Ingredients for Successful Customer Service

All successful companies achieve their success through the combined efforts of a number of moving parts. Some parts are flashier, and some efforts fly under the radar. One aspect of eLocal that is integral to our success is our world-class Customer Success Team. They understand that eLocal’s goal is to help grow businesses and that we do that by making sure these businesses can be the best version of themselves. Our Customer Success Team doesn’t just handle customer complaints or one-off technology issues; this is a group dedicated to ensuring the success of eLocal programs through thought-out advice and honesty, even when a partnership with eLocal just isn’t a good fit.

So, what are the ingredients that go into a high-quality, top-performing Customer Success Team? We’ve got four crucial components to ours:

• Highly trained individuals: Training is weekly, if not daily. And this isn’t sitting down and watching slide shows or webinars — it’s holistic meetings and conversations about best practices. We’re always learning and learning from each other.
• Industry knowledge: If we do our job right, the customer isn’t always right. We aim to be as knowledgeable as possible, so our advertisers know they’re getting real, reputable advice. We know what we’re talking about, and for that reason, our advertisers trust us. Sometimes, that means we know things they don’t or can point out crucial missteps that can be avoided for future success.
• Quick thinking: Our advertisers’ time is valuable. In an industry where your product is your service, time is money. So we need to be able to think quickly. This means listening, digesting information, and providing a solution on the spot. Advertisers don’t want to hear that you’ll call them back after some thinking, nor do they want to wait for your follow-up email for solutions.
• No scripts: Great teams aren’t scripted. When you work off a script, you’re not actively listening to the person on the other end of the line. When you use a script, you’re taking what they’re saying — which, in our industry, can often be real moments of vulnerability from business owners — and trying to fit it into a pre-determined box. We want to talk to our advertisers like the human beings they are and have dynamic, real conversations with them about their issues and possible solutions.

Take a look at your own Customer Success departments and ask yourself: What’s their goal, and how do we implement strategies to achieve that goal?

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