Wondering how virtual teams provide the best customer support and service?

Not since the Industrial Revolution have businesses seen the types of advancement in work styles that have brought on the birth of virtual teams and with them, customer support has flourished.

With constantly evolving innovations in technology and an economy in recession, more businesses than ever hire outsourced virtual support for their customers. If you are outsouricing customer service or support, here are the core questions to ask yourself: How can you give customers the best service and maintain a high level of integrity? What are customers looking for?  What can your business and virtual team provide that no one else can offer?

The most important request that is heard repeatedly from customers of our clients is to have support staff in place and available. Customers should not have to wait.  They want someone to converse with them in a way that they understand, while also taking the time to ask pertinent questions and listen to the answers without interruptions. If there is something they don’t understand, it should be explained fully, especially if it involves payment for services. This means in depth knowledge of the product or service that you are offering.

The second concern with many clients is confidentiality and security. They need to know that any information they pass on will remain within the company and only be available to those who absolutely need it. Access to private information needs to be limited. It is important to go over system processes and ensure that the customer’s account information will not be compromised at any time.

Finally, a measure of excellent virtual customer support is a team that follows up, preferably by phone. Many customers at some point will call back with questions or problems about your service or product. The best way to retain customers is to always follow up, whether they have made a purchase or not.  This helps your customers to feel recognized and important, even if they didn’t immediately make a purchase yet.

Retention of customers who make ongoing purchases will provide the backbone of any business. Having a process in place to ensure they receive excellent customer service is the best way to do this. These customers, the most important, loyal customers, will help to increase the customer base by word of mouth.

Virtual teams providing customer support need to be twice as organized as on-site customer service representatives. They usually use their own CRMs and other in-the-cloud management software. All members of the team should be focused on making sure they are up to date with the latest technology as they are competing with other virtual teams that are available. The virtual work style is here to stay and forces accountability. Diverse abilities and enthusiasm for excellence will pave the way for increasing opportunities in virtual support.

“It is a funny thing about life: If you refuse to accept anything but the best you very often get it.” -W. Somerset Maugham

Chris Draper

© DemGen 2013