Developing Customer Support Skills
Customer support is a wide array of customer related services to help customers in making correct and cost effective use of their product. It comprises of service in designing, planning, deployment, training, fixing, troubleshooting, upgrading, maintenance, and disposal of the product. Customer support service can be provided by a single dealer or by numerous dealers under one enterprise system. It also consists of support and research in several fields such as technical, economic, and social aspects.
The success of any business organization largely depends on the ability of its leaders to keep their customers loyal to the organization. Hence, one of the most important aspects of a good customer support system is having a good customer support agent who can effectively resolve customer problems. In order to ensure effective customer support, the employees of customer support should be highly qualified, well trained, and should have strong interpersonal skills. In addition to this, these employees should be properly equipped with the knowledge, skills, and tools required to resolve customer related issues. In order to accomplish this, there are certain factors which need to be taken into consideration while selecting an efficient customer support agent.
The employees selected for customer support should be provided with timely information regarding the procedures and techniques that are essential for carrying out the various functions of the company. Proper interaction is very essential between the customer and the support agents. Interaction may include direct communication with the customers or through the medium of chat, faxes, and phone calls.
A good customer support system should have a well developed knowledge base. This knowledge base should provide enough information regarding all possible customers, their characteristics, problems that they may encounter, and the possible solutions to these problems. The knowledge base should also contain adequate information regarding all steps that would be necessary for updating the existing systems to incorporate new features or eliminating existing features. In short, the knowledge base should be such that it can accommodate the growth of the organization as a whole.
The knowledge base also needs to include some specific details regarding the customer support agents and the roles they will play in the organization. It should define clearly the skills that the employees will need to acquire in order to become good at their jobs and the processes that will be required to run them successfully. It should specify how much empathy the employee should display towards the customers. It is important for these employees to show empathy towards the customers, as they are not only facing difficult times but are also experiencing new and sometimes unfamiliar challenges.
Creating customer satisfaction is one of the key features reps should possess. Satisfied customers will in turn provide positive feedback which is very important in improving the reputation of the organization. A rep who consistently creates positive user experiences will become more trusted by his/her peers, generate loyalty amongst his/her peers and improve the customer satisfaction levels. Ultimately, a company will have a greater chance to reach its set goals when it uses customer support agents with the right customer satisfaction and empathy building skills.
