Do you want to bring your company to the top of your industry? Are you interested in making more money? Have you been looking for ways to make your customers even happier with your product and company?
If you answered yes to any of the previous three questions, you’re in luck because they all have one simple solution: better customer service.
Having a solid product or service, a robust pipeline, and plenty of talented employees is important for companies. However, nothing can beat stellar customer service.
You may think that you have a solid customer service strategy and team in place, but even the best ones have room for improvement. Do you want to learn how you can improve customer service? Read on and learn seven simple ways you can start improving your customer service today.
1. Embrace the Short Break
It would be great if you could guarantee that the people you serve will be as kind and empathetic as your employees, but that won’t always be the case.
Getting back to work after a particularly frustrating call with a rude customer can be tough. Your customer service agents may not be in the right headspace to help someone else. Their tone may accidentally come off as annoyed or flippant.
Let your employees know it’s okay to take a little time to decompress after a difficult call. Encourage them to take a quick walk around the office or to do a quick breathing exercise. Sometimes a five-minute break can mean the difference between sounding friendly and accommodating or annoyed and eager to end a conversation.
2. Always Be Training
When was the last time your customer service team went through a genuine training session? We’re not talking about learning how to use a new tool or getting up to date with new company policies. Think back to the last time you have your entire team together focused on learning a new skill or improving their work.
For most of you reading this, training began and ended when your employees joined the team. If you want to deliver a truly outstanding customer service experience, you need to make sure your employees are kept up to date on the latest techniques.
Talk to your managers about developing a regular training schedule. Whether you want to focus on training monthly, weekly, or quarterly, you’ll be setting your team up for success.
3. Prioritize Patience
Customer service can be a tough job when you’re constantly focused on numbers. It isn’t uncommon for some teams to base success on the number of people each individual employee helps each day. This can make it easy to fall into a false sense of security about how helpful your customer service work actually is.
When you focus on numbers, people tend to rush through their conversations. Sure, your employees may have talked to 20 different customers today, but how many of them did they actually help?
Let your employees know that it’s important for them to be patient and to really talk customers through their problems. Don’t focus on moving on to the next person. Think about the best ways to dive deep into their issues and don’t rush through phone calls.
4. Centralize Your Communications
Customer service reps use a lot of tools just to get through their workday. Aside from the usual phone calls, there are emails to sort through, instant messages to read, and website inquires that need to be managed.
Keeping up with all of these communication channels can be difficult, but it’s also necessary for work. Instead of making your agents work across every individual platform, create a centralized communications hub for everything they need.
Having all of your communication tools in one place makes it easier to make timely responses to customers. Managers can help evenly distribute the workload for the entire team. It can also ensure that there’s no accidental overlap and that everyone gets the attention they need.
5. Ditch the Script
If you want to make customers feel like they aren’t a priority or be unsatisfied with your service, make sure all of your agents sound like they’re reading off of a script.
We’re not saying that scripts are completely unhelpful for people in customer service. They can help ensure that you’re mentioning key points during every interaction, but they feel incredibly forced and like the person you’re speaking with isn’t paying attention.
Encourage your customer service representatives to find their own way they feel comfortable communicating information.
6. Embrace Automated Customer Service
How many of your customer service agents end a call by turning to a fellow employee and saying that the person they just spoke with could have answered their question if they just looked online?
People in your customer service department probably spend a good chunk of their days answering simple questions that could have been found on the website. This doesn’t just waste their time, it also means that your customers aren’t utilizing the resources they already have access to.
Automating certain aspects of customer service can help keep your employees focused on problems that need their attention and also gets your customers what they need much faster. Think about using tools like chatbots and other automated response tools that can take some of the burdens off of your team.
7. Add in the “Yes, And” Element
Have you ever heard of the “yes, and” practice? It’s commonly used by people that do improv to help ensure that scenes keep moving along. People are encouraged to feed off of other’s energy and find ways to keep building from certain topics.
You may not be running an acting troupe, but the concept of “yes, and” can do a lot to improve customer service and even increase sales. You find ways to naturally upsell people that don’t feel too intrusive.
Did someone you’re speaking with mention a problem that could be solved by adding on another service or product? Teach your customer service reps how to solve problems and to gently upsell related solutions.
Better Customer Service Is Possible
When you’re thinking about the true definition of better customer service, know that it’s going to be an answer that’s always evolving. As new technology becomes available and different service techniques hit the market, there will always be room for improvement.
Are you ready to take your customer service to the next level? Start your free trial and discover the ease and convenience of having a centralized inbox today!
