Atmosphere

at·mos·phere

ˈatməsˌfir/

the pervading tone or mood of a place, situation, or work of art.

Atmosphere in our case relates to the environment in which you can keep your employees motivated to server your customers and clients. 

Sooooooo the next question should be"How do I create this atmosphere?".  While art, lively office decor, and free food have an impact,there are a couple things I've implemented with my team that have shown great results. 

1. Focus groups 
1. bring a portion of your staff 15-30 minutes before the shift, and have them share there own customer experiences. People tend to excel when they know they can provide a better service, or better experience than what they themselves have experienced. 
2. "Give Them Your Day"
1. One of the best notions I'e been told is from a VP I work very closely with. He always tells me "give them your day, don't let them give you theirs". The concept is simple, if your kind eventually that angry customer that is yelling ranting and raving will come back down to earth and realize your there to help, and hopefully have a better day due to your agent/employee.
3. The Customers World
1. we try to get every employee to realize one concept. Just because it does not mean the world to you, does not necessarily mean the same for the customer. An example (of curse call center related) is a customer who cant leave there home and loves TV, this customer will be more upset when issues arise, and agents should be empathetic to it. 
4. Here is what I can do
1. To many customer service based employees today have the "Sorry can't do it attitude" mostly derived from fear of breaking company policy. Company policy should always be followed, but the break to the customer can always be positive. It may also mean going the extra mile for the customer. Example; A customer comes into a furniture store asking for a set thats not in. Now assuming the employee isn't commission based, most response go like this "We don't have that one in stock, but here is this one!" Most customers are set on the item they are asking for, and cringe when offered an off hand alternative. Instead something like" I can contact our manager to see when I can get that in for you". A little bit of effort goes a long way in a customers eyes.

hope you enjoyed this little article! more to come :D