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10 Essential Customer Support Skills Every Representative Needs to Succeed

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Patience

A good customer support representative has tremendous patience. Patience can help with time management, better communication skills, and combat irate customers. A patient representative can help alleviate irate customers by making them feel heard, understood, and can get to the resolution quicker. Customers calling with an issue, may already be a little elevated or annoyed, and a good rep knows that great service doesn’t always mean fast service. They can slow down, calm them down and solve their problem. 

Persuasiveness

Persuasive conversation doesn’t just mean making the sale. Persuasion means speaking with conviction, confidence, and in a poised manner. Using calm, professional language can help instill trust between the customer and the rep. Avoiding slang words and casual language helps to sound more professional and will increase the ability to persuade a customer one way or another. A good customer support representative can upsell a customer in a way that solves their problem in an even better way, not a forceful way. 

Great Communication Skills

Great communication skills go beyond being able to talk on the phone. Communication includes speaking in a way that is not confusing or disrespectful to a customer. It also involves listening fully so you can understand what they are saying right out the gate and get to the root of the problem efficiently. What you say as the representative matters and needs to be as clear and precise as possible. This includes avoiding certain words or phrases that may be misconstrued. Avoid using phrases like “that service will be included in your final bill” because sometimes included indicates no extra charge, when actually you mean those are the services that they will pay for at the end. Being able to carry a conversation is a good skill to have, but more importantly, speaking in clear, concise language is key to good communication.

Industry Knowledge

Industry knowledge in customer service is very important for outsourced BDCs, but especially important in the automotive industry. These customer interactions will require a lot of knowledge regarding vehicle maintenance and specs. The best customer service professionals have gathered extensive knowledge of the product or service they are dealing with. Without knowing about the automotive industry, car dealerships, and common car issues, an automotive business development center will not be able to solve customer issues as quickly as possible. Granted, some industry knowledge comes with years of experience, but it’s amazing how much a service suggestion, or suggested model based on their current car could wow a customer. 

Adaptability

Being able to be flexible in any situation, and adjust trajectory quickly is crucial to maintaining that good client to representative communication. Some people may say adaptability is one of the most important skills a good customer support rep should have. A change in attitude from the customer or an unsatisfied customer can make things feel awkward in a split second. Adaptability means staying on your toes and being able to change the course of the conversation or issue immediately, and seamlessly. 

Understanding

As mentioned, along with good communication, being able to understand the client can set the entire tone of the interaction with them. Part of understanding the customer is making sure you acknowledge them. Saying “I completely understand” is important, but only if you really do. Try repeating back what they said to make sure you understand completely, instead of just assuming you do – maybe they don’t have the same communication skills that you do, and it’s important to get to that point where you both acknowledge the understanding. 

Goal-Oriented Mindset

In automotive customer support, not every interaction will be a customer with a problem. Sometimes the rep is reaching out to the customer to sell services, or schedule appointments, or just ask how their service has been thus far. No matter if the call is inbound or outbound, it’s good to go into it every time with a goal-oriented mindset. The goal is to leave a satisfied customer, every time. Plus, goal-oriented people tend to be more driven and competitive – both great qualities to have in your customer support team. 

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence is defined as the capacity to be aware of, control, and express one’s emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically. Representatives possessing emotional intelligence can carry themselves professionally no matter what comes their way. They know who they are, what they want, and what their intentions are. They know not to take things personally with irritated customers, and can be in complete control of how they represent themselves and the company. 

Positive Influence & Attitude

Maintaining a positive attitude is a given when it comes to customer service. An angry customer service agent is going to leave an angry customer and won’t take them very far. In addition to that, the ability to communicate with positive language, rather than negative can drive the conversations in the right direction, and it’s easy as switching a few different ways of saying things. For example, saying “I can’t get you that product until next month; it is back-ordered and unavailable at this time,” sounds negative. Instead, saying “That product will be available next month. I can place the order for you right now and make sure that it is sent to you as soon as it reaches our warehouse.” Using positive language sounds much more professional and considers the customer’s feelings. 

