Presenter: Melanie Baker, Postrank
Technology has increased consumers’ expectations for speed and response, and companies have to adapt to provide the level of customer service that’s now expected of them. Customer service tends to be a bottleneck simply because the amount of people who are “assigned” to do this is limited – there’s typically a “customer service center” or “response center.” While these are certainly necessarily for efficient business, company cultures must change so that everyone is a customer services advocate. Even if they can’t directly help or answer the questions, customers want to know that they are being dealt with personally and with sincerity – no matter how they decide to contact you (phone, Twitter, email, etc.).
Baker suggests starting by having everyone in your company go through the same training as the “customer service” people. Even if it isn’t “in their job” to handle customer service, they need to be prepared to do so if the situation presents itself. Provide education and resources on how to handle situations. Opening up this information to everyone in the company – rather than limiting access to it – makes for a more customer-centric organization. And as consumers take to talking about your company in social media, everyone is prepared to assist (when appropriate), and it’s not just shoved off to “the people whose job it is,” – great customer service should be everyone’s job.
