How to Set Priorities for Customer Service
If your company provides customer service, you need to establish priorities for customer service representatives. Customer service representatives have many duties and responsibilities to fulfill whenever they are speaking with customers. The order in which the duties are prioritized will determine if your customers are satisfied or disgruntled. If a customer service representative is working on commission based on cross-selling additional products and services, she may have a tendency to skip right to that function without handling the customer's initial inquiry.
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Instructions
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Determine all of the duties and responsibilities that a customer service representative is likely to encounter. A customer service representative should greet customers in a friendly, courteous manner by providing his name and company name, solving the customers' problems, cross-selling other products and services, and updating and verifying the customers' personal information such as addresses and phone numbers.
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Prioritize the job duties. A greeting should always be the first thing that occurs when there is interaction with a customer. The next duty of a representative should be to find out why the customer is calling. Before anything is done on a customer's account, the representative should verify personal information such as Social Security number, date of birth and the customer's address. Once the preliminaries are out of the way, the representative should attempt to resolve the customer's inquiry.
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Define what goals need to be accomplished within the customer service department. Customer service representatives should have a goal of servicing customers efficiently and effectively, which leads to more satisfied customers. When customers are satisfied they have a tendency to stay with the same company. Customer retention, acquiring new customers and increasing market share become top priorities for companies that want to remain competitive. These goals are accomplished automatically when the customer service department performs its job duties in an excellent manner.
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Cross-sell other products and services to the customer. After resolving the issue to the customer's satisfaction, the representative should ask the customer if there is anything else she can do for her. At this point the customer service representative should mention the latest available products and services that may help the customer meet her future needs.
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Tips & Warnings
When customers are satisfied that their problems have been resolved they are more likely to purchase future products and services, which ultimately leads to an increase in sales and profits.
Customer service representatives should be trained to handle customer service problems efficiently and effectively. A knowledgeable representative is an asset to the company.
References
- Photo Credit customer service image by gajatz from Fotolia.com
