MPK Customer Experience Analyst

Mina also consults on HR matters and can assist with the entire Recruitment Selection and Induction process. Call Mina to find out more. Mina charges a flat rate stop paying exorbitant fees.

Customer Satisfaction - Important points to remember

Anyone managing a contact centre needs to understand the importance of Customer Satisfaction.

Anyone managing a contact centre would agree that it's not all about call centre metrics that make a contact centre function.

Contact Centres of yester years were designed to be transactional and only designed to handle call after call. Service Level was the only real target to measuring efficiency and satisfaction.

Now a days Contact Centres are more advanced. There are more targets coupled with the variety of tools and systems at our disposal. This makes contact centres of today somewhat of a challenge.

One important target which is at the forefront is the voice of the customer, better known as customer satisfaction.

The question I ask every organisation whom I have assisted is why wait every 6 months to 12months to find out what your customers think of your experience with your business? If you really CARE about the customers experience then you should start to track the satisfaction more regularly.

There are many tools designed to measure satisfaction. Some are expensive whilst others are inexpensive. Some companies opt for manual reporting whilst others go straight for the kill and implement high tech satisfaction gauges with you beaut reporting capability. It doesn't matter what you have its important to make sure you begin the journey of measuring your customers satisfaction.

A simple solution that I have implemented for many organisations is the use of a closing IVR recording. The way it works is simple. A question is played to the customer and in return the customer rates their experience as satisfied or dissatisfied. From here I can then begin to build a really good picture on the satisfaction level of each customer.

With this system we have also integrated an analytics tool which is designed to drill down to the core detail of the call. Its brilliant as it really puts you in the realm of the customer and you get to experience first hand what they did, thus enabling you to work on key strategies to shift those dissatisfied customers to satisfied.

An analogy I commonly refer to is, do you only check your engine dipstick every second year? Offcourse you don't. If you did then you will definitely blow something up. Then why wait till it's too late? The same thing applies with the customer. You need to know what the experience is and what their journey was like.

These days the social media and an unhappy customer experience can lead to disgruntled customers broadcasting their dissatisfaction with your brand to an audience of thousands within a few hours. This makes it vital to give customers a forum to talk to you directly. Then take a look and apply a change that will make a world of difference.

The customer satisfaction should not matter if you hold your contact centre inhouse or offshore using a call centre outsourcing environment. Its our customers and they are our largest asset and we must retain.

I take great pride in delivering exceptional customer service and have written many articles to share my knowledge that I have gained with others on the importance of aligning and improving the customer touch points with key emphasis on offshore contact centre environments and Australian based contact centres.

I hope you enjoy reading.

Author Mina Karpouzas.

0466 246 955

Writes and publishes regularly articles to assist professionals

in the contact centre environment offering contact centre solutions.

http://www.call-centre-outsourcing.com

Customer Satisfaction- 7 Key secrets to improve your business

Customer Satisfaction starts with our front line staff. It is one of the key touch points of the company. Like it or not, its a touch point that we must all continuously advocate for improvement. Embracing some very basic principles is certainly a start.

Customer Satisfaction starts with our front-line staff. In fact it's more than just answering a call these days and how pleasant we sound. These days its about delivering a consistent message and following through to the promise we made. If we don't then we have a secondary matter that we will be dealing and in most cases, this will include the manager. So why do we want this to be escalated? Why don't we have a front line of staff that can better deal with situations?

Almost anyone who's been in a customer service position has had the opportunity of running into either an irate call or person...or a situation that, shall we say, is not pleasant. And even though it may not even be our fault, we still need to know how to recover the situation. Here are good examples on how to handle certain situations:

It IS your responsibility. If you have answered the phone on behalf of the company, you have indeed accepted 100% responsibility. At least that's what the caller/customer believes. So get off the "it's not my fault" syndrome. And get on with the "what can I do for you?" position.

"I'm sorry" DOES work. Every once in a while, I hear from a CSR that tells me they don't feel they should say "I'm sorry" when it wasn't their fault. Well, as stated above, in the customer's mind, it is your fault. Saying you're sorry won't fix the problem, but it definitely does help to defuse it immediately. Try it. You'll see.

Empathize immediately. When someone is angry or frustrated with your company, the one thing they need is someone to agree with them, or at least feel they're being understood. Be careful, though: "I know how you feel" is NOT a good thing to say unless you have been through exactly what they have experienced. Try – "That's got to be so frustrating" or "What an unfortunate situation."

IMMEDIATE action is necessary to make a service recovery. Don't make a customer wait for good service. Get whatever it is they need to them immediately. Overnight service if it's necessary. That's recovery. REMEMBER: Telephone Doctor's motto: IT SHOULD NEVER TAKE 2 PEOPLE TO GIVE GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE.

Ask what would make them happy. In a few rare cases, the customer can be a most difficult one. If you have tried what you considered "everything," simply ask the customer: "What can I do to make you happy, Mr. Jones?" In most cases, it may be something you're able to do. You just may not have thought of it. So go ahead and ask them.

