In our last blog, we returned to the topic of customer service and highlighted how important it is to provide the unbeatable variety during the upcoming holiday rush. With November now here, there is literally no time to waste in injecting additional cheer in your customer interactions. Over the course of the next several weeks, your customers will be looking for places to purchase their holiday gifts. What will make them select your brand over its competitors?
Train your staff to adequately handle distressed customers.
The holiday season is certainly meant to be a time of joy. However, for many consumers, it’s a time of year that induces great stress. It’s important that your call centre staff is prepared to handle the proverbial stressed out customer. As Katarína Kasalová explains on CustomerThink.com, this involves using positive language.
“Customers are *stressed out* over holidays,” she states, “It’s super-important that everyone working in customer service knows how to use positive language to position alternatives and de-escalate any situation.”
Prepare your team for increased call volume.
In the weeks to come, your call centre staff is very likely to be inundated with phone calls in ways that are incomparable to any other time of year. It’s important to firstly, have your office stocked with enough employees to handle your soon-to-be-increased call volume. Secondly, it’s best to ensure that everyone is well prepared to answer questions and provide very pleasant customer experiences.
“The peak day for customer support is Dec. 12,” informs Lisa Byrne on xSellco.com, “Time will be limited for getting orders shipped in time for Christmas after the busiest day for customer support, so make sure your team has a fluid communication flow with your vendors for inventory and fulfillment.”
Prepare for your worst-case scenario.
The last thing you want, especially during the holiday rush, is to encounter an unforeseen circumstance or emergency situation. However, it’s certainly a good idea to prepare for worst-case scenarios just in case anything unfortunate does occur. Inform your staff of who to contact in the event of an emergency and what steps to take in order to resolve it.
“If everything goes horribly wrong, do your front line staff know who to call and when?” asks Kasalová, “Before setting your out of office for holidays, make sure the communication plan for any emergencies is up to date and the entire team knows where to find it.”
Provide your team with helpful feedback.
As the saying goes, you’re never too old to learn something new. Keep this in mind when offering feedback to your staff. No matter the length of your employees’ experience, it’s important that they are continually supported by your upper management. Offer helpful tips and advice as well as positive reinforcements to keep them motivated to perform at their best.
At MeloTel, we proudly offer the Monitor/Whisper Control Panel which has become known as a call centre manager’s dream come true. It enables you to listen to your phone agents’ calls live while also enabling you to whisper helpful tips while they are on their calls. For more information, please don’t hesitate to contact us at 1-888-MELOTEL or use the Live Chat feature on our website!
