As a customer service manager or the owner of a thriving company, it can be challenging to keep up with all of the tasks that are involved in keeping workflow and productivity at optimal levels on a daily basis.
Fortunately, many of the problems and difficulties that your service agents will face throughout a typical workday can be solved by simply implementing preventative measures and utilizing a more procedural and strategic approach to designing customer experiences. With that said, here are four ways you can quickly and easily give your customer service team members an easier and more enjoyable job:
1. Choose the Right Point of Sale System
Opting for an ideal point of sale (POS) machine and software system is the first step you should take to make your employees’ jobs easier and reduce the likelihood of causing poor experiences for customers. Since this is the main interface through which customers process payments, many of the misunderstandings or issues that customer service agents have to deal with are related to faulty or misused POS systems.
2. Make Email Responding Easier with Script and Templates
In the case of remote service agents, nobody wants to sit there writing the same answers to hundreds of people throughout the course of a day. You’ve probably noticed that most major companies will send you a preset response when you submit an inquiry through their contact system. Many times, strategic auto-responses will solve the customer’s problem without any additional interaction or effort required from one of your service agents. In the event that the response does not help, the customer can simply respond stating that they still need help, and only then would a service agent actually need to be engaged.
3. Outsource Phone Support
If your local business is being overwhelmed by the number of phone calls it is receiving, it might be best to outsource some of your phone support to free up your in-house personnel. This is another tactic that you’ve probably noticed many large corporations using. Why not take a page out of their book and start thinking like a big business owner? The more free time your local staff have, the better they’ll be able to serve customers at your physical locations.
4. Use Process Maps to Facilitate Better Customer Experiences
If you can design processes that minimize the chances of error or mishaps ruining your customers’ experiences, then you reduce your reliance on customer service agents who have to respond to such problems. Study process mapping to create workflows and policies that ensure everything will go smoothly without extensive effort from your team along every step of the way.
Starting with these Measures Will Position Your Business for Success
Taking the four steps above will have your company operating in a manner that ensures customer service is always the top priority, without placing a major burden on your customer service agents in the process. Not overwhelming your staff is an important aspect of being a good manager, and it will help you maintain a high level of employee morale.
