Every business owner aims toward organic growth. Seeing a firm expanding and moving forward is far more than just gratifying. But it brings multiple challenges as well. In order to grow and see positive results fairly quickly, a business needs to scale properly. Scaling a support team is an inside job that affects all spheres and aspects and determines the company’s future, profits, rates, and outcomes. Learning a thing or two will make a huge difference and direct you toward the path of lasting success. With more and more customers, inquiries, and problems to solve – you must soak in all the advice that can help your team thrive.
What Makes a Good Support Team?
Did you know that almost 90% of the customers state that a prompt response counts as one of the most valuable parts of their experience? And by “prompt,” more than one-half of them say that they expect to get an answer within ten minutes. Now, as soon as you take a glance at the stats, you know exactly what you need. Your goal is to have an excellent customer support team by your side.
However, the first thing we must define carefully is – What is a customer support team? It is a group of people who provide a wide range of customer services. They know the vital facts about the goods or services they represent, they possess tremendous industry knowledge, and they have the essential skills to deal with all types of customers. At least – that is what a support team stands for in an ideal scenario. Luckily, many of these skills can be adopted and boosted along the way. If you want to build an in-house team or lookup for the most reputable outsourcing company that will help you out, focus on these traits:
- Having excellent communication skills, active listening, and people skills,
- Being willing to learn and ameliorate one’s ways continuously,
- Possessing a great deal of empathy and patience,
- Having the ability to work within a team and contributing to its success daily.
These are the inevitable parts of each prosperous support team. Once you hire agents with these abilities or find a BPO company that understands and promotes these traits, you’ll be on your way toward sustainable growth and increased profits. Not to mention – satisfied employees and happy customers.
How Do You Build a Good Customer Support Team?
Choosing between building an in-house team VS outsourcing parts of your work to a third-party provider isn’t always easy. You must think ahead and search thoroughly before you decide. Even though there are countless benefits of outsourcing you can rely on, starting an inside crew from scratch also has its perks. For instance, some businesses need a higher level of security. If that is one of your prime concerns, it is most likely best to develop your own squad and monitor their work.
These are the steps you will need to take:
- Keep your customers and their needs in mind when screening and selecting candidates,
- Setup and adequate onboarding and organize learning opportunities and workshops frequently,
- Prioritize in every possible domain and make sure that every team member is familiar with your goals, milestones, and aspirations,
- Make clear communication and knowledge-sharing pre-eminent,
- Offer feedback and base your conclusions on multiple factors and KPIs, including the customer experience, retention rates, and more,
- Build a community around your team and around your brand.
Teach your employees how to step out of their comfort zones and become truly exceptional at what they do. And lastly – show them appreciation and reward the good work. That way you will create and scale a support team successfully.
How Do You Manage a Customer Support Team?
High-quality customer service is a competitive advantage. Having that in mind, you will undoubtedly want to raise the bar and obtain the best possible results for your business. Frequent training, good and healthy leadership, and organization are the keys to success. How can a support team be improved? Here’s everything you must keep in mind:
- Teach your employees to engage with your customers and understand their needs,
- Instruct your management to lead by example,
- Introduce your staff to the company history and philosophy,
- Help them understand every detail about your product or services you sell,
- Teach everyone how to listen carefully,
- Provide instructions that will help your customer support team handle unsatisfied customers,
- Promote positive languages and personalize the communication,
- Make your employees recognize the power of specific words and phrases,
- Reward hard work and results by setting clear and objective goals and parameters,
- If you must criticize, do it in private,
- Empower your employees and show that you value their feedback.
These are some of the most significant things you must grasp and employ timely to manage an efficient customer support team.
How Do You Scale a Team?
How do you scale up a team? To understand the process, you must be clear regarding the term. First of all, learn the difference between growing vs. scaling. Growth implies obtaining new resources like capital, people, or technology. Now, growth involves certain costs. Successful scaling refers to avoiding growing pains. It means that your crew can expand, your resources can multiply, and your expenses won’t skyrocket. The revenue should increase without extra costs when you plan everything correctly.
Here’s what you must focus on:
- Culture, purpose, and motivation,
- Automating some processes,
- Being open toward innovation.
Let’s see how you can master these invaluable lessons and steps.
Culture, Purpose, and Motivation
Company culture, values, mission, and vision form principal parts of every employee’s lifecycle. They also reflect what you do and how you do it, which surely impacts every prospective and current customer. Having the bar raised hard and being transparent through every process while solidifying your culture along the way are the recipe for lasting bliss.
