While reading The Economist last week, the cover story on developing countries and innovation caught my eye.  The gist of the article: developing countries are not just low-cost sources of labor, but are in fact increasingly the source of product and service innovation.  Everything from Kenya’s leading use of money transfer by mobile phone to Bharti Airtel’s partnership with competitors to share radio towers was mentioned. 

This idea got me thinking more specifically about the service organization.  No, not about offshoring or outsourcing implications, although Dan has written on that topic recently.  I actually started thinking about times when new ideas come from previous unexplored or even unlikely sources.  Just like the world is waking up to the insight potential within developing countries like Brazil and India – service leaders are beginning to realize the untapped ability of their frontline reps to bring new ideas to the business.

Sure, our reps’ main responsibilities are to complete tasks and help customers – and that fact won’t likely change any time soon.  But in the course of serving customers, frontline reps are also developing a pretty unique position within the company.  Our frontline has some of the closest, most constant contact with our customers – in fact they communicate with customers on a daily basis.  At the same time, they are also in tune with our internal processes and culture.

Can you see where this is headed?  Frontline reps can often serve to bridge the gap between the customer and the company.  They know what the customer has to go through to get their issue resolved, plus they know what the company has to do on the backend to resolve the customer’s issue.  This knowledge can be leveraged to identify customer experience improvement areas and solutions – we just have to figure out how to tap into it.

We’ve heard our members use reps to help solve systemic problems – anything from involving them in a website re-design to better understanding a barrage of customer complaints on a new product.  A couple of things to consider:

 1.Reps are positioned to be the problem-solvers: You might have a frontline rep who suggests the next new product offering for your company, but what most reps hear are customer problems.  They can quickly spot trends or identify possible fixes – so ask them to help in this area first.

2.Lots of channels exist for rep input, but be careful to screen for feedback quality: We’ve heard members use focus groups, discussion boards, and just simply asking reps to get their thoughts.  Each channel has its merits, but find a way to ensure the best ideas rise to the top.  For instance:

-Consider having reps rank their ideas and the information they share in focus groups to identify high-impact issues and solutions

-Try letting other reps comment on feedback on discussion boards, letting them choose the most resonant idea

3.Tell reps why their input matters, and what you’ll do with it: Show your reps what their input can do – in terms of fewer calls per year, dollars saved for the company.  Explain how this can allow them to spend time with more interesting customer calls – instead of the same old change of address call they keep getting.  Let reps see how they fit into a bigger picture.

So, what have you done to elicit ideas and feedback from your reps?  What has worked, and what hasn’t?

CCC members, check out how Fidelity Investments uses rep focus groups for website redesigns and how Hyatt interviews reps when choosing a technology vendor.

Related posts:

1. Do Foreign Accents Harm the Customer Experience?