Let’s face it —personality matters. Marketing departments can spend millions on creating a solid brand personality. However, it’s the staff members on the front line who portray it: the customer service team.
When you have a small team, taking total control of your brand personality is easy. However, as things start to grow (both physically and geographically), this can become a difficult feat. Should you take the leap to outsource your customer service, for example, you may feel as though you’ve completely lost your grasp.
This is something we hear a lot when people are considering outsourcing to us. We understand this concern—our brand personality is important to us so why wouldn’t we expect yours to be important to you?
The first thing to note is that you shouldn’t think of us as a separate business, but as an extension of your own team. We mostly work with companies whose brand values and culture align with ours, so you should see our outsourcing partnerships as a growth of your own team.
Here’s how we ensure we keep your brand alive with our customer service team.
1. Our team members become your brand ambassadors
When we work with your team, we involve you in training from the start. Often enough, that means having your staff train our trainers. This extra step means that your brand values are baked into our training processes. The team that oversees this part of the process will understand your core product and service well. So, in turn, the outsourced team is completely clued-up when it comes to who you are and what you do.
With retail brands, we have clients who provide a range of products that we keep on-site for our customer service agents. That means that the team can touch and feel the products that they are talking about. It gives them a chance to know them inside and out. If you simply offer a service, we will have our team trial it to understand it. This extra level of care and attention means that the customer service team can emphasise with callers.
2. We hire the right people
Recruiting the right customer service agents is essential. We make sure that each professional has the right skills, experience, and brand personality for your business. That means taking the time to learn about your company and its vision. When we fully understand your brand, products, services, and tone of voice, we can find the perfect agents for you. These individuals will align with your brand personality and bring it to life.
One example of this is a clothing retailer we provide customer service for. The business has a unique approach to the way they communicate with their customers, which is highlighted right from the recruitment stage. Giving agents this information from the offset means that they can truly represent the company.
3. We use your personality when training
Of course, we continually offer our team training and up-skilling opportunities. When working with our agents, we use your brand personality as the core of these activities. We give them examples of what the brand personality should look like in action and what it shouldn’t look like. We also use role-playing during training to demonstrate this. This approach means that the team understands the importance of your personality.
4. We include you in the training process
Creating an excellent experience for your customers takes collaboration. We encourage our clients to be engaged in communication and problem solving when we’re training our agents. Our experienced Learning and Development team can help to make this process a smooth one. They use a ‘train the trainer’ approach, designing and delivering training while providing appropriate support for all trainees.
It doesn’t end there. We also offer welcome feedback and encourage advisors to discuss their experiences, challenges and tell us how we may improve. We believe that listening to their insights helps us create trusting teams, improves attrition, and increases overall customer experience.
For more articles like this head over to our website to read what our DDC Experts have to say – www.ddcos.jimmonkhouse.com.
