You don’t have to be at work 24/7 to provide great customer service. Here are 3 ways you can get out of the office without leaving customers in the lurch
1. Outsource:
- Use a virtual reception service to make sure no calls go unanswered, that callers get a professional response4 and that simple requests aren’t disturbing you.
- Have a Virtual Assistant monitor and respond to email and social media queries. Again it will save you being disturbed by simple questions, customers will get a professional response and using VAs in multiple time zones can allow you to offer 24/7 customer service.
2. Use the Cloud
Using cloud based programs and apps will let you respond to queries even if you’re out of the office. Some of my favorites are:
CRM:
Zoho CRM
Document Creation & Editing:
Google Drive
Microsoft Office
File Storage:
Dropbox
Google Drive
Invoicing & Accounting:
Xero
Zoho Invoice
Misc.:
Google Maps
Instapaper
Organisation & Project Management:
Evernote
Trello
Social Media:
Buffer
Facebook
Google+
Hootsuite
Twitter
3. Let your customers help themselves
- Create a FAQ or Knowledge Base on your website so your customers can search for answers for themselves. Don’t forget to keep updating it with new questions that are being asked as well as updating answers when processes, products or services change.
- Organise a customer support forum where customers can discuss how they use your products and provide technical assistance to each other. You’ll need to monitor this, but a quick look in once or twice a day should be enough.
