While computers and the Internet have assumed a lot of the work of enabling human communication, telephones and live video chat are important for customer service. And good customer service, in turn, can help maintain a company’s profits and boost employee retention rates. People care very much how they are treated, and just once instance of rudeness or clear incompetence over the phone or during live web chats may cause a customer to lose faith in a company and choose to not spend any more money on them. Fortunately, there are many established techniques for good communication with customers, and inbound sales call employees and others are motivated to treat their customers quite well. Statistics show just how much money stands to be earned or lost based on customer service jobs and even independent contractor work, and other trends show why customers may appreciate or dislike the service that they receive. What is more, independent contractor work at home is possible thanks to the Internet and telephones, and work from home technical support may appeal to many employees. How might work from home technical support be done?
On Customer Service
Whether an employee is doing work from home customer service or working at a busy sales call center, they know that good customer treatment is key. How well a customer feels during a conversation, and how much money they will spend, are closely linked, and market research is often dedicated to studying this relationship. For example, customers may feel a deep-down sense of gratitude when they are treated well by business reps, feeling appreciated and valued by that company. This, in turn, may encourage them to spend more money and be a more dedicated customer. Conversely, it may take just one instance of bad customer service to drive away a customer, and they may back out of a purchase partway through or never try to spend anything at all. To put it simply, customers are picky about the customer service that they get, and rudeness or lack of helpful competence can make a bad impression that lasts a long time.
Businesses, too, depend on good customer service. In fact, statistics show that when a business increases their customer retention rates as little as 5% or so, they may see profit increases as large as 25-95%, which is a considerable return on that investment. Phone calls are a major part of most sales funnels, and it is more price-efficient to sell to an existing customer than attempt to make a new one (though of course both routes should be taken). This means that treating current customers rudely over the phone or with web chat will drive them away, and it may expensive to replace them with new customers. Both potential and current customers must be treated well for these reasons.
Making the Call
Where is an employee while they’re interacting with customers over the phone or live web chat? Call centers are a common place where employees work, but there are some downsides to this paradigm. Mainly, the noise. A call center will have many phone conversations taking place at once, and this can make it difficult for a person on either end of the conversation to hear the other. That, naturally, lowers customer service quality, and a frustrated customer may hang up if they can’t even hear the customer service rep on the other side of the phone. This is why remote work, such as work from home technical support, may be a better idea.
It is an increasingly common paradigm to work from home, and there are some clear advantages to remote work such as work from home technical support for customers. For one, a person’s private residence won’t have the same levels of noise as a busy call center or office, and this can make phone conversations much easier to conduct in peace. Besides that, these at-home workers don’t have to spend any time commuting, and some workers can’t afford to leave home anyway. Single parents, for example, may work at home and take care of any kids or pets while they are there. A home office may be set up for this, complete with a phone, desk and computer, relevant books and folders, and more.
