[JOIN IN] Hang Out with Hot Chocolate: Managing Customer Service During the Holidays ☕

@finn The mandatory basic user certificate sounds like a great idea!  I guess I better hop on and do it for myself!  Thank you for sharing that….

Great to see another fan for user docs and guides. It’s a such a game changer. 

We are creating SOPs, both written and videos to have on hand.

A1. I guess it depends on a number of factors. From an organization’s risk appetite, through the business impact of CS “failures,” to teh number of holiday rushes each year. At one end of the spectrum, there’s the “let’s plan for next month based on last year” approach. At the other, there’s a continual need to prepare for the next holiday rush that brings in improvement opportunities each time a rush is experienced. So, as a consultant would say, “It depends” ;)

A1. (part 2) The continued pandemic-related struggles also add to the complexity of planning right now - with uncertainty over people’s health and availability. So, for me, it’s a case of plan as early as possible and review-and-revise as we get closer to the rush. I’m sure the extra time spent planning will be less than the time and pain incurred by firefighting.

A3

Setting expectations, in advance, about what a season will bring may help prepare the team and even prevent “burn-out”. To me, the customer service role should be fun as you get to solve challenges (problems) and help others.

 

I prepare my teams with what to expect and provide role-play and training on how to handle difficult situations. When they successfully manage difficult tickets, they should feel recharged and successful. Hence, one way to avoid burn-out.

 

We discuss the types of situations and the people reach out for help and discuss what is happening in the customer’s world. Do they need help now? Do they have pressure on them to get a job done quickly but our software is slowing them down? And try to create empathy for the customers.

 

In preparation, we acknowledge that some customers are friendly, others grateful and others challenging. By providing role play and tools for each situations and helping the service team turn a challenging customer into a fan, is a great goal to set and support. And can revitalize the team.

 

We can’t be everything to everyone HOWEVER we can respond with understanding, honesty and compassion.

When tools for working with challenging customers are provided, the results can be energizing and rewarding on its own. Thus, revitalizing the representative and fending off burn-out. They can get charged and excited to help the next person.

 

At times, our team will laugh at customer situations and customer frustrations. When that happens, I feel we fell short. Instead, when challenging customer stories are shared, it would be nice to work as a team on ideas of how we could improve on that customer’s experience with us. I feel that when I speak to a representative and even when they can’t help, if they listened and shared that they understood, I still felt it was a good experience. And I am energized!

I have to go now, but thank you everyone for the great details and ideas you have shared!  I learned a lot!  We only installed Freshdesk about 4 weeks ago, so I am still in the learning process.  I really appreciate the sharing of information.  Hope you all have a great rest of your day and week!  :)

Thank you so much, Lea! Welcome to the Freshworks family

It was a great session today chatting away about customer service during the holidays. Feel free to keep the conversation going everyone! Thank you so much, @Lea France, @finn, @BrendaM, @Sean.Daly, @DaniCSI, @Alice, @n.winslow, @TheresaDorr and @manns for joining us for our last coffee chat in 2021.

Shout-out to @rhea.desouza, my friend and colleague for helping me co-host this event. 

See you again with another edition next year! Until then, stay safe, take care, and happy holidays 

If you enjoyed this, make sure to tune into to our upcoming happy hour with @manns! Sign up here and catch him live: https://www.freshworks.com/events/happy-hour-with-stephen-mann/

A5. My quick answer is trying to make it such that everyone wins rather than one party at the expense of the other.

A5. My longer answer is:

1. Ensuring that lessons learned from previous years have been brought into BAU operations
2. Planning for all eventualities such that as many issues can be anticipated and fixes found before they happen (based on probability and impact of course)
3. Using feedback - from both customers and employees - to try to course correct on the fly
4. Empowering CS personnel by giving them some leeway when following policies and processes - this will help to get a win-win rather than one side of the engagement “losing”

I’m sure there’s more but I started late to the chat :)

Hey @Vanderson! Welcome to the coffee chat. You can participate here. The live chat-session just got done. You can however, post your thoughts for these questions. It will be here in this thread and certainly be useful to all of us:

Use the quote option and answer them. I look forward to reading all your responses. 
 

1. How far ahead should customer service teams and leads begin planning for the holiday rush?

2. How has your team prepped to meet the changes in demands around customer expectations during this time?

3. How can customer service managers prevent and address increased stress/burnout among their teams during this time?

4. What are some lessons and insights from previous years that have helped customer service teams perform better during the holiday season? 

5. What is key towards managing both customer and employee satisfaction during the holidays?

6. Lastly, how can teams/individuals best take advantage of a holiday “lull” - the proverbial calm before the storm. (Tag, @manns when you answer this particular question, he’s looking forward to your responses)