San Diego, CA — September 13, 2004 – The Service & Support Professionals Association’s (SSPA) (Company
Profile, Past
Stories, Case
Studies) Research Group today released the Top Talent for Service and Support Industry Study. This study looked at 500 employees at 300 SSPA member companies in order to identify attributes unique to employees ranked as top performers by their managers and the characteristics that set them apart from those ranked as standard performers. It additionally offers companies strategies for identifying, hiring and keeping top talent.
“Hiring people that deliver excellent customer service and support is critical in maintaining the high levels of satisfaction necessary for retaining and growing a client base,” said Bill Rose, SSPA Founder/Executive Director. “Our study was designed to enable employers to identify, hire, motivate, and retain top performers. Having these people on a team keeps productivity high, attrition low, and, most importantly, customers happy.”
A few highlights from the SSPA Research Top Talent for Service & Support Industry Study
• Internal hiring practices yielded a better ratio of top talent to standard talent than professional recruiters
• Top talent are likely to prefer incentive programs based on their personal performance
• Financial incentives vary along gender lines with males preferring longer term financial incentives (one year or longer), while females more often perfer short term goal rewards or spot bonuses
Benefits companies will get from the SSPA Research Top Talent for Service & Support Industry Study
• Getting more people in the top talent category both among current staff and new hires
• Key strategies for generating company loyalty among top talent
• Tactics for motivating top talent to spend the extra effort and to work as a team
• The best training programs for retaining top talent
• Company risk factors for an improving job market
• Keeping top talent as your intentions to outsource become known
Pricing and Availability: SSPA Research: Top Talent for Service & Support Industry Study is priced at $895.00. It can be purchased via the SSPA Web site, www.thesspa.com/toptalent or by calling 858.674.5491. On Tuesday, October 5th, as part of the SSPA Conference @ Savannah, the SSPA offers a Power Panel titled: Top Talent for Tech Support: Recruiting, Motivating and Retaining the Best of the Best. This panel of SSPA Advisor Board members and industry experts will discuss the study and how the findings can be applied to their individual tech support centers.
About the SSPA
The Service & Support Professionals Association (SSPA) was formed to focus on the specific needs of executives responsible for service and support centers and overall customer relations. Today, the SSPA represents over 24,000 service professionals at over 2,700 support centers worldwide. The industry looks to SSPA to provide insight into the future, a road map of best practices and access to the best service and support vendors. SSPA provides a reliable and comprehensive resource for conferences, news, research, benchmarking, standards and collaboration. Founded in 1989, the SSPA is based in San Diego, CA and can be reached at info@thesspa.com or by phone at 858-674-5491 or on the web at http://www.thesspa.com
About SSPA Research
SSPA Research is the leading source of up to date information and analysis about support industry practices, operational performance benchmarks and metrics. SSPA Research is one of the largest research organizations dedicated to the service and support industry. During the last year alone, SSPA conducted 2,000 survey interviews and developed a database of industry benchmark data with over 100,000 key statistics. SSPA Research combines the unparalleled collection of industry performance and benchmark data with the expertise to help you understand what the data means to your organization and how the data can be used for planning, managing and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of your service operations. For more information go to http://www.thesspa.com/research
About the SSPA Conference @ Savannah
The SSPA Conference @ Savannah, goes from October 3 – 6 at the Savannah Convention Center, It’s the most comprehensive event for technology service and support VPs, directors, and managers, delivering business intelligence for the future of support demand, technology, and people. Attendees learn what the next 3 to 5 years hold and what actions to take in a fusion of high-value sessions over a 4-day event. Speakers include executives from PeopleSoft, Cisco Systems, Best Software and Kaldara. Attendance is expected to exceed 500. For more information go to http://www.sspaconferences.com/savannah
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