Empathy

We touched on empathy a bit when talking about understanding and acknowledging the customer. Displaying empathy with a customer not only proves to them you truly care, but it can turn a bad situation around if the conversation ends with acknowledging the customer’s feelings, and getting to a resolution. Customers that are buying a car, or have recently bought a car have made a very emotional purchase. There were probably ups and downs, but inevitably a positive note when they purchase a vehicle. Imagine something happening a few weeks after their new car was purchased, which makes them very upset and the representative cannot relate. Actively feeling empathy with a customer can be the difference between a negative and positive customer experience. 

Customer Traac knows what it takes to build a proper team that helps your dealership not only succeed, but thrive in the industry. Our team of experts possesses the qualities it takes to properly nurture clients in this industry. Request a proposal, or contact us here.

How Having a Call Management Team Can Help Dramatically Increase Customer Satisfaction

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It has been said that acquiring a new customer is up to five times as costly as retaining an existing customer. Yikes! Those expenses take into account the time and energy spent by staff to acquire new business, but also the actual costs of ads and marketing expenses to get those new customers. Customer loyalty and retention is easier and more cost-effective than many customer acquisition efforts. A lot of customer satisfaction is going to come directly from how they interact with your company through customer service and phone calls, which should be held to high regard if you want to maintain a successful business. 

So, how can having a call management team dramatically increase your customer satisfaction?

Eliminating Missed and Dropped Calls

A call management center can alleviate pressure during seasons of high call volumes. Dropped calls or being put on hold are an immediate no-no if you are trying to maintain positive customer feedback. A fully-staffed, dedicated team can ensure no calls are missed, dropped, or put on hold for long periods of time. 

In a time where we can get information in literal seconds, nobody has time to wait around for someone to answer the phone, let alone be put on hold for any amount of time. We need fast responses, and even faster resolutions. The bar is very high for customer service these days and one bad call can lead to a poor review, and lost business. 

In-house customer service teams can fail at this sometimes because they are first of all, much smaller than a call management center, or business development center, but they also work within constrained hours. A call management team should be able to accurately plan for call volumes and coverage. Data analysis can help with what to expect for calls based on time of day, peak seasons throughout the year, and any sales, specials, events, or issues that arise. Teams like Customer Traac can have someone on hand at any given time to answer any number of calls – no matter if someone called in sick or took a long lunch. Alleviating these dropped calls is the first order of business and an obvious need that a call management team can resolve. 

Focusing on Customer Outreach and Marketing Efforts

A call management center, or business development centers like Customer Traac, can assist in marketing efforts that in-house customer service reps don’t often tackle. Cold calling is not a tactic that necessarily improves customer satisfaction, in fact I think most people hate it, but outbound marketing campaigns for existing customers can be a huge business driver. Customers who have purchased a product or service from your company, but never came back are an opportunity to call and remind them of upcoming service dates, or upgrade offers and sales. In the automotive world, customer service teams can track data that spans the life cycle of the customer’s car and knows when it’s a good time to get maintenance, or simply trade it in for the upgraded model. 

Customers want to feel cared for, and tending to their specific needs with outbound calls that are personalized can boost customer satisfaction, even if they don’t decide to forego a purchase or upgrade. Now with text reminders becoming more and more popular, it’s a great way to get the word out to customers while also making it easy for them to unsubscribe if they desire. However, keeping them up to date on service reminders can help get the stress of worrying about it on their own, off their plate. 

Offering Loyalty Programs and Other Incentives

The sales team of your company may offer incentive programs or continuing loyalty programs for customer retention. They may only have that initial interaction with a customer, and either gain that customer’s loyalty, or they don’t – the moment is over. Call teams, however, can continually offer new and improved incentives to customers whenever they have their attention. Maybe, a customer never even heard about the incentives before now, and a call center rep can be very specific to the customer’s location and type of product they have – giving them a truly catered experience and offering. A customer wants a good deal, and if all it takes is signing up for a free, no-obligation loyalty program in order to get first dibs on sales, they’re likely to take that opportunity! 

