In a world where technology is getting better and things are getting easier because of it, the skill gap is growing wider. As per the World Economic Forum, 1 billion people will need to upgrade their skills or reskill completely by 2030.
This alarming number does not only represent the importance of learning and relearning but also highlights that manual jobs are becoming obsolete. In just a few years, we have seen basic manual work shifting to online tools and now to automated tools as well.
Experts believe that the pace of tech advancement in the last decade was much faster compared to the progress within the last 50 years. This also reflects directly on businesses, corporate relationships, and consumer behavior. If you own a business and offer customer support, look out for the signs of failing and upgrade before it is too late.
In case you are still confused about where your customer support may be lacking in, keep reading, as we will discuss all the signs that your customer support team is ready for an upgrade:
5 Signs Your Customer Support Team Needs a Skill Upgrade
- Reported Communication Barrier
Customer support is all about seamless communication. When miscommunication incidents become frequent, this calls for an upgrade. Most companies have three months of training time right after joining while others train their agents after every three months.
In most cases, the skill upgrade trainings are related to brand features, however, in some cases, companies also train agents for language barriers. This is quite common when companies have a much wider audience.
For instance, brands like Optimum offer services to English-speaking audiences as well as Latin-speaking audiences. They have a dedicated número de teléfono de optimum where Spanish customer can get help in their native language and a separate channel for English customers as well. They not only train their agents for brand information but also focus on language.
- Frequent Verbal Outburst
Frequent verbal outbursts of reps or anger upsurge within the team is one of the most common signs that it’s time for a reskill training. While most experts think that verbal outbursts are common when there is a miscommunication between the customer and rep, others believe that mood swings or choosing the wrong tone can also become an issue.
If your agents have been reporting frequent verbal outbursts, maybe it is time for a reskill training. Most customer support supervisors believe that anger outbursts happen when the agents are not empowered or they lack decision-making authority.
To deal with this, most businesses train their agents for better communication. Moreover, they also use dashboards for sorting out information better and simplifying overall information handling for the customer support agents.
- Bad Reviews
Getting bad reviews is also considered to be one of the biggest indicators that your customer support is not equipped to handle issues. For reviews, you can either actively seek feedback from your client or you can rely on online communication channels.
A simple example of this issue was an emotional brawl that took place in one of the Starbucks stores in the US. In April 2018, a store in Philadelphia reported a fight due to racism. Starbucks investigated the issue and then took a day off to train their employees to handle similar issues. The incident made it big because of the online review posting and to curb the issue, Starbucks took the initiative to reflect and resolve the issue immediately.
This is so far one of the best examples when a billion-dollar company stepped in, openly admitted the issue, and addressed it. To this day, Starbucks is appreciated for this effort.
- Frequent Complain
Service and product complaints are quite common. However, when you are receiving complaints about your customer service, this means the agent isn’t doing the required job, either not being empowered to make a decision, the overall call ratio is far too high, or something else.
A high call ratio and long waiting time is an excellent indicator that you need to retrain or upgrade skills of your agents. In most cases, companies have an auto-tick closing policy. So, if n case the customer does not follow up, this means the issue was resolved.
Also to lessen the burden of providing customer support on your human agents, experts believe that it is time to shift the basic responsibility to AI and tech tools. From basic call-handling dashboards to scheduling follow-ups, simple tech upgrades can go a long way and help your agents flourish.
- Changing Industry Standards
After every decade, industry standards are revived. Last two decades, companies have been pushing for tech equipment, tools, and communication channels. However, this decade is all about AI. Companies are now empowering their agents to use AI as an assistant.
Since AI tools and bots are all about machine learning, they only improve with time. Your agent can optimize the interaction so you can integrate these bots with websites and other communication channels.
Moreover, training your agents to meet industry standards every six months is very important. This will help you keep things flowing and minimize the chance of any turbulence.
A high call ratio, bad reviews, long waiting cues, and no follow-ups are all indicators that your customer support agents are struggling and need some training. The above-mentioned examples will help you understand different ways you can indicate the training before it is too late.
