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Elevating Customer Service: Workforce Optimization and Self-Sufficiency in Business Operations

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No matter what industry you are in, customers are likely to be your direct source of income. This makes great customer service a clear priority. There are few business ladders that aren’t keenly aware of how a poor consumer experience can escalate to reputational damage.

This doesn’t mean you necessarily need to kowtow to every customer demand, no matter how unreasonable. Rather, your customer service teams are designed to engage in positive interactions and provide the best overall experiences.

Let’s take a moment to dive into a couple of components that can set your staff up for success here.

The Relationship Between Optimization and Customer Service

Workforce optimization and self-sufficiency are often linked to infrastructural goals. They’re certainly commonly associated with concepts like productivity, organization, and logistical planning. They’re perhaps less likely to come into conversations about meaningful and emotionally-rich interactions with consumers. Yet, taking the time to optimize how your teams operate can have direct impacts on customer service.

In essence, workforce optimization is about improving efficiency in the use and handling of your staff members throughout your organization. When done well, this reduces costs, boosts employee performance, and — critically — influences customer satisfaction. One of the reasons these benefits occur is because workforce optimization ensures that staff have the tools they need to function to a high level. This practice also means that the right number of staff with the appropriate levels of experience are available at all times. 

In terms of self-sufficiency in business operations, you’re likely to find that optimizations here may result in streamlined and positive customer experiences. After all, a self-sufficient staff is adept and confident in making autonomous decisions on behalf of the business. They know what actions and resources best serve the business and consumers, and have the skills to make that happen. It also cuts down on unnecessary hurdles to service that could be presented by organizational gatekeeping or silos.

The Power of Knowledge

Any business leader that is being absolutely honest with themselves is likely to agree that workers are the most important investment they’ll make into their potential success. Among the best focuses for workforce optimization and self-sufficiency is providing your valuable people with the knowledge they need to thrive.

A core part of this is providing meaningful ongoing training and development. All workers have areas to grow that can boost their careers, make them more optimally-performing contributors, and informational resources for customers. Work with your human resources (HR) professionals to shape your development program around some of the principles of workplace optimization. Identify the knowledge gaps to fill that could make them more agile players, less reliant on colleagues, and more efficient service providers.

Also, be open to encouraging staff members to provide feedback on what skills they’re missing that would be professionally enriching and best serve consumers. There are no negative outcomes to optimizing your staff to succeed. Remember, happy employees tend to produce happy customers.

Knowledge isn’t just about what you teach your staff, but also what data they have access to. Cutting them off from information doesn’t help staff thrive and it tends to create hurdles to providing customers with great service. Imagine how frustrating it is for a customer to not be able to get information on the current status of a delivery or the compatibility of a product because the staff member can’t see this data or know who to contact for it.

Make sure all important information is visible and accessible at all times. This could be related to product specifications, complaint escalation statuses, and even just being able to see which staff members are available on what days of the week. Even if there are sensitive forms of data in your company, make sure there is clarity on who handles this information and how to contact them for advice.

The Importance of In-House

The rise of the digital landscape has provided business leaders with access to consultants and services throughout the globe. While this might make cost savings in some areas, it’s not always conducive to elevated customer service.

Indeed, among the ways you can best boost organizational self-sufficiency is to keep certain elements in-house. Rather than outsourcing your customer service team, maintaining a permanent staff gives you greater control over the standards and values they apply to their jobs. You can also find handling both marketing and transportation in-house has knock-on effects on customer service, as there can be better communication between these departments that enable holistically positive experiences.

This doesn’t mean that your company can’t benefit from the rich global talent pool the online employment marketplace has to offer. Employing remote operating customer service agents can definitely result in your business and consumers gaining from diverse cultural perspectives. While staff may be physically distant from one another, they’re still employed solely by your business and subject to your standards.

Though, this will require you to look into additional workforce optimization processes as well. Make certain there are solid communication channels connecting all team members. Be sure that all members can operate in appropriate time zones that enable your customers to get the attention they need when they need it. Importantly, find a solid balance between managers supporting representatives to perform well independently and overbearing micromanagement practices.

Conclusion

Workforce optimization and self-sufficiency positively impact customer service. The application of both of these elements creates fewer hurdles to good staff-customer interactions and streamlines operations.

That said, it’s worth being mindful of not simply subjecting your customer service staff to optimization measures. Make them a central part of the process wherever possible. By giving them a certain amount of ownership over improvements, they may not only be more willing to engage but also uncover innovations that further elevate your operations.