The Best Way to Build a Remote Customer Service Team
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Building a remote customer service staff is not merely a COVID-19 pandemic response. Over the years, it’s given businesses an edge in creating stronger bonds with their customers.
So what is it with remote customer support teams? First, work from home employees are more productive. In a 2015 survey, 77% of professionals reported that they get more done at home.
Second, it’s a much cheaper setup with less to no operational costs. It’s just a matter of harnessing the power of remote customer service.
Here’s how entrepreneurs can build and manage a successful remote customer support team.
5 Tips on Building and Managing a Remote Customer Service Team
1. Prepare All Basic Customer Support Guidelines
When building any kind of remote team, it’s important to set up all the guidelines and protocols first.
Create infographics or a PDF file containing all the policies and customer support basics your team should know.
This way, you won’t have to spend a lot of time training or supervising your team. Micromanaging can also be counterproductive.
Remote workers thrive when they know you trust them to do their jobs without your supervision.
Provide them with a complete and comprehensive manual so you won’t have to worry.
2. Provide 24/7 Customer Support
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24/7 customer service has started becoming a standard since 2020. You’re dealing with different timezones and work schedules across the globe here.
It’ll be tough to please all your customers with fixed customer support hours.
With a remote customer support staff, you can delegate shifts to employees from different locations.
They can see to it that no emails, calls, or other channel messages are ignored. Unanswered queries easily upset customers.
3. Expand Your Customer Support Channels
Your email and website should not be the only places where customers can reach you for questions. Use your social media channels as well.
Many customers use Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to inquire about a business’s services. Make sure you have staff managing those pages at all times.
4. Hold Virtual Team Meetings
Your customer service staff may be separate from your internal team, but you should still nurture them just as much. Hold remote team meetings to check on them from time to time.
Ask them about how they feel about their workload or if they have any ideas to improve the customer support experience. Show them that you care about them and their input.
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5. Find Remote Workers from an International Talent Pool
To build a customer service staff that can provide 24/7 service, you must hire from an international talent pool.
Now, we know most of you are now thinking of how tiring it is to post on different remote job marketplaces. Here at ScaleSource, we take on the entire remote hiring process for you:
We search for candidates
Do the initial interviews
Get the top 1-2 candidates for you to interview in the final stage
Take care of the onboarding stage
Manage any necessary training
Perform regular assessment and catch-ups with the employee (to make sure they’re always motivated)
Our talents come from different parts of the world. And they’re not just freelancers. They are actual full-time employees who are picked according to their compatibility with your brand’s needs and culture.
Contact us today for a consultation.