It’s a well known fact that the internet has changed how consumers get their information and in turn their buying habits. What may be less common is how these changing buying habits have forever altered the face of customer service. The customer service department at many companies likely does not exist as it did in the past. Consumers use to engage customer service if they wanted advice or help in picking out a product. It is now commonplace for consumers to get advice from their peers or to navigate various web sites on their own. This change alone has required companies to adjust their customer service model. However, a bigger change and another cause of the death of traditional customer service is customer service is no longer just left up to the employees working in the customer service department. Any employee that has the potential to affect the customer works in customer service.
As ecommerce business has grown for most companies, the need for over the phone or face-to-face interactions with Customer Service Representatives have decreased. At the same time, the need for exceptional customer service has never been greater. Consumers desire a relationship with a company’s brand and thus when consumers do make contact with a company they expect and demand great customer service from any employee they come in contact with, regardless of their position. The mistake that some companies make is they incorrectly assume customer service resides solely in the customer service department. This can lead to communication issues and eventually silos will be created within an organization. Once this happens departments stop communicating with one another which ultimately results in employees not understanding how they impact both the customer and their company. Radian6 conducted a study on customer service and describes the shift in company culture that is needed: “valuable customer service has to move outside departmental walls and into the roles of everyone who has the potential to impact a customer’s decision-making process. Customer service is no longer about doing triage; it’s about anticipating the needs of customers before they’re even aware of them.”
Here are 5 ways your company can remain customer focused and prevent silos from being built:
1. Get your customer service department involved with Marketing- Aren’t they two separate departments? Yes, but they are the ones who are in regular contact with your customers and know what they want, after all.
2. Cross training- A great way to ensure all employees understand the significance of providing great customer service is to train them outside of their own department. This also leads to great employee satisfaction as they will be challenged to learn new skills.
3. Social Networking responses- Who handles your social networking responses? Do you have someone dedicated to ensuring responses are timely and accurate? This is critical as more consumers are now using social networking sites for business.
4. Be your own customer- Is your company easy or hard to do business with? A great way to measure this is to place an order with your own company and find out. The results could surprise you!
5. Company culture- Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos advocates focusing your performance reviews not on sales goals or projects completed but on how closely employees’ actions match up with you company culture. Is your culture evident to your customers when they come into contact with your employees?
As ecommerce business has grown for most companies, the need for over the phone or face-to-face interactions with Customer Service Representatives have decreased. At the same time, the need for exceptional customer service has never been greater. Consumers desire a relationship with a company’s brand and thus when consumers do make contact with a company they expect and demand great customer service from any employee they come in contact with, regardless of their position. The mistake that some companies make is they incorrectly assume customer service resides solely in the customer service department. This can lead to communication issues and eventually silos will be created within an organization. Once this happens departments stop communicating with one another which ultimately results in employees not understanding how they impact both the customer and their company. Radian6 conducted a study on customer service and describes the shift in company culture that is needed: “valuable customer service has to move outside departmental walls and into the roles of everyone who has the potential to impact a customer’s decision-making process. Customer service is no longer about doing triage; it’s about anticipating the needs of customers before they’re even aware of them.”
Here are 5 ways your company can remain customer focused and prevent silos from being built:
1. Get your customer service department involved with Marketing- Aren’t they two separate departments? Yes, but they are the ones who are in regular contact with your customers and know what they want, after all.
2. Cross training- A great way to ensure all employees understand the significance of providing great customer service is to train them outside of their own department. This also leads to great employee satisfaction as they will be challenged to learn new skills.
3. Social Networking responses- Who handles your social networking responses? Do you have someone dedicated to ensuring responses are timely and accurate? This is critical as more consumers are now using social networking sites for business.
4. Be your own customer- Is your company easy or hard to do business with? A great way to measure this is to place an order with your own company and find out. The results could surprise you!
5. Company culture- Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos advocates focusing your performance reviews not on sales goals or projects completed but on how closely employees’ actions match up with you company culture. Is your culture evident to your customers when they come into contact with your employees?
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