customer service tips · out hard-working customer service employees for praise. ... when teams...
TRANSCRIPT
Welcome
In the following lesson, you'll learn how to provide top-notch
customer support. You'll find tips for managing a customer
service team as well as providing customer service as a member
of a team.
Let's get started...
> Tips for Managing a Customer Service Team
Ensuring customer service representatives are at the top of their
game can be a difficult job so we'll start with some tips for
managers. As a manager, it is your job to make sure your team
is providing the best support to customers.
Onboarding is Key
Here are some ideas to change it up and create a positive and
welcoming environment:
Be consistent
Regardless of how often a new employee joins your
organization, have a standard orientation process and agenda in
place. This way, everyone receives the same experience, and
important details are unlikely to be missed. For a global or
otherwise remote workforce, leverage technology like Lesson.ly
to engage employees who might not be in your office to attend
orientation in person.
Don't wait for Day One
Once an offer is accepted, there are typically about 2 weeks
before the incoming new employee is ready to start the job.
During that time, most incumbents are excited and eager to
learn as much as possible about the new organization and team
he/she will be joining. Take advantage of the natural, high level of
engagement.
• What resources can you share with the person in advance,
to attack the learning curve head-on?
• Share industry and company overviews.
• Make LinkedIn introductions.
• Suggest industry thought leaders to follow on social media.
…whatever makes sense for the person, role and company.
Involve key stakeholders
Orientation shouldn't be the "HR Show" – recruit others across
your organization to be involved in orientation. Consider bringing
in an executive, your IT department, a sales organization leader
or other expert to provide an overview of their area, how they
work with other teams, or to just get acquainted with the newest
members of your team.
Leverage supplemental resources
During orientation, new employees are soaking up all of the
content being provided. Often though, there is so much content
that they are overwhelmed by the end of the session. To combat
information overload, make sure that user-friendly, accessible
training, tools and resources are readily available. If orientation
attendees know there are tools available, they will be more likely
to relax and be engaged in the session itself, rather than feeling
the need to write everything down.
Do something special and unexpected
Give new employees a reason to smile on the drive home after
orientation. Incorporate something fun or special into the first
day.
Here are a few suggestions:
• Have fresh flowers, candy or fun office supplies waiting on
the new employee's desk.
• Distribute branded t-shirts or other company swag.
• Grab your selfie-stick and snap an orientation group pic;
post it to your company's internal site or social networks.
• Bring in a catered breakfast or lunch, or provide fun snacks
during the day.
• Send new employees on a scavenger hunt to navigate the
building.
• Organize an informal welcome reception at the end of the
day – encourage employees to stop by and introduce
themselves to the new team members.
Make your new employees excited to come back for Day Two!
There is no "one size fits all" approach to new employee
orientation – every organization will put their own spin on the
experience. Find what works for your organization, team and
culture and create a welcoming orientation experience that
engages and educates your newest employees.
Employee turnover is a real issue on many customer service
teams for various reasons, so take a look at these tips to
hopefully reduce the costly expense of a churning workforce:
Offer More Customer Service Training
One of the main reasons turnover is so high among customer
service departments is that these workers simply don't receive
the level of training they need to be successful and confident in
their job performance. Poorly trained employees are more likely
to receive customer complaints and have a harder time following
standard operating procedures.
As a result, they're less content with their jobs and ultimately
decide to seek a job elsewhere, outside the world of customer
service.
Provide Competitive Pay and Benefits
Another all-too-common reason for high customer service
employee turnover is a lack of competitive pay and benefits. Too
often, customer service workers are viewed as being located at
the bottom of the rung. As such, they tend to have lower hourly
pay rates and less desirable benefits than employees in other
positions within the company.
In order to reduce customer service turnover rates, then,
business owners must acknowledge the value that these
workers bring to the table and better reflect that in their salaries
and benefits.
Encourage Employees & Give Feedback
Finally, customer service employees often feel a sense of
disconnect from their supervisors and management teams. As a
result, they lack engagement in their daily work and grow
disinterested, which eventually leads them to seek other
employment opportunities.
Business owners can avoid this problem by going out of their
way to provide feedback and encouragement to their customer
service teams. This can include implementing an "employee of
the month" system or even encouraging supervisors to single
out hard-working customer service employees for praise. A little
bit goes a long way in this regard, after all.
Dealing with the effects of high turnover in your customer service
department can be a struggle. The good news is that by
implementing some or all of these tips, you can take the
necessary steps to combat high turnover and ensure a greater
level of satisfaction from your hard-working employees.
Consistency
If you've spent any time around musicians, you might have
heard the old joke: How late does the band play? About half a
beat behind the drummer. Ba Dum Tsssss
One characteristic all successful bands have in common, from
rock to jazz, is that they work together to coalesce not only
around the same beat, but also around the same ideas and
styles. Bands who are not on the same page musically rarely
succeed, and if they do, it is only to secure a place on a future
episode of The Greatest One-Hit Wonders.
It's no different with our customer experience teams; without
consistency and alignment across departments and job
functions, your customer service team can fail to deliver a
customer experience that causes customers to come back and
tell their friends.
