A Day in the Life of a Customer Service Representative

What are consumer support agents, and what is their role in business process outsourcing (BPO)? Buyers rely on these representatives for quick responses, no matter how small or big their concerns are regarding their purchases.  

Due to steadily increasing demand, customer care BPO continues to expand. In 2022 alone, the sector will reach a market value of $22.6 billion.  

But do you ever wonder what being a customer service representative is like? How do they spend their day quickly and effectively addressing requests? Do they follow specific procedures to deliver a top-notch customer experience? 

Let us find out through this article.

How a Customer Service Representative’s Day Begins

Whether at home or in the office, a customer service representative’s typical day starts with preparing their work equipment and booting their desktop systems. Some even warm up their voices and stretch in preparation for an eight-hour shift of assisting different customers.

Regardless of varying time zones, support agents have only one goal—to keep consumers happy. They regularly train to perform the following customer service representative jobs with ease:

• Respond to inquiries regarding company products and services
• Resolve complaints related to damaged goods or unsatisfactory service offerings
• Process orders, payments, and shipments
• Book appointments
• Fill in, update, and help recover customers’ accounts
• Handle refund requests, returns, and exchanges
• Address billing and invoice concerns
• Manage and keep records of customer interactions
• Promote various products
• Conduct market research and surveys

Although some companies hire these professionals in-house, most businesses outsource them for increased cost savings and efficiency. Their scalability, flexibility, and specialized skill sets let client organizations focus on their primary functions without overspending.

As such, the global customer care BPO market constantly grows. According to Insight Partners, the sector was valued at $22.6 billion in 2022 alone. The research firm expects the industry to reach $34.6 billion by 2028 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of nearly 8%. 

Best Practices Customer Service Representative Must Follow

Support agents adhere to crucial guidelines and quality standards to ensure consumer satisfaction and retention. BPO companies draft these rules and regulations based on business strategies, industry policies, and government laws. 

Here are some best practices that reliable BPO agents must follow:

Deeply Understand Client Products and Services

Consumer support agents undergo formal training and use knowledge resources to understand client products and services. They also participate in collaborative and continuous learning programs to familiarize themselves with the brand. 

BPO providers host comprehensive training activities such as workshops, presentations, video tutorials, or interactive sessions. Such programs tackle crucial data regarding the client’s business offerings. Instructors help agents understand the client’s product features, specifications, usage instructions, and related details to address customer concerns well. 

To fill the gap of missed training schedules, BPO companies ensure their customer care executives have access to an updated knowledge base of client-specific information. The repository includes the details below so that agents can easily review them before, during, and after customer interactions.

• Product guides
• Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
• Troubleshooting steps
• Preset dialogue
• Service manuals

Ensure Effective Oral and Written Communication

BPO customer service personnel take several steps to ensure effective oral and written communication. Service providers implement the following strategies to help agents clearly and naturally interact with customers:

• Language assessments are part of pre-screening tests. They identify a customer service representative’s language proficiency. This step is crucial to confirming whether applicants can smoothly engage with customers using English and other relevant languages before accepting and deploying them.
• Accent and pronunciation training ensures agents can talk with customers using clear, neutral accents, building rapport and avoiding misunderstandings.
• Non-voice communication training teaches team members how to appropriately engage with consumers through email, chat, or social media. It highlights ways to properly use grammar and formatting to ensure brief and concise written responses.

Apply Customer Service Etiquette

Because customer service involves dealing with different people, agents follow the call and contact center etiquette. This practice ensures they maintain a professional attitude, especially when encountering frustrated and rude consumers.

Besides, support agents value keeping customers satisfied and loyal to a brand. They receive competitive compensation and benefits and do their best to help retain consumers and achieve business success. Plus, they know they will likely lose buyers to competitors after a bad experience, as confirmed by 61% of Zendesk’s polled customers.

BPO companies thus make sure their customer service representatives exercise the following work etiquette:

• Actively listen to and comprehend every word customers say
• Patiently help identify the root cause of customer problems
• Carefully explain the step-by-step process for resolving issues
• Communicate with consumers clearly and calmly
• Comply with on-hold rules during live chats or calls with customers
• Address background noise, especially when working at home
• Respond to missed inbound calls, emails, and chats
• Detail the processes involved when resolving unexpected errors
• Handle consumer information responsibly and with respect to privacy
• Get feedback after customer interactions to identify areas of improvement

Study Problem Resolution Techniques

Resolving issues is one of the most critical duties of a customer service representative. So agents study strategies on how to deliver effective problem solutions. They use the following approaches to practice resolving simple or complex issues:

• Access digital or physical documents that detail troubleshooting guides
• Conform to escalation policies and procedures for complicated customer problems
• Learn about case studies highlighting challenging customer issues and resolutions
• Take continuous learning programs focused on specific problem-solving strategies
• Seek guidance from subject matter experts or team leaders within their company
• Review data and privacy security rules to ensure compliance

Use Scripts and Appropriate Technologies

Besides training and document review, support agents use scripts and appropriate technologies to streamline tasks. These resources help them deliver a superior-quality customer experience. Such tools help provide consistent and accurate responses.

• Call and live chat scripts are pre-written guidelines that include proper greetings, recommended answers, probing questions, and steps for issue resolution.

• Email templates ensure professional and well-structured responses to customer inquiries sent via email. 

• Customer relationship management (CRM) systems facilitate the management of customer engagement, data collection, and request tracking activities. 

• Automatic call distribution and ticketing solutions gather, organize, and monitor customer inquiries and route them to appropriate customer service representatives.

• Artificial intelligence (AI) platforms automate and simplify repetitive tasks and responses.

• Cloud solutions such as contact center as a service (CCaaS) help safely store data and ensure smooth communication across integrated channels.

• Speech and data analytics tools allow support agents to identify and observe changing consumer preferences and industry trends for further service enhancement.

Prioritize Personalized Customer Experience

Those advanced tools and scripts let call, and contact center agents prioritize a personalized customer experience. The resources enable them to deliver immediate responses through customers’ preferred channels. 

In addition to such platforms, support agents execute various ways to personalize the customer journey:

• Address consumers by their names during greetings and interactions
• Adjust communication tone and style based on particular situations
• Take note of a customer’s history and account information
• Express empathy and understanding when listening to customer concerns
• Provide customized recommendations based on consumers’ specific needs
• Engage in friendly and conversational dialogue while addressing inquiries
• Follow up or deliver updates to ensure comprehensive problem resolutions

By using such strategies, agents help boost customer satisfaction and retention. Twilio proved that fact in its latest report. The cloud communication platform provider found that 86% of surveyed consumers have become increasingly loyal to specific brands due to personalized experiences.

Adhere to Project Turnaround Time

Customer service representatives adhere to project turnaround time by prioritizing critical and time-sensitive tasks. They use productivity techniques such as time blocking and automated task distribution software to manage their time effectively.

Moreover, agents follow standardized workflows that enumerate the steps involved in handling customer concerns and providing resolutions. These organized processes help ensure consistency and avoid delays.

Undergo Regular Assessment

To further improve work performance, BPO agents undergo regular assessments monthly and yearly. Service providers use multiple methods to evaluate their productivity and provide feedback. The resulting insights help identify ways to improve the staff’s skills and efficiency. Here are the common practices agents encounter when being evaluated:

• Output quality monitoring
• Key performance indicator (KPI) assessments
• Customer feedback-driven evaluation
• Coaching and training
• Self-assessment
• Team and peer evaluation
• Automated performance tracking

Comply with Security Policies and Procedures

Well-grounded support agents comply with security policies and procedures. When exploring what BPO is, ensuring that these third-party workers follow such rules is crucial. It gives clients confidence that the BPO team can protect customer and business data against external threats. BPO agents ensure adherence to standard security rules through these measures:

• Undergo regular security training and compliance analysis
• Review data privacy laws and regulations
• Follow strict access controls and authentication procedures
• Sign and obey confidentiality agreements
• Learn to use secure channels such as virtual private networks (VPNs)
• Identify and promptly report any security incidents and data breaches
• Exercise clean desk and secure workstation policies

The Bottom Line

Third-party customer service representatives are vital to keeping consumers satisfied and loyal to a brand. The agents’ way of responding to inquiries and resolving issues influences how customers perceive and trust a business. 

Like other professionals, BPO agents undergo training and follow relevant procedures to ensure an unmatched customer experience. Various guidelines and tools help these specialists meet evolving consumer demands. 

Do you want to hire highly trained and committed customer support agents? Drop a line, and let’s connect. Unity Communications employs skilled and flexible workers ready to satisfy customer needs.