The #1 Customer Service Tool: Your Support Team

Regardless of the many tools on the market that are advertised as essential to the customer service process, anyone in customer service knows the #1 customer service tool any business can employ is a competent, happy, customer support team. It’s certainly valuable to provide the best possible resources to enable customer support staff to do their best, but additional resources are largely wasted if the people using them are not knowledgeable, capable and happy with their jobs. We previously covered how to put together a first-rate customer service team, and once that crucial first step is completed, it’s important to remember how valuable a strong customer service team is- and make sure the company treats them accordingly.

The members of the customer support team are the company’s primary contacts for customers. Their behavior towards customers and ability to deal effectively with all issues that arise has a direct influence on the company’s reputation. In addition, as the first and primary point of contact for the people using the company’s products, the customer support team is the most knowledgeable on what people think of them. If there’s an issue with a product or a common suggestion for how to improve it, the customer support representatives will be the first to hear it. The feedback heard and recorded by the customer support staff is a necessary component for informed product development. Countless resources can be wasted trying to fix perceived problems that aren’t bothering customers or make improvements they don’t actually want if product development doesn’t make use of customer feedback.

So how can a company make sure to get the most out of its most valuable customer service resource?

1. Practice Active Listening – Schedule a regular meeting (i.e. 10 minutes every morning, or 1 hour every week) where all members of the support team are encouraged to share any issues experienced, relevant customer feedback and other important topics that the customer support team feels urgency to report. When supervisors are present and actively listening, a clearer view of the company and its customers are provided, while support staff will be empowered by having their voices heard.
2. Incorporate Feedback – Listening is good, but it must be more than a symbolic gesture. Let the support team not only discuss customer support related issues, but also allow them to provide suggestions for solutions, while focusing on the benefits and downsides of implementing each possible solution. If there’s a general consensus that something new is worth a try, do it. 
3. Encourage New Learning – Any time new products are developed or changes are made to existing products, the customer support team should have training and any other available resources to stay experts on the products they represent. Encourage team members to attend webinars or conferences to learn more about the industry or improved techniques for customer support. Offering incentives (getting lunch catered for a company scheduled webinar, or planning a happy hour after a conference for all employees who attended) can help boost employee enthusiasm, and make a support team want to get more involved.
4. Think Like a Team – A good manager or business owner doesn’t make decisions independently. When there’s an intelligent, experienced team of people with unique ideas eager to help, it’s foolish not to incorporate them into the process. Make sure their suggestions are genuinely considered, and respected no matter how different, creative, or unexpected they may be. Thinking outside of the box can be a valuable asset to resolving many issues.
5. Keep Everyone Happy – If the staff members working with customers are unhappy in their jobs, it will inevitably show in the way the company is presented and issues are handled. Few people can effectively convince others of the value of something they don’t care for themselves. A company should consider it a top priority to create an environment in which representatives love their jobs. Embrace your company's culture and encourage your employees to have a good time while they meet their goals. 

Even the greatest, most versatile resources available are worthless if not used properly. A great customer support team that’s not properly appreciated and valued will not be very motivated to accomplish all they are capable of. In addition to the immeasurable wasted potential, a company risks losing its best customer service representatives when those representatives feel under-appreciated. Don’t let the #1 customer service tool available to the company go to waste.

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5 Ways to Keep Customer Service Representatives Motivated

Employee motivation and loyalty is important in any position, but for those tasked with representing a company to its customers, it takes on extra significance. Customer service representatives who feel invested in the company they work for and the products they represent will inevitably provide superior service than those unhappy in their position. As individuals commit themselves to resolutions for the coming year, take the opportunity to encourage improvements in your customer service department. Consider these 5 ways to keep customer service representatives motivated.

1. Hold Weekly Staff Meetings for Feedback
Effective communication is one of the most important facets of running any successful business. Weekly meetings afford both representatives and managers the opportunity to address any concerns that arise week to week and provide relevant feedback. As the main point of contact for customers, the customer service department is the first to hear about any problems or suggestions for products. By making sure this feedback is heard and passed on to the product development staff, these meetings can serve to improve products, keep customers happy and make the job of your customer service reps that much easier. It also lets staff know their contribution to the company is valued.

2. Encourage a Positive Work Environment
A pleasant workplace means less risk of dissatisfaction and high turnover. When the customer service staff is happy in their work, this lends itself to how they interact with customers. Give positive feedback whenever it’s earned and make sure any negative feedback is carefully worded to be constructive rather than disparaging. Pay attention to conflicts amongst the staff and step in before they have the chance to influence the larger environment, setting up a meeting with HR or a sit down with the staff members to encourage communication. Find little ways to reward the staff, such as donuts in the office once a week, or monthly company lunches or happy hours.

