Customer service is one of the most crucial aspects of any business, with around 70 percent of consumers willing to spend more money with a company that has excellent customer service, according to this report.
And while customer satisfaction is a priority among most businesses, many companies still struggle to fully maximise the potential that lies within a well-run Customer Service unit.
If your business is encountering similar challenges, we’ve compiled eight of the most effective hacks to ensure that your staff can address customer concerns in a timely and efficient manner.
1. Work with a sense of purpose & meaning
According to a Glassdoor survey involving companies that were highly rated for work-life balance, employees need purpose more than pay to be happy and productive at work. This means they feel happiest when they are "doing meaningful work" and feel connected to a purpose.
Aside from taking a proactive approach to support the happiness and wellbeing of your employees, it's also vital to help your employees appreciate the value of their work and why it matters.
Discuss how their contributions are supporting your company's overall mission and vision, and work together to find a meaningful purpose for each and every one of your Customer Service professionals.
2. Provide relevant and up-to-date training
Being a customer service representative is not an easy feat.
It takes a combination of technical and soft skills to thrive in this role while ensuring that customers' issues are addressed. One of the most important skills for any customer service professional is the etiquette when facing customers.
This is where training comes in. Of course, you want your customer service team to be knowledgeable about the product and processes — and you want to best equip your team to solve potential issues and problems for customers.
Aside from product knowledge and customer service skills, your business’ agents should also possess time management skills. A good way to implement these skills is to integrate a time and attendance system — features that are already available within modules on Digi’s super app, altHR.
3. Review and remove legacy processes
Customer Service is an industry that has been around since… forever. This also means that for many established companies, it’s important to review — and remove — out-of-date legacy processes and systems from the years gone by.
Still, change is never easy. But it’s worth keeping in mind that legacy processes and systems often bog down the efficiency and productivity of customer service teams, and as a result, they can impede overall growth for businesses.
And with new, cloud-based technologies that are available these days (such as Omni Hotline, of course), it’s imperative that you stay up to date with the latest tools, processes, and systems in the market today.
4. Automate for efficiency
You can help your customer service staff focus on the more important tasks by automating the mundane tasks.
An increasing number of companies are now using customer service automation through technologies like machine learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI), robotic process automation (RPA), and natural language processing (NLP).
Plus, automation tools can be hugely beneficial for customer service teams at small businesses — who simply need a reliable avenue to stay in touch with customers who call in. Examples include:
- Chatbots for addressing the most commonly asked customer questions or concerns.
- Automatic case creation and auto-suggested knowledge content.
- Social media monitoring and social case routing.
- Inbound email processing and automated responses.
5. Invest in the Right Tools
Whether your customer service staff works in the office or from their respective homes, a VoIP system — like Omni Hotline — is one of the most helpful tools they can have.
Here are some of its benefits:
- A VoIP phone service is packed with security features so you won't lose information or data. It also protects valuable information against hackers.
- Losing calls isn't a problem with this communications tool. Even during natural calamities, switching to VoIP systems provides a stable and reliable line.
- Lastly, it's more cost-effective than a traditional desk phone setup. Virtual landline phone numbers, such as those used in VoIP systems, involve minimal setup and maintenance costs.
6. Boost Internal Communication and Collaboration
Let your customer service representatives work as a team by facilitating internal communication and collaboration. Among the most effective ways to improve internal communications within your team are:
- Create an "open door" policy where you schedule a time to talk to your staff and encourage them to bring up issues to your attention whenever necessary.
- Encourage more regular conversations, even virtually. Each person needs to feel that they are part of a team.
- Make internal knowledge easily available through knowledge-sharing and document management.
- Utilise social media to drive engagement and sharing of best practices.
7. Build a Knowledge Base
Creating a knowledge base is a great way to scale out your customer support and success efforts without having to add new employees.
Knowledge Bases can also help lower your costs and improve customer satisfaction. In addition, you’ll be able to focus on more proactive efforts like customer empowerment and education instead of pouring all your efforts into responding to support tickets.
8. Add an element of fun
As we mentioned earlier, happy employees are productive employees.
This means that it's important to make the job fun in some way. A sense of fun gives your employees a more positive mindset. Plus, it keeps them inspired, motivated, and productive — which translates to improved performance for your business.
There are so many ways to make work more fun. A popular approach is the use of gamification., where you transform various aspects of a job into a game where players are rewarded for their milestones and achievements. And of course, gamification encourages your team to get competitive.
Conclusion
There are different ways to boost productivity and efficiency among your customer service staff. However, it's important to remember that not everything works for everyone so make sure to adjust things according to what your team needs.
But one of the best ways to take your business’ customer service to the next level is to use virtual business phone systems such as Omni Hotline. When you make the switch, you’ll see an increase in productivity, along with lower costs.
And at the end of the day, you will be a much better business for it, with a work environment that will be completely stress-free.
Ready to make the switch? Then check out Omni Hotline, a virtual business phone system that allows businesses of all sizes to stay in touch with customers who call in — directly from your smartphone.
You also get a local landline number from as low as RM69/month, while there’s no hardware required with everything managed via the web dashboard or Omni app. For more info, you can check out Omni’s website omnihotline.my.