These three top-level tips will help ensure that your customer
service team keeps the same beat.
Shared Systems and ProcessesHave you ever watched a band that did not use a set list?
Instead of smoothly transitioning between songs arranged in a
carefully chosen order, they fumble about from song to song
while the audience loses interest.
Similarly, our customer experience teams must work from the
same set list by utilizing a shared set of systems and processes.
For instance, our teams should have a standardized process to
resolve customer issues. This ensures that each person knows
what part they play in the process and ensures that the
customer's experience is as smooth as possible.
Of course, having shared systems and processes does not
mean that our teams should not have flexibility. When teams are
faced with a customer service issue they should be empowered
to act and to deliver an outcome that is consistent with the
organization's goals.
When teams aren't reading from the same manual or using the
same systems, they will inevitably deliver inconsistent service.
This is a sure-fire way to be booed off stage.
Shared Culture and StrategyDo you remember the part during the movie Rock Star, when the
band members could not agree on whether they were a cover
band, a tribute band, or an original band? Our teams must know
what our organizations stand for to deliver effective and
memorable customer experiences.
Your customer experience team needs to know who they are
and why they're here. When you have a shared customer-centric
culture, your reps will know how far they can go to resolve an
issue or to delight a customer. They will be able to transcend the
shared systems and processes above to deliver truly
outstanding customer experiences that are consistent in their
approach.
A shared culture and strategy is also essential to create an
internal customer experience that makes teams want to excel,
so they will enjoy coming to work and deliver a much better
experience for our customers.
Shared TrainingShared culture and shared systems are much more effective if
they are supported by shared training.
Training gives us the common vocabulary we need to
communicate effectively. Training gives us the interaction we
need to learn each other's strengths and weaknesses. Training
gives us the ability to share best practices and to explore what
has worked and what hasn't.
They say the Beatles practiced for thousands of hours together
before they ever made it big. Our customer experience teams
are no different. You wouldn't go out on stage without
practicing, and similarly, we can't expect our teams to excel
without the right training.
Many things must come together to create an effective customer
service team. However, if you focus on these three concepts,
you can get your customer service team working to the same
beat and selling out arenas instead of singing karaoke.
Activities + Games
Trust Fall!
One of the biggest challenges a customer support team
manager faces at his or her job is ensuring that all customer
service representatives are properly trained and prepared to
handle just about any situation. Customer service training
activities offer a hands on approach to teaching and learning for
your employees.
We're not suggesting you jump off a mountain together, that
looks super dangerous, and definitely not for amateurs, but here
are a few activities that can help you get started:
The "No" Word
The word "no" is a trigger word that has been known to evoke
negative emotions in customers. It is the one word every
customer service agent should avoid using unless necessary.
Divide your group into two teams and have them come up with
different ways to say "no" without actually saying the word "no."
When done, bring both teams back together to compare
answers. Eliminate any answers that may still have a negative
impact on the a customer's problem. The team with the most
effective answers remaining will win the exercise.
Who Are You?
The ultimate goal of this customer service training activity is to
get everyone in the group working together and realizing their
similarities and differences. Knowing each others' differences will
help customer service representatives know who they can turn
to in situations they themselves are unable to successfully take
care of.
Make four sets of signs with the following words written on
them:
• Set 1: Competitive, Compromising, Collaborative,
Accommodating
• Set 2: Caring, Care Giver, Cared For, Cared About
• Set 3: Talkative, Quiet, Outgoing, Watcher
• Set 4: Tired, Confused, Happy, Eager
Reveal each set separately. For example, ask "Are you
competitive, compromising, collaborative or accommodating?"
Then, ask each participant to stand next to the sign they relate
to the most. Then, select one person in each group to explain
why he or she relates more to the word selected. Continue with
the next three sets of cards.
This is a great icebreaker for new customer service
representatives to be integrated into the group. It also helps
individuals to clearly understand their own characteristics.
Ridiculous Complaints
This activity is intended to help customer service representatives
prepare to handle complaints from customers that may, or may
not be, a bit ridiculous. To play, make a list of ridiculous
complaints that your employees have encountered in the past
and may possible encounter in the future.
Examples of ridiculous complaints include:
• "The water is too wet."
• "I bought my purse from a street vendor only to discover it
was fake. I want to return it to you."
• "The sand at the beach does not look like the sand in the
brochure."
This activity can be executed as a group or during one-on-one
training sessions. These scenarios can also be discussed
through role playing games, showing how each representative
would take care of the situation.
As a customer service team manager, you are well aware of the
importance of great customer experience and ensuring all of
your representatives are trained properly. The above listed
activities are just a sampling of what you can do with your
representatives, ensuring they are prepared to handle every
customer service situation that comes their way.
Customer Service Week
Customer service week (first week of October) is a great excuse
to reward your staff for the excellent examples of customer
experience they've provided through the year.
If you lead a customer service team and haven't planned a
celebration for#CustomerServiceWeek yet, here are a few great
ideas from across the web:
• 11 Ways to Celebrate National Customer Service Week
• Customer Service Week Bingo
• 6 Customer Service Week Themes for All Budgets
> Tips for Providing Customer Service
Let's get those thank you's flowing and put some smiles on our
customers' faces. These handy tips will help you learn how to be
a better customer service representative.
