Customer Service Tips
The real bain of all customer service is not being able to solve problems on the first time. This results in lots of follow up calls being made - customers getting upset and a poor morale. You need to start focusing your attentions on getting matters solved first time.
Many problems start to escalate because when you get under pressure people start to tell customers what they want to hear. This tends to result in a gradual bending of the truth. This can spell absolute disaster.
In my experience the only real way to do this is to listen in on phone calls. If you set up a monitoring schedule and record phone calls onto a tape recorder or CD. You can then listen to half a dozen phone calls every day on your way home from work. You will soon tell what is going wrong.
A great way to improve customer service is to set up a task force in the call centre. You will need to get the best volunteers and give them some time away from the phones. You will need to ensure that you get the most enthusiastic people that you can as they will spread the experience across the call centre floor.
One of the biggest problems in the call centre is that the people on the phones do not have the authority to solve problems on the spot. Sometimes a quick offer of compensation can quickly solve a customer problem. The service representatives will know a genuine problem from a false one. Nipping problems in the bud will improve customer service.
If you work in a retail business make it easy and simple for customers to return items. Simple things like including a returns label within the packaging can work out well.
You will hear lots of stories, mainly from the IVR vendors, saying about how wonderful self service is. If you are using voice automation you really need to start listening to the callers as they interact with your voice system. I remember the first time that I did this. The caller said to the voice unit "seven bl**dy options, but not one that I need!" Make sure that your prompts improve and don't detract from customer service.
It is so tempting to tell the customer what they want to hear. "Yes, I'll sort this out for you this afternoon" when you know that this will only happen with a fair wind behind you. It is usually better to set expectations low and then over deliver on them.
Got any more customer service tips? Why not drop us an email and we'll se if we can add them in. |