Gathering Direct Customer Feedback

If you’ve ever been on either end of a customer phone call, you know about anonymous customer feedback surveys. They are generally at the end of the call and prompts the customer to answer questions via the keypad for 60 seconds or so. This feedback is then used to better processes and service to customers. 

While interacting with a customer, a call management team can get real-time customer feedback. Sometimes it’s negative, right out the gate, which can then be used to ensure that never happens again. The same goes for positive customer feedback via word of mouth, surveys, or online reviews that help continue moving the needle in the right direction. It never hurts to ask a customer who had a good exchange to leave a review on Google business page. Google reviews are one of the very first impressions your company can give, and it’s super important to gather and maintain those good reviews. Showcasing your customer satisfaction can be the best thing for you. Those poor reviews and poor customer satisfaction surveys should be used as leverage to better your company and team overall. Never let it get you down – use it to make sure every customer has a better experience!

Customer Traac knows that fast response time, diligent follow-up calls, scheduling, and more efficient call volume management are all ways that customer satisfaction can increase when it comes to customer service.

Why You Shouldn’t Wait Any Longer to Improve Your Client Relationship Management

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As Bob Dylan said, the times they are-a-changin’, and they change faster and faster every year. Customer trends and ideals can change year over year, and using the same old CRM strategies can hurt your business. CRM, or client relationship management, is the approach companies use to communicate with current or potential clients. These systems need to be on par with what customers expect out of businesses.

The Microsoft 2017 State of Global Customer Service survey polled 5,000 people from six of the largest countries in the world to find out what they thought about customer service, globally. As advances in technology and online presence march forward, customers have higher expectations than ever. Of the respondents, 54% said they had higher expectations for customer service at the time of the survey, than they did the year prior. This number rises to 66% if you include only respondents aged 18-34. The youth are the future! Their opinions on the matter involve more and more technology, and this means old CRM methods can bring a business down. 

The top three reasons CRMs fail include lack of user-adoption, thinking its strictly technology related, and having a lack of vision or insight. These problems, if left unresolved, can completely crash the new or existing CRM system, and reflect very poorly against your business. It’s important to address these right away. 

When Employees Push Back on New Systems

One of the root causes of failed client relationship management systems is low rate of adoption from managers or employees. This fear of change can cause many companies to put off making these updates for months, years, or they may never get the chance. So, before jumping into a new CRM, first, it’s important to get a team dedicated to making the change. They can be within the company, or hired. They can plan out the new system in a way that best fits your company’s needs. CRMs aren’t always a one size fits all, and it’s good to acknowledge that first, instead of when it’s already implemented and too late. 

There are ways to prevent this push back. Bringing in end users and professional designers to curate the perfect CRM for you can help alleviate the fear of learning something outside of everyone’s scope. You can also start training practices very early on, and have a well laid out plan of training that will alleviate stress and pressure on employees and managers reluctant to change. The further ahead of it you can get, the better. This is why we are saying you should not wait any longer to improve upon your client relationship management systems and processes. 

We Don’t Need Another New Technology

Now, this isn’t always a full system upgrade type situation. CRMs can be non-technical approaches to client and customer relationships. Depending on your business, a technical update may not be the answer to all your problems. This may just be staying up with trends, and improving upon existing processes. Technology alone is not the end-all-be-all to improve upon client relationships. The right people, processes, and goals have to be set in motion – combined with the right technologies, to tap into your CRM’s full potential. 

Not Fully Understanding the Objective

One of the biggest mistakes companies make, related and unrelated to CRMs, is having a lack of vision. When a system or process is not properly aligned with the right goals and targets, it lacks organization and can easily fall right off the tracks. Your relationships with your clients should be flexible, adaptable, but also have the same end goal amongst all employees, across the board. CRMs are designed to be flexible, easy to implement, and can be used in a wide range of industries. Without a clear vision of what you want to accomplish for the business, can lead to a lack of focus, communication, and cohesion amongst the team. Before venturing out and implementing improvements to an existing CRM, make sure employees fully grasp the concept of the improvements and why it’s important. The more specific you can be and the more employees understand how an improved CRM can positively improve their daily work and KPIs, the more successful they can be as employees, and the overall business. 

