Are you becoming a customer support representative? Congratulations! You will be part of a team with just one goal: making customers happy. How will you do that? Where can you find the right information about products and services to tell each customer in detail about your brand, organisation, and offerings? As a Customer Service Representative at ContactCare, I’m pleased to share some tips with you.

Useful Tips

• Sharing is the new having
  Healthy organisations with a service team use an environment where product descriptions, ways of providing service, tips, and advice are shared. The frequently asked questions section is also often part of the knowledge base. You can find our version here. Explore the knowledge base of your organisation and test whether you find everything clear. This way, you will learn about functionalities and possibilities yourself.

• Support tickets as reading material
  Tickets (a technical term for a question/message to a helpdesk) are rich in data for you as a new customer service representative. Issues, details, the procedures followed by your organisation, names, and job titles of contacts: relevant information for customers who have contacted your organisation so far and also for you. Sometimes it's possible to listen back to conversations. In that case, you can get a feel for the tone of voice your colleagues use and the mood in which various customers contact your organisation.

• Practice makes perfect
  Winning a customer’s heart with just your voice is a challenge in itself. Phone support is about direct communication, and it’s a matter of seconds before the caller expects an answer. The caller expects an appropriate response with the right tone of voice. Therefore, we advise every newcomer to simulate phone conversations. Practice with colleagues who are part of the furniture and let them take on the role of the calling customer. Request everyday cases and switch these with exceptional customer cases.

• Dive into the call history
  Do you understand that service often revolves around the art of listening rather than specifically solving problems? The customer really values sharing their story, rather than being interrupted by someone, even if this person is right and the solution is at hand. Once you listen to conversations of experienced colleagues and reflect on how solutions are provided, it will become much easier for you to work with a specific tone of voice. In a relatively short time, you will contribute to satisfied customers. Imagine, you manage to make a customer happy with your tone without directly having a solution to their problem.

• A game.. can never be taken too seriously
  When you discover there are aspects you find difficult, turn it into a knowledge quiz. It's especially handy when you’re part of a group of new starters. Formulate questions based on scenarios/cases. Rate each other on empathy, tone, and positivity.

• An expert.. once made many mistakes
  Dare to make mistakes. Your colleagues have been there before, and even I still make them after two years! Service and Support: a field where you receive new information and learn every day. As long as you believe in that one goal you’re all working towards: satisfied customers.