March 19, 2024
What the range of tasks of a customer service department looks like differs per company, but it generally involves things like preparing quotations, entering orders, arranging transport and of course answering all the customer's questions.
What the range of tasks of a customer service department looks like differs per company, but it generally involves things like preparing quotations, entering orders, arranging transport and of course answering all the customer's questions. In doing so, customer service employees depend on other departments, such as planning. They often know the details the customer is looking for, such as: can we still change the order specifications? Or when will the product be delivered? The customer service employee is a real linchpin and enjoys solving problems together with other people.
Within UC Group, however, we see that the role of customer service is changing considerably. Logistics companies want to be closer to the customer and are discovering that customer service plays a crucial role in this. This department is often the first to notice that a customer is starting to behave differently and is able to increase customer satisfaction enormously by responding to this adequately. This does call for a different working attitude from employees. Instead of working through their fixed tasks, they have to focus on the customer relationship and be proactive in recognising new opportunities.
The transition of customer service does not happen by itself and demands a lot from the person who has to lead it: the customer service manager. This manager has to move employees to behave differently. Encourage them to think along with the customer and come up with solutions proactively. Instead of directing the department top-down, the manager has to enable people to come up with ideas themselves. This requires a change in management style, also because this way of working is new to the customer service employees themselves too. They are not used to thinking out of the box.
Something a customer service manager has to guard against is employees 'going too far' in their new role. Doing things for the customer that sales has in fact deliberately kept out of the contract. You do not want customers to start calling customer service out of convenience, with questions they could also look up themselves. Customer service employees are helpful by nature and like to go the extra mile for a customer, but that does have to fall within the commercial frameworks. Unambiguous instructions can always be given for this. It is partly a matter of 'sensing', which managers sometimes find difficult to convey to employees.
As manager of a 'new-style' customer service department, you have to show servant leadership. You want to encourage people to step out of their comfort zone and at the same time make sure they feel safe. You have to set clear frameworks and at the same time give room for their own input and for responding to commercial opportunities. This calls for trust and creating an atmosphere in which people dare to make mistakes. People can be deeply affected when sincerely well-intentioned initiatives are called back. As a manager you have to be aware of that.
Incidentally, it is not only these 'soft skills' that a new-style customer service manager must have. Just as important is an understanding of automation, data-driven working and the possibilities of AI. It is precisely in technological innovation that the opportunities lie to serve customers better or even to develop entirely new revenue models. On the basis of big data and AI, latent changes in customer needs can also be detected that employees could never perceive so quickly with the naked eye.
So it is quite a lot that today's customer service manager has to be capable of. One of the reasons we are writing this blog is that companies do not always seem to realise this. Boards underestimate how great the impact of the manager, and his management style, is on a department and what this means for the development of such a department, in a positive or negative sense. They see that sickness absence is increasing, that there is a lot of staff turnover or that the customer service KPIs are declining, but they do not make the link with the person who manages it.
These are exactly the situations where UC Group can be of value. Our experienced interim managers are used to taking existing managers in tow and brushing up the desired skills. They do this by setting a good example themselves and transferring knowledge on the basis of concrete situations. Managing a modern customer service department calls for new leadership. We are happy to help you develop this within your company.
UC Group works everywhere: our professionals are based across the Benelux. We welcome visitors at our offices in Rotterdam and Nieuwkuijk. Drop by for a coffee and get to know us!
