How to Train an Elite, Efficient, Effective Support Team

Attracting new customers and retaining existing clients is difficult. Too many companies focus more on the former than on the latter, which is a serious mistake. It is far less costly to retain existing customers than to acquire new ones. Customer support plays a vital role in determining how users perceive your business and if they want to remain loyal to your brand. Customers today can freely discuss their experiences on social media, review websites, and other public forums, so poor customer service can be an existential threat.

Importance of Customer Support Training

The benefits of quality customer support, including improved brand credibility, increased sales, and customer retention, should make service a front-burner topic, but that is not always so.

Customer care is a competitive advantage. How you treat your clients determines if they stay or if they go to your competitors. Studies show that customer support is the new battlefield, a critical tool in client retention. What’s more, happy customers are likely to recommend your brand to others, a far more effective selling point than clever marketing campaigns.

Support agents work with the most important people in your business; strive to ensure that you have the right team for the job. With increasingly changing customer expectations, building an effective team is a challenge, so you must invest in training to ensure that the staff is well-prepared.

Effective communication eliminates misunderstandings and makes your customers believe that they are in a safe space. Communicate clearly while showing empathy for customers who may be upset or confused. Emotional intelligence is necessary since it helps in relationship management. Support agents should be able to evaluate and manage their emotions and those of customers. They should identify tone and understand non-verbal cues before rushing to answer. An agent with good communication skills will better engage buyers and increase conversion rates. Communication also involves convincing power, turning tire-kickers into buyers.

The support team guides customers toward informed purchasing decisions and provides solutions to problems. This means being knowledgeable about your products. Customers expect service providers to understand what they are doing; this creates trust and confidence in your products. Customers also expect fast, efficient service, which is only achievable if your team is well-versed in the brand, products, and services.

Customer support usually entails problem-solving, whether helping visitors navigate a website, providing clarification when they have doubts, and guiding them when making purchases. The team assists when customers are stuck, thus reinforcing the credibility of the brand. Problem-solving is a soft skill that has to be included in any worthwhile training program.

The best way to get your team to work hard is through motivation. Set attainable goals and recognize those who reach them while coaching those who did not. You can also use top performers to enhance training. Their experiences can be helpful to beginners who need tips they can incorporate into their service provisioning.

Customers come in all forms; no agent is sure what a call or chat may yield. Often, the customer will be frustrated, perhaps even angry; agents cannot respond in kind. They cannot do that. It is a cardinal rule of customer support. If a user is upset because a system failed or your response was not fast enough, let the customer have his/her say.  Then apologize for the inconvenience and work to correct the problem. There are countless stories of how a contact began with an irate customer, only to end with that customer not just being satisfied, but also buying something additional.

Your support team is just that, a team. The team is only as strong as its weakest link. This is a part of communication that is often overlooked, the communication that occurs within a team. Sharing ideas can lead to fast solutions to customers’ inquiries or spark discussion on ways to improve service.

Final Thoughts

Great support improves customer lifetime value. Proactive service creates cost-effective and effortless marketing opportunities. Do not wait until customers raise issues or post negative reviews before taking the initiative to improve. Invest in support team training to keep up with the trends. You can count on GlowTouch for quality contact center solutions that make customer service a feature of your brand. We have offered these services for nearly two decades; we have seen many things, and those experiences have created a culture of continuous improvement.  Contact us for more information, and let’s discuss how we can help you.