5 ways to deliver predictably excellent customer service
frustrated customer support agents create frustrated customers
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customer support (like sales or sales prospecting) doesn’t have to be a burnout, boiler-room job. why are the two teams that interact with customers the most (sales, support) so commonly mistreated or unappreciated? that needs to change, because frustrated agents (& salespeople) help create frustrated customers. in this next excerpt i’m sharing from my new book “From Impossible to Inevitable, we share 5 ways to make sure you’re delivering top-notch service to your customers:
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Topcon Positioning Systems (part of the $1 billion / 4,000 employee global Topcon Corp.) is the world’s largest developer & manufacturer of…yes, positioning systems. Topcon’s customers are in industries like civil engineering, surveying & agriculture – where mapping & positioning are vital. Topcon has contact centers around the world.
Angie Todd supervises the 18 USA agents in Columbus, Ohio and in Olathe, Kansas and has spent four years as a support agent and another four years as a supervisor. The team handles handles 25,000 calls per year, which are all recorded and reported on. Angie says their goal is to provide predictably excellent service.
Angie’s Top 5 Customer Service Tips:
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1. Get Agents Away From The Phone
Spending 40 hours a week on the phone and interacting directly with frustrated customers can be a recipe for agent burnout. Get agents away from their desks regularly for product cross-training and to visit customers at their locations. This keeps agents engaged and helps their development,. Internet-based call center/telephony applications can now route calls to any agents phone (mobile phones, home phones, etc.) so that they don’t have to be chained to desks, making the job friendlier and more flexible for them.
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2. Use Technology To Help Customers As Well As Yourself
Don’t forget that technology is also about improving the experience for customers as well as reducing your costs. More than half of your callers (53%) get irritated if they can’t speak to a human quickly. The last time you called a bank – how many times did you have to enter your credit card or account number before you got to the right person?
When a customer calls Topcon, NewVoiceMedia compares the phone number against data in Salesforce and can automatically route that person to the right agent. The customer doesn’t have to type anything. For example, if in Salesforce they are marked as a “Gold” level client with the best Service Level Agreement, that caller can be automatically bumped to the front of the phone line.
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3. Continuously Listen to Feedback
In most organizations, the Customer Support group interacts with the customer the most. Unfortunately, some organizations overlook the support team and all that valuable knowledge. The support team is the voice of the customer.
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4. Create A Career Path
Your best employees won’t want to stay in the same job their whole lives, they’ll want to grow. At Topcon, agents know they will spend 2-4 years in support, learning everything about Topcon and its products, as a first step in their career path. If you hire right, you can use support as a great training experience that develops experts to later transfer or promote throughout the rest of your company.
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5. Specialize Agent Roles
Topcon has five “first level” agents with a basic understanding of all products; and 13 other agents that specialize in an application or industry. With a variety of support specialists, customers can get better service and it creates different opportunities for reps to grow within support.
for more, check out my new book co-written with jason lemkin,
“From Impossible to Inevitable”.
thanks,
– air