How to improve customer service without hiring more staff: organize your processes first

Why fix the way you work before adding people

An extra employee in a messy process is mostly an extra person who doesn't know who does what. Messages then get answered by two people, or by nobody. Do you recognize a few of these signs? Then you can probably make gains without hiring anyone:

• The same questions come in again every day: business hours, address, prices.
• Callback requests are on scraps of paper, on someone's own phone or only in someone's head.
• Customers send another WhatsApp message to ask whether their message arrived.
• After a shift change, nobody knows what was promised to a customer.
• Everyone answers the phone when it suits them, and so sometimes nobody does.

Not sure exactly where things go wrong? Then first spend a week tracking which requests come in and what happens to them, as explained in lesson 1 of the free course.

Step 1: sort requests into now, later and standard answer

Not every question is equally urgent, and not every question needs a person. If you agree on this in advance, you don't have to decide all over again with every message. This is called triage: you divide incoming requests into three groups.

1. Collect twenty real questions

   Scroll through your WhatsApp chats and call history from the past two weeks and write down twenty questions that customers actually asked.

2. Put each question in a group

   Does a person need to pick this up now, can it wait, or will a standard answer do?

3. Agree on response times

   Choose times you can really meet with your current team. A promise you don't keep costs more trust than an honest, slightly longer timeframe.

4. Put it up on the wall

   Put the plan on a single sheet of paper next to the phone, so that a new colleague also knows what comes first.

Step 2: assign roles for each shift and organize the handoff

If everyone is responsible for the phone and WhatsApp, nobody feels responsible. So for each shift, assign one first point of contact, plus a backup for breaks and busy periods. The first point of contact answers, deals with the question or puts it on the follow-up list; the others keep working. It is not an extra job, but it is a clear task. Post the schedule where everyone can see it.

At every shift change, the first point of contact hands off the open items. It takes a few minutes and prevents a promise from being forgotten.

More scripts, a callback list and a handoff checklist are in lesson 2 on a fixed phone process.

Step 3: work with fixed check times

If you look at your phone between customers all day, you are constantly interrupted and still miss things. Instead, agree on fixed times when the first point of contact goes through everything, for example at opening, at 10:00 AM, noon, 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM, and fifteen minutes before closing. Just before the lunch rush works better than in the middle of it. At each check time, in this order:

1. Missed calls: call back or put on the follow-up list.
2. Unread WhatsApp messages: answer them or record the question.
3. The follow-up list: resolve or reschedule everything that was due today or earlier.
4. Note what didn't get done, for the handoff.

Tell customers honestly when they can expect an answer, for example in your greeting message and away message: “We read messages several times a day and will reply today.” Only promise what your check times can deliver.

Step 4: answer common questions before they are asked

Every question a customer can look up themselves is one your team doesn't have to answer. Make a list of the ten questions that come up most often, each with a short, correct answer. Put those answers where customers look:

• Your WhatsApp Business profile: description, address, business hours and your website if you have one. For products with a fixed price, the catalog can help.
• Your website or Facebook page: a page of frequently asked questions, with the same answers as in your quick replies.
• A printed card at the counter or in the waiting area: business hours, your WhatsApp number, how a customer makes an appointment or places an order, and when you reply.
• Your away message: your business hours and the best thing for the customer to do outside those hours.

Step 5: use quick replies, but keep them personal

With quick replies in WhatsApp Business, you type a short code after a forward slash, such as /hours, and a standard text appears that you can still edit. That way everyone on the team answers the same way, and correctly. Start with the questions from step 4 and with confirming that a message has been received.

A quick reply is a starting point, not the end: add one sentence that really responds to the customer's question. Texts for many more situations are in the download below.

Step 6: keep one shared follow-up list

Often the leak is not in the first answer, but in what comes after: “I'll call you back tomorrow” or “I'll let you know as soon as the part comes in.” So put every promise on one list that the whole team can see. A shared file in Google Sheets works well; a dedicated notebook next to the register also works, as long as there is only one.

Three rules make the list usable: every promise goes on it right away, every row has one person responsible, and a row is only closed once the customer really has an answer. How to set up such a list is explained in lesson 4 on appointments and follow-up.

Step 7: reduce repeat questions and duplicate work

Part of the workload often consists of questions that didn't need to be asked: “Did you get my message?” or “Is my car ready yet?” Customers ask again when they don't know what is going to happen. This is how you prevent that:

• Confirm every request right away and say when the customer will hear back, for example with the /received quick reply.
• Send a message yourself when something changes: the order is ready, the part has arrived, the appointment has been moved.
• Have one colleague reply per chat. With labels in WhatsApp Business (for example “New” or “Waiting for customer” or “Completed”) the team can see where a chat stands.
• Does the same follow-up question keep coming back? Then something is missing from the standard answer: add it.

Example: a garage on the Indira Gandhiweg

Step 8: be honest about your capacity

A better way of working takes the leaks out of your process, but it doesn't create extra hours. If the system is running and there still isn't enough time, that is valuable information. Signs that you really need more people or help:

• The first point of contact can't stick to the check times without making customers in the store wait.
• The follow-up list grows week after week, even though everyone is working as agreed.
• Things keep getting stuck at the same times, for example during the lunch rush or on Saturday morning.
• You consistently miss the response times you set yourself, even after adjusting them.

Then look at targeted solutions first: someone part-time for the busiest hours, tasks you can drop or organize differently, or work you can outsource. Until then, be honest with customers. Promising “We will reply today before 5:00 PM” and delivering on it is better than promising “an immediate answer” and not following through.

Want to back up that decision? Read how to make a realistic estimate of what missed customer requests cost.

Checklist: what to set up this week

• Twenty real customer questions sorted into now, later and standard answer, with achievable response times
• A first point of contact and a backup on the schedule for each shift
• A fixed handoff at every shift change
• Fixed check times chosen and explained to the team
• WhatsApp Business profile and away message updated, and a card on the counter
• At least four quick replies set up
• One shared follow-up list in use, with one person responsible per row

Want to introduce this step by step, with templates and a plan for each week? Then follow the free course Build a customer service system that never forgets a request.

Is part of the work still always the same after that, such as answering standard questions or recording callback requests? Then Bits Please can set up Claudia to take over suitable parts of it, depending on the package and integrations. Everything in this article works without it too.

Frequently asked questions