Curatti

Get Ready For a Blended Customer Service Model

  • Paolo Fabrizio

    • Like it or not, few workers around the world will be going back to their offices full time anytime soon. Some, however, will go in once or twice a week with the rest of the days spent working remotely. Since we do not know how long this ‘hybrid situation’ will remain, we’d better act as if it’s not going back to normal (soon). Accordingly, smart companies are adapting their customer support operations to a blended customer service model. So let’s focus on the two main challenges – I hope you’ll get useful insights here!

    Review Your Tools and Your Internal Communication 

    Have you ever thought how it would have been if we’d to face a lockdown in 1990? Thank Goodness that when, a few months ago, companies had to close their offices in just 24 hours while maintaining support, it did work. In fact, they were able to let their managers, supervisors, and agents work remotely from home thanks to technology:

    However, this was the first phase = maintaining service during the emergency phase. The fact though, is that now, in September 2020, it’s time to have a forward-thinking perspective, taking a leap towards blended customer service. Therefore it’s time to review and adapt internal customer service operations, regardless of the size of your company. So if you are a manager, you should ask yourself the following questions:

    Internal communication challenges Recipients
    1.  Do our tools still fit our remote communication needs? Customer service manager / team leaders / agents
    2. Do our internal processes still fit our remote communication needs? Customer service manager / team leaders / agents
    3. What shall we do to keep our remote agents engaged and motivated? Customer service manager / team leaders / agents
    4. What shall we change to provide even better customer experiences? Customer service manager / other business areas (e.g. IT, Mktg, Sales)

    Below you’ll find related content to each of the above-mentioned challenges:

    1.  Going digital? You need a customer information hub.

    2. Three things to know about a customer service pilot.

    3. The path from happy employees to happy customers [podcast]

    4. Focus on People to better support your customers.

    Over To You

    Yes, blended customer service is here to stay. So start embracing a forward-thinking approach towards internal communication with your customer service team members. Review your current processes, procedures and tools, and, if necessary be brave: get rid of them if not useful anymore. Change proactively instead of reactively. Even in these challenging times, there are opportunities to let our mindset, culture, and organization evolve.

    Have great conversations.

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    Featured image: Copyright: ‘https://www.123rf.com/profile_andreysuslov‘ / 123RF Stock Photo

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    Paolo Fabrizio

    Digital Customer Service Consultant, Trainer, Author, Speaker. Paolo has been helping companies to harness digital customer service as a business driver. Founder of CustomerServiceCulture, author of books and speaker at conferences in Italy and abroad. Lecturer at the Bicocca University of Milan