The current COVID-19 lockdown is triggering some long term changes in our professional lives, such as setting up and managing a remote customer support team.
As more companies and employees are converting from the office-going to a work-from-home basis., we are witnessing many benefits of such changes. Studies show that remote teams tend to be more productive, less stressed and easy to connect with.
But how can your business get the most benefits from a remote customer support team during these times?
1) Conduct In-Depth Training and Knowledge Transfer
At the onset, it is more vital than ever to brief your remote customer support team in detail. Explain your business, your customer profiles, customer preferences, values, nationalities and cultures.
During such times, people tend to be more sensitive, impatient or even frustrated. Your remote customer care teams should be prepared to handle any type of query or grievance. For this, adequate training and knowledge transfer is important.
2) Provide Updated Information
Currently, all your customers are relying on you for updates on the current situation and services you are able to offer in the given circumstances. For your outsourced customer support agents to maintain an honest, two-way communication with your customers, they require a constant stream of facts and possibly, answers to unique questions that are being asked by your buyers.
These differ to regular questions and are more about current regulations or sector situations. The customer support team will be unable to provide factual answers on these areas without your inputs. So, to get the best out of them, you will need to ensure they are well informed.
3) Apply Cloud-based Technology
Identify a customer support team that is technologically able to access data and provide the same services as when they were operating from their office. Virtual assistance is possible via cloud-based platforms that can be accessed from anywhere and hold all the information and tools to offer superior customer support.
An omni-channel customer support platform can serve your remote customer support team and of course, your own customers.
4) Utilize Time Management Tools
Identfy customer support agents who use Time Management Software or share a few tutorials with your current team, to train them on how to organise their work time better. Time Management Software can record how much time is spent on your account and customers, generate and record performance and assist you with accurate payment issuing.
5) Use Project Management & Sharing Tools
Programs such as Trello are ideal for remote customer management teams. For sharing information and documents, Google Drive still ranks high for its ease of use and collaboration. Slack allows dedicated channels for specific teams and gives notifications on the customer support agent’s phone. It also integrates with other platforms.
6) Communicate With Remote Teams
In order to keep the morale high of your remote customer support team, keep in touch with them on a regular basis. Internal chat rooms or daily Zoom meets where they can share their experiences will enhance your customer support activities.
Since physical review meetings are not possible, online virtual meets are recommended to lighten the mood and infuse a hospitable culture.
7) Motivate With Performance Metrics
Most top customer support companies demonstrate their effectiveness through easy-to-decipher performance metrics. When selecting your customer support team, ensure the company utilizes valuable and relevant performance metrics. This data can assist you in keeping track of team performance even when working remotely. You can use it to announce weekly achievers or outstanding agents.
As the trend of remote operations slowly transforms into the ‘new normal’, your customer support need not suffer. Instead utilize technology to improve your customer support activities and embrace the change.