Maintaining Quality Control of Remote Customer Service Teams
The customer service team is one of the most important aspects of your company. When people call, these agents solve their issues, provide guidance, and do their best to retain their business. In order to show your company in the best light, your team must be ready and able to provide high-quality service as soon as the phone rings.
As a manager in an office, it can be easy to ensure that your team is staying on task, but if your team works remotely and everyone is separated, then it becomes much harder.
Today, we will talk about how managers can provide guidance to their remote teams so that they can ensure that the customers are getting the best service possible.
Improve Their Home Office Setup
Although they can initially be harder to manage, there are many perks to having remote employees. They are generally happier because they likely have a less strict dress code, they can spend more time with their families, and they get to skip the dreadful daily commute.
The fact is that commuting is awful for our mental and physical health because it forces us to sit in a fixed position for a long period of time, which can limit blood flow. Also, long drives can be stressful as we deal with traffic, angry drivers, and the fear of car accidents.
With that said, one of the downsides of a remote workforce is that not everyone has a suitable office environment where they can work comfortably and without distraction. Essentially, your staff should have the same capabilities that they have at the office, and if they don’t, then managers will want to assist however they can.
At a minimum, your team should have enough desk room for their computer, phone, headset, and space to write notes. They should also have capable internet so they can work without losing connection. As a company, you can either supply the team with business internet or pay them back for the cost in their paycheck.
The employees should also be comfortable at work, so consider equipping your staff with an ergonomic chair that will allow every agent to sit up straight so they can stay alert without hurting their back or neck. Management should reach out to each employee to ensure that they have everything they need.
Communication Is Key
When you have a remote team you cannot see face-to-face, communication becomes even more critical. That is because, when working remotely, your agents could start to feel isolated and alone, and those feelings won’t help their productivity. Management should reach out to everyone a few times per week to see how they are doing, ask if they are having any struggles, and provide the appropriate guidance.
Employees may also feel isolated because they think that they cannot talk to their coworkers as easily as they did at the office. Your team needs to be able to communicate so that they can ask for approval for customer exceptions, ask how to perform functions, and give kudos to one another for a job well done.
A great way to provide that experience is by setting up an instant messaging program that will allow the agents to chat throughout the day. Sometimes talking via text can lead to confusion, so when in doubt, management should pick up the phone and call the agent.
Since many employees will miss the in-person communication that they had in the office, it is also a good idea to have a video conference with the team at least once per week. During it, you can talk about the current project or spend that time talking about the weekend plans, so your team can create a deeper connection. When your agents feel like part of a cohesive unit, and they are happy to log in every day, it will show in their work.
Effective Training
While training your agents in person is the best-case scenario, if your team is remote, then that may be impossible, but you can still use technology to get the best results. Management needs to make it a priority to look into software that can make training easier.
There are many programs that allow you to silently join a call while the agent is assisting a customer or give you the option to view the employee’s screen while they work so you can ensure that they are taking the proper steps. This tech is the next best thing to being in the room with them.
When teaching the teams new tactics and processes, try to do it over video. Sometimes, the only way to see that an employee is having trouble learning is to see them in person and take note of their facial expressions. Without video, the agent can easily fake it, and management is none the wiser.
Finally, whenever your employees excel in their training or have a particularly successful customer interaction, make sure to provide positive feedback. If an employee doesn’t hear from their manager for days, they may feel alone and less willing to give 100%. However, by providing feedback, your team will know that you appreciate their work, and they will continue their positive behaviours.
Consider giving the employee kudus in a public forum with an email or during the video call. Not only will they feel great, but other employees may try to improve so they can get a similar shout-out.
As you can see, there are many ways that you can maintain quality control of your service team, even if they work from home. Consider these tips, and your customers will continue to receive the great assistance that will turn them into repeat shoppers.
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