Help Your Customer Service Team Put on a Great Show

Jumping through hoops, lying on a bed of nails, fire eating, sword swallowing, lion taming. Is this just a list of entertaining circus acts? Or is it how your customer service team members describe their experiences dealing with challenging customer phone calls?

P.T. Barnum, the inventor of the circus himself, said, "The noblest art is that of making others happy." Your customer service team should be channeling this motto every day — even on those difficult calls. By the year 2020, customer service will surpass product and price as a key differentiator for your company, meaning exceptional customer service isn't optional anymore. It's a requirement.

So how can you ensure your team will always go above and beyond?

Make Happiness Their Job

The circus wouldn't be the circus without the clumsy, fun-loving clowns who thrive on others' laughter. Their main goal is to entertain the audience at their own expense. While some customers might be easy to please, there will always be some that are a "tough crowd." If the audience isn't clowning around, do you think the clown just gives up?

Of course not! Like handling a tough audience, managing frustrated customers can be quite challenging, but it is possible as long as your staff feels the customer (or audience) out and then does their best to help. Ensure they're polite, asking questions, listening intently and doing everything in their power to come up with a solution.

Teach Them the Differences in What Your Company Can Offer

What makes the circus so thrilling? Back in the day, people use to come from miles around because they heard tantalizing rumors of the unknown. A dog man? A bearded lady? Circus employees were experts on being different, and their audience flocked to them to learn more.

In the same way, ensure your staff is knowledgeable about what makes your products different, what your customers need, and how trends are changing in the industry. Eight-four percent of customers are frustrated when the service agent doesn't have helpful information. To avoid customer frustration, it's important to continually train your employees so they feel prepared to answer any questions your customers may have.

Provide Them With the Right Tools

A clown without a nose. A trapeze artist without a trapeze. A magician without a magic hat. What do these things have in common? These performers are crucial components to the circus, but without the proper tools, they can't perform their jobs and the audience won't be pleased.

What tools are your customer service team missing? Whether it's a CRM application to easily store and contact prospects, an easy-to-use outbound calling feature or even hiring more coworkers to reduce the amount of missed calls, identifying and fixing problems your staff may be having will benefit both them and your customers.

Need more inspiration on how to improve your team's service? We've rounded up the best customer service stories from 2017.