If your business is like most, you could make things more efficient. Not only is increased efficiency a money saver, but it will also make your customers happier.
Have you ever had this happen as a consumer: You have an issue with a product. You have called the company about it. They said they would fix it, but they did not. You have to follow up. They open a new case. That goes nowhere. You have to follow up again. By this point, you are writing the company off entirely and have made a note never to shop there again. All because their customer service is so inefficient.
This was such an unnecessary situation! And it is one that you do not need to replicate in your own business.
Do an Efficiency Review
When you are actively managing your company, you don’t always know where inefficiencies lie.
Here are a few things you can do to nail down inefficiencies and make your company run smoothly.
1. Consider the various systems and functions that are performed within your business.
Make a list of all the functions that your staff perform. Ideally, they would all be run through a test in the next step, but you can always prioritize and decide which must be looked into first.
2. Test your systems
Start with areas that are giving you the most trouble and test the systems.
You can hire someone to test out your system - or have an employee do it for you.
Simply have someone try to buy your product and then report the process they went through to obtain it. Then have them try to return the product and document that journey.
Go through your list above and have someone test each aspect of the systems - both internally and externally. Then have that person report back on what happened.
3. Fix the bugs
The tests above should have brought out any bugs in the system. Often, the bugs are process-related. For example, if a customer is returning an item and isn’t getting the support they need, the customer support staff often don’t have a procedure that provides them with a step-by-step method of handling the situation. You can fix this issue by documenting the procedure a customer service representative should use when a client wants to return something.
4. Automate to improve experience
There are two ways to automate. One is to add automation to the customer experience. This would be something like adding a chatbot to your site which gathers information before directing the customer to the right person. On the other end is automating to make things easier for your staff. For example, you can usually have your bank communicate with your accounting software so that your accountant doesn’t have to do data entry.
Either way, automation can improve customer experience and help employees do a better job.
If you decide to add some automation to your business, include it in the processes and procedures. In the end, your staff will be the ones to help customers, do quality checks, and come up with creative ideas. So, keep that in mind as you work to make your business more efficient.
Are you ready to create a better experience for both your customers and your employees? Contact Business Success Consulting Group today!
