Improving your customer support will help you tailor to your customer’s expectation of great service. It could even boost sales with support services. Setting up a perfect support team is a good way to improve customer satisfaction.

To make this a reality, these are 5 tips to boost sales with the help of a customer support team.

Communicate clearly and positively

People like talking to people. Always remember this when speaking to your customers. Answer their questions directly and correctly.

Make sure to stay professional and at the same time practice a humane approach to every customer. Explain everything clearly, so that any customer gets the information they called for.

Don’t communicate like a robot. Explain how you are going to solve the customer’s issue. If the escalation is required, explain why it is crucial and what benefits the customer will get from spending some extra time on the line, waiting for a resolution.

Be customer-centric. Set and maintain certain communication standards for the support team. If the support consultant can’t respond to the request immediately, they should send a small follow-up message that:

• Says the team has received the request and the support ticket was registered.
• Gives an estimation of the time needed to resolve the issue.

If the ticket needs more time to be resolved, informs the customer about it. A support team should also make sure a customer gets something in return for the additional waiting time: a discount, free shipping, or a partial refund.

By following these easy steps, the support team can form a loyal customer base and increase the number of customers coming via a referral program. It is one of the most powerful marketing techniques that can increase revenue by at least 16%.

Care about the quality

The main goal of every customer support is to make its customers happy and satisfied. One of the best tips to boost sales is to make customers your fans. This way they will buy from it, and recommend it to their friends.

Quality customer support plays a pivotal role in the process. How to ensure all support processes are smooth?

1. Train your customer support agents.

The support team has to be updated with the news about the product, releases, new features, and so on. Without this no tips to boost sales via customer support will work — the support team will simply be unable to help the customers and this will sink the satisfaction KPI.

2. Set benchmarks and KPIs for all channels of customer communication.

A customer support agent should pay as much attention and time to a customer as it takes to resolve their issues. It might be 1 minute, might be 15, or it might be 2.5 hours spent in one phone call (that happens, yes). Make sure to finish the conversation only when the customer is satisfied and has no questions left.

3. Track the quality of services 

Regular QA will provide a necessary outlook into the work of the support team. Conduct it at least monthly and be sure to include random conversations from every channel of communication. The more meticulous the process is, the better the quality of service will be, and the sooner the customers will turn loyal.

Expand the team with right-for-the-job people only

If you want to grow the revenue and the level of customer satisfaction, pay attention to the people you hire. They have to study and know everything about the company, product, or service they will be working with.

Make sure they have access to the information they need to provide top-notch service. Encourage their communication with the other teams inside the company.

Let them exchange experience and expertise. Conduct company-wide team buildings and build the right attitude in every member of the team.

Remember that everyone has to be highly motivated and show a high level of emotional intelligence. People who deal with other people must recognize emotions and feelings and react to them correctly no matter what.

Develop empathy and the ability to listen and hear. Trust us, this will make all the difference in the world.

Use appropriate and secure software

Quality support service depends not only on the people you hire but also on the soft- and hardware they use.

All customer support agents have to use a cloud CRM system for collecting data about the customers. The database should contain the following information:

• Customer’s personal data. Be careful though, to collect and store the data in accordance with the POPI Act
• Customer’s preferred channel of communication
• Customer’s purchase and complaint history
• Any other information that could help improve their customer experience. Once again, remember about the privacy laws.

Be sure to grant access to the information only to those who need it. Make the system leak- and breach-proof and revoke the access from those who no longer participate in the customer support process.

Outsource

Customer service is a big part of your business that consumes a lot of resources both monetary and human.

If you are not ready to invest in creating an in-house support department now, we suggest you take a closer look at outsourced customer support services. This is the best option especially for small and middle businesses as well as startups.

Here there are several guidelines that can help you find an appropriate customer support service supplier:

Make a decision on the country you want to search for an appropriate outsourced customer support company in. Philippines, Ukraine, India and other countries may offer you good prices. There are certain risks like language barriers or the inconvenience of completely remote collaboration. They can be easily eliminated when working with a professional and reliable customer support provider though.

Take a look at references and feedback. Before considering any provider, find out more information about the quality of their services and the general experience of their clients and customers.

Choose a provider that has a trial period. This way you will be able to take a look at how the company operates without paying for it in case you decide not to collaborate with them.

Clarify the questions about access to the information regarding your project and all results. Make sure they are completely secure and can be trusted with your customers’ sensitive information.

With the help of an outsourced customer support team, you will save money, time and free up resources for new ideas. On top of that, this partnership could provide you with the ability to provide better care to your customers along with innovative technologies and approaches.

When in doubt, at least consider outsourcing.

Read the full article here.