Because customer service performance is so hit-and-miss, career tracks haven’t been laid into sales and management and other company areas. When senior managers walk through the service area, they hear Megan on the phone and infer that she, and folks like her, have topped-out and are incapable, if not undeserving of further cultivation and promotion.

Bill likes to mind his own business and

Imagine two customer service agents, Bill and Megan, who sit on the far sides of a room containing about 200 of their peers.

Bill struggles on every call to provide the best care possible, going out of his way to curb his temper when customers inappropriately challenge or even insult him.

Megan is wrapped up in herself and it shows. She sounds curt and impatient and gives off the impression she’d rather be doing anything but taking calls.

These two sit so far away from each other, more than 150 feet to be exact, that they could almost be working in different buildings. Nonetheless, they’re impacting each other in very meaningful ways.

(1) Bill receives calls from people Megan has upset. This makes his job harder to do because these folks expect hassles from him and they carry over their negative expectations into interactions with him.

(2) Megan’s negativity “contaminates” her cube-mates, those sitting near her, and these vibes sweep through the entire building as fast as a tsunami. So, Bill gets blasted by Megan’s mood, despite the fact that she’s nowhere near him, at least in physical terms.

(3) Bill’s pay is diluted by Megan’s performance. Though he tries to up-sell and to retain customers, Megan’s customer defections cost the company so much that there is less of a bonus pay pool available for Bill and other top performers like him.

(4) Bill’s status, inside and outside of the company, is lessened because the customer service unit doesn’t win the kinds of industry awards it could win if everyone was pulling her weight.

(5) Because customer service performance is so hit-and-miss, career tracks haven’t been laid into sales and management and other company areas. When senior managers walk through the service area, they hear Megan on the phone and infer that she, and folks like her, have topped-out and are incapable, if not undeserving of further cultivation and promotion.

Bill likes to mind his own business and t

ssion she’d rather be doing anything but taking calls.

These two sit so far away from each other, more than 150 feet to be exact, that they could almost be working in different buildings. Nonetheless, they’re impacting each other in very meaningful ways.

(1) Bill receives calls from people Megan has upset. This makes his job harder to do because these folks expect hassles from him and they carry over their negative expectations into interactions with him.

(2) Megan’s negativity “contaminates” her cube-mates, those sitting near her, and these vibes sweep through the entire building as fast as a tsunami. So, Bill gets blasted by Megan’s mood, despite the fact that she’s nowhere near him, at least in physical terms.

(3) Bill’s pay is diluted by Megan’s performance. Though he tries to up-sell and to retain customers, Megan’s customer defections cost the company so much that there is less of a bonus pay pool available for Bill and other top performers like him.

(4) Bill’s status, inside and outside of the company, is lessened because the customer service unit doesn’t win the kinds of industry awards it could win if everyone was pulling her weight.

(5) Because customer service performance is so hit-and-miss, career tracks haven’t been laid into sales and management and other company areas. When senior managers walk through the service area, they hear Megan on the phone and infer that she, and folks like her, have topped-out and are incapable, if not undeserving of further cultivation and promotion.

Bill likes to mind his own business and

they carry over their negative expectations into interactions with him.

(2) Megan’s negativity “contaminates” her cube-mates, those sitting near her, and these vibes sweep through the entire building as fast as a tsunami. So, Bill gets blasted by Megan’s mood, despite the fact that she’s nowhere near him, at least in physical terms.

(3) Bill’s pay is diluted by Megan’s performance. Though he tries to up-sell and to retain customers, Megan’s customer defections cost the company so much that there is less of a bonus pay pool available for Bill and other top performers like him.

(4) Bill’s status, inside and outside of the company, is lessened because the customer service unit doesn’t win the kinds of industry awards it could win if everyone was pulling her weight.

(5) Because customer service performance is so hit-and-miss, career tracks haven’t been laid into sales and management and other company areas. When senior managers walk through the service area, they hear Megan on the phone and infer that she, and folks like her, have topped-out and are incapable, if not undeserving of further cultivation and promotion.

Bill likes to mind his own business and

ugh he tries to up-sell and to retain customers, Megan’s customer defections cost the company so much that there is less of a bonus pay pool available for Bill and other top performers like him.

(4) Bill’s status, inside and outside of the company, is lessened because the customer service unit doesn’t win the kinds of industry awards it could win if everyone was pulling her weight.

(5) Because customer service performance is so hit-and-miss, career tracks haven’t been laid into sales and management and other company areas. When senior managers walk through the service area, they hear Megan on the phone and infer that she, and folks like her, have topped-out and are incapable, if not undeserving of further cultivation and promotion.

Bill likes to mind his own business and

Because customer service performance is so hit-and-miss, career tracks haven’t been laid into sales and management and other company areas. When senior managers walk through the service area, they hear Megan on the phone and infer that she, and folks like her, have topped-out and are incapable, if not undeserving of further cultivation and promotion.

Bill likes to mind his own business and to just do his job. But can he afford to be ignorant about how Megan and others could be thwarting his performance and progress?

If you’re in customer service do what you can to encourage your peers to pull in the right direction.

It could mean a lot to your career.