Who typically has the most exposure to the Customer or Patient and yet is the lowest paid employee team member?

• Who single-handedly has the greatest potential to create or destroy Customer Value via the delivered Customer Service Experience?  The Patient Experience?

• Which single position often has the deepest impact on the traditional Customer Service Experience or the Patient Experience and is often the lowest paid?

Perhaps you have already arrived at the potential correct answers...  The receptionist or "Director of First Impressions" has significant contact with your Customer and represents your organization and are often amongst the lowest paid.  Ironic is it not?

As a Customer Service Experience consultant, I see this "compensation paradox" ALL the time and quite frankly, this "paradox" makes little strategic sense.  How can it be that the one position that has the greatest potential to create or destroy so much value is compensated so little.  Consider...

• Average organizations measure the direct bottom line, monetary value.  Therefore, the receptionist is a "cost" - not a "benefit" nor someone who returns a tangible return on investment.

• Rainmaker organizations measure the potential psychological impact and recognize that it has a long-term impact on the bottom line, monetary value.

What should be done differently?

Rather than randomly hire people to fill receptionist and phone-answering positions, create a strategy that truly adds value and respects the potential these positions represent.  Following are critical steps to maximize your Customer Service Experience.

1. Reframe the Mindset of Management and the receptionist alike - Management and the Director of First Impressions alike must get into the right mindset about what the role performed by receptionists.  It is not a cost - it is a strategic benefit that reaps rewards when done correctly and loses Customers when done poorly.
2. Benchmark the Position - Identify the Behaviors, Values, and Attributes necessary to do the job well
3. Set Performance Expectations - Define performance success and expect it.  Identify Customer Service Experience Touch Points that are non-negotiable.  Set expectations regarding non-performance and the ramifications of doing the job well or failing to do so.

4. Create Performance Accountability - Employee team members who do not perform their duties as expected shall expect to be replaced or at the very least - provided additional training.

5. Compensate High Performers / Remove Low Performers

Receptionists and those who answer the phone are doing very important work.  The reality is they are making your First Impression.  Make your First Impression count by recognizing the strategic importance of what the receptionist (Director of First Impressions) actually does.  Select the right talent that can fulfill this important role well and compensate them well for the value added.

Now Go Maximize Possibility