We all know that motivated staff work better and harder.

But how do we ensure our staff are always motivated? Here are a few tips. 1. Happy work force = happy customers Provide a great environment to work in and look after your staff the way you expect them to look after your customers. Why should they be nice to customers if they are getting a raw deal at work themselves? Keep them happy by providing what they need in terms of training (soft skills as well as technical knowledge) and genuine support with positive messages where appropriate and constructive feedback where development is needed. Top customer service strategies No. 2 Happy Staff = Happy Customers 2. Senior manager feedback

You dont need to spend a lot of money to make your people feel motivated and valued. Quite often a telephone call from a senior manager congratulating a team member on a good week is equally as effective as an offer of a training course or gift voucher. You cant be seen to be withdrawing from investing in your people. Of course, you may have to make decisions to protect the profitability of your business that may not be popular so the messages you communicate are extremely important. We must continue to celebrate success, coach people on specific challenges and address any difficult issues they face. Five ways to share good customer feedback with the rest of the team 3. A positive attitude

It is vital that recruitment team managers realign their expectations and take into consideration the economic climate when setting targets and objectives. Whilst I dont believe it is all doom and gloom out there, it is definitely tougher to convert leads into sales and there are fewer opportunities. That said, team leaders must encourage their staff to raise their game and sell themselves out of the credit crunch. 4. The right tools and skills for the job

Regardless of whether you are operating during a credit crunch or not staff motivation is influenced by the following factors: having the right person in the job who is capable of doing it; equipping them to do the job by giving them the right tools and support and finally setting realistic targets that they believe can be achieved. We have continued to invest in sales and marketing during these difficult times and have launched a number of new product lines. This shows our staff that we are responding to the challenges of the marketplace and supporting them in every way we can. 5. Using temporary workers The benefit of having temporary workers is that the customers can flex up and down depending on their requirement. So unsurprisingly over the past few months we have seen a decrease in demand for temporary workers across a number of our customers. Naturally companies are also reticent to commit to permanent recruitment and are even subject to headcount freezes. Temporary vs permanent staff which is more productive? 6. Dont be tempted to carry anyone who is not up to the job Leadership skills are ever more important during a credit crunch and you must lead from the front and inspire the team. Concentrate on motivating your best people and dont be

tempted to carry anyone who is not up to the job this can be highly demotivating for the rest of the team. 7. Keep things fresh

As obvious as it may sound, the key to motivation is to keep things fresh. Any job, however much you enjoy it, can become monotonous. This is even more true for the call centre environment. 8. Small quick fix prizes Monthly bonuses and incentive schemes are always useful, but what will keep them motivated throughout the month is the small quick fix stuff, the here and now, if you like. The little prizes they can take away with them as soon as they win them (or hit target). Incentive schemes that work Fifteen great ways to improve your incentive programmes 9. Training is always good, it keeps people up to date and focused on the job Regular, effective and relevant training is massively important and a great motivator. If you want them to perform properly and consistently then you have to give them the tools to do so. Training is always good, it keeps people up to date and focused on the job at hand, it keeps their skills at the forefront and it will show them that management are obviously concerned with how well they do their job, etc. If they are given good quality training that covers the topics and issues they are faced with then they will respond and to a certain extent motivate themselves to stick with what they learn. Whats the best way to deliver agent training?

10. Offer a nice clean working environment

You need to make sure that the environment they are working in is conducive to good performance. Everyone likes to work somewhere nice, clean carpets, working computers and phones, a couple of nice plants. Consider this, which team do you think would give the best performance, the one who works in a scruffy office where the equipment only works half of the time and the managers never offer any support, or the team that works in a clean, friendly office where everything works properly and managers spend their day patting you on the back? I appreciate that Ive given an extreme example but the fact remains that if your call centre is clean and welcoming then your team will want to be there and motivation is much easier to come by. Six clever ways to design your call centre 11. We all like to be rewarded or praised for doing it well A good reward scheme is a great motivator, especially if your team are conducting outbound calls. Human nature dictates that no matter what job we do we all like to be rewarded or praised for doing it well. Sales people live by that, generally because the better they do the more money they get.What you have to do is have more than one programme running at any given time immediate, daily, weekly, monthly it doesnt really matter what timescales are involved the key is to run a programme that suits all members of the team. Basically, the thing that might motivate the top sales person wont necessarily work with an average performer and vice versa. So if you have different options then you should be able to give all of them something to aim for. Articles about staff recognition 12. Use both sides of the brain

We support people by using the NBI Brain Profile. Through listening to callers word patterns (usually borrowers) you can establish how best to deal with them, e.g. if a caller wants to tell you their story it probably means they are more of a right-brain thinker. This is important for them to know you understand their situation and if later in the call you want to obtain a commitment from them this will increase your probability of success. 13. Listening to your team We have found that the simple yet very effective secret to motivating a call centre team effectively comes through how one views motivation. We run with the premise that it is impossible to impose motivation upon people, you need to create an environment within which they can (and will) motivate themselves. This environment comes through really listening to your team, and understanding the call centre from their perspective. You do not need to agree with everything they are thinking but you do need to understand why they feel this way. Understand what problems/worries they are encountering, what opportunities they see, what is important to them. Top customer service strategies No.5 Listen to your customers and staff 14. What does success look like? One area (often overlooked) is providing absolute clarity in what success looks like all employees must be able to understand their goals and determine whether or not they are achieving these goals. 15. Positive immediate consequences Rewards that come at the end of the period are too late to produce ongoing change. Well done at the end of the week has a short-term impact. Sustained change in behaviour comes when agents are told right through their shift every minute of the day precisely how they are performing and being rewarded for that performance. When they see the positive and immediate consequences of what they do, the do it better; faster; more often.

