Chicomm Blog

Over time, even the best communications technology stops working as well as you’d like. Luckily, less-than-optimal functionality from a two-way radio doesn’t mean it needs to be replaced. Repairs are common and can be necessary for a range of reasons.

Here is a quick guide to understanding what steps to take to identify what needs fixing and get the repairs done quickly.

In these inflationary times, everyone has to keep an eye on budget costs. 

But when it comes to communications needs, it’s both wise and cost-effective to consider the added services and benefits offered by your communication technology partner. 

What are some of those added services and benefits?

Customer Service Week is the first week of October, and we here at Chicago Communications love having the chance to recognize our fantastic customers and hard-working customer-facing staff.

We strive to make outstanding service an everyday occurrence, and this week of events is a way to spotlight that even more.

Here’s a look at how we’ve celebrated Customer Service Week in the past.

Coming up with creative customer service training ideas can be a challenge. You want material that will fire up your new hires and keep your seasoned employees motivated and inspired. All while making sure everyone internalizes the fact that customer service is at the heart of everything that you do. 

Customer service training can be your opportunity to show staff how you set yourself apart from the competition and give them unique perspectives on what kind of customer experience you’re creating.

As you’re preparing for your next session, here are customer service training ideas to energize your team.

Think about the last great customer service experiences you’ve had and what made them so remarkable: Was it the responsiveness of the staff? Their attention to detail? Their ability to resolve your issue on the first try? 

Now think about your own operation and whether customers – either internal or external – can say the same about their dealings with you. If the answer isn’t a resounding yes!, that’s a sure sign that your customer service needs some more attention.

If you’re wondering whether the investment in upgrading your customer service operation is worth it, consider this: 85 percent of U.S. respondents in a 2010 customer service report said they would pay more to ensure a superior customer experience. And 82 percent of consumers stopped doing business with a company because of a bad customer experience.

The real question, then, may be: Can you afford not to invest in better customer service?  Backed by both research and anecdotes, here are three key reasons why you should spend more time thinking about customer service: 

The best mobile apps for customer service will take you even farther toward putting your entire business or operation in the palm of your hand, allowing you and your team to remotely track, answer and resolve customer service issues in real time. As you’re well aware, exceptional customer service can be that special something that puts you ahead of the competition, so being responsive and available is key.

Luckily, the best cloud and on-premise customer service platforms offer mobile versions for handling on the go. Most offer similar suites of capabilities for responding to customer calls, emails, social media inquiries and other contacts, so it’s worth giving several solutions a test drive for a free trial month to see which of them is the best fit for your team.

Once you get your mobile app up and running, you’ll wonder how you ran your business or operations without it. Here’s a sampling of the six best mobile apps for customer service:

There are always new studies emerging to answer the question, what is good customer service? Even if you've got a strong background in customer service, there are likely some findings that will surprise you. To build on your base of knowledge, here are seven key findings from studies about customer service that you should read.

People Will Pay Extra for Personalization

In a study published in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology, researchers tested whether diners would tip their servers more if they were given mints after a meal.

• For the first group, servers delivered mints along with the check and didn’t mention them at all. They received around three percent more in tips than the control group where no mints were given.
• In the second group, servers brought two mints by hand separately from the check and mentioned them to diners, saying something along the lines of, “Would anyone like some mints before they leave?” Their tips were 14 percent higher than the control group.
• In the last group, servers brought a round of mints with the check, then came back with a second set a short time later, letting the diners know that they’d brought more in case they needed them. This perceived personalization – having customers feel that the server was checking back in to fulfill their needs – earned the server 23 percent more in tips.

For companies looking to build their capacity for social media, customer service may be the best place to start in developing a strategy for social media success.

The answer to the question "what is good customer service?" used to involve very little technology: hiring people with people skills and having the policies to let them make customers happy were the keys to success and could allow a business to outperform the competition. 

But now, customers – in particular, Generation Y customers – are pushing companies to figure out how to win business by keeping people happy in the social media realm, especially given the potential for negative reviews to damage a business's reputation. As many as 60% of customers having a negatively perceived interaction with a company say they're likely to share their displeasure via social media, according to research by Millward Brown Digital. 

Measuring the right customer service metrics isn’t just a win for your customers, it will help you better train your staff, and help make your staff more efficient. As you’re prioritizing your factors for customer service success, keep these top three in mind to measure: how quickly your team is responding to customers, how efficiently they’re handling problems and how close they’re coming to creating the perfect customer experience.

To do that, you need metrics that will deliver the right information, preferably in real time, so you can spot trends and patterns and make staffing and training decisions quickly. Whether your team deals with external customers or colleagues who make use of your department’s services, measuring customer service success is a great way to hone your team’s customer service skills. 

If you feel like you’ve tried everything to improve your team’s customer service skills – jokes, threats and rewards – but nothing seems to be getting through to the members of your mobile staff, it may be time for some fresh customer service training ideas to get back on the right track.

Training isn’t a cure-all, but it is a great way to make sure everyone's hearing the same message at the same time. Your mobile staff may resist taking time away from their day jobs, but consider training an unmatched investment in customer satisfaction.

Have your team name all of their customers – internal and external.