Performance in People developed Behavioural Measurement Score® (BMS®), an objective way of measuring staff behaviours. The BMS® research methodology was successful in winning an award in the ‘Insights & Feedback’ category at the 2015 Customer Experience Awards.
It has always been suggested that great employee behaviours result in a great customer experience, but various industries have struggled to establish a robust understanding of specifically what great behaviours are. When people refer to great behaviours, a multitude of approaches are considered. The dictionary definition of behaviour is ‘The way in which one acts or conducts oneself, especially towards others’. So what do we class as positive behaviours in a customer service environment?
Customer Service Solutions agency, Performance in People, consulted with dozens of organisations across a range of sectors, spoke to hundreds of customer facing staff and surveyed thousands of customers. Research concluded a typical customer service standard expected staff to follow a structured process and deliver great behaviours. It became apparent that ‘process’ was what organisations expected their staff to do, and ‘behaviours’ was how they expected their staff to do it. For example, initial customer acknowledgement such as a ‘Hello’ or ‘Welcome’ is a simple explicit standard/process for many organisations, but it’s how they expect staff to do this which is key… With a smile? Positive tonality? Open body language?
“Research showed that strong process compliance was common, despite un-engaging employee behaviours, which resulted in a disappointing customer experience.“
Evidence suggests that whilst process affected the customer experience, the strongest influence was the member of staff’s behaviour. The 6 key behaviours that made up the BMS®, listed below, were established in prescriptive form as the key behaviours that influenced a customer’s face to face experience:
- FRIENDLY
Instantly likeable, due to good voice tonality, open body language, smiling and good humour. - ENTHUSIASTIC
They love life, really enjoy their job, live the brand. - PROFESSIONAL
Well presented, articulate, knowledgeable and respectful. - INTERESTED
Asking questions about the customer, listening to responses, making conversation that was not necessarily directly to do with the enquiry. - ATTENTIVE
Completely focused on the customer, making them feel as if they were their only one in the store. - HELPFUL
Nothing is too much trouble, genuinely interested in providing a solution, not just trying to sell a product.
As a result, the BMS® initiative enabled organisations, with face to face engagement with customers, a clear and prescriptive methodology of identifying, measuring and developing these key behaviours, delivering enhanced customer experiences and improvements in mystery shop, customer satisfaction and net promoter score measures.
Performance in People staff
Performance in People is able to deliver training to support an organisation’s rollout of this initiative and measure BMS® performance through their video mystery shopping programmes. This provides benchmark comparisons of behavioural performance across a range of industry sectors.