7 Ways How You Can Make Your CSRs More Productive
A customer service team is often your only line of defense against irate customers that feel like they are not getting the sort of service they deserve. It is therefore essential that they work as efficiently as possible so that they can deal with the maximum number of customers. Listed below are some tips that can help you make them more productive.
#1 Cut Through Red Tape
A lot of companies have tons of bureaucracy. The point of this red tape is to try and keep things as organized as possible, and make sure that mistakes don’t happen. However, this type of thinking is the way of the past. A much better way to do things is to cut through red tape and leave doors open. This allows CSRs to get their job done much more quickly, especially when you consider the fact that they won’t have to keep a thousand unnecessary rules in mind while dealing with a customer.
#2 Give CSRs Autonomy
Controlling your CSRs too much is a mistake. What you should focus on instead of this is trying to train them to the point where they are not going to need anyone to hold their hand. If you give CSRs the training that would allow them to handle everything on their own, you would have a team of highly disciplined people on your hands who would actually contribute to your company rather than a new responsibility to add to the list of things you are already having a fair bit of trouble dealing with.
#3 Treat CSRs With Respect
You are not going to get anywhere by treating your CSRs like inferior employees. They need to be treated better than that. While it is true that CSRs are technically not as high up the ladder as a lot of other executives, this not how it has to be. You can start treating them differently and more importantly. At the end of the day, they have an important job to do, and they are actually doing it. Treating them with respect will inspire them to work harder at the job they have been given, and motivate them to be more proactive about their responsibilities.
#4 Train CSRs to Rise Above Personal Feelings
One of the first things that you are going to have to focus on while you are training your CSRs is rising above the pettiness we often incorporate into our day to day interactions with people. This is because of the fact that a CSR is often going to be annoyed by what a customer is saying. In spite of this they are going to have to rise above it all and give said customer the best experience possible. They might also be feeling a little down or frustrated on certain days. Their personal feelings will have to be set aside for the good of the company.
#5 Use The Appropriate Tools
We are no longer living in an analogue age. The fact of the matter is that everyone needs a little technological assistance in order to do the best job possible. A help desk ticketing software like Kayako is essential to CSR productivity because the job has too many difficult aspects to it to be done entirely by hand. Your CSRs will need all the help they can get, and the right tools like a customer service software can help them be as productive as possible without compromising on customer service quality.
#6 Make Your Office a Fun Place to Work
Your office needs to be a place of productivity, but sometimes productivity means relaxing a little. Your employees are going to be far more inclined to work if they have a relaxed environment to work in. They are also going to be able to take regular breaks that would relax them and allow them to work more efficiently afterwards if they had some fun activities to do in between sessions of work. You should also loosen up and be a more fun loving boss. Try not to be too hard on your employees because this will just stress them out.
#7 Inculcate a Teamwork Based Mentality
If you want your customer service to be the best that it can be and you want your CSRs to work as productively as possible, part of that is making them work together as a team. This will allow them to bounce ideas off of each other and help each other out whenever it is needed. An autonomous group of customer service representatives that work together as a team are indeed a force to be reckoned with, and they will be able to take your company’s reputation to a whole new level in a short period of time.
Noman Aqil is a Marketing Manager at Kayako, the effortless customer service software that helps teams be more productive and build customer loyalty.