16. A team huddle at the start of the shift

A bit of fun can go a long way towards motivating staff and helps to energise. At the start of shifts a quick huddle, not only to pass on bits of key information but to also share a topical joke or vote on a true/false, can really wake people up! Far more effective than email bulletins that are rarely read! Set up daily briefing sessions 17. Be careful promoting people into management roles One of the most common mistakes, one which I have never understood, is moving consistent, well-performing call centre staff into management roles and away from the front line of customer service. Often when these top performers are promoted to managing others, they are replaced by less talented individuals. But many good call centre staff are wilfully independent workers, so can find management roles stressful and demotivating. Ultimately, the result is the business loses out on two fronts. 18. Get the systems right The best way to motivate contact centre staff is to ask for their direct input. A key area for consultation is the re-evaluation of the area where agents spend all of their time: the desktop. Agents frequently cite dissatisfaction with systems as being a major source of low morale. Can a unified desktop improve agent productivity? 19. Sort out the headaches Having to navigate accurately across multiple desktop applications while trying to deal effectively with impatient customers can be incredibly unproductive and stressful for

agents. The sheer volume of copying and pasting across different systems requires intense concentration and can lead to headaches and repetitive strain injuries. Ironically, deploying integration and automation technology to tackle these issues can genuinely humanise highly repetitive, manual and error-prone processes for call centre agents. 20. Rewards to share with the family Motivation and reward schemes need to have a high satisfaction level and appeal. We are finding more and more that staff want rewards that they can share with their family and that give them a sense of well-being. Incentive schemes: making them work for you 21. Find out what makes staff tick

Find out what motivates each employee, and make each individual feel that they have a part to play in the overallsuccess of the business. An annual employee satisfaction survey wont even scratch the surface. To find out what makes staff tick on an ongoing basis you need to measure employee attitude at key moments of truth for each employee. The best way to do this is to use employee feedback software which can provide a regular opportunity for employees to air their thoughts in a non -confrontational way. And to provide that information to team leaders so that they always have an up-to-date picture about how an employee feels. 22. Reward good work

When someone does a good job its important to recognise their achievements. Offering commission on sales targets or promotions based on performance gives staff something to strive for and also shows you will commend good work. How to motivate employees for less than 50 per week 23. Regular review sessions In every role people want to develop their skills to help them progress. All members of the team should have regular review sessions which help staff and employers to identify both areas of strength and skills gaps. At the end of each of these sessions, targets are set for the employee to work towards, helping them develop in their career. 24. Encourage staff to dress smartly

Even though customers rarely come face to face with call centre staff, it is important for them to act and look professional at all times. All our staff must dress smartly. Putting on smart clothes for work puts you in a professional mindset which can also boost your business confidence and motivation. Call centre dress codes 25. Introduce colour in the work space Inspire your staff to work hard and strive for success. Call centres can be bland, so you can create a more vibrant atmosphere by introducing colour in the work space, using

motivational images and pictures to brighten the area. These little, low-cost improvements can make a significant impact on your workforce. You know your staff better than anyone else; if you have new motivational ideas for your call centre workforce dont be afraid to try them. Sometimes the simplest of changes can make a significant impact on employees working culture and attitude.

Creative Ways to Motivate Employees

How do you motivate your staff when you can't afford to give them a raise? Use a different kind of currency. Contrary to popular belief, money is not the best motivator because it sends the message that nothing is worth doing unless you get paid extra. This can develop a sense of entitlement that quickly becomes a bottomless pit and does nothing to increase job satisfaction. A 2005 study by psychologist Adam Grant of the University of Michigan suggests that a better performance booster is when workers have personal contact with beneficiaries of their work. For example, cafeteria line workers are significantly happier than those who work back in the kitchen, because line workers are able to see the happy customers. An employee's morale is positively influenced by knowing his or her work is meaningful. Employees want to be recognized as individuals, shown appreciation, and be given opportunities to grow. This requires bosses to manage one-on-one rather than treating every employee alike. Here are some low-cost ideas for motivating your staff that can have a big return on investment.

Encourage comments from external and internal customers. Post praise. Remind staff how their work matters to

customers and encourage some level of customer interaction for everyone. Call an employee into your office just to say thank you without discussing any other issue. Write a thank you card or e-mail. Send a card to the employee's spouse/family thanking them for their support. Create an employee newsletter to share updates and recognition. Post a bulletin board for employees to share news, hobbies, and recognition. Celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, and special achievements. Reserve the best parking spot for an employee-of-the-month. Let staff decide how the spot is earned. Add a note to an employee's paycheck highlighting something great he/she did that week. Join in and help an employee who is under pressure. Ask what can be done and help complete the task side-by-side. Create a change of pace by giving employees a chance to work on exciting projects or learn new skills. Delegate worthy projects, not just menial tasks, to increase feelings of trust and pride. Create light-hearted awards that recognize something unique about each person like, "Best Screen-Saver," or "Best Joke Teller," and present them at a potluck lunch. Pass on helpful articles that could benefit employees and attach a note that says, "Saw this and thought of you." Learn about their hobbies, families, children, pets, etc. showing interest in what matters most to them. Ask an employee who is proficient in a certain area to train others, or make a presentation at a staff meeting.

Book a community speaker to speak on subjects of interest to employees like personal finance, stress management, or improving relationships. Help build skills with a training library filled with books, tapes, and other resources that employees can check out. Allow employees to attend seminars and ask them to make a presentation to others sharing what they learned.