Understanding and demonstrating new value

 

The role of The Customer Service Advisor (or what ever title given) has evolved rapidly in recent years and that change has been felt particularly since society reopened after Covid-19 lockdown. In the whole, although new pressures and challenges are very real, specifically those brought by new technology and adjusted customer expectations and sensitivities, I believe these changes are positive and very exciting. It now has to be our primary focus to engage all our team members with the opportunities now presented and provide clarity over what must be expected of their roles, alongside the support, skills and processes to deliver on these new potential responsibilities. Engaged, focused and confident team members, who feel safe and supported in their role, are critical for managing customer trust and satisfaction, especially during periods of transition. Crucially, as we will see, this can simultaneously open up streamlining/efficiency possibilities whilst laying the foundations for ongoing service and sales improvements.

If we take, for an example, the regular, and seemingly inexhaustible introduction of digital solutions to, ideally (but not always successfully), improve the service options organisations can offer their customers, from better websites (including live chat) to self-service terminals at supermarkets, we must very much appreciate the fear that the inevitable end point is a removal of the customer service advisor role altogether. This is a fear that can be felt by staff and a significant proportion of customers – and not exclusively older generations. It is particularly prominent as we start to explore the possibilities around AI. It would be wrong to deny this concern. Such progress is inevitable as failure for organizations to engage with these solutions could very much lead to them being isolated in comparison to their competitors, missing out on service improvement possibilities whilst continuing to be wasteful in how they offer them. However, I would argue that we can mitigate team member suspicion of system improvements by resolutely highlighting the possibilities they open up to them, as well as the customers they provide services for. Yes, these systems do offer efficiency options but, if introduced appropriately and with balance (i.e. not necessarily removing all other customer options to exclusively offer digital solutions), they can provide space and time for individuals and organisations to achieve so much more. This requires a redefinition of what the customer service advisor role is and the value it can offer.

It is no longer valid to see customer service role as purely processing customer requests. If we do, then it will be far too easy to be replaced in entirety by continual technological advancements. I genuinely believe that we must be left in doubt of that possibility. We can and should, now, demand a lot more and in my experience, the kind of team members that we need to attract and retain within customer service roles have always been very keen to offer more to play a core role in aligning the jobs they do with key business aims and values. They have often been restricted in doing so by poorly resourced or planned operational procedures (including the systems they used) and the failure of management teams and/or other departments to fully comprehend the potential they offer, and thus fail to give the support they need. A well-considered and delivered customer service vision will underline the importance the organisation places on our service teams for successful delivery of a range of business priorities. Below are a few examples of the kind of aims and goals customer service teams should be able to understand and be able to play a key role in delivering (we will explore each in further chapters):

  • Appreciate and be responsible for the wider organisational offer, beyond individual expertise and departmental operations, to assist customers to understand and explore from whatever point-of-entry.

 

  • Connect staff and customers by creating a culture of interdependency with shared aims and values – promoting trust, confidence and respect, and thus supporting psychological wellbeing for all.

 

  • Be integral to attracting and retaining a diverse customer base. E.g. by understanding, and working to mitigate, psychological, physical and social blockers to engaging with a business offer, service teams will play a central role in supporting wider access.

 

  • Aspire beyond being a transactional/operational function by redefining service teams as “insight-finders”, using their direct contact with customers to gather real time feedback and analyses.

 

  • Be empowered to be solution driven and flexible in approach – being ready to trial new approaches and be central to measuring their impact.

 

  • Be motivated by a sales-through-service focus; ensuring that we can fully capitalise on exceptional customer experiences, through higher and additional spend, repeat visits and increased support.

 

Customers understanding of what an organisation is, what it stands for and how much it can be trusted to deliver on what it promises is built up over time through every interaction – very often (if not every time) these interactions are with customer services. A commitment to make these customer service teams represent and embody the organization must therefore be seen as critical. The next updates to this blog will start to examine what that commitment should look like.