Outsourcing customer support tasks can be tricky. You will often worry about whether these outsourced agents can provide the right kind of service. For that, you should consider getting customer support specialists instead of regular agents. But what makes these specialists a cut above the rest and how do you get 5-star customer service from them? Let’s find out.
What are customer service specialists anyway?
As the name implies, these are the agents who are focused on providing comprehensive support for customers. They differ from regular customer service agents in that they go beyond handling simple service requests. These agents will guide customers through the more complicated problems adn assist them in implementing solutions.
Another difference between support specialists and regular agents is that the former handles only one or a few client accounts. That allows them to focus more on the specific customer relationship that the client brand has. They will also typically handle most of the support channels that a client has instead of just one or two.
The benefits of getting customer support specialists
Getting customer support specialists will give you all of the benefits of outsourcing support. But you also get specific benefits that illustrate why they are better options for your business.
Better support quality
Since customer support specialists work with only a small number of clients at any given time, they provide better-quality support. Support specialists work closely with you to fully understand your process. Using that knowledge, they can assist customers with more complicated customer issues.
Customized Support
Another handy benefit of getting support specialists is that you can get customized support. With them, you can create more specific rules that govern the work they do. You also get to set their work volume and the type of tasks assigned to each specialist. With that control, you can quickly adapt the support you provide to whichever changes in customer needs.
Multichannel support
With many outsourced customer support services, you only get one channel per assigned team. For instance, you might only get an email support team and will need to sign separate contracts for other channels. Customer support specialist providers like Virtua Solutions have teams of specialists that are well-versed in different support channels. Besides online channels like social media and chat, you also get offline ones like phone and email.
Consultations and insights
Outsourced general customer support teams often only give a limited amount of insights about the progress of your customer support strategies. A specialist support team can give you more than that. As they work more closely with you, they can give you deeper insights into the issues affecting your customer support process.
Support specialists can also take on a more proactive role in keeping customers. Virtua Solutions, for instance, can conduct retention programs to ensure that customers stay. They can also conduct client calls to discuss the necessary support strategy changes.
Getting Support That Has 5-Star Customer Service Skills
Hiring a specialist with 5-star customer service skills is a lot more involved than getting a regular outsourced team. You need to closely scrutinize each option to grasp what they can bring for your customer service needs. There are also things that you need to consider.
The 3 Important Qualities of Customer Service
With support specialists, you will need to emphasize the three essential qualities of customer service even more. These three qualities are:
- Professionalism: As they Handle more complex customer issues, specialists need to be calm and collected to understand and resolve these effectively.
- Patience: Resolving these issues can often be a lengthy process. The specialist must be ready to stay with the customer throughout the resolution process.
- People-first attitude: Specialists must be ready to empathize with customers about these issues and assure them that these will be fixed.
Here, specialists can tap into their years of experience to ensure that they uphold these qualities. They also need to be adaptable to apply these qualities to different situations.
The skills needed for 5-star customer service
As support specialists must deliver 5-star customer service, they need to have the right set of skills. Beyond the basic customer service skills, specialists should have these advanced ones.
Deep Product Knowledge
Having a deep understanding of the product will help support specialists quickly identify even advanced issues They can also provide alternative solutions that customers can use. These solutions are sometimes not apparent and can only be devised through careful study of the product or service.
Specialists also need to update that knowledge routinely. Products continue to change and have new features. As such, they must be diligent and proactive to learn more about these changes. That way, they are ready to answer customer questions regarding these.
Reading the customer
Managing customer emotions also play a vital role in customer service. A crucial skill here is being able to read customers correctly. Skilled specialists like Virtua’s team can effectively discern customers’ emotional states. They are also good at picking up subtle cues even on written communications.
This ability to quickly read customer emotions helps support specialists decide on how to approach them. For instance, the right use of positive language appeases customer concerns and assures them that they will resolve the issue. On the other hand, there would be moments when the support specialist should know how to admit that they can\’t resolve the issue.
Willingness to go the extra mile
When customers see brands being ready to give more than what they have expected, they become more loyal. 5-star customer service like the one Virtua provides is built around this idea. Its support specialists are ready to put in the additional effort that customers appreciate.
This does not even need to be some big gesture. Specialists are trained to respond to customer needs as quickly as possible. And their adeptness at using different channels ensures that they are where customers need them to be. For clients like you, this can mean a lot in being able to retain those customers longer.
Get 5-Star Customer Service Right At Your Fingertips
Having 5-star customer service specialists can do a lot of wonders for your business. And with the right choice of an outsourcing provider, you can find them easier than you might think. Sign up for our services today and we will be ready to help you and your customers.