Your company is growing, and you are receiving more questions and requests from your customers. You've decided it's time to build the next branch of your business empire and are ready to make a customer service team. Before starting a customer service team, ask these 7 questions.
Your main options are full-time, part-time and independent contractors, but don't assume you have to stick with one type. You can combine all three, such as having a full-time team and hiring additional contractors during peak seasons. Be sure to also keep in mind the different career paths you can offer your customer service agents - do you have the ability to provide growth and career enrichment for those who excel in customer service?
2. What skills do your agents need?
Ask yourself, if you were a customer, who would you want to answer your questions?
Typically, most customer service representatives need only a high school diploma. However, for some specific industries, additional certifications are required. For example, someone in the technology industry may need a bachelor's degree in engineering, or someone in the healthcare industry may need a HIPAA certification. Most companies develop training programs to certify their customer service agents. Make sure the parameters are clearly outlined throughout the interview process. You can set skill levels that range from "must" to "glad to have" to "bonus.
We've figured out who our customer service team needs. Now let's see what they need to do.
Clearly define your company's values and how to uphold them in customer service.
Set clear, consistent, definable metrics of excellence for your customer service team. This can include email response times, average handling times, interactions per solution, or simply providing customers with a standardized send to ensure their satisfaction.
Study your competitors and turn their weaknesses into your strengths. What are the biggest and most common "pain points" customers in your industry encounter when contacting a customer service agent or call centre? Avoiding these pitfalls will not only set you apart from your competition but show that you are ahead of the curve.
4.What channels do you want to prioritize for your customers?
A small customer service team cannot keep all channels occupied 24/7. Identify your strongest channels and focus there. This can include email, social media, phone, live chat, self-service tools, and more. While we know you want to be able to reach customers anywhere, anytime, it's better to provide excellent customer service in one or two of these areas rather than trying them all and providing uneven service.
5. Does company leadership agree on the importance of a customer support team?
It's not always easy to get your CEO to agree to add staff, and here are some good points to get them on your side.
Increase sales through customer service: According to Forrester research, 52% of customers will abandon an online purchase if they can't easily access the specific information they are looking for about a product. Having a support team ready to handle unanswered queries from the FAQ is critical to saving those sales.
6. Do you have a customer retention program?
Acquiring new customers is, of course, always the goal of a growing company, but retaining the customers you already have is half the battle. Considering that it costs about six to seven times as much to lock in new customers as it does to retain them, the investment is worth it.
According to the U.S. Small Business Association, 68% of customers abandon products because of poor customer service. Make your employees happy, and they will talk about you to their employees. This is called free marketing.
Elon Musk once said, "It's important to have a feedback loop in which you're constantly thinking about what you're doing and how you can do it better." Your customers can gain insight into your product or service that you can't get anywhere else. Providing them with a clear, simple channel to address these questions will only strengthen your offering. After all, customer insight is critical to product direction. David McConnell, the founder of Avon, found he couldn't sell his book door-to-door. However, he noticed that his female customers were interested in the free perfume samples he offered. He decided to restructure his business by making his perfumes and sending women to sell them door-to-door himself instead.
As a customer service manager, you can use the data your agents provide you-what problems your customers are calling about, how often each problem occurs, how often a certain remedy is applied, etc., to help strengthen every other department in your company, from R&D to sales and marketing.
Use customer support software which contains an efficient knowledge base, ticketing system and Live chat. Minimal cost to enhance customer experience.| BClinked
Rapid deployment, simple enough but effective customer support system
1. What kind of employment opportunities will you offer to your customer service agents?
Your main options are full-time, part-time and independent contractors, but don't assume you have to stick with one type. You can combine all three, such as having a full-time team and hiring additional contractors during peak seasons. Be sure to also keep in mind the different career paths you can offer your customer service agents - do you have the ability to provide growth and career enrichment for those who excel in customer service?
2. What skills do your agents need?
Ask yourself, if you were a customer, who would you want to answer your questions?
Typically, most customer service representatives need only a high school diploma. However, for some specific industries, additional certifications are required. For example, someone in the technology industry may need a bachelor's degree in engineering, or someone in the healthcare industry may need a HIPAA certification. Most companies develop training programs to certify their customer service agents. Make sure the parameters are clearly outlined throughout the interview process. You can set skill levels that range from "must" to "glad to have" to "bonus.
3. How do you define customer service excellence?
We've figured out who our customer service team needs. Now let's see what they need to do.
Clearly define your company's values and how to uphold them in customer service.
Set clear, consistent, definable metrics of excellence for your customer service team. This can include email response times, average handling times, interactions per solution, or simply providing customers with a standardized send to ensure their satisfaction.
Study your competitors and turn their weaknesses into your strengths. What are the biggest and most common "pain points" customers in your industry encounter when contacting a customer service agent or call centre? Avoiding these pitfalls will not only set you apart from your competition but show that you are ahead of the curve.
4.What channels do you want to prioritize for your customers?
A small customer service team cannot keep all channels occupied 24/7. Identify your strongest channels and focus there. This can include email, social media, phone, live chat, self-service tools, and more. While we know you want to be able to reach customers anywhere, anytime, it's better to provide excellent customer service in one or two of these areas rather than trying them all and providing uneven service.
5. Does company leadership agree on the importance of a customer support team?
It's not always easy to get your CEO to agree to add staff, and here are some good points to get them on your side.
Increase sales through customer service: According to Forrester research, 52% of customers will abandon an online purchase if they can't easily access the specific information they are looking for about a product. Having a support team ready to handle unanswered queries from the FAQ is critical to saving those sales.
6. Do you have a customer retention program?
Acquiring new customers is, of course, always the goal of a growing company, but retaining the customers you already have is half the battle. Considering that it costs about six to seven times as much to lock in new customers as it does to retain them, the investment is worth it.
According to the U.S. Small Business Association, 68% of customers abandon products because of poor customer service. Make your employees happy, and they will talk about you to their employees. This is called free marketing.
Elon Musk once said, "It's important to have a feedback loop in which you're constantly thinking about what you're doing and how you can do it better." Your customers can gain insight into your product or service that you can't get anywhere else. Providing them with a clear, simple channel to address these questions will only strengthen your offering. After all, customer insight is critical to product direction. David McConnell, the founder of Avon, found he couldn't sell his book door-to-door. However, he noticed that his female customers were interested in the free perfume samples he offered. He decided to restructure his business by making his perfumes and sending women to sell them door-to-door himself instead.
As a customer service manager, you can use the data your agents provide you-what problems your customers are calling about, how often each problem occurs, how often a certain remedy is applied, etc., to help strengthen every other department in your company, from R&D to sales and marketing.
Use customer support software which contains an efficient knowledge base, ticketing system and Live chat. Minimal cost to enhance customer experience.| BClinked
Rapid deployment, simple enough but effective customer support system