Agent support manual

Monitor and manage supplies

Your role as a call centre agent does not finish when you have recorded the details of the customer's order and arranged for the order to be filled. You now have to make sure that the customer's requested product or service is supplied efficiently.

You should:bullet point.

• make regular checks on the supply of the service or product, bullet point.

• inform the customer of progress at appropriate intervals, bullet point.

• explain to customers if there is likely to be a delay or you cannot meet your commitment, bullet point.

• make sure that the customer is satisfied at every stage.

Make regular checks on the supply of the service or product

You should contact the appropriate areas within Bushland Blooms to find out whether the service or product has been supplied to the customer as requested.

Hi Shane, this is James from the customer contact centre. I'm ringing about the request for a technician to visit Mr Duc to fit a replacement part to his reticulation system. I was wondering how that was coming along?

You may want to call a customer to check that their product arrived or the service agent came at the scheduled time. This is not normal practice at Bushland Blooms, but would be appropriate if there had already been problems with the delivery of the product or service.

At times you may need to check on the progress of an order with another company. For example, our brass reticulation fittings are produced by an external engineering company. We order them in and then sell them on to our own customers. If you have promised delivery of a part that is not in stock, you may need to check on the progress of the delivery with the engineering company so that you can keep the customer informed.

Inform the customer of progress at appropriate intervals

You should always be looking for ways to improve our customer relations. One way to do this is to keep the customer informed about any significant developments in the progress of their order.

For example, your customer may have been waiting for the delivery of a reticulation fitting which has had to be ordered from another branch. You were not sure how long the delivery would take. You have called the branch and found out that the fitting was dispatched this morning and should arrive by tomorrow.

I have called the branch in Wattle Creek and they tell me that your fitting was dispatched this morning. It should arrive tomorrow. I will call you as soon as it arrives to arrange for the technician to come and fit it for you.

Explain to customers if there is likely to be a delay or you cannot meet your commitment

Sometimes you may need to explain to your customer why there is a delay in their order. Most customers will not mind that a problem has arisen, as long as they are told what is happening. Customers are quite likely to become angry (and even make a complaint) if they think their order has been forgotten.

Delays can be caused, for example, by unforeseen shortages of products or parts, the non-arrival of expected deliveries, or even bad weather.

Mr Duc, unfortunately all of our technicians are servicing properties affected by the recent hail storm. This means that a technician will not be available until Friday. I do apologise for the inconvenience. When would be an appropriate time for them to call and fit the part?

Make sure that the customer is satisfied at every stage

At all times, you should make sure that your customer is satisfied with the progress of their order.

Mr Duc, your part will be fitted next Monday between 10 and 12pm. Is that satisfactory?

You should make notes in Customer Care (on the Customer database on the Intranet) if you think the customer is dissatisfied. Under Complaint Details, you should record the:bullet point.

whether the complaint has been resolved.

It is particularly important to be able to track any communications with the customer should the problem lead to a complaint.

Remember that you should apply relevant legislation to all transactions you carry out at Bushland Blooms. Find out more by looking at Legislation on the Intranet.

 

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