When holidays are just around the corner, people are getting ready to fill their soul with love and their bellies with delicious food. Any holiday season brings joy and laughter, but it can also mean stress and busy times for any business.
Most businesses see an increase in their demand during the holidays, people are looking for sales and promotions everywhere, when they need to find the best gifts, products or services for the enjoyment of their families and loved ones.
It is very important to provide continuous services during any time of the year, as we all want to take advantage of the demand and execute our plans to deliver great service and customer attention during any hectic season.
Here we have 6 tips to be prepared and perform your best during your peak season, whenever that may be.
1. One Step Ahead
As you know by now, to be the best at customer service you need to plan ahead and establish specific goals and strategies. This needs to be done at least 3 months before the peak of the season.
Being able to identify any potential inconvenience ahead of time provides quite an advantage. Forecasting the top sellers to create a functional strategy and scheduling with time all the agents’ training are key steps to enjoy a happy and productive season.
You will need to identify key factors of your customer service and products:
- Top seller products or services
- Most frequent queries
- Communication challenges
2. ‘Tis the season for outsourcing!
During any detected high season or when holidays come around, an increase in sales can put you in the position of needing more help to get everything done. Hiring temporary employees for the season is a good way to get through this period, but can cost a lot of time and money, as you will need to start a hiring process, purchase new office equipment and train potentially inexperienced agents. So, outsourcing can be a shortcut to be there for your clients when they need you the most.
Note: Remember to do your research and get the best partner you can get! Be clear with your new outsource partner about the goals you want to achieve, your values and politics, so this information can be effectively transferred to their agents.
3. Training to Win
Heavy traffic, crowded places and stressed customers can easily make any user experience unsatisfactory, therefore top trained agents should be prepared to deal with these situations.
An outsource partner with highly qualified agents is key to handle the high query traffic with top customer satisfaction. Providing an adequate customer support system to the agents will help resolve queries and give information requested faster.
Hands on training is needed but agents will also have to work on their listening skills, they will need to manage emotions, be patient and empathic. Sometimes our customers just need someone who can listen to their query patiently and when possible, give them a solution, not more hurdles.
If your brand speaks to your customers through outsourced agents, so train them well.
4. A Little Change to Improve
It is necessary to provide a way for your customers to reach out to you, and it needs to be friendly and easy to navigate. Your company’s contact center is a gateway to happy loyal customers.
If you provide a user-friendly contact center, with easy access through different platforms such as social media, chat, email, calls, etc. you may have a clear advantage.
Stepping ahead with technology can help you improve the way your customers see your brand and provide them with a more secure sense about the products or services you provide. So, the more accessible the better!
Real-time attention such as calls or live chat should be the goal, but it’s not easy to achieve. Giving your contact center a seasonal vibe can be the change you need to boost your agent’s motivation and attract more customers.
5. Simple is Better
A good way to help our customers during this hectic season can be self-service support.
Some customers are just looking for simple, quick answers that can be provided through a website or a direct call, so that it won’t take much time away so they can get back to the million chores we all need to get done.
For example, having a FAQs section available on your website, can help solve some of the queries. Some simple FAQs that can prove to be very helpful are:
- Is express delivery an option?
- What are all the payment options?
- Do you have any seasonal discounts?
Creating a Holiday Guide with information about the top seller products or services, promotions and contact information is a way to solve queries and get the purchase process going, to captivate new customers and engage with the current ones.
Another reliable customer service system is an IVR (Interactive Voice Response). Having a seasonal IVR can also help reduce customer support queries, and will give your customers an immediate response.
6. Show & Tell
Giving all the necessary information is key to having a good relationship with our customers. As we all know, any peak season can be hectic for an unprepared business and for customers as well. So being clear about timing, deliveries and high demand can help you solve some recurrent queries during this season.
Prepare, compare and take full advantage of careful planning!
