Warning: Call Centers Living in the Past Are Doomed

Today’s modern customer expects to be dealt with in a prompt manner, as they’ve become accustomed to instant responses to e-mails and instant messages. So what happens if your call center is still stuck in a bygone era, where they spend an extended period of time on an automated menu, never speaking to a real person?

At 3C Contact Services, we tell our partners that when their customers call in, we help them get in and out as quickly as possible. In other words, we know the importance of a quick reply, efficient service, and fast problem solving. Customers certainly don’t want to take time out of their busy day to spend minutes, or even hours, on hold, so why put them through that?

Luckily, with today’s technology, your customers have many channels that they can use to contact your organization; whether it’s e-mail, instant messaging, or an online form. These are often quick and easy ways to communicate if you’re able to respond to e-mails and IMs in a timely manner.

But we understand the frustration of trying to determine what the best communication channels are for your business and how best to maintain these channels with top-quality customer service. So to help make things a little easier, here are some tips to help you get started in designing a customer service plan that puts your customers first, takes advantage of today’s customer care trends, and is easy to maintain.

Tips for Maintaining Today’s Customer Service Standards

Give the People What They Want

Find out what your customers are looking for in a call center by taking advantage of focus groups. Use these groups to find out their demographic, age, education, income, and what they’re looking for in terms of excellent customer and call center services. Next, simply take this information and apply it to your business. Similarly, you can consider sending online surveys to your top customers and new customers to get opinions from a wider selection. This should allow you to get a better understanding of not only how to acquire new clients through customer care, but also how to retain your clients post-purchase. Technology makes these methods very simple.

Have a Live Call Center Agent Answer the Phone

More and more call centers are moving away from automated menus and having a live agent answer the phone, primarily to avoid calls being directed to the wrong person. Even if the caller reaches an agent who can’t assist them, the agent who picks up can still direct their call accordingly. This improves efficiency and keeps the client happy because they no longer have to wait to hear a whole menu or try to interpret directions that may not apply to their concerns.

Have a Backup in Place

Many call centers do not have a backup plan in place in case of a disaster. Whether it’s having a generator or backing up your important data onto a cloud storage system, having a plan B in place should problems arise is always recommended. You don’t want to have to deal with the results of lost data, nor do you want to have to tell your customers you can’t attend to their concerns because you haven’t planned appropriately. Having a plan B in place is just as important as having a plan A.

Make Your System Efficient

If you need to ask your clients for information over the phone or through another means of communication, have a system in place that allows you to ask as few questions as possible while still being able to securely determine their accounts. If clients have to go through a long list of questions before they can get to their concerns, their frustration levels are likely to increase. Again, efficiency is key, so ask the important information, then get to their concerns.

In the end, to offer the best customer care, you simply should think like a customer. Understand the system from their perspective and plan a new system or tweak your current system accordingly. Be aware of what’s available to you and the current standards for customer care, and always strive to be ahead of the curve.

At 3C Contact Services, we offer the highest quality of customer care and can tweak our system to meet the needs of your client. For more information on how we can help you customize your customer care department, contact our experts today.