3 Ways Your Customer Service Team Can Improve in 2017
The customer service team is the public face of your company. They are the voices and faces customers talk to whenever there’s a problem with a product or service. But you’re finding issues are cropping up, and they’re affecting customer satisfaction. It’s time to take charge and find ways to encourage better performance from everyone on the team. You may find that you need to change training methods, install better technology, or track social media to find where problems lie. The following are three ways to improve your customer service team to provide the best customer service experience possible.
1. Revamp the Employee Training Method
The role of a customer service agent is that of being on the front lines with customers. Agents deal with people who are in all kinds of moods. If agents do not have sufficient training or leeway to adjust to the needs of the customer, they are more likely to leave the job and create a turnover. If you subscribe to the school of thought that turnover is normal, you’re doing yourself and your company a disservice. It actually costs less to retain an employee for the long term than it is to constantly train a new batch every few months.
Take time and go over training methods with all who are involved in the process. Identify common problems and their sources. Place blame where it belongs, and reward agents for their honesty instead of punishing them. Morale typically increases, employee satisfaction improves, and customers are more likely to have a satisfying interaction with agents.
2. Audit Your Telecommunications Systems
Has your telecom system been in place for a few years? If so, signs of aging might be showing up in the form of lost or dropped calls, phone tree connections failing, and headsets shorting out due to worn wires. You’re best served by retaining an outside agency like Asentinel to perform an equipment audit.
An outside agency goes over your telecom system and its equipment to find out where improvements are needed and updates installed. The end result is your customer service team does its job on functional equipment, customers’ calls don’t get lost, and everyone is satisfied that the system does its job of connecting people properly.
3. Keep an Eye on Social Media
It’s worthwhile to train your agents in the art of handling complaints or kudos on social media. Websites like Facebook and Twitter make it easy for anyone to air a grievance against a business. Calm, professional responses to angry and upset posts serve as a reputation defense and demonstrate a willingness to resolve a customer’s problem. A small investment in a social media monitoring tool and training of one or two key agents is a wise investment for the long term.
These are just some of the ways to help improve your customer service team and improve everyone’s satisfaction. It saves the company money in the form of employee retention, fewer refunds, and returns, and improves overall opinion of the operation from customers and employees.
