Curatti

How Much Is Your Customer Service Worth?

  • Paolo Fabrizio

    • It’s not easy to answer, uh? I’ve posed you this tough question because it helps you to consider both the present and future customer support within your organization. In fact, when you have to decide whether to launch a new project, chances are that you’ll focus on the return of investment – aka ROI. This approach is dangerous though if you have not evaluated earlier how much your customer service is worth FOR your business. That’s exactly the point I’m going to walk you through…

    The Time to Evaluate it is NOW

    As I have worked for almost twenty years in customer-facing roles, I’ve learnt from first-hand experience that customer support is often…underrated. In some cases, there’s a lot of blah-blah both in internal meetings and external conferences. But ‘real life’ is way different from Hollywood movies. That’s why the first thing I suggest you do is checking how much your customer service is worth by focussing on these key drivers:

    1. Strategic role – what’s the ultimate goal of your customer service? Just answering (irate) customer queries or becoming a valuable ally for Marketing and Sales Depts.?
    2. Available resources – do you have enough support staff? Are they (up)skilled to master online conversations through digital customer service channels? Is your technology (platforms) up-to-date? Can it handle omnichannel support and deliver seamless customer experiences?
    3. Budget – do you get a yearly allocated budget for customer service? Do you deem it appropriate to successfully face your next challenges and goals? Or do you just get ‘budget leftovers’ from other departments if/when available?
    4. Desired impact – considering all of the above aspects, is your customer service able to meet and exceed their goals? If not, what’s missing, and what is the main reason why?
    5. Measure the gap – compare currently available resources with those extra that you’d need, both in terms of priorities and costs. Define a road map, show it to your manager.

    Related read: why culture has become hot as hell in customer service.

    Over To You

    Today I’ve asked you many questions because you need to know exactly how much is your customer service is worth. This step is paramount to become fully aware of how customer service is currently positioned in your organization and where it should be in the next months and years. That’s the best way to build a solid future for your business.

    Have great conversations.

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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