I’ll be the first to admit it, there’s a holiday for everything.  Did you know that October is Cookie Month AND Adopt a Shelter Dog Month?  It’s also Apple Jack Month and National Popcorn Popping Month.  So what does this have to do with remote support?  This week, also happens to be National Customer Service Week.   So wait, Apple Jack’s get a full month, but customer service representatives only get a week?  That’s hardly fair.  Customer service teams are on the frontlines supporting users and keeping everyone happy.   And while I can’t just designate a month (or a year) for these folks, there are things organizations can do to show thanks and support all year long.   And a lot of that starts with just helping make their jobs easier.

Here are 3 things to think about:

1. Build up a comprehensive knowledge base. Customer Service agents often are required to have a broad knowledge of a suite of products or an in-depth knowledge of a single product. In either case, they’re constantly juggling customer requests and are pressed to resolve the issue on the first time, and in the least amount of time possible. To make their jobs easier, invest time and effort into building up a comprehensive knowledge base for your team to reference. By having a repository of documented problems and solutions, they will be better-equipped to resolve support requests accurately and quickly.
2. Employ tools that are easy to use. Arm your customer support reps with tools that are easy to use and can get the job done. We talk to so many organizations that are using multiple tools to perform the same task- all of which have different user interfaces and functionality limitations. This makes it difficult to streamline the way in which agents troubleshoot and resolve help desk tickets. Simplify your support processes with purpose-built tools that meet the needs of your team and end-users. Integrate your tools together so that agents have all the data in front of them and can not only provide a more personalized customer experience, but solve the problem much quicker.
3. Use reporting to drive rewards. When we speak with customers who are looking for a remote support solution, one of their common complaints with their legacy system, or other array of inadequate tools, is the lack of reporting and insight. Often reporting is wanted to identify where there are gaps or weak spots within the team or it’s processes- are customers spending too much time in wait queues, what is the average handle time, are we hitting our SLAs? These metrics are all great to measure but it’s important to remember reporting can also be used to uncover good behavior too! Be sure that the tools you use offer key insights at a team and individual level so you can reward customer support agents that are performing well. Recognize and announce positive activity to inspire improvement across your team- you might even consider using gamification to create a fun and healthy competitive environment.

Customer Support can often be a thankless job. But it’s one of the most important functions within an organization and must be done well to drive retention and customer loyalty. Empower your support team to deliver superior customer experiences with the right tools and information at their fingertips. Continually reward good performance so that they feel recognized and valued all year long, not just during National Customer Service Week.

And maybe buy them a cookie or help them adopt a shelter dog if they so choose.

Want to learn more about delivering exceptional customer support with LogMeIn Rescue?  Check out our latest webinar.