A long time ago, in a faraway land, I started my working life asa French fry chef in a fast-food restaurant. Frying fries was theonly job I was qualified to do at the time and, oddly enough, itwas considered an easier task than mopping floors. Yet I provedthat a person could screw it up, and did so quite handily my firstday on the job.

In one short shift, I learned that customers do not wish to waitfor their fries, nor do fellow employees appreciate the fry cookholding up the chain of service. One simple role in a restaurant,performed inadequately, held up an entire operation. As a result,people became hungry, unhappy, late getting back to work andnoticeably stressed. My ineptitude caused everyone else in therestaurant to work harder.

I was reminded of this lesson after visiting an agency that hadtrouble keeping receptionists. Its front desk might as well havebeen a revolving door.

An agency's receptionist position often is considered one of theeasiest to fill. However, a poor receptionist can wreak all kindsof havoc by upsetting clients, companies, producers and owners,creating E&O exposures, and increasing the workload for therest of the staff. In most agencies, the receptionist position isfairly uncomplicated, at least relative to the other positions.But, much like my French fry position, “simple” jobs often have asignificant impact.

Failure to understand this may cause agencies to underpay theirreceptionists, and perhaps other employees too. Underpaying peoplein a tight job market often leads to hiring unqualified people.

Poor hires cause problems while they work at an agency and alsowhen they leave or are fired. Someone inevitably must undo themistakes that person made, and everyone in the agency must shouldermore responsibilities until a replacement can be found. The extrawork is especially burdensome to CSRs, who usually have to answerand route incoming calls until a new receptionist is hired. Thelast thing most CSRs need is additional interruptions. Also, unlessyour agency is large enough to have a human resources department,someone within the agency must take time out of selling andmanaging to interview applicants. Overall productivity isdiminished when an agency fails to value the role of the “simplereceptionist.”

So how does an agency hire an all-star receptionist and thenretain him or her for the long term? Pay more. This is one positionwhere the quality of the person hired depends heavily on thecompensation paid. Interestingly, it does not cost much more tohire a high-quality person than to hire an underperformer. Is agood receptionist worth an extra $1,000, $2,000 or even $3,000 peryear? My experience says yes. Some agency owners balk at payingmore than what the market suggests for receptionists. But one couldargue that having a competent person who stays for several years iswell worth the extra dollars.

The receptionist position is a great example of a relativelysimple position that nonetheless can become an agency's weakestlink. And most agencies have other weak links that are not alwaysrelated to low wages or relatively “simple” positions.

Training can help here. We know intuitively that education isimportant-it's why we encourage our kids to go to college. Manyagencies, however, still offer limited-and sometimes no-training toCSRs, staff and even producers. Establishing a formal trainingprocess is a great way to improve an agency. Consider a newly hiredCSR with prior agency experience. Even an experienced CSR requiressome training because every agency does things differently. Fewagencies have exactly the same automation system or the sameprocedures. Bringing in a CSR without properly training him or herwill surely disrupt the effectiveness of the entire agency.

Consider again a fast-food restaurant. Its employees all performfairly simple jobs, yet the fast-food chains offer significanttraining for each one. A commercial CSR's job is fairly complex,but many agencies offer CSRs no training. How does that affect anagency's strength?

Some agency owners do not even license their CSRs, therebycreating a weak link that can reduce productivity and increaseE&O exposures. The good news is that agencies can easilyeliminate it by making sure every employee is properly trained.

In an agency, all positions are linked, and the impact of theweakest link ripples throughout. It pays to hire, train and managethe best people available for each position in your agency-even ifit costs a little more. Unless, of course, you like revolvingdoors.