Focusing on these vital business aspects must start from the hiring process. Pick the candidates who have a strong will to learn and the potential to outdo themselves. Here’s your guide through this sphere:
- Identify your needs and define your growth on time,
- Know who you want to be part of your company and create job posts accordingly,
- Focus on proper leadership,
- Be sure of what you want to accomplish,
- Think about the timeframes and milestones you want to set,
- Be consistent with your goals and values you promote,
- Let the employees express themselves and be autonomous,
- Take good care of the communication and make sure that mutual trust and respect are being built.
And if you don’t have enough time for interviews and rounds of selection, you can choose a reliable BPO company that will offer a well-established time. Still, you should keep these important things in mind when selecting an outsourcing partner as well.
Automated Processes
We live in an era of people who shoot straight toward simplicity. Every part of your business should be made while having that in mind. Automate as much as you can. Rely on technology daily. Do not think that chatbots can replace human interactions. In fact, most of your customers would hate the very idea of chatting with a software program. Always stick to the good ol’ human contact.
Nevertheless, automate the processes that allow it. Use tools to gather and sort valuable data. Ease your work by allowing the team to focus on the crucial stuff while a tech tool takes charge of more trivial tasks.
Innovative Approaches
Don’t ever be afraid of trying out new approaches, strategies, and gizmo (like incorporating AI into your customer support routines, for instance). In addition to it, you should keep track of what matters most to your company and make decisions accordingly. Never stick to a single pattern only because you know that it has worked in the past. You should constantly aspire to upgrade your processes and set your objectives for scaling a support team and running your line of work high.
Scaling a Support Team
If you want to scale a support team properly, you must be people-centric. Every person on the team must feel appreciated and included at all times. This is what your organization must do:
- Empower everyone, from executives to the brand-new apprentice you have admitted fresh from college,
- Although you must treat everyone with equal respect, make sure to understand their true needs, aspirations, and pain points. Communicate well to get to know your staff and to make their days productive, fun, and packed with motivation and good vibes.
- Come up with plans and strategies and document them. Talking everything through on one-on-ones, meetings, check-ins, groomings, or however you prefer to communicate and brainstorm internally isn’t enough. Everything should be written down and shared.
- Automate repetitive tasks. Yes, we said it before, but it is a part of scaling you must pay close attention to. Your team must be able to move forward. Take some of their unnecessary burdens and let them be amazing at what they do.
- Make your emails and relevant data searchable, and keep every record neat and tidy,
- Offer self-service support to your customers. Keep it as an alternative for those who prefer to manage things that way.
Lastly, regardless of how much your firm grows, never let go of the personal touch your returning customers know and love.
Advantages of Outsourcing for Scaling Customer Experience
There are numerous benefits of outsourcing business owners who need customer experience experts should know of.
- Outsourcing helps you save time, which is priceless when you must scale,
- BPO companies usually save lots of money for their clients,
- The highly-skilled team already awaits, which enables you to worry less about hiring processes, onboarding, and training,
- More coverage, multi-channel, and multi-language support are easily accessible when outsourcing customer service,
- You can relax and take care of other ways to boost your business while a trustworthy team does an essential part of the work on your behalf.
What Is the Correct Way to Outsource Customer Service?
When thinking about outsourcing customer services and scaling a support team wit external help, you must be realistic about your aims, budget, audience, and objectives. But firstly, you must know what your top priorities to contemplate this business practice are. Finding a suitable BPO partner means that you have:
- Lower operational costs,
- Better outcomes,
- More productivity,
- More satisfied clients,
- An increase in revenue,
- Great reputation,
- Increased coverage,
- Quick solutions to some problems.
To have all of the above, you must find an outsourcing company that matches your expectations, style, and tone. Their staff must be familiar with your line of work. They should be honest, transparent, and have the reviews to back them up. Before finding your new ally, make sure to explore multiple options and compare them.
Scaling a Support Team Successfully – Master These Simple Tricks
These actionable pieces of advice can do wonders for scaling a support team. Not only will you have a more productive, motivated, and satisfied crew working side by side and making their way toward the mutual goal, but you will see the beneficial influences everywhere. Your gains will rise, your customer base will expand, your churn rates will lower, all of your KPIs will show enhancements, and your long-term success will be near.
Follow these guidelines and ensure a thriving future for your products or services. And, if you need an experienced and reputable customer support team – this is your lucky day.
