The Importance of Speed and Accuracy in Customer Support Efficiency
Being an outstanding customer support rep involves a great number of things. Maintaining your composure under fire, having a strong personality, and knowing the products or services you represent to name a few. You also have to be able to multi-task and know how to use different help desk support software (or perhaps a customer support phone system) to keep everything running smoothly.
In addition to all of this, you’re also expected to work as quickly as possible. It’s a constant, uphill battle to juggle everything at once, especially when you don’t want to make any mistakes. However, it is also important to try and increase your speed and accuracy in customer support (sounds like a great resolution!). The trick is to do so without dropping anything else you have to juggle.
Why It’s Important
One of the best ways to up your game as a customer service agent is to put yourself in the customer’s position. A little empathy can go a long way, especially when you want to get things done quickly and efficiently. Understanding the importance of efficiency in customer support also helps with your customer experience management.
Imagine the last time you were on the phone with a business for way longer than you wanted to be. How frustrated were you when you got bounced around to another rep for the twentieth time? How long did you last before you blew up at somebody? (Don’t be ashamed, we’ve all done it.)
When you’re on the other side of the coin, you’re not looking to take up someone’s time for just for the sake of it. It’s usually something simple that just gets in the way, like miscommunication with a customer or not using TeamSupport for your customer support software.
A succinct conversation with a customer and speedy resolution results in happier people everywhere. You’re happy you can help someone and your customers are happy they’re being heard and taken care of in an efficient manner. Add in the fact that there’s way less time wasted listening to muzak while on hold as a bonus!
How to Improve Customer Service Efficiency
So how do you work on improving your speed while still maintaining the perfection your customers are accustomed to? More often than not, it’s just one or two things that stand in your way, and with just a few tweaks you’ll increase your turnover rate.
You might start by jotting down notes on your interactions for each call or ticket. Eventually, something will pop out at you that might be slowing you down or that could be improved upon. Until then, you’re basically firing in the dark.
For example, maybe accessing notes are your problem – you just don’t know what the customer’s issue is. They’ve probably called several times before now and had to explain the same scenario over and over, meaning they’re wasting time every single time they call to the center. Perhaps the team could do a better job of logging them into your help desk ticketing system. Another issue could be with the team’s follow thru. It’s important that each member notes and then follows up on what they say they’re going to do.
We all like to connect with our customers, but a little can go a long way. I’ve personally been stuck on customer support calls where the rep knows me, mentions my hobbies (which the company had obviously made a note of) but didn’t do anything I had asked during the conversation– like get my faulty product replaced. It’s good to talk with your customers and create a personal rapport, but be just as sure to take action; otherwise you may be wasting everyone’s time!
Experience true customer success with TeamSupport, the help desk software that brings teams together. Click here to learn more about this collaborative online support tool.
