What's up, everybody?
I'm Brian Tong,
your guide
to all things Salesforce.
And this is Salesforce Explained.
It's a series where we talk
Salesforce and technology
without the jargon
or all the buzzwords.
So make sure
to subscribe
to the Salesforce channel
and turn on those notifications
so you never miss an episode.
Okay.
Today
we're talking about all things
customer service.
And if you've seen
an episode before,
you know
we're going to cover everything
from what it is
to breaking down
strategies
that make customer service
more productive and more efficient
while saving your business money.
So, hey, let's get into it.
Now, first up,
what is customer service?
And to answer this,
we're going to start
with a pop quiz.
But don't stress,
it's just one question.
All right, true or false:
customer service starts
after you make a sale.
Now you've got a 50% chance
of getting this one right.
Okay. Think about it.
And the answer is false!
Yes.
Customer service isn't
just what you do
when there's a problem.
It's the support
you offer for your customers,
both before
and after they buy
and use your products and services.
Now, today's customers
expect any-time anywhere support on
whatever channels they like,
and Salesforce makes it easy
and efficient
to deliver service to them.
So why is customer service
so important?
Well, one word: retention.
Yeah.
Happy customers are more likely
to stick around
and do more business with you
and repeat
customers are always a great thing.
You know,
it's less expensive
to keep current customers
than to find new ones and customer
retention is a win-win.
Now, great customer service
keeps your customers
coming back for more,
which helps
your brand's reputation.
And after all, people like to talk
like, wouldn't
you rather have folks
raving over
how great your customer
service is than
the alternative?
Hmm.
Now, the opposite of retention
is called churn,
which is when your customers decide
not to do business
with you anymore.
And it's definitely something
you'll want to try to keep
to a minimum,
because wowing customers
is a whole lot easier
with a customer service
platform
that doesn't
just serve their needs,
but can also exceed
customer expectations.
Now, here are four tips
on how you can offer
great customer service.
Tip number one:
serve customers on the channel
they prefer to use.
Now, it’s
super important
to meet your customers
where they want support,
whether it's over
phone, email, articles,
text messaging
or even social media.
So let's take a quick
look at the channels
customers like to use
and that businesses should support.
So first up, phone and voice.
And believe it or not,
voice is still the top support
channel out there,
but it's a little different
than it was back
in the days of rotary phones
and landlines.
Remember those?
I hope you do,
because today
voice is as much a digital channel
as email or webchat.
Okay, next we got email.
Email is the second
most used service channel
after phone support
and with good reason.
It's convenient and makes it easy
to look at a full conversation
and loop in others.
But what about customers
that want to help themselves?
Well, that's called self-service.
And it's your first line of defense
for offering great support.
Now, you could build a help
center, a customer portal
and an online community
to help customers
resolve issues
that they can handle themselves.
Plus, you also got chat bots,
which help customers self-serve
by answering
commonly asked questions quickly.
So if the request is simple,
the bot serves up the best content
to resolve the customer's question,
saving your business time
and that money.
And for trickier cases,
the chat bot
puts the customer
in touch
with an agent for human support.
Okay.
Oh, did you think that was it?
Mm.
No, we're not done yet
because customers can also
be supported with text messaging
and businesses
can log text messages
for agents to easily access
and keep the conversation going.
So for customers
that like to reach out
over social media, you can connect
marketing and customer service data
to collaborate when customers
reach out on social with a problem.
And for customers
that are visual learners,
you can offer visual
remote assistance.
So customers have the option
to connect
with an agent
or technician through video.
Whoo! Okay.
That's a lot of support
channels to cover.
You think?
Well, the great news is
that Salesforce
has something
for all your service channel needs.
Remember to
check out the links below
to find out how Salesforce
Service Cloud
can cover
all your service channel needs.
Okay, now
let's talk
more about the key
parts of great service.
So tip number two:
connect customer service
to your broader organization.
So no matter what
channel they prefer,
nothing is worse for a customer
than having to re-tell their story
as they get passed from agent
to agent
trying to get a problem resolved.
I have been there.
You have been there.
In fact, 76% of customers
expect consistent interactions
across departments.
So how do you offer consistency
and continuity in customer service?
Well, that's
by connecting service
to your customer
relationship management, a.k.a.
a CRM system.
Now this way,
when a customer reaches out,
your service agent has
all of the data
that they need on a single screen:
demographics, order history,
preferences, and a whole lot more.
And they'll know who to pull in
from other departments
to help resolve the issue
if need be.
Now, Salesforce,
they give you that 360
view of their customer
with all their details, including
when you were marketing
and selling to them.
A clear 360 degree view
of your customers,
relationships
and expectations from your brand
is key
to making sure
that they stay happy.
Okay, tip number three:
strike a balance between quality
and speed.
63% of agents,
that is nearly two thirds...
According to my quick math,
I'm smart up here.
They say it's
difficult to balance
speed and quality
when offering customer support.
Making sure the right support cases
go to the right
agents is the secret
to getting that balance right.
Now, service
cloud has a super helpful feature
for this
called omni channel routing.
Yes, it sounds big,
but it automatically sends
a support case
to the agent
with the appropriate skills
and availability
for your customers’ needs.
It can also make sure that high
priority cases
get assigned immediately
so your customers
get the support that they need
a.s.a.p.
Okay.
Tip number four: Act as a team.
Now, though agents often work
one on one with customers,
they still need the collaboration
and support
that comes
with being part of a team.
Now, this is super important
with the remote workforce.
Salesforce embraces
something called
the heart of service...
aww...
which means
leading your service teams
with empathy so they can in turn
deliver the same experience
to their customers.
For those
really tricky support cases,
service teams can collaborate
by doing something
called case swarming.
Now, this approach brings agents
and experts
together to work through
those complex cases
that a single agent
can't handle themselves.
Now, when it comes
to collaborating,
Slack is perfect for case swarming.
Whether your team is in office
or working remote,
your agents can collaborate
with experts
and begin a swarm workflow
in a new or existing Slack channel.
Now we've covered
all the basics here,
but there's a whole lot more
to learn about customer service
with Salesforce.
So check out the links in the video
description.
Like: What is
Customer Service?
Customer Service
with Salesforce: Quick Look,
The Customer Service
Resource Center,
the State of Service
and the Heart of Service Newsletter
and you can always head over
to Trailhead for hands on learning.
Remember, be sure to like,
subscribe
and turn on your notifications
so you never miss an episode
of Salesforce Explained.
And if you have more questions,
drop a question
in the comments below.
And you never know,
your question
might appear on the next episode.
Take care and
I'll see you next time.