Are telecom agents giving you the right support?
Telecom agents are usually the first line of support when a customer faces a technical issue. But how often are you satisfied with the level of guidance, expertise and professionalism? Unfortunately, too many of us have experienced an agent, who simply does not have the scope of knowledge or understanding to follow through on a technical issue. It can often be a frustrating process when you have spent time explaining the intricate details of your problem on the phone, only to hear a less-than-confident response concerning the issue at hand. This is often followed by a pause, redirecting your call to another colleague, or providing information that is not aligned with your technical support needs.
What are the reasons for customer service inconsistency?
The reason, likely points toward the fact that the telecoms industry and its infrastructure is growing exponentially. The vast number of services, means increasing expectations for customer service agents to show expertise across technologies. The systems that are entangled under one customer services unit, strains the customer service experience, as telecom agents are expected to provide correct advice and information to the increasing volume of trouble shooting requests for different systems. An improved, centralized system would enhance customer service capabilities, allowing your services to stand out from other competitors.
Customer analytics to help the troubleshooting process
Building lasting relationships with your customers can only be achieved through efficient, personalized services. Many operators are beginning to adopt customer analytics in an effort to fine-tune their branded customer experience in real-time. Operators need to implement diagnostic and troubleshooting tools through multiple channels. Gathering data more efficiently and implementing an integrated solution, will provide more visibility on customer profile, network and services. Streamlining services will reduce errors and delays and improve overall experience.
Communication is key
The omnipotent nature of the customer journey means that operators must step-up efforts to ensure that individual needs are being met across services and technologies. Remember that no tool or AI component will help compensate for the lack of people skills demonstrated by a customer service representative. Good communication is the foundation of all things and we place a high value on telecom agents that demonstrate not only technical know-how but the ability to empathize with a customer in a stressful situation. Advanced troubleshooting tools and good interpersonal skills must go hand-in-hand to ensure customers receive exceptional service.
Demonstrate proactive (not just reactive) customer service skills
Enhancing customer service requires, not only the ability to react to the customer’s need effectively, but also, to proactively engage with customers, to prevent bigger issues from developing. Customer service agents must anticipate customer issues and take the necessary steps to ensure a problem is dealt with more efficiently. The telecoms sector has more access to customer data than any other industry, which can be used to fine-tune operators’ capabilities. The key is knowing how to effectively utilize the information to elevate customer satisfaction. Proactive customer engagement can take the form of FAQs, forums and instructional videos.
Promote visual engagement for improved customer service
Reports have shown that customers love visual interaction – which taps into their need for personalized experience – with video viewing having increased to nearly 10 million minutes per day. Most of us (70% according to stats), have navigated to a YouTube video to help assist us with a problem – which indicates that visual assistance in a time of a technical issue, would be significantly more helpful and reassuring to a customer. Video assistance would empower the services offered by a contact center and reflect their multifaceted capabilities.