{"id":50944,"date":"2019-08-27T18:53:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-18T18:53:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/?p=50944"},"modified":"2023-03-27T15:45:48","modified_gmt":"2023-03-27T04:45:48","slug":"4-essential-steps-for-onboarding-a-new-customer-service-representative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/au\/blog\/4-essential-steps-for-onboarding-a-new-customer-service-representative\/","title":{"rendered":"4 essential steps for onboarding a new customer service representative"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Too often, new customer service representatives are left to figure out the ropes themselves and the bottom line suffers. But great customer service can\u2019t happen without investment in great employee experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walk the rep to their desk or cubicle. Hand over a few scripts and perhaps a product manual if they\u2019re lucky. Switch on their computer and point to a post-it with a username and password. Then leave them to it with the expectation they\u2019ll deliver a golden customer service experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah, no. That\u2019s not how it works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imagine the experience for a customer needing help if the rep on the support line knows less about the product than they do. How likely is the customer to buy from the company again, considering that 84% of customers say the experience a company provides is as important as its products and services<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And how long is that rep likely to stay with a company that doesn\u2019t value them enough to train them and help them develop? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, training and development is an ongoing process for any employee, and great customer experience (CX) doesn\u2019t come without great employee experience<\/a>, but the first day for customer service team members is especially important \u2013 they have to present themselves to customers with a high level of perceived competency on their first interaction to build and maintain trust. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are four actions a customer service manager should take to give new reps the best possible start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Put them in the customer seat so they know exactly what it feels like<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, training a new rep on a company\u2019s products might have seemed laborious, given all the things they need to learn about feature sets and how to troubleshoot them. It will go a lot more smoothly (and you\u2019ll engage them much more deeply) if you start instead by helping them understand more about your organisation\u2019s purpose, mission and values. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ask members of your marketing team to walk through the most compelling campaign elements or messages that have resonated with your target market. Have them explain what kind of brand promise you’re making, because that\u2019s ultimately what customers will be expecting reps to deliver on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ask a sales rep to share the kinds of needs customers have<\/a> and what kind of service experience will help reduce customer churn.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Make data their new best friend<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Many experienced reps will be used to the idea of having their call times logged, but not all will understand the range of information gathering and analysis provided by new service platforms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A data-driven approach<\/a> to service aggregates data from service interactions across the team to look for trends and patterns that allow the organisation to proactively solve problems and identify training or knowledge gaps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider opening up this part of the process to agents by encouraging them to brainstorm questions they might investigate based on the data available. Above all, help them make the connection between the data in the tools and whatever key performance indicators or metrics you use to move your company forward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make it clear that using the data is not about identifying who has the shortest or longest calls \u2013 because realistically if your service team\u2019s KPIs are still built around time-to-resolution instead of customer satisfaction, you\u2019re missing a trick<\/a> \u2013 but about continual improvement for everyone and for the team as a whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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