«The Customer Service Agent» - Free Essay Paper

Case Summary

Bill Ryan works in a customer care center. It deals with the connection between the clients and the suppliers. The customers order whatever they need via the site which is called Half.com. In case of a problem with the commodity, the client consults Bill’s firm, which, in turn, consults with the suppliers. This is basically what Bill does as a Customer-Service Agent.

Introduction

For a customer care service agent, a job description is very important. It gives one an insight of the tasks, skills and responsibilities that he/she should have. The work in the sector may differ from that of other companies and areas. Despite this, it is important to maintain a well functional customer service agent. Bill Ryan is a customer service agent in a company with online shopping site. Where there is online shopping, complaints are inevitable. It is, therefore, vital for Bill to take care of complaints of the clients so as to ensure that there is increased performance and the customers will continue cooperating with Ryan’s company. Ryan has therefore formulated a diary of his normal day at work. He has arranged it systematically, according to the time and the tasks to be performed. This essay has explained how important it is to be a good customer-service agent to the clients and examines the concepts of the work.

Definition of Terms

Customer service agent is an employee in the service to customers where someone takes care of the needs of a client. One is supposed to receive calls, emails from the customers and responds to their questions and complaints.

E-commerce is a process of online purchase and selling of goods, which are ordered and paid for via the Internet (Jan, 2014).

Concepts

Customer relation has to be maintained at all costs. There are situations when a firm may ignore the problems of a client knowing little about them while running the business. Therefore, there is a need to have customer service agents to deal with customers’ needs (Jan, 2014). If communication with clients does not exist, then there is no business.

In e-commerce, there is little contact between the buyer and the seller hence many incidences of customer dissatisfaction are reported.

There are tasks and responsibilities of a customer service agent that accompany the job description. The diary contains sufficient information and one must directly deal with clients (Bridgeford, 2013). This job is done electronically through emails or telephones. Bill has ensured there is complete attendance to the customers’ needs by responding to their claims through emails. He and his fellow thirty customer service agents address complaints of the customers. Based on everyday complains the company tackles all of them accordingly.

One should address client care queries as fast as possible. Failure to deal with them leads to customer agitation (Bridgeford, 2013). No client has been irritated by the service delivery of Ryan’s company except for the customer, who has the problem of tape delivery delay. Bill demonstrated good communication skills when he listened to the customer instead of being angry, too. He gave an assurance to the client and took the blame for the seller so that he could sort out with the trader later. Through this he handled and solved the customers’ complaints.

To solve service inquiries, Bill obtains and evaluates all information on the product that is being questioned. He takes the time to do a further research and get additional date from the seller in case he needs information clarified for the customer. Bill provides information relating to the prices and delivery. He gives information to the consumer on the specifics of the product that the purchaser needs (Jan, 2014). However, he does not do proper follow up to see if the product was delivered in time. In this case, a customer was angered that despite he paid for some goods, they had not been sent in time (Jan, 2014).

As a customer service agent, one has the responsibility of keeping the clients’ accounts and managing them. This method helps in the record keeping process and in case of a complaint one can refer to the details of the product in question. This aids in reducing cases of confusion and wars between the buyer and the agent. This move has helped Bill because every time a complaint is made, he refers to it and is now sure that the product in question exists and such an order was completed.

Bill directs requests and issues that are pending to the required respondents. In case there is a complaint from a customer that needs the attention of the seller, he emails the seller to get the specifics of the product that is in question. Through this, the problems are solved and the customer is satisfied. If there was a product that was not delivered, through the assurance from the seller, the buyer would be calmed down.

In case a problem is being solved, one is supposed to record the actions being taken for future references. Bill does this effectively when he decides to compensate a client in case of a failed service delivery and, on the other hand, he demands the compensation from the sellers. Through this, no one loses much since the fault, in most cases, is on the sellers’ side.

There should be a proper organization on the workflows so that the clients’ timeframes are met. The consumers need to get the products that they have demanded in time. Bill had demonstrated this perfectly when he assured the client to wait for five days for the seller to respond. This mode helps the customer giving him/her the certainty of when to expect the product.

However, Bill was unsuccessful in some issues as a customer service agent. He has failed in the follow-up of the client’s interactions. It is a very important aspect that a customer service department should have. Some of complaints that came were a result of ignorance. He should have communicated with the clients and asked if they had received their respective orders. This move is a way of minimizing complains, and can be solved through employing of more customer service agents. This would increase the customer confidence. However, the company has shown its ability to solve problems before they get worse through proper follow up. This way the firm will have more customers and will be compensated for the good work done.

Bill is supposed to share the sum total of all the feedbacks. This helps in the self-evaluation in order to find out what is to be done, when and in what place. This would help to trace the complaints that the customers are making; there is a high probability that they are not the first ones of that kind. There is some reluctance on their side leading to the high number of complains. To solve this, there is a need to share information between the thirty employees who are in the customer service department, find the most common mistakes the company is making and strategize on the way to solve them.

Conclusion

With the continued attention on the affairs of the customers, the company would be counting many clients and experience an increase in the sales through the e commerce platform. This move would help the company since the customers would be satisfied and no one loses in the end because the firm is compensated for the good work done. The employees, on the other hand, would also improve on their service discharge to the consumers. Therefore, it is important to form a well functional customer service department that takes care of all the customer’s needs. This is because, the goods will be delivered in time and in case of any damage during transit, the defective ones would be replaced in good time.