A functional customer support team is essential to the success of your business. Many customers view the support team as the face of the company, and an unpleasant customer service experience can leave them with a bad feeling about the company as a whole and create detractors you don’t need. To avoid this, you must have the right team and customer support services in place from the start. In today’s competitive environment this can and should be the differentiator, especially for a call center team.
Here are a few steps that can be taken to build and maintain a successful team.
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Implement Effective Support Techniques
Having the right support techniques in place can help to ensure that clients receive uniformed, quality care every time they contact or are contacted by the company. All techniques should promote treating the customer as the highest priority and must ensure that the interaction is as pleasant as possible. If it is feasible, it can be beneficial to implement outbound customer service practices where the representatives contact the customers on a regular basis to ensure that they are not having any issues. This proactive approach can set you apart and such actions go a long way in the customer’s mind.
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Utilize Data in Decision-Making
You pay for data to be collected on calls and you should get your money’s worth. The collected data can be very helpful during the decision-making process. Things like rings before call is picked up, length of call, hold time, common complaints, FAQ can help you design and maintain the right type of techniques. You must review frequently as customer’s priorities can change, and you must be prepared to change with them.
Knowing, tracking and comparing such data can help you to make proper decisions as far as what techniques may need to be deployed, improved, or in some cases removed.
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Encourage a Team Mindset
Customer service practices are most effective when everyone is on-board with the process. No matter who the customer reaches everyone should and must be on the same page. Implement and encourage an “all-hands on deck” mindset. As all team members support everyone, not only will it help to boost customer satisfaction, but it can also create comradery within the group as they can all take pride in receiving positive reviews, high NPS, and in turn build confidence and boost moral within the group.
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Create a Reward System
Everyone enjoys being rewarded and acknowledged for hard work. A reward system is not only a great way to show appreciation, but it also helps to make your customer support team feel valued. Studies show that employees who feel valued tend to be happier and loyal to their companies. You should always reward your team for great work! Set up weekly, monthly, and quarterly recognition that employees can look forward to and strive to achieve.
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Automate Wisely
There are a number of customer support services available that your company can take advantage of. However, you must be mindful to only deploy automated services that make sense and provide the image you want to display. Many customers find too much automation to be impersonal which can leave them with a bad impression. It is important to find the right balance between automation and your customer support team. Research, do focus groups, and be prepared to change what must be changed as often as it needs to be changed as you go through the process of what works and what doesn’t.
As you strive to implement or improve your customer service tactics, consider following these steps. Not only can they help you to enhance your customer satisfaction rating, but they may also lead to a more efficient and productive support team that will ultimately lead to more customers.
