Today’s customer service professionals are equipped with an unprecedented amount of tools. Like a carpenter, each tool performs a specific function that’s essential to solving a case in an efficient and effective manner.
But unlike many on the front lines of the CRM business, carpenters have holsters or tool belts that organize the tools for the project at hand: hammer, screw driver, pliers, nails, screws, tape measure, etc. Without a holster, carpenters would waste time running back and forth from their work to get the tools they need, as they need them.
When it comes to customer service, why do we insist that support agents switch between multiple point-systems to hunt down the tools they need: from the CRM system, the knowledge base, SharePoint, personal files, notes on a product management wiki? The “Alt-Tab” shuffling is as unproductive as a carpenter without a holster.
Consider the content that your agents need – and put it in their holster.
- Automate content recommendations. When your agent pulls up a case, automatically suggest similar cases, related topics, likely solutions and any other knowledge you have that may be relevant. Searching for the solutions takes too much time, and often misses something.
- Automate expert recommendations too. When you suggest relevant content to your agents, suggest the experts who may know most about the topic at hand. If your agent has a question related to the issue – or if they need more information – they’ll know who to contact right away.
- Fill content gaps. Often we don’t know what we know because there is so much information available to us. We often don’t see the great solutions that have already been created – yet which may live outside of the Knowledge Base.
I ask other CRM pros – what’s in your CRM holster? Are you missing any tools? For more information on how we do it, check out our approach to improving customer service.
