4 Initial Steps to Self-Service Success

The amount of knowledge consumers have for our services and products today is astounding.  The great part of all this knowledge is consumers are eager to first rely on their ability to fix an issue, or answer a question they have on their own, before engaging your organization direct assistance.  This is why Self Service, has become such a HUGE buzzword in the customer service world, and it seams like there are support solutions every where for your company to chose from. 

So how does your team pick the best solution for your customer’s specific needs?

My answer is that there is no one end all, be all solution.  The best solution is found by the combination of a few solutions to make sure to cover your entire customer base, which only take 4 easy steps to get started:

Step 1: Knowledge Base

Before you have any hope of building a self-service solution for your customer, you first must perform a complete review of your current knowledge base for your technical support, customer service, and billing teams.  What you are looking for is that all questions are documented digitally and the answers to them are documented and correct.

Once you have performed your review, make sure to update and correct any mistakes you have found so the knowledge base is near 100% as of that moment.  Don’t worry if something changes the next day, you can and should be continually updating and review your knowledge base, as it must be a living database.

If you are not already doing so, I would strongly suggest you have a way for these teams to submit questions they are asked for review by subject matter experts; so new data is continually being added to your knowledge base.  

Step 2: Interface

Now that you have all your knowledge base updated and ready to go, it is time to talk about interface.  The easiest place to start is going to be the Internet, and will be the most used. 

Don’t start thinking huge cost here!

There are plenty of ways to build extremely affordable self-service tools that work great.  My suggestion is to get a web designer and developer together and put together a page that can search your knowledge base by keywords, and allow some type of ranking system for relevant articles and use by customers.  This will allow your customers to help improve the system and make it much more user friendly.

Remember K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid!)

The easier your interface is, the more likely your customer will be to use it.

Step 3: Video

The best self-service tools on the Internet always incorporate some amount of video demonstration in them.  

Again, there is no reason to begin thinking huge cost here.

All you need to provide great, usable content is a digital video camera and a person willing to take some time to record content from your knowledge base.  The key here is (from your knowledge base)! 

This should not be original content, as that would mean your knowledge base is not up to date.  All you are looking to do is make your content easier to understand, and help your customer get a visual for what they need to fix.

Step 4: Integration

The most common sin I see committed by organizations is that they get to step 3 or 4 and call it a day.    They have built the tool, and now just hope their customers will begin to use it.  The reality of this is that your customer has no clue about it, and more than likely will not use it.

This is why I tell my client’s to begin integrating their self-service tool into every aspect of their organization that directly interacts with their customers. 

Example:

Your long-term customer Mike emails your billing department because he has a question on an invoice and needs supporting materials before he will pay it. 

Most companies would simply send the supporting materials and maybe call to review them with him.  Instead, send the supporting materials, but also include a link to your self-service system which show Mike how in the future he can obtain this information by him self.  In addition, when your representative calls him to review the supporting materials, make sure he/she also informs Mike of the ability to get this type of information by himself online.

This not only satisfies your customer, but also teaches your customer of this great tool you have, and how to use it.  Now your customer is empowered, and next time he/she has a question they will first check your self-service system before having to use the most costly support solution you have, labor…

Self-service systems are nothing new, especially online.  But, their demand is growing and the need to keep them current and updated is an ongoing effort that your customer will appreciate.

To Your Success & Prosperity!!

Follow Up To - Social Media Success Video

On Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013 I posted a short video about how to be more successful on social media (Social Media Success Video).  After the post I received a few emails asking for examples of things I have done that have impacted my network, and show that my theory of helping others is all you need to do to be successful online.

Well as luck would have it, I received the message below through my Linkedin account from a gentlemen in my network who just changed jobs, and that I sent a little note of congratulations to.  This small gesture I made, had a huge impact on him and his day, which I know also impacted his want and need to help others.  

As I said in my video, it is not the big things that matter to people.  It is the small things that have the greatest impact on your network.  It is saying congratulations on a job promotion, the annual birthday wish or pointing a person toward a possible opportunity.  These are things that people remember, and then make them want to pay it forward and help others, including you.

