Customer Support Yearly Calendar
It’s a brand new year, and now is the perfect time to plan out the rest of 2012 for you and your entire customer support team! Just like New Year's resolutions, it’s good to have milestones throughout the year to remind us to pick up the pace or improve our situation.
Making a calendar can keep you from putting off important maintenance, especially when it’s so easy to dismiss and do something else - but it’ll be the holiday season again before you know it! So here are some events you can schedule throughout the year to help keep your customer support game in tip-top shape.
Schedule More Help During Busy Times
When are your busiest times? Naturally, a lot of companies have increased business during the holidays, but that might not be the only really busy time for your team. If you own a fireworks company, for example, you're most likely swamped during New Year’s Eve and Fourth of July as well.
Look back at your past schedules from the last couple of years to find out when your most busy times are. Instead of your team getting overly stressed and strained during these times, map out these cycles and perhaps consider bringing on a few more people to share the load during these periods.
Training Days
Speaking of new help, you need time to train them properly. Even if they stay for just a few weeks or months, you will want for them to know how to properly handle any customer service situation. And a refresher could not hurt for the rest of your staff!
To this end, schedule a few days or weeks during the year to catch up on training. Not only will new situations arise during the months between, but your agents will most likely have new questions that they can address and get answered. You can also take this time to forecast plausible problems or issues you’ll face in the future.
FAQ Improvement
Want to cut down on your agents’ work load? Updating your Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) is a great way to insure that your customers don't leave your website again without getting the answer they are searching for. When your customers have troubles, they can simply check the FAQ and hopefully avoid calling or emailing your service center. With this tool properly utilized, all of your agents (and you) will have more time to do other things than field commonly asked questions again and again.
Morale Building
You most likely are not slammed 24/7. Well, I suppose it’s possible, but then you clearly need to go back to point #1 and reevaluate your staffing needs! In any case, there will eventually be down times for your customer support team. During these instances, you still want to keep your team busy and engaged, and you can’t train all the time.
What better time could there be to hold some team building and morale boosting events!? Take everybody out for a night of bowling or have a random party or potluck in the office. So when making that calendar, be sure to schedule for some fun and recognition!