3. Set Goals and Recognize the Staff Members Who Accomplish Them
Mojo Helpdesk makes it easy to track the time it takes to resolve customer inquiries and lets customers provide ratings to representatives for how an issue is handled. Find a way to honor or reward those with the best results or greatest improvement over time. Having something tangible to work towards, such as a bonus, gift card, or displayed list of top rated employees each month, can be a powerful motivator.

4. Offer Upward Mobility
There’s little incentive for employees to work hard and stay with a company long term if they don’t expect opportunities for upward mobility. The best customer service representatives know the company’s products well and care about the larger success of the business; a state that is best achieved by ensuring that employees see their own success as aligned with that of the company. Showing long-term loyalty and providing a consistently good performance should lead to promotions and raises—skimping on this will lead to the loss of your best staff members to competitors.

5. Give Representatives Freedom to Make Decisions
Encouraging consistency in business can be valuable, but becomes constraining when taken too far. Don’t micromanage. Allow for some flexibility and creativity in how representatives handle customer service inquires, as long as they stick to general guidelines and trust their instincts. Something as simple as staff upgrading shipping for free due to an order error can enable your staff to quickly solve a customer’s issue and shorten call times, saving money in the long run. There also might be some truly great ideas to come out of giving staff the room to make their own decisions.

A company that makes a priority of providing a positive work environment and motivation to its employees will quickly gain a reputation as such. This can positively impact the company from an internal perspective, but also in regards to the company’s customers. People like to do business with companies who have a good reputation for taking care of their staff. In addition to improving conditions for your current customer service representatives, these tips can help your business to attract and keep high quality employees moving forward.

Would you like to try our free, hosted ticket tracking/helpdesk application? No long-term contracts, signup fees, or termination fees. You can upgrade, downgrade, or cancel anytime. We offer a wide variety of plans to fit any budget.

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The Difference Between Customer Complaints and Customer Feedback

Businesses need information from their target markets in order to improve upon the products and/or services that they offer. Sometimes this may come in the form of customer feedback surveys and other times it may come in the form of complaints from unsatisfied clientele. No matter where the data comes from, businesses must act on the information and learn from mistakes that were made.

The difference between feedback and complaints 
There are a couple key differences between complaints and feedback that come from customers. One of the clearest delineations is that feedback is warranted or sought out by a business whereas complaints come on their own. For instance, a business may conduct a satisfaction survey on a particular product after a planned release date. Customers, participants or any other relevant individuals may be contacted and asked to fill out a form answering questions about an experience. This data is then analyzed to identify trends or patterns. Complaints on the other hand may come in the form of customers calling, writing or walking into a company to voice their dissatisfaction with a product or service. Although these interactions and subsequent data are not sought out by a company, information gained from these interactions is just as useful, if not more so. Another key difference is that feedback and the data it generates is not beyond some measure of control. A business may structure customer feedback surveys depending on the type of data they are looking for from customers. In contrast, complaints are whatever a customer makes them.

Using data to tweak processes 
Whether data is drawn from customer feedback surveys or from customer complaints, it can be used to improve how an organization operates. Companies can capture data using customer complaints software or analyze information gained from surveys. The more data a company gathers, the better it is able to see trends that are occurring. Once conclusions are drawn from these trends, decisions can be made as to how to improve a customer service process. Customer complaints, as well as feedback from survey activities, should be taken very seriously no matter how insignificant they may seem. Businesses that allow customer issues to go unresolved run the risk of having these events mushroom into full-blown PR nightmares.

Would you like to try our free, hosted ticket tracking/helpdesk application? No long-term contracts, signup fees, or termination fees. You can upgrade, downgrade, or cancel anytime. We offer a wide variety of plans to fit any budget.

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Mojo Helpdesk Happy Customer Feedback

Mojo Helpdesk's mission is to provide the best support service for businesses of all sizes. That goal is based around happy customers, and when our own customers are happy with our services, we know we are doing something right.

Recently Larry M. wrote us the following rave review (Thank you Larry!):

"I just wanted to mention that I really like your product. It was just the solution I was looking for to help our start-up provide excellent support to our customers. Your system is responsive and reliable, and your support has been awesome (though I haven't needed to use it much). Keep up the good work!" - Larry M.

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