Creating a strong culture of customer service is essential for a virtual business. But how can you train your employees to do this well?
Keep reading for our top 5 tips to train employees to support your customers!
1. Develop a Written Training Process
The first thing you need to do is develop a clear training process. Don’t leave it up to individual managers and supervisors to come up with the training on their own – you want it to be standardised and consistent across the company!
Create a structured program that all new employees must complete. The training should cover topics such as customer conversations, how to deal with difficult situations and resources on how to ask for help.
For example, every employee should be taught proper phone etiquette. Consider investing in a formal training course, and supplement it with knowledge from experienced team members. Give your new hires the chance to practice the strategies they learned, whether it be through shadowing other colleagues or role-playing phone conversations.
Make sure you write down and document every time an employee completes the course. Also, host regular refreshers to remind them of best practices and introduce new strategies.
2. Make Customer Service a Part of Everyone’s Job
A common misconception that many virtual businesses have is that only your customer support staff needs training on how to help clients. That couldn’t be further from the truth!
Everyone is responsible for contributing to the customer experience, whether they deal with clients face-to-face or not. At the end of the day, each employee’s job will impact the customer. It may be packing orders, managing the office phone system, or answering their questions – the point is that everyone plays a role!
Plus, when you run a small business, you may need everyone at the front lines at some point!
As a leader, it is your job to make sure that the teams that aren't on the front lines are aware of the impact they have. Acknowledge what they contribute and let them know that they matter. This will ensure that everyone works to always support your customers.
3. Communicate with Your Employees
Don’t assume that your employees have all the knowledge they need to successfully support your customers. Communicate with them frequently and let them know your leadership team is there to help!
It is essential to foster a relationship that allows them to come to you with suggestions, questions, and concerns. A conversation is the best way to build this trust, and open dialogue can help you improve your overall understanding of how your employees – and customers – are feeling.
4. Give Them Access to Resources
While offering a robust training program is helpful to teach them the basics, it is impossible to cover every potential situation! Give your employees access to resources that they can reference when they need them.
Don’t expect them to memorise everything right away. By providing resources and tools to solve problems, employees will get the right answers - without guessing.
For instance, all employees should have access to company-specific information that describes your products and offerings. Other valuable resources include who to contact for questions and how to handle various questions from clients.
5. Allow them To Provide Support on Their Own
One of the most frustrating things that an employee can deal with is not being able to help a customer. Empower them to solve problems on their own within a reasonable range so that clients have faster solutions and a better experience.
Whether you give them the ability to waive shipping fees or add a 10% discount, make sure that your customer support team can keep your clients happy without getting approval for every little thing!
Remember that a little bit goes a long way – it doesn’t need to be a lot of power, but just enough to boost your customer satisfaction and engagement.
