For small businesses looking to grow in competitive markets, providing exceptional customer service is essential. Yet small teams often struggle to match the service capabilities that large corporations offer with expansive resources and staffing. The good news is that small businesses today can rival “big-time” customer service of enterprise brands through embracing key capabilities used by leading teams. By leveraging the right technology, outsourcing help and systems, small businesses can deliver five-star support.
Communication Technology
Instant, constant connectivity has grown into an expectation for customers today thanks to chat platforms and text messaging which enable seamless conversations. While limited staffing makes always-on communication difficult for small businesses, customer service technology now fills gaps cost effectively. Texting solutions lets customers text questions on websites and get instant bot-assisted answers using keywords and artificial intelligence which can escalate texts to live employees if needed. Chatbox platforms similarly provide instant website responses. Small firms further rely on after-hours call answering services, from a specialized plumbing answering service like Apello for contractors to general business call centers, which forward urgent customer calls directly to mobile phones. AI even assists answering phones to cut hold times. The latest innovations make communication simple for customers and small teams alike.
Customer Profiles
Recalling purchase histories, personal details and past requests can be nearly impossible for small teams facing endless customer conversations, especially phone based. Fortunately, customer relationship management platforms tailored for smaller teams make compiling rich individual profiles easy through tracking interactions across communication channels automatically. Information accrues every time customers call, chat, email, buy online or even tweet. Small business reps access unified profiles containing critical history, so customers feel valued rather than re-explaining needs. Ongoing profile enrichment allows teams to proactively notify customers of new arrivals, matching past purchases and resolve cross-channel issues since records integrate seamlessly.
Omnichannel Integration
Meeting surging customer expectations regarding seamless omnichannel support requires heavy IT resources, which places small teams at a disadvantage lacking complex systems integration. However, unified communications hubs optimized for smaller businesses now enable customizable blending of multiple channels like voice, SMS, email, live chat, video, and social media through intuitive interfaces. Teams manage and monitor all channels on a single pane while toggling conversations across platforms without dropping connections. Some even offer customizable mobile apps for managing customer communications remotely on-the-go.
Outsourcing Options
Despite possessing robust technology and strategy, small short-handed customer service departments often scramble to handle peak demand spikes from promotions or crises without extra hires. Overflow outsourcing emerges as an ideal solution wherein specialized remote call centers provide on-demand scalability to absorb spikes in call, email, chat or social media volumes. Leading business process outsourcing (BPO) companies thoroughly vet, hire, and train their U.S.-based representatives on a client’s systems, ensuring a smooth transition to handle significantly increased workloads. Custom dashboards allow small business managers to allocate agent seats hour-to-hour matching ever-changing conditions for right-sized assistance minus burnout. Just-in-time outsourced support enables small groups to take on the world.
Conclusion
Providing exceptional responsive service critical for growth can overwhelm small customer-facing teams lacking expansive corporate infrastructure. Yet employing the right mix of communications solutions, customer profiles, channel integration and outsourcing options empowers even micro teams to deliver outsized support. By complementing available staff strategically with scalable technologies and partners, small businesses can rival or exceed service capabilities of giant competitors. The time has arrived for small businesses to leverage available innovations allowing customer service to punch above its weight class sustainably thanks to smarter workloads distribution. The results benefit not just customers but also employees and the bottom line through higher retention, referrals and expanded capabilities unlocking growth.
