With the launch of our latest hosted PBX and SIP trunk offering, Voxox Office, there has been a lot of internal restructuring. One thing that has remained consistent however, is our dedication and commitment to providing the best quality service for our customers. Our VP of Customer Experience, Tim Schuh, has been with Voxox for almost 3 years and manages our team of rockstar support agents. Here are 4 question with Tim on some of the support that goes the backend for Voxox Office.
1. What level of service do you expect as the VP of Customer Experience?
I like to avoid terms like World-Class, or Best in Class. I find them vague and overused by Marketing teams. Plus, they are hard to define. I want the customer to be happy, and if all possible surprised by the interaction with the agent. I expect our support agents to be personable, intelligent, professional and efficient.
2. What were the biggest changes made to onboarding over the past year?
We have high expectation for new agents, within the first 30 days we like to see them contribute 75% of expected volume, and 100% within 60 days. In the last year we increased the amount of time we spend training on problems solving and troubleshooting methodologies. Agents work with their manager to identify an opportunity to improve the service provided to our customers. The agent then, creates a projects where they define a problem statement, gather information, set goals, develop options, implement change(s), track results, and adjust as needed. This continues until the goal is reached, then they move on to a new problem.
To re-enforce troubleshooting methods, we use issues reported by the customer and have the agents apply the first 4 steps of the Cisco troubleshooting methodology (define the problem, gather detailed information, consider possible causes, develop plan to implement). Agents develop questions to further define the problem reported, then add more questions for each possible problem statement, list the causes and create plans for each. The feedback from the agents has been great and the insight we gain on how the agent approaches the problem has been a huge help in training.
3. What can customers expect when dealing with us?
Friendly, personable and intelligent people that are committed to helping customers resolve their request or issue.
4. What are some of the important areas you focus on when dealing with customers?
Empathy is huge. You have to appreciate the customers perspective, whether it's a new customer and we are working on an installation, or a long term customer that just needs a little help. This understanding should drive the interaction between the agent and customer. If done correctly, the agent is able to make a connection with the customer, which improves the communication and helps identifying and resolving a customer issue. Another is professionalism. As a professional, we are responsible for doing what is best for the customer. Funny thing, what's best for the customer is not always what they ask the agent to do. Our agents need to manage the customers expectations and guide them to what will work best in their situation.
