When a customer or potential customer picks up the phone to make a phone call, their expectations are huge. According to Invoca, 65% of people prefer to contact a business by phone vs. just 24% who prefer to fill out an online form. The reasons why, according to Google’s ‘Click to Call’ research, range from wanting a quick answer to speaking with a real person. That said, the bar set for real time, real person, on the phone customer support is at an all-time high. This is because we know when customers are satisfied, they reward us by continuing to do businesses with us. This means when your phone rings, you need to have a plan for what happens next.

  • Who is going to answer?
  • How will they answer?
  • Will they answer in a timely manner?
  • Will they have the right answer the first time?
  • How long will they spend on the phone with the customer?
  • What will they do if the other line rings while they are still talking to the first customer?
  • Do you have the tools to track why the call was placed?

The list goes on and on! Navigating customer satisfaction can be extremely difficult but along that road, we must also address and plan for the team member effort required to drive up CSAT (customer satisfaction) scores.

Ensuring your team members are trained properly and the have the necessary tools to assist customers quickly are critical to providing excellent customer service. Not to mention, tracking why customers are calling in the first place is a key data point that help you streamline your business (think changing wording or placement of information on your website that provides insight instead of confusion).

To get started, here are three steps you can take to help drive down average handle times and drive up CSAT.

Record all your calls… and listen to them.

Recording and listening to your incoming calls will allow you to better understand the conversation flow and highlight where your team members are struggling and excelling in their customer service. Remember, don’t pass up a moment to cheer on your own team! Some of the best insights can be gained from “QA’ing” your calls and providing feedback to your team members on an ongoing basis. Additionally, this will allow you to develop a deeper understanding of why your customers or prospects are calling you and perhaps identify information gaps on your website or other communications.

Integrate after call work (ACW) into the live portion of the call.

If you can save your team member 15 seconds on every call, the day- or week-long savings could be very valuable. That’s why taking the time to map out the call flows (what are the types of calls you are handling) and the steps taken to answer and assist customers is so important. These processes will help define what pieces can be integrated along the way as opposed to after the fact. Could your team members enter pertinent information from the call while on the phone (i.e., reason for inquiry, how they heard about your business, etc.)? By integrating ACW into the actual call, your average handling time will decrease as will your need for more support staff.

Focus on training your people.

After you have listened to your inbound calls, create training and processes to help employees be more successful. Well trained employees are less likely to spend long periods of time searching for the right information while your customers are on the phone. It’s imperative to train all employees who may be answering phone calls to anticipate what kind of calls you receive and how to handle them. That way, they can spend less time trying to figure out what to do next and instead handle the inquiry an a polite and efficient manner. Unfortunately, many longer calls are filled with dead air, because team members don’t know the answer and spent time on the phone looking for it. Appropriate and on-going training plans will help you avoid this.

Find the small wins by focusing on your team members and processes first. You’ll discover that incremental decreases in your average handle time will drive up CSAT and, ultimately, your revenue.

 

Looking for more information on growing your business? Read this recent article or reach out to learn more about answering services that may help you further improve your customer satisfaction scores and drive more business.