A cog in the wheel
A University of Sheffield Study on HR Management in UK Call Centers found that employee turnover, a key indicator of employee satisfaction, was lower when agents were given much higher discretion over how they completed their job tasks. After all, no one wants to feel like a cog in the wheel! (more…)
The never-ending Customer Support Interaction
How many times have you been on the end of what seems like a never-ending telephone call with customer service? Familiar isn’t it! You have a complex problem and one CSR shuttles you to another ‘senior’ resource who in turn needs a ‘manager’ with more discretion. By this time, you are just about ready to drop the entire thing! (more…)
The need for measurement
As more and more customer service moves online, it is important to be able to measure the quality of service well and reward good performers accordingly. With clear performance measures, exceptional staff can be rewarded, average performers trained to improve, and the poorest performers reconsidered. (more…)
It’s not what you’d think!
A study by the Welsh Contact Centre Forum in 2006 among Welsh call-centre employees revealed that only 24% of those surveyed considered themselves truly committed to the organization.
Surprisingly, it wasn’t salary or benefits, but ‘career opportunities’, ‘morale and culture’ and ‘internal communication’ which emerged as the biggest problem areas.
A constantly moving target
In business, as in everything else, change is the only thing that stays constant. Even the best processes in many areas often grow obsolete with time. A company with a reputation for stellar customer service may find that a competitor has upped the game by answering all queries within half an hour.
Your customer service team may be operating with guidelines that were once sufficient, but are now inadequate for more tech-savvy customers.
Upgrading of Skills, a key challenge
Training and upgrading of skills and processes is a major challenge for small businesses as owners struggle to allot their time over different functions. Sometimes, even identifying the areas where training is needed is difficult. Businesses need to keep a constant lookout for what others in the industry are doing as well as for best practices from other industries that they could use.
Keeping up with the game
When it comes to customer service, this means constantly checking to see whether customer expectations are being met. If there are issues in some areas, the causes need to be identified. (Slow loading website? Too many repetitive queries? Poor attitude? Language issues with overseas customers? Poor responses from CSRs?) (more…)
When Customer Contact was simple
In an earlier time, small business owners simply needed to hand out leaflets in their localities or make sure that their business was listed in the relevant directory. The telephone was the primary means of contact with customers. With the growth of the internet, small business owners now feel pressurized to keep up with different media channels.
The Multiplicity of Mediums
Customers may discuss your product on forums and communities, blog about it, e-mail you through your website or call in. While all of these are opportunities, they also need time. Similarly, the technology options available to businesses have also boomed. Should I offer live chat on my website or provide a separate forum for users? Should I invest in a larger CSR team or will my FAQ page take care of most queries?
How to choose the right Technology for your business
Small businesses sometimes have a hard time making sense of the multiple options available. The number of options available also creates a fear that more time is being spent on ‘superfluous’ decisions rather than on the core business.
In such a situation, it makes sense to remember the three key objectives that any customer support system should meet:
The Wonder Years of Business
If you are a small business owner yourself, you might recall nostalgically the initial years of starting up. You remember a time when you knew many of your customers personally; when customers just had to call you up if they ever had a problem. Well, you are not an exception. (more…)
How do Small Businesses start up?
Where do you think most American small businesses find the money to start up and keep themselves going till the profits start flowing in? You may be surprised to hear this – U.S. Census Bureau findings reveal that the majority of small businesses are financed by the owner or with some help from friends and family. (more…)
How small can small business be?
Technology has made it easier than ever for small businesses to operate on a really small scale – in the case of freelancers or e-bay entrepreneurs, this can sometimes mean just a single person team. This person is literally a one-man (or woman) army! (more…)
How do Small Businesses Differ?
Certain basic rules of engagement apply to all businesses. All businesses operate in a competitive environment where they aim to acquire and retain customers. This is against a backdrop of rising costs, tighter regulations and a globalizing environment. Yet, small businesses often find the challenge tougher due to the smaller scale on which they operate and the fewer resources they command. (more…)