Customer Traac has a very clear vision of their processes, and what it takes to implement a proper CRM plan and process. We stay up to date on industry trends and news, and love helping businesses get or stay on track. 

Why Outbound Calling Campaigns May Be the Secret to Increasing Your Service Department’s Sales

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Continuing the conversation with existing customers is key to maintaining that relationship and customer retention.

Outbound campaigns can be highly effective for improving your service department’s sales in that it puts the power back in the hands of the dealership. Online and print advertisements promoting service specials leaves the decision making to the customer, who may not take the initiative to call the dealership to schedule. There is major opportunity for outbound campaigns within our service department. These are sometimes overlooked by the sales team, and could be better handled by a well-trained business development center. 

Recent Website Leads

Leads that come in through your website via forms are the best gift you can get. These leads are customers that are actually interested in working with you and need to be captured. Many salespeople may follow up on these leads with the email or phone number the customer left, but if they play phone tag or don’t get a response in a week or two, those leads end up forgotten. Chances are, customers who are reaching out via your website are early in their search for a vehicle, and their options are open. Being a resource for them by taking the initiative to reach out, answer their questions, and be their support can put you above the rest. 

If a customer left a voicemail or a phone number, call them back around the time the voicemail was left. That may be the time of day when they are free at work or are available to accept calls. If you don’t reach them the first time, try a call just outside of work hours between 4 and 5 pm, or earlier around lunch time. If someone reached out recently they may be expecting the call and will be happy you reached out! It can sometimes be forgotten how much people want a warm voice over the phone. It gives a personal touch in a world that is so much online and impersonal. 

Those with Vehicle Equity

A good Business Development Center will have a vehicle equity calculator that can effectively track timelines of vehicles purchased within their dealership, and pair that with ones that have left the lot. The amount of years owned, miles driven, and the make or model all determine a vehicles equity. Following up with these customers can sometimes lead to an upgraded purchase, or a service scheduling. If the customer’s car is worth a certain amount that selling it is a good option, you can help guide them through the trade-in process and get them into an upgraded vehicle in no time. If that is not what they want, you can offer service incentives and, when the time comes, incentives for when they do want to purchase a new vehicle, to do it through your dealership. 

Customers who Bought but Never Came Back

After a customer buys a car, the sales team should follow up soon after and ensure satisfaction and answer any questions or concerns the customers have after their purchase. Setting a schedule to follow-up after 1, 3, 6 months with customers who bought a car from the dealership can be some of the most effective outbound marketing you can do. There is one thing they absolutely need with their car, and that is service maintenance. Reaching out to customers who bought a car through your dealership but didn’t utilize the services are an incredible opportunity. It’s possible these customers aren’t even aware of the service incentives through the dealership and just need a helping hand to get in there and get their regular scheduled maintenance by the people who know their car in and out.  

Customers who Visited Over 6 Months Ago

Run an inquiry of all your customers you saw six months ago or more and begin an outbound campaign offering a deal off service if they come in during the next six months. Chances are they either haven’t serviced their vehicle, or they went to a different shop. Some good time to run these campaigns are right before winter, when people want to winterize their cars, and before summer when people take road trips and take more vacations. These incentives can reignite a desire to come back to your dealership if they were happy to purchase from you, they may be just as intrigued to come back for service. These campaigns are great for customer retention! 

Customer who Recently Received Service

Customers who were just in for service should get a follow-up call within seven days and you can ask if they were satisfied with the service, and how their car is running overall. This can be a good opportunity to schedule their next service appointment ahead of time, like oil changes and tire rotations. You can also catalog makes, models, years, and mileage of their vehicle and discuss their plans down the road when it comes to their vehicle. Future incentives can be put in place in terms of their future resale value if they continue to get service through your dealership, and then an eventual trade-in when their car is paid off, or has reached a certain amount of miles. 

Outbound campaigning for existing customers is one of the most important tools to use to increase sales and improve customer satisfaction. The biggest thing going for you is that the customer already used your service to purchase their vehicle, and that instilled a trust and like within your business from the start. Customers want to feel important, and cared for, and maintaining that relationship with them throughout the weeks, months, and years after they’ve worked with you can significantly improve your service department’s sales, and dealership reputation overall. 

