As the bustling season approaches, businesses often face the daunting challenge of maintaining exceptional customer service. