subject: Deciding If Remote Customer Service Is Right For You [print this page] Deciding If Remote Customer Service Is Right For You
In these modern, always connected times, customers and clients are more and more demanding. They expect to always be able to reach your business, whether it's peak hours or whether it's the middle of the night no matter how large or small your business may be. And what's worse, Thanks to the Internet, a bad customer service experience can live forever: more and more business review sites are popping up each day, giving irate or grumpy customers the ability to broadcast their negative experiences to the rest of the world. In this environment, it's difficult to maintain a sterling reputation by giving your customers the kind of access they have grown to expect, especially for small businesses. That's why more and more companies are turning to remote customer service providers to pick up some of the slack. But how do you know if contracting a remote customer service company is right for your business?
If you do any time-sensitive transactions, then it's important to have remote customer service available to provide support when your office is closed, or when your phone lines are too busy. After all, if someone needs information right now about a product or service they wish to purchase from your company and you can't give them that information, that person doesn't have the time to wait around. They will find another company, and you'll lose money.
The same thing goes for businesses that take orders online, as well. By making your company available for interaction on the Internet, you are essentially setting your hours to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And if someone is able to use your website to order or confirm things with your company at any hour, they will expect support at any hour as well. By utilizing remote customer service, you are able to meet your customers' expectations without hiring employees to man the phones round the clock.
Ultimately, you are the only person who can decide whether remote customer service is the right choice for your business but it's definitely a question that any company or organization looking to move into the 21st century should ask themselves. As the economy becomes more global, things like peak hours and time zones can no longer stand in the way of stellar customer service regardless of the size of your organization or how much money you have to spend on globalization.