Business Development Centers like Customer Traac ensure your customers never go without a follow-up call, email, or a pre-scheduled service. On top of service appointments and sales equity mining, our team of professionals can work with your dealership to create custom outbound campaigns based on current or future sales trends, and continual support to retain customers. Contact a member of the Customer Traac team to learn more about how we can help your dealership reach their profit goals!

Outsourcing Your Business Development Center: Pros & Cons

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Are you thinking about outsourcing your Business Development Center? Needless to say, outsourced business development has strong pros, as well as some potential drawbacks you should be aware of. That’s why we’ve curated a list of “pros and cons” to help you decide what’s best for you and your dealership.

Pros

Business Control Overhead

Outsourcing a BDC means you are hiring their team, for a contract, and a flat rate. A dealership’s labor expense can be one of their highest after accounting for taxes, vacation, bonuses, insurance, office space, personnel support, office supplies—you name it! Not to mention the time and money allocated to recruit, train, and retain employees. By outsourcing, you are able to control overhead and maintain a steadfast budget. Any changes to their internal structure or team is not on the dealership, and your service agreement remains the same.

Access Greater Talent For Your Business

An in-house BDC is limited to a few people, given space and salary requirements. Companies like Customer Traac, who focus on customer service for dealerships, are going to have dozens of people dedicated to your cause, whose talent and expertise goes leaps and bounds beyond the capabilities of hiring internally. You will always have more than one person focusing on your business and providing top tier customer service.

Don’t Have to Expand Business Space

Business Development Departments can produce a lot of noise—making phone calls, receiving phone calls, etc. and would require their own space. We all know moving can be a hassle, especially in an office setting. There is no need to make room for offices, or desks when outsourcing your BDC.

Streamlining Customer Service

Having a team devoted 100% to the customer service of your dealership not only streamlines customer service, but improves it tenfold. Call wait times will decrease, appointment scheduling will be proactive and timely, and service managers and other employees can focus on what they do best.

Cons

BDC Outsourcing Is Expensive

Although a BDC can save you money by decreasing overhead costs, it doesn’t mean it’s cheap. A contract with a business development center can depend on a number of things, especially for those that charge incentive fees. Watch out for BDCs looking for extra compensation based on sales. The cost-effectiveness of the service can sometimes waver, so choose your BDC wisely. And remember, a BDC should be a revenue center, not a cost center.

Employees Outside of Your Company

You may not be able to take part in the selection process of the people dealing with your customers and representing your brand. This means putting your trust in people who your dealership didn’t hire directly. It’s important to develop a good relationship with your BDC managers right off the bat, and feel comfortable utilizing their employees for your services. This can be difficult (but not impossible) for some managers.

Negative Impact on Company Culture

Having members of your team outside the organization could impact company culture by not being able to get to know the outsourced team. An in-house team can focus on getting to know each other on a more intimate level. However, through regular communication and account check-ins with your outsourced BDC, you can develop a relationship built on trust that rivals those of colleagues you see every day.

In Conclusion…

Outsourcing your to a BDC might make you worry about communicating with the team. But there is a team of people you can communicate with via email or phone.

Customer Traac ensures there are no communication snags. By keeping one point of contact, you can streamline communication with your BDC. Which saves you time and increases our effectiveness. That’s how we help dealerships focus on what they do best, and they trust us to do the same.

Learn more about Customer Traac’s automotive BDC solutions today.

How Phone Presence Can Increase Customer Satisfaction and Retention

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In a time where we have access to fast, endless information at our fingertips at any given moment, people don’t have time to waste. People’s expectations are high for how information is shared and received. When it comes to user experience over the phone, people want efficiency and ease. They also want to feel cared for. The #1 way a company can prove they care is by having kind and quick responses to customers – giving them a resolution in a matter of minutes.

So how exactly can phone presence improve customer satisfaction and keep them coming back for more?

