{"id":1217,"date":"2020-07-15T15:49:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-18T15:49:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/?p=1217"},"modified":"2024-01-12T18:32:57","modified_gmt":"2024-01-12T18:32:57","slug":"7-ways-of-giving-your-customer-service-agents-autonomy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/ca\/blog\/7-ways-of-giving-your-customer-service-agents-autonomy\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Ways Of Giving Your Customer Service Agents Autonomy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There may be companies hard at work at developing vehicles that drive themselves, or robots that handle factory tasks without much supervision, but customer service agents are often still far from autonomous by comparison. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Almost from the moment they arrive at a contact centre, an agent\u2019s schedule is rarely their own. There might be an initial group meeting to go over metrics or discuss new team goals, followed by eight hours or more where every move is carefully monitored. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Agents are often held accountable for how many customers they have served on a given shift, how long each interaction took and a host of other factors. Lunch breaks and coffee breaks may happen only at specific intervals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is despite the fact that customer service agents serve one of the most valuable roles within any company<\/a>. The work they do makes the difference between brands with a strong reputation or a poor one. Customers who have a good experience with an agent may recommend the company to their peers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The critical nature of their work would suggest that agents might perform like leaders if they were given a little more autonomy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With autonomy comes a freedom to make decisions faster. Autonomy can help people to better develop their skills based on their particular needs, rather than the more generalized needs of a group. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Autonomy also tends to make us more fulfilled because we feel in control, and trusted by our employers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, organizations may be leery at first of giving customer service agents too much autonomy in case it leads to bad outcomes. These could include a decline in productivity, costly errors and even lost business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are ways, however, to balance that risk with introducing autonomy so that your business measurably improves as a result. Just look at these tactics and try them out: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Use analytics to model what\/if scenarios to foster when\/then decision-making<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If agents need to put customers on hold every time they need to check with a manager to approve a decision, the customer gets frustrated and the agent\u2019s capabilities are limited. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There will be plenty of occasions when agents need to make a judgment call on whether to allow an item to be returned, to offer a full refund or other kind of \u201cmake good\u201d to a customer. When you have historical data on the conditions that can guide those decisions, agents should be able to make the right call without their manager. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Make it easy to prioritize which channels to prioritize<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Agents are individuals, so there will be differences in how long it takes them to resolve a customer issue over the phone versus a chain or text messages or email. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why agents should have a dashboard that lets them see at a glance what kind of volumes are coming through each channel. That way, they can organize their time based on how quickly they can manage the flow of questions and requests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Empower customers with self-service to reduce agent busywork<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are always frequently asked questions or common troubleshooting issues that become so routine that an agent could probably address them in their sleep. When working in a contact centre becomes that rote, agents might begin to feel like they\u2019re chained to their desks, rather than providing real value to their employer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In that sense, self-service tools<\/a> aren\u2019t just a boon for customers who want to save time and deal with challenges themselves. They also ensure the agents are only being routed the kinds of tickets or cases that let them use their expertise and creativity. These tools give them the autonomy, in other words, to pursue original solutions to more unusual problems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n