One of the most important elements in providing good customer support is resolving problems. The quicker and less complicated this process is, the more satisfied your clients will feel when working with your company. The best way to achieve this is through first call resolution and faster handle times. In a support environment, first call resolution refers to your reps ability to resolve issues on the first call. Using software for B2B customer service can help achieve this and also allow your team to provide a higher quality experience for your clients.
Your clients trust you for solutions to their problems. If you want to provide the highest level of satisfaction possible, look at your overall support operation in order to refine the customer experience. Let’s go over some things to consider when refining your process to provide first call resolution.
Average Handle Times
An important metric to consider is the average handle time of your reps. Learning what your average handle time is can help you make changes that will streamline your process and improve your first call resolution. Monitoring average handle times can help you understand how efficient your support department is as a whole and individually. If your handle time is high, it’s imperative you set goals for your team to shoot for and provide them with the resources they need to improve their performance. You may find you need to make improvements to your self-service portal to take some of the workload off your support team. Regardless of where you need to make changes, your overall customer satisfaction will improve once handle times go down.
The Importance of Proper Agent Training
As we mentioned, tracking average handle times can help you pinpoint the performance of individual reps. You may find further training is required in order to improve first call resolution and client satisfaction. Reps who are stumbling through calls are not only increasing handle times, but they’re also not providing a good experience for your clients. Each rep should be comfortable with the software for B2B customer service you’re using. If they’re not, it’s crucial you provide training to help them reach a level of service consistent with the rest of your team.
Improving Internal Communications
Another important factor when decreasing handle times is the way your team operates internally. Are you seeing calls being routed to the wrong person? Are your reps having trouble communicating internally? These things add to higher call times and prevent you from achieving first call resolutions. This is detrimental to your client satisfaction and could hurt customer loyalty and retention. If this has been an issue, you need to consider support software to help refine your operation.
As a B2B, giving your clients the best possible support experience is crucial to your continued success. By utilizing customizable customer support software, you can bring down your average handle times and increase first time call resolution. PhaseWare offers a wide range of support and self-service solutions for B2B organizations. Contact us to learn more.