Long Waits and Dropped Calls Reduce Customer Satisfaction

How many times have you had a friend or family member tell you about a terrible customer service experience they had? Probably a lot. People tend to share bad experiences more than good when it comes to customer service. They want to help save people from having a similar bad experience.

Having a call center that puts people on hold right away, or drops calls, is fueling that negative fire and customers won’t come back. A survey conducted by Velaro showed that most people are not willing to wait on hold for even a minute, if that. The infographic to the right shows that a whopping 90% of people surveyed had a limit to how long they would wait. In fact, 32.3% said they wouldn’t wait at all. If they receive no answer or get put on hold they would hang up. These numbers are huge and that’s bad news for customer retention.

Making sure every call is picked up is the first step. If you absolutely have to put someone on hold, ask them kindly first, and if they say no try to resolve their problem as quickly as possible. Offering a call-back service is something people are willing to accept. This can be done with a person, or there are automated services that will give that option in the menu as well. Having a well-organized plan as well can help avoid long wait times, and dropped calls.

Quickly Converting Calls to Appointments Boosts Customer Satisfaction

A customer wants to get all their issues resolved in one fell swoop. Treating a customer service call as an opportunity for future appointments and sales is the way to achieve customer retention. In the case of service calls at dealerships, when a customer calls in, it’s possible to schedule out their maintenance a full year in advance. Not only does this free up future calls, but the customer feels cared for, and that they received great service. They know they don’t have to follow-up in the future, or receive any calls for appointment reminders. Everything is done then and there.

A customer calling in with one question, may not actually know everything they need. It is the job of the agent to listen and resolve a problem but also educate and leave the customer feeling more informed than when they called. This gives the opportunity to upsell, schedule future times, offering call back service and text reminders.

When Customers Feel Cared For, Their Satisfaction Goes Up

There is one thing to simply help a customer resolve the issue they had, it’s another to curate the conversation in a way that wows the customer. Like many of us, I’m sure when we are setting up to call a company’s customer service team, we may not be overly excited. There’s no guarantee good service will be received, so expectations may be pretty low if it’s their first call. Take advantage of those expectations and blow them out of the water.

A customer wants to feel cared for, which means going above and beyond a simple Q & A. Offer more information, more knowledge, ask if they know about all the services offered. Some of this may seem obvious, but it’s important to pivot a way of thinking towards the customer being tended to beyond the scope of the call, and not just being nice and helpful to them.

Improving Customer Satisfaction Requires Keeping Up with a Fast-Paced World

The infographic at the start of this article is a few years old, and though the basic stats are still very relevant, time and technology continue to speed up. More and more companies offer chat or text options for customer service. This is pretty in line with how people talk less on the phone, and more than ever via text or social media. With everything being accessible super quickly, and right from our phones, customer service speeds are expected to be just as fast and just as efficient. It’s crucial to be able to face the fact that people don’t want to waste time, as it shows by so many people not willing to be put on hold.

Having solid customer service means getting to the point, answering the question, informing the customer and having that entire call be under 5 minutes flat. Offering text reminders, and call-back service rather than being put on hold are going to become the norm and will be the minimum expectation people have in all future correspondence. Keep it short and sweet!

Service success, it begins with a call.

Frequently Asked Questions: 

Why does having a strong phone presence improve customer satisfaction?

As a customer, there’s nothing worse than getting put on hold when you need to get in touch with a business. Simply put, it says ‘We don’t have time for you.’ When someone answers the phone with a happy and helpful attitude, it communicates exactly the opposite. Call centers help express the value your customers deserve when you don have the time.

What are the negative effects of not having a good call center?

Hiring a call center that provides inadequate service can cause numerous problems for your dealership. The whole point of hiring a call center is to improve your customer service, but a bad call center can actually make it worse, and damage your reputation with customers by dropping calls, and not adequately satisfying caller intent.

Why should dealerships care about having a strong phone presence?

For as many spam calls dealerships receive, there are still numerous, ready-to-buy customers who call in on a regular basis. Without a strong phone presence, those customers would be put on hold, or dropped, costing your dealership big money over time. A strong phone presence nurtures prospective customers into closed business.