Jody Pellerin

We all have used (or should be using) social media as another tool to connect with our customers. They love feeling that a company is accessible to them at any moment.  But what about solving issues for your customers via social media?

A trend that has had a slow start and is believed to sky rocket in 2012 is using social media as a customer service tool. One great thing about using social media for your customer service is that it’s incredibly quick and simple.  Responding to your customers and solving issues via social media is not for everyone but it’s something to at least try for your company.  There is a great example I found on Eye for Travel’s site:

According to Forrester Research, 60% of respondents felt that the company has a clearly defined set of target customers, yet only 24% of employees had a consistent and vivid image of target customers. That should raise a red flag to those who think everyone knows exactly who your customers are and how you need to engage with them.

How do you communicate exactly who your target customer is to your employees? Is your definition of your target sufficiently explicit in details understandable to your employees? This is not something to assume here. This is your business and you need to know how to get the most out of every dollar and every employee. This is about being product, effective, and efficient in all the right ways so your business continues to grow. A little feedback management is called for.

Begin by writing down your definition of your target...

Here is the last element in our brief series on taking your customer service to greatness. The first two, people and a quality product, are equal legs on this stool and so it having the right technology so your customer service agents can spend their time with customers, not tabbing between applications, looking up answers in several different databases, or taking second and third calls from customers whose problem wasn't fixed with the first call. Nor do they want to spend time with calls that could have been avoided if the customer had access to information or processes that don't need another human involved.

First, the easy stuff. Make it possible for your customers to find their own answers if they prefer. Give them access through a customer portal for self service where they can access a knowledgebase, connect with other users, and submit problems or get right in contact with an agent if they can't fix it themselves.

Give your customers the ability to engage with...

Back in November we published what turned out to be a rather popular blog entry: The Three Basic Elements of Customer Support. I want to flesh each of these elements out this week with some tips on optimizing each element.

First Element: People

"[P]eople that are right for your company and have an interest in making your customer happy are the right people to have... working with the customer. A customer can tell whether your employees are smiling or not, even over the phone.  If your people are happy, ultimately your customers will be happy. It is amazing to me how true happiness and excitement can make a customer happy to be part of a winning team.  A positive attitude is infectious so start an epidemic by hiring happy people."

Making...