Customer Service Basics
The fundamentals of customer service remain constant from
square one to stardom. Here are four basics to practice
regularly:
Find Common Ground
Everybody likes to have something in common with others.
Fortunately, the customer service situation is a prime opportunity
to benefit from this desire. When a customer knows that a
representative identifies with his or her situation and makes a
concerted effort to solve a problem, you're on your way to a
satisfied experience.
Be Positive
An uplifting tone can bring even the most negative of moods
back to a point of solution. The more positive your team can be
when taking a call or ticket request, the more positive the
customer on the other end will respond. This will keep the
conversation productive and therefore shorter, allowing more
issues to be resolved.
Take Your Time
Nobody likes being rushed. This is especially true when you are
experiencing a product or service and looking for help. In the
case of customer service, this means taking your time with your
customer to make sure all of their questions and concerns are
addressed to their satisfaction. Be sure to continually ask "is
there anything else I can help you with?"
Know How to Close
Closing is an underrated skill in customer service. If there is a
specific action you need your customer to take, be sure to
understand what the most common objections are and how to
answer them. Be sure to create lessons for your customer
service team about closing in addition to role playing exercises
to make them comfortable with the process.
Working with Difficult Customers
If someone has taken the time to reach out to your company to
notify you of an issue, it is important to them, here are a few tips
to help meet a resolution.
Give Credit to Complaints
This might be the most difficult part of providing customer
service because the more mundane something is, the easier it is
to poorly position your customer in your mind. Be cognizant of
this tendency and do your best to train your team to see the
situation from your customers' eyes.
Listen to Their Viewpoint
Empathize with your customer to understand why they are
upset. Make sure you understand the problem and find the best
solution. If you cannot offer them an immediate solution, be sure
to offer an explanation as well as a willingness to help.
Don't Just Listen, Hear
Make sure you understand completely what the customer is
upset about. Sometimes a customer just wants to know an
employee is aware of the issue. If the customer just wants to
vent, let them.
Customer Service over the Phone
Phone calls can seem impersonal, inconvenient, and inefficient
to customers. Customer service over the phone is vital to
success though. Chances are high though that a customer can
find an answer faster by talking to representative than by
browsing aimlessly on a company's website.
Be prepared when that phone rings; follow these tips:
Smile
Smile when you talk to a customer over the phone. Your voice
really does sound different when you smile and a customer can
hear that. A pleasant hello starts off more empathetic than a
reluctant one.
Follow Good Phone Etiquette
Good etiquette goes a long way. Ask any customer before you
transfer them, answer as quickly as possible, and apologize for
the wait if there was one. Before transferring, see if you can help
them. It will save the customer time as well as your coworker.
Also, don't eat while on the phone. Gross.
Ask Questions
Get to the bottom of any customer call and make sure to do the
most to help them. If you can exceed what they intended to
accomplish, they will hang up smiling.
Retail Customer Service
Retail sales are often generated as a result of positive
interactions between sales staff members and customers. A
genuine and helpful discussion with a customer can make all the
difference. Below, we outline 4 sales tips for retail sales
associates.
Establishing ContactRetail sales staff should be encouraged to greet customers in a
prompt manner. When customers are left to wander around the
store without a staff member offering assistance, they become
less inclined to make a purchase.
Sales associates should not only greet customers but they
should also have a repertoire of "go to" lines that probe
customers' product needs. If sales staff associates can get
customers to open up about their habits or interests, they'll be
better able to steer them toward appropriate products. This
should all be done within the first few minutes of the customer's
entry into the store.
Fill A VoidRetail sales staff should be trained to find out why the customer
is on the prowl. It's all about meeting a need or desire. Managers
should role play with staff members to improve their customer
service and personal interaction skills or provide pre-recorded
role play examples.
Sales associates should always steer conversations toward
finding out what product(s) in the store could possibly benefit the
customer. This will require sales staff to brush up on the unique
qualities of store products so that they can suggest items in
confidence.
Associates Should Not Focus on Sales ItemsAssociates should not steer customers toward items that are on
sale. Stores typically make very little profit on sales items as the
margins are so thin. While it might be a kind gesture to
immediately guide customers toward sales items, it could harm
the business if that's where staff always points first.
It also communicates to the customer that the sales staff
member thinks the store's regular inventory is overpriced.
Associates should be trained to only mention products that are
on sale if customers make an inquiry about those items, or at
least use them as a secondary course of action.
Word ChoiceChoosing the right words can make the difference between a
sale and a customer walking out of the store empty handed.
Staff members should be trained to use positive words and buzz
words that have been trending in the mainstream. It is a good
idea to pass out a list of key sales words to staff members that
will produce positive visions for customers.
Words like "new, save, free, healthy, proven, and safe" are
especially effective at persuading customers to make purchases.
Certain words should also be avoided. These include words like
"difficult, bad, buy, worry, and cost". They'll potentially generate
a negative vibe and turn customers away.
Next Steps
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