There are plenty of businesses in need of customer service agents and yours may be one of them. So how and where do you hire a skilled customer service agent? The first thing you will need to do is identify what you want in a candidate. Once you have determined what you need, a job description will have to be prepared. This will include the roles and responsibilities of the position and specific skills that are required.
Finding a qualified customer care agent is a difficult task. There are a number of ways to find customer service agents for hire.
- Local recruitment agencies: if you are looking for in-house staff you can hire support agents through various recruitment agencies.
- Job boards: mainstream job boards like Indeed and LinkedIn are good places to look for customer support agents due to the volume of visitors they have. There are also specialized job boards like Support Driven specifically for hiring customer service professionals.
- Freelancers: you can often find freelance customer service agents on sites like Upwork and Freelancer.com.
- Outsourcing companies: a customer support outsourcing service is a good place to find skilled and experienced agents with the specific qualifications you require.
Roles and Responsibilities of a Customer Service Representative
A customer service representative’s job is to assist customers by answering questions, resolving complaints, providing information about products and services, taking customer orders and managing product returns. Depending on the company they also may play a role in sales such as tracking leads as well as up-selling and cross-selling. The customer service agent will need to be familiar with CRMs which are sometimes quite specialized. For example, Rent Manager customer service software is designed specifically for property management companies. Customer service representatives’ duties may include:
- Processing orders and transactions
- Answering customer questions about products and services
- Resolving customer complaints
- Technical problems troubleshooting
- Collecting and analyzing customer feedback
- Inputting records of customer interactions
- Sales leads generation
Why You Should Consider Outsourcing Customer Service
Outsourcing customer service and support can provide a lot of benefits for your company. Here are some of the reasons for outsourcing customer service.
- Skilled and specialized support team: outsourcing through a customer service recruitment agency gives you access to skilled agents who are already trained and experienced with the different CRMs and customer support software. You gain well qualified support agents without having to put time or money into training.
- Access to latest technology and processes: many outsourcing firms have the most up-to-date customer support software and tools that you gain access to when you use their services. With outsourced customer service small business owners can reap the benefits from using the latest technology that they may not be able to afford otherwise.
- Cost-effective solution: the salary for a remote customer service representative hired through an outsourcing company is typically much less than that for agents hired locally. In addition many costs such as office space, equipment, training and other related expenses are eliminated.
- Improved response times: customers today expect a fast response when they have questions or problems. With a remote dedicated team customer service can be made available 24/7 so that your customers don’t have to wait to get the help they need.
- Better customer retention: one of the keys to customer retention is providing great support. A remote CSR can analyze customer data and get feedback from your clients. Using the insights gained from this information, every customer interaction point in your support process can be improved thereby increasing customer loyalty.
Guide to Outsourced Customer Service and Support: How to Find a Reliable Vendor
If you have made the decision to outsource your customer service, the next step is to find a reliable provider. Here are some of the things to look at when selecting a customer care service provider.
- Countries/regions served: it may seem obvious but many outsourcing firms will focus on a few select countries or regions. The customer service staffing agency you work with should be able to provide services in any country where you conduct business.
- Industries served: offshore customer service providers often concentrate on specific industries. You should select a company that is familiar with your industry so that their agents can speak knowledgeably with your customers when dealing with their issues and talking about your products and services.
- Technical expertise: customer service today requires knowledge of a variety of customer support software and tools in order to provide the best service. The outsourcing firm must have the technical capabilities and know how to provide the level of support that customers have come to expect.
- Adaptability: it is important to know if your outsourcing provider can adapt to fit your needs. Will you be able to scale your team up or down easily? Can they provide a dedicated customer service team for your company or will you be sharing the services of your agents with other businesses? The outsourcing firm you choose to work with should be able to make adjustments to meet all of your requirements.
- Cost: cost is always a major consideration for any company that is outsourcing customer service. You will want to check that pricing is fair and competitive with other providers while ensuring you aren’t sacrificing quality to get the best price.
- Company history: it is important to know how the outsourcing firm has performed when working with other businesses. A good agency will be able to provide referrals and case studies that give you an idea of their track record in the industry.
Why Partner With Our Company to Hire Customer Service Agents in Ukraine
We are a Ukraine based customer support outsourcing company that can assist your business in building a remote customer service team. The following are some of the reasons you should partner with our company to hire customer service agents in Ukraine.
- Adjustable service: customer service volume and requirements can change, sometimes with little notice. We tailor our services to fit your specific needs and requirements. A remote customer service agent can be hired on a full-time, part-time or per-project basis and we have specialists available 24 hours a day. Your team can be scaled up or down depending on your customer support volume requirements.
- Cost effective services: we provide customer support outsourcing services at affordable and competitive rates without sacrificing quality. Salaries for our specialists are less than rates for similarly qualified agents in North America and Western Europe. In addition costs such as office space, equipment and other associated expenses are assumed by us.
- Skilled and experienced support agents: the agents we hire are highly skilled and have experience in diverse industries. They are also familiar with a variety of customer service software and tools. We can provide Zoho customer service specialists or agents with experience working with other popular CRMs. Every specialist is screened to verify their qualifications to ensure you hire only the best agents for your team.
- Multilingual service: the agents we recruit are fluent in both written and spoken English. We can also provide agents that are proficient in other languages as well so you can provide support to your customers in a variety of languages.
- Fully transparent: there are no hidden costs or fees when you use our services. We also make sure you are kept updated on all your support team’s activities by providing regular reports.
There are some additional benefits when you outsource your customer support needs to Ukraine.
- Well educated talent pool: Ukraine has hundreds of colleges and universities that are graduating thousands of professionals every year. Ukraine ranks 13th out of 144 countries in higher professional education according to the Global Competitiveness Report produced by the World Economic Forum.
- Located in a convenient time zone: there is only a one hour time difference between Ukraine and most Western European countries, and regular working hours in Ukraine overlap with those in parts of North America. This makes it much easier to keep in touch with your team.
- Similar work values: Ukrainian professionals have a similar work culture to that in North America and Western Europe. This makes finding qualified support specialists who are a good fit with your company easier.
- Good IT infrastructure: Ukraine has fast and dependable internet capabilities with the infrastructure in place to provide high-quality support online.
We have an effective procedure for recruiting and hiring support agents for clients. Here are the steps in our hiring process.
- Provide details through our inquiry form and await our initial contact.
- Meetings conducted to discuss requirements: we communicate with you via your preferred channel to establish your specific customer service needs.
- Search conducted for matching candidates: the resumes of the best qualified customer service specialists matching your requirements are forwarded to you for review.
- Hold online/phone interviews: you conduct interviews of your preferred candidates. You may also administer a test to assist you in your final decision.
- Hiring of candidates: we establish a workflow and determine a starting date. Once the service agreement is signed, everything is set and ready to go.