LinkedIn Shosei  has sent you a message. Date: 1/23/2013 Subject: RE: Congratulations on your new position! Michael, What a surprise, that's very generous of you. I could not resist myself a smile on my face with your message. My sincere gratitude. You've inspired me today with your praise, the importance of a simple message, has so much positive energy to it, I'm re-examining the substance of my email communication with clients and prospects. I hope you had a great start for 13, please forward my luck for you and your surroundings. Boy, that was some influence. There's good air in the room now. Thanks a million! Best, Shosei On 01/22/13 12:25 PM, Michael McMillan wrote: -------------------- Hi Shosei, I saw you're now Creative Director at Cardinal & Sevenfold and wanted to say congratulations!

Keeping helping others, and remember to treat others like you want to be treated, and the world will make sure to take care of you!

To Your Success & Prosperity!!

FTE Must = Frank, Tammy, & Edward

Call any contact center and get into a conversation about call center services and you will quickly find the person you are speaking to referring to their agents as "FTE" "Dedicated Staff" or my personal favorite "operators."  For years the BPO industry has worked hard at removing faces and names from our operations team, and without knowing it, or maybe on purpose, made the contact center space seem like a commodity to the outside world.

But, how can you make human beings be a commodity?

The answer is simple, YOU CANNOT!!  Agents are real people, they have real bills, and funny enough are typically the primary consumers or the products and services they are supporting at the contact center.  So, how does the BPO industry begin the long hard battle of removing the idea of "Commodity Call Center" and get back to the days of looking at agents as people rather than an "FTE"?

The first step is for all of us to agree that customer experience and employee experience must be #1, and that profits cannot come before people!

Yes, I know this may sound insane, lowering our profits to make peoples lives better, are you nuts?!?!?!  No, I am not nuts, just understand that when people who work for you are happy, they are willing to go the extra mile for your business, which in turn will help you grow even larger than you are today.  So yes, sacrifice a little profit today, for MUCH more profit tomorrow.

So this is step one, and it is a step that we are already seeing being implemented in the business world.  Just look to Zappo's, Amazon, and a long list of other very successful businesses putting people first and reaping the benefits from it.

So why not in the BPO contact center space?

Some will immediately say, "we do not have the margin needed to do that!" or "businesses will not pay the rate to make that happen!"

My response is "YOU ARE RIGHT AND WRONG!"  LOL!  Got to love the salesmen/politician response.  

What I mean by this is that yes, businesses out of the gate will not be willing to pay more for a service that most of the BPO space charges much less for.  But, they would be willing to pay more for a service that is at a different level than what your competitors have to offer when you can prove it.  The hard part is that one word, "PROOF!"  To do this right you must be willing to try it at the potential cost of your profitability on a program.  But, by doing this you will then build the proof needed to show other businesses why this approach not only works, but must become the new standard in the world.

It goes back to the oldest sales teaching there is, Quality Before Price!  If you can prove that your BPO sees agents as Frank, Tammy and Edward instead of "FTEs", and that this view of employees will help make your customer more money.  Then guess what, you can get the price needed to build an amazing new way of performing BPO support services!

Once these first steps are taken, you have to commit to stay the new path you have designed.  This way your employees do not see it a fluke, but the way things are and can become part of your new solution.

Forging a new path all begins with taking the first step.  Are you willing to see what lays beyond the well known beaten path?

To Your Success & Prosperity!!

2013 Annual Letter to Network

2013 is officially underway, and with this New Year beginning it is time for my annual letter to my network.

As in years past I first want to express my gratitude for including me as part of your network. I work hard every day to continue to grow my vast network so whenever you need assistance, I can have a resource available to you. In this way I look to not be another name in your vast Rolodex, but a trusted resource you can always rely on.

Looking forward to the year upon us, I am very excited to see so much business activity and growth is occurring in both of my focused market places, customer and patient experience. This continued focus to improve the way customer’s and patient’s react to our businesses products and services are vital to our ability to grow in these still uncertain economic times.

As your organization moves forward with any of your customer/patient experience projects, please feel free (as many of you do) to use my team, my network, and myself as a resource of knowledge and assistance. I am here to serve and help you, and your organization in anyway possible.  This way together we can both grow and be more successful.

So in closing I leave you with a quote that I am using to guide my thoughts and actions in this new year. I hope it will serve you, as it has me, to guide your teams to a very successful and prosperous 2013!

"Excellent firms don’t believe in excellence – only in constant improvement and constant change."

            - Tom Peters, author of In Search of Excellence

To Your Success & Prosperity,

Michael C. McMillan