This is the first in a special series dedicated to rebuilding a single customer care team. The info in these posts will be less generalized than the regular posts here, but I thought it was a great opportunity to show you how I put into practice all the things I talk about here.
I’ve just been handed a customer care team that is in need of rebuilding. Ratings for this company’s customer service are quite low, and I’ve been asked to reverse that. I’m really excited about this opportunity, and excited to have you join me on this journey.
So, first step: I’m making lists. I have a list of things I need (programs the CSRs use, information from various departments that I need to be able to give the CSRs, training on some things so that I know what the CSRs are up against). I have another list of questions. Some of these are for the CSRs, some are for various other department heads, some I’m going to have to find out who to ask. A third list is a draft for a PP deck that I’ll be presenting to the team as a starting place (and which I will share here in the next post in this series) for our new policies and procedures.
That third list is super important. I’m going to be meeting with the team this week, and they haven’t had written policies governing the department up to this point. I’m going to change that right from the start. But I’m also going to emphasize that if we find these policies aren’t working for us, we can revisit and revamp them.
In addition to the internal policies, I’m also going to be developing some procedures for the CSRs to follow. Currently, each CSR has their own way of processing a return, making a recommendation, or fulfilling a request for information. Unfortunately, this lack of uniformity means that things are slipping through the cracks. It also means that when it’s time to expand the department, there’s no training manual and worse, each current CSR will be teaching conflicting methods for handling tasks.
Unfortunately, one of the issues this team has is a tendency towards rigidity when they feel their autonomy is being threatened. I’m going to have to continue to emphasize that policies and procedures are living documents, subject to change as needed. Hopefully, we’ll quickly get to a point where they’re able to understand when policy can be flexible and why we need structured procedures in place.
This week’s goals:
- Get all software installed
- Meet with team to introduce policies
- Meet with individual team members to set goals and hear concerns
- Meet with other department heads