Equipping Your Frontline

When a customer walks into a store and seeks the attention of a CSR, what do they expect? Obviously, they are expecting service. But what kind of service? Should they expect the CSR to know the products and to be able to assist them in making an informed decision? Sadly, all too often, customers are met with a CSR that knows a little about a lot, but not a lot about anything.

In a recent Business Insider article, Ashley Lutz acknowledges this fact, stating “Today's educated consumer demands an educated associate.” When the customer comes to the store, they may have done their homework, and know exactly what they want and why. However, that is not often the case. The simple solution offered by Lutz is to equip them with mobile devices.

Having a mobile device on hand allows the CSR to access and be privy to a wealth of information. Aside from just product details, depending on the type of company, it could also be used to access the customer’s prior purchasing history. "Good customer service is in the top three influencers of customer decisions, yet customers consider associates to be one of the least credible resources when it comes to getting information about products," says Shannon Warner of Cognizant Technology Solutions. If set up correctly, the CSR should be able to quickly access and find the answers when the customer asks specifics on an item. Failure to do so can lead to waning respect for a company’s service.

The world of mobility has taken a solid root in the everyday lives of much of the population. Companies have begun taking action to make things more mobile friendly for the customer. But how about the employees? There are some companies who are taking note, and “early adopters across industries are proactively launching innovative, mobility–driven services for a wide swath of users – employees, customers and business partners,“ states another set of writers at Cognizant in discussing the multitude of ways mobile devices are used for work and play.

With your employees “going mobile,” it would allow for quicker access to more information, allowing for faster and more thorough customer service. Currently, most businesses rely on the typical checkout terminal, where they can access information about a product, like some details on availability, special ordering, or locating a product in another branch of the company. Oftentimes, they are held up waiting for another CSR to finish with the terminal. With individual mobile devices, things could run much more smoothly and professionally. Consider that the tip of the iceberg though, as mobility can be used in a wealth of other ways in a company too.

This is just one aspect of updating the way things are done for this modern technological world. Companies, seeking to stay on the cutting edge and seeking to compete in the mobile and online world, have seen the trend, and have begun taking steps to prepare for this new generation. “Most organizations are ill prepared because they are structured to respond to a very different set of business conditions than the ones they face today,” suggests another Cognizant article, which then goes on to offer many questions to consider regarding your organization’s readiness for this new generation.

As a good first step and a way to improve your CSR frontline, consider putting into play a mobile device system that can feed your CSR staff with a wealth of information that can greatly boost their output and abilities. A good CSR team is made up of the right employees with the right tools and knowledge to succeed.

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