Understand the true meaning of your Service Recovery. Service Recovery is not just fixing the problem. It's making sure it won't happen again. It's listening to the customer. It's going above and beyond.

FOLLOW UP. After you feel the problem has been fixed, follow up. After you've made the customer happy, make an extra phone call a day or so later. Be sure to ask them: "Have we fixed everything for you?" "What else can we do for you?" Be sure they're satisfied. When you hear: "Thanks, you've done a great job. I appreciate it." It makes everything you done very satisfying.

It's these very basic customer service principles that need constant attention and re-iteration. As the champion you are in customer service, you are the "leader" that must make it happen.

Author By Mina Karpouzas - 0466 246 955

Call Centre Solutions are more than just listening to the customer its providing a service that in every step of the customer experience, lives and breaths the customer.

http://www.call-centre-outsourcing.com

Customer Service Excellence 5 Key Points You Must Know Today


Customer Service Excellence Strategies should be build around our customers. But what about our angry and irate customers. Angry and irate customers are no joke! They are angry and irate for a reason!

How many times a day do your agents take a telephone call only to find an upset, angry or frustrated individual on the other end? Something your company did or did not do has irritated that customer to the point of emotional distress.

The action and statements your agent makes in the first 10 to 20 seconds of that call can make the difference between losing or keeping a customer. The ones you keep, the loyal ones, will continue to do business with you. Those who leave obviously take their future business with them, but even more potentially damaging is the fallout from an unresolved conflict. This is where effective customer service excellence is crucial

How many people does one dissatisfied customer tell about their "poor experience" and what does that equate to in terms of a financial loss? What's the cost of employee turnover because agents can no longer stand the conflict and leave? The training you provide your agents on how to handle conflict resolution and irate customers is crucial to retaining your loyal customers and improving your bottom line.

So when in conflict with a company, what is it that most customers want? Is it always to "get their way"? Or is it more about feeling like the company actually listened to their concern, empathized with their position and tried to find a solution?

As humans, we have two natural instincts when confronted - fight or flight. At the most basic level, our natural tendency is to either "duke it out" or run away. How we choose to act upon our natural tendencies can vary greatly. Some choose to take the literal description while others choose some polished form of that. And your agents get to deal with all of them! We must all do our best to not personalize customers' emotional outbursts.

Are you aware of the "HEARD" technique? This is a very simple technique to help those who deal with customer conflict.

H - Hear what your customer has to say. Let them describe the problem or reason for their emotional distress. Do not interrupt or attempt to cut them off - that, in and of itself, is rude. Give them the opportunity to express their feelings about the situation.

E - Empathize with their situation. It's very calming to someone who is upset to hear the words "I appreciate" or "I respect." By the same token, it's very irritating to hear "I understand." How can one really understand if they are not in the situation?

Train your employees to stay away from using trigger phrases such as "company policy" or "it's a computer problem" or "we can't do that." Customers don't want excuses - they want a solution to their problem! Train your agents to use appropriate phrases that help diffuse the emotion rather than escalate it.

A - Ask questions to determine what can be done to create a solution. The number one question your agents should ask is "What can we do to make this right for you?" It's one of the simplest things you can do to understand the customer.

Most management is afraid to empower their staff with that question for fear the answer will be something ridiculous or costly. Research has proven that in most situations the customer's suggestion for resolving the conflict is less costly than what the company would have offered as the final solution.

R - Respond with a solution to the problem. Creating a solution with the customer on their first telephone call is absolutely vital to customer retention. Research has shown that 90 percent of customers with a problem will continue to do business with the company if they feel the person handling their complaint is genuinely concerned with resolving the situation.

But in order for that to happen, you must first identify the conflicts your agents are most likely to encounter and then train them so they have all the possible solutions. Knowledge is power! But this knowledge will be useless unless you empower your agents to take the corrective actions. They must know what the possible solutions are as well as their level of authority to institute those solutions.

D - Deliver on the promise made to the customer. Make sure there's a clear understanding with the customer as to what will happen and when it will happen. Restate these two items in very simple terms.

If you want to truly set yourself apart from your competition, go the extra mile and call the customer after the problem has been corrected. Ask if they are happy with the solution. Ask if there is anything else you can do for them right now. Let your customer know that you care!

Customer are just people with needs. Needs that we need to understand.Have you trained your agents on how to understand your customers and apply customer care solutions that will make the difference? Do your agents understand that your customers are not all the same - and neither are their needs? Do your agents understand the bottom-line value of a satisfied customer?

Make sure your customers are being "HEARD" because if they aren't being heard by you, they may just go find someone who will then listen!

Learn more about how to improve the customer experience and how quality by visiting our site and benefit your organisation starting today. http://www.call-centre-outsourcing.com

Article written by Mina Karpouzas

Customer Experience Analyst And Call Centre Consultant Professional Customer experience analysts and Call centre consultants Sydney,who specialise in customer journey mapping,Surveys,Audits,Call Centre Outsourcing,Customer Service Excellence.Contact Centre consultant with 20 plus years experience in call centre consultancy