Businesses can no longer just rely on their sales team to boost turnover and bring in new business. Every one of your employees plays an important role in the growth of your business. While some businesses owners might believe that their customer support team is just there to retain customers, this is far from the truth.

How customer service agents help boost your bottom line

Studies by the American Marketing Association and the Harvard Business Review both found that customer satisfaction scores had a direct effect on stock prices and net cash flow.

Customers that had a really good experience with a business spent up to 140% more than those who didn’t. In fact, good customer service is so beneficial that it lowers customer support costs too. In the case of US phone company Sprint, it lowered their customer support costs by a whopping 33%.

Signs your bottom line is benefiting from good customer service

In order to gauge how customer service is currently affecting your business, ask yourself the following questions:

1. What is your customer retention rate? A higher retention rate means that your customer support levels are definitely boosting your bottom line.
2. What are your customer conversion rates? Seeing a high conversion rate is a good sign.
3. What are people saying about your brand online? You want your brand to have a good reputation online with minimal negative feedback.

Tips to improve your customer support and grow your business

Anybody who interacts with a customer is shaping their experience with your business and adding to your overall brand image.

Many businesses have also started realizing the benefits of partnering with companies that specialize in customer support so that their employees can focus on other tasks. Outsourcing your customer support team will help you save on costs and benefit from their experience.

Below are a few other ways that you can help improve your support team’s performance going forward:

1. Give them the right tools. By equipping your team with the right tools, you’re making their jobs that much easier. With the right tools your support agents can work quickly and efficiently, giving your customers the best possible service.
2. Regular training is a must. Your business grows and changes all the time so it’s important to keep your support team up to date with any new products, services or policy changes if you want them to be able to give your customers the right information. Regular training sessions are also a good way to reinforce brand values and business objectives.
3. Stay away from a script. Scripts do have their place but when agents start reading from them like robots, your customer service is just like everyone else’s. Your customers are human so why aren’t you having a conversation with them like a human?
4. Give your customers options. Expand your support options so that customers can decide how they would like to connect with you. Social media and live chat support have become very popular among online users and will definitely take your support services to the next level.