Shifting the Customer Service team to a source of revenue while lowering the cost-to-serve and improving customer service levels.
We have seen COVID-19 dramatically alter customers' purchasing habits in all industries. As face-to-face interactions have diminished, Customer Service (CS) functions across the US were faced with a new set of challenges.
Whether a shift from B2B to D2C orders, to phone orders now being taken in lieu of sales visits, many CS teams were not equipped with the necessary people, processes and systems to handle the increased demand for their services.
Common Challenges & Issues
COVID's impact on CS has varied across industries. However, we are seeing common challenges in many companies:
- Salespeople taking on additional administrative tasks (and less customer time) as CS teams are not equipped to handle increased activity
- As individual large-volume B2B orders are replaced with multiple lower-volume D2C orders, CS teams are unable to keep up
- Experienced CS team members have an intimate understanding of customer requirements and issues, yet this knowledge is not always leveraged to improve service levels and/or sales
- Companies have struggled to retain experienced and talented CS employees, who grow frustrated with outdated systems and process that cause re-work
- Technology not being leveraged to reduce manual labor, improve productivity and enhance the customer experience
Helping our clients
Our objective in working with Customer Service teams is three-fold:
- Improve the customer service levels
- Lower the cost-to-serve
- Generate incremental sales