The customer service department is like the face of your company. The way that your business handles customer service says a lot about your brand values and speaks volumes to your customers. If you fail to provide quality customer service, your customers may decide to rely on your competition instead.

Therefore, it’s incredibly important that you invest in excellent customer service. Today, customers are looking to work with companies they can easily reach out to, whether that’s via online chat, over the phone or through other outreach.

They want to know they can get a hold of someone in case there is a question or concern that needs to be addressed. People want immediacy and they want to feel valued by the companies they purchase products and services from. Customer service is so important to shoppers that 50% of customers increase their purchases with a brand after a positive customer service experience. In fact, 86% of customers would pay up to 25% more to get a better customer service experience.

When you have excellent customer service you leave your customers satisfied. And happy customers can equate to more sales. This is because customers are likely to be loyal to you, returning to make additional purchases in the future. They’ll also be more likely to give you good reviews online and share their great experience with friends or family members.

In addition, keep in mind that finding new customers is more expensive than retaining the customers you have. So, making an investment in your customer service is a great way to improve profits and reduce costs over time.

An excellent customer service department can also help your business stay competitive. It’s hard to compete with a company that keeps customers happy and coming back.

At XACT, we offer resource management, also known internally as coordinated services. This is an independent team that watches and monitors contact transactions and provides a level of triage to support call center agents.

With resource management, you never have to wonder if your customer service department is handling things correctly. This team is available 24×7, which means they’re always on call.

The team provides instant oversight to the on-goings in the contact center. They make sure that questions are answered in a timely fashion. They ensure that agents are sticking to the schedule (on-shift, off-shift, breaks and lunches). They also provide a top level of support for front-line agents, answering questions and directing them to any additional teams if added assistance is required.

The team is always watching the dashboards of our systems. This allows them to check on contact handling and workforce management. The dashboards allow them to see contacts being handled, holding or routing through the system in real-time. They have live monitoring available which allows them to listen to agents handling calls on the system and they’re able to provide assistance when needed.

They also have access to viewing a desktop in real-time, this provides them the ability to offer valuable insight. In addition, the team can use a workforce management tool to see if agents are adhering to schedules. If necessary, they can make adjustments to better match what’s happening.

The resource management team better equips the contact center agents and also provides customers with the help they need. This ensures more timely assistance and more effective answers for customers. Brands can feel good about this because it helps keep clients satisfied and we know that satisfied clients are more likely to return. There’s no guessing whether your customer service department is meeting your clients’ needs, the team monitors this and makes sure your brand is represented well.

Remote work was gaining momentum before 2020 hit. Now, it’s been fast-tracked. Many companies were faced with the need to allow for remote work during the pandemic.

What some companies may not have realized was all the perks associated with remote work, including cheaper utilities and not having to order as many office supplies.

However, one of the concerns many managers faced is keeping their team engaged. The good news is, a remote team can be engaged and even more productive.

Invest in tech

Thanks to technological advances, there are plenty of ways to easily engage with a remote team. You can easily use online platforms like Zoom or MS Teams to host meetings virtually. You can connect on chat platforms and stay in touch via email. You can have online work boards that everyone can access to create assignments and stay on task. And, of course, there’s always the phone. No matter which way you intend to stay connected with your remote team, it’s important to establish some form of consistent communication.

Stay connected

Beyond staying in contact, it’s equally important to continue to show how much you care about your team, even when they work remotely. You can send thank you notes, host virtual office parties, or provide opportunities for your remote workforce to advance. When the timing is right, you can even arrange for occasional in-person gatherings to bring the team together.

Create a policy

Companies with a remote workforce can create policies regarding their remote employees. This allows you to be clear with your remote workforce about what is expected. A policy is just one way to ensure that businesses and remote workers have the same understanding.

With the right policies, communication tactics, and technological advances a remote workforce can offer your business many perks. Working proficiently and staying connected on a remote team is now easier than ever.

To make your business a success and keep it that way, you need to invest in great customer support. Some customers and potential customers will have questions or concerns that need to be addressed.

If you want to keep your current customers and make new connections then you need to invest in the right customer service support.

Thankfully, at XACT, we offer several services that can help you keep customers satisfied. Our services address your customer service needs via phone, chat, email and internet support.

Customer Support Services

We can offer a contact center for your customers. Our support services enhance the communications profile of organizations worldwide through phone, SMS, email and chat.

Chat and Web Support

Do you need support for your site or brand? We can help make sure that all of your visitors and customers receive timely and professional service to ensure you never miss an opportunity.

Service and Support Dispatch

Is time of the essence? You can offer your customers real-time, 24×7 support with XACT.

Telephone Answering Services

Do you want someone to receive your messages and make sure you get them promptly? We can do this. It’s our job to get you the message exactly how you want it through phone, SMS, email or portal 24×7.

Our customer service solutions can give your company a competitive edge. When customers know they can rely on you, they’ll be more likely to do business with you. We strive to deliver a seamless customer support and engagement experience for all of your customers through extensive training, branded implementation and ongoing support tools.

We invite you to learn more about what we have to offer by contacting us today. We’d be happy to answer any of your questions and provide a quote. We want to help your business succeed.

Great customer service starts with great employees. Will your best and brightest employees work as hard as they can and stick with you or will they leave at the next opportunity? Gallup research shows that the majority of U.S. workers have some level of dissatisfaction with their jobs.

Studies also show that employees rarely disclose their frustrations with work situations until they are well on their way to finding a new job. That’s why it’s imperative for managers to get an accurate read on how things are really going. But that’s easier said than done.

One way to gauge employee satisfaction is to meet one-on-one with each member of your team regularly. Ask them not only how they feel about their jobs but how your company — and you — can help them meet their goals. And don’t forget to provide regular feedback. Take a few minutes each week to provide positive feedback on recent accomplishments. Make sure if you’re providing negative feedback that you also provide some positive feedback as well in the same meeting.

Perhaps the best way of all to get honest feedback from your team is to make sure that each person feels that they can come to you with the good and the bad. Do you show irritation when employees approach you with problems or issues? Do you glance at your computer or phone while your employees are talking to you? Do you appear rushed when people come to talk to you? You may unknowingly be encouraging people to not be candid about how they feel and about what’s going on at work.

How well do you know your employees’ hopes, dreams and personal challenges? Do you know what’s going on in their lives? Their children’s names? Their hobbies and what they do on vacation? It’s amazing how much happier people feel when someone takes a genuine interest in them. Taking the time to listen to your employees, support them in their careers and genuinely get to know them can go a long way toward helping them be happier at work.