Your team is providing subpar customer service. How can you turn it around?

1 Identify the issues

The first step to fix any problem is to understand what's causing it. You need to gather data and feedback from your customers, your team, and your own observations. You can use surveys, reviews, ratings, metrics, reports, and interviews to collect information about your customer service quality, efficiency, and satisfaction. Look for patterns, gaps, and areas of improvement. For example, you may find out that your customers are unhappy with long wait times, rude responses, or inaccurate solutions.

2 Set clear goals and expectations

Once you have identified the issues, you need to communicate them to your team and set clear goals and expectations for improvement. You can use SMART criteria to define specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound objectives. For example, you may want to reduce your average response time by 20% in the next month, increase your customer satisfaction score by 10 points in the next quarter, or achieve a 90% resolution rate in the next year. You also need to explain the benefits of reaching these goals, such as higher customer loyalty, referrals, and revenue.

3 Provide training and support

Your team needs to have the skills, knowledge, and tools to deliver excellent customer service. You can provide training and support to help them develop their abilities and confidence. You can use online courses, webinars, workshops, manuals, guides, and mentors to teach them the best practices, techniques, and standards of customer service. You can also provide them with the necessary resources, such as software, hardware, scripts, templates, and feedback systems, to help them perform their tasks efficiently and effectively.

5 Monitor and evaluate

Your team's customer service performance is not a one-time thing, but a continuous process. You need to monitor and evaluate their progress and results regularly and consistently. You can use metrics, reports, audits, surveys, reviews, and ratings to measure their quality, efficiency, and satisfaction. You can also use feedback, coaching, reviews, and appraisals to provide them with constructive criticism, guidance, and appreciation. You can also use data and feedback to identify new issues, opportunities, and goals for improvement.

6 Involve and empower

Your team's customer service success is not only your responsibility, but also theirs. You need to involve and empower them in the decision-making, problem-solving, and innovation processes. You can use collaboration, communication, and consultation tools and methods to solicit their opinions, suggestions, and feedback. You can also use delegation, autonomy, and accountability methods to give them more control, ownership, and responsibility over their tasks. You can also use creativity, experimentation, and learning methods to encourage them to try new ideas, solutions, and approaches.