According to the dictionary,customer service is the assistance and the advice provided by a company to those people who buy or use its products or services. Those people behind customer service are those that handle complaints, process orders, and provide information about specific products and services. Hence, they are the representatives that are behind the success and failure of a certain company. But what was the effect of this COVID-19 pandemic to those people what we called customer service representative?
Effect OF This Pandemic To Customer Service
I, personally worked in a BPO company for a telecommunication company. Since we are dealing with mobile-phone service, more and more customers are calling every day. Most of them lost their jobs due to this pandemic. And are no longer able to pay their bills. Furthermore, they were calling and asking for credit on their accounts. And with the reality that even the representatives as well who answer calls are affected by this uncertainty. Thus, they are not able to report in offices as of lockdown in most places. How businesses somehow were able to recover from these unexpected circumstances and continue in customer service.
Looking Beyond
As this COVID-19 pandemic continues to grow. Now the right time for companies to shift focus to working from the home effort. Luckily, one of the BPO companies in our country that takes the necessary action is our company. Most of us were able to work from home since the month of March, where we continue giving support and assistance when it comes to customer's mobile services.
I remember this one customer, who called in to get assistance for her bill, for the reason being she was layoff and cannot pay the phone service. You can sense in her voice that she's a bit worried. I provided the essential actions to help that customer and for her phone service to be extended at a particular time. But one of the things that she was thankful for was not the phone service itself, it's the way I advised her to take good care of her self and her family.
Sometimes a little word is enough to ease an uncertain mind, It's not always the physical actions, but the expression from the heart is more important. Every one of us is a customer in different ways, so we need to treat every one of us, the way we want others to treat us. You need to put yourself in someone's shoes, that's the only time you'll be successful in giving customer services.
Continuing Service
As of now, I'm not working for a BPO company, however, I started taking an online freelancing course through Filipino Virtual Assistance. Because of this, I have training when it comes to the basics of virtual assistants such as social media management, appointment setting, administrative tasks, transcriptions, and even SEO for creating websites and blogs. Being a customer service representative is not only by answering phone calls nor being a call center agent, It is surely more than that. As the days, months and years will go along, knowledge, learning and the heart toward others will be my tools to be effective in customer service.
If you will give a chance to continue my passion for customer assistance, I will be forever thankful that you will be part of my endeavor in customer satisfaction. Giving your heart to others, compassion, and care professionals are for me the real sense of customer service.