If you are like many managers, you were promoted into your position after being good at your job. However, being great at one particular thing does not necessarily prepare you to become a manager, which in some cases is an entirely different skill set.
On top of that, while there are some skills that all managers should develop, others are particular to working in customer service. The tips below can help you excel in this position.
Support Your Staff
Customer service is often a high-stress position. Your employees may be dealing with those who are already upset when they make contact because they are having a negative experience with your service or product. It’s critical that you don’t make your employees feel as though they are trapped between angry customers and an angry boss. Instead, empower your employees to make their own decisions in dealing with the public and make sure they know that you have their back. Train them effectively and avoid micromanaging them. These are strategies to keep your team engaged and continuously working towards a common goal as a team.
Automate
One challenge you can face in management is that it might feel as though your to-do list never ends. So that you can focus more on the types of tasks that are best done by humans, make an effort to automate as much as possible. For example, if you are in charge of a fleet, with a fleet management platform that includes GPS tracking, you can focus on improving customer service, helping the company grow by ensuring a positive experience. Tracking software can help your staff as well, giving them the ability to provide more precise information about when they can expect a delivery. Whatever industry you work in, look at the latest tools for automation and choose the ones that will be the most beneficial in your situation.
Learn to Motivate
All managers should be good at motivating employees, but it can be particularly important in stressful environments like customer service. Managers should employ a variety of techniques to increase motivation. Incentives are good, and so is being a strong communicator and giving your team talks that boost their enthusiasm. Making sure your employees have the tools they need to do their job is also important. A common problem that people often face when they work in customer service is that they are not given much freedom to craft solutions. This leaves both employees and customers unhappy and frustrated. Making sure that your staff has what they need to solve problems makes your life, your employees’ lives and your customers’ lives easier.
Know What Customers Want
Training, motivating, and retaining employees is important, but you need to have customers to make any of that possible. Find out what your customers want. What kind of solutions are they looking for? What upsets them? Do satisfaction surveys to identify what they are want to happen when they call your business and what upsets them. For example, one of the main things many people are looking for when they call a company’s customer service department is acknowledgment and an apology, and providing them with this can often go a long way toward keeping the person coming back.
