A Healthy Customer Service Team Starts with Accountability

One of the best ways to get control over customer service issues is to drive accountability into your organization. Your Treasury Management customer support team is no different, and today, we dive deeper into what it takes to drive results and explore why a healthy customer service team starts with accountability.

What is Accountability?

Accountability is “the performance expectations for each person on the customer support team” and can be defined by a job description or, if your organization uses them, an accountability chart (or both). We often find vague job descriptions for customer service staff with difficult to track accountabilities such as “answer the phone in a timely manner”, “solve problems quickly”, or “be friendly”. While these are generally good ways to contribute to a “happy customer”, they are difficult to build metrics around and can be very subjective.

With customer service teams, we encourage accountabilities that metrics can be created from and, as a result, measured for performance consistency.

Here are several examples of accountabilities and some examples of related metrics:

1. Provide support to new and existing customers: This involves offering timely and effective assistance to both new and existing customers, ensuring their satisfaction, and continued use of the bank's services. Metrics to track here could include response time to customer inquiries, resolution time for customer issues, customer satisfaction scores, and the rate of customer retention or churn.
2. Responsible for implementation of all products with customer: This duty entails overseeing the successful deployment and integration of services for customers. Metrics that can be monitored include the time taken for service implementation, the number of successful implementations versus issues, and customer feedback on the implementation process.
3. Train customers on service solutions: This involves educating customers about how to use the company's treasury management services effectively. Metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of training could include customer proficiency post-training, the number of training sessions conducted, feedback scores from customers on training quality, and the reduction in support queries post-training.
4. Stay current on all industry issues and regulations: Keeping up to date with industry trends and regulatory changes ensures that the service provided is compliant and relevant. Metrics here could include the number of training or updates attended by team members, the frequency of regulatory compliance reviews, and the rate of compliance issues encountered.
5. Recognize existing customer sale opportunities: This responsibility involves identifying and capitalizing on opportunities to upsell or cross-sell services to existing customers. Relevant metrics include the number of opportunities identified, the conversion rate of these opportunities into sales, and the revenue generated from such activities.
6. Assist with procedure and policy updates and requirements: This includes helping in updating and maintaining company procedures and policies. Metrics for this could include the number of policies/procedures updated, the time taken to implement updates, and feedback from stakeholders on the clarity and effectiveness of these updates.
7. Research, troubleshoot and resolve customer issues with TM services: This involves addressing and solving customer problems related to Treasury Management services. Metrics to track include the number of issues resolved, average resolution time, repeat issue frequency (indicating unresolved underlying problems), and customer satisfaction with the resolution process.

By focusing on these areas and tracking these metrics, Treasury Management Customer Service teams can effectively support their customers, ensuring high satisfaction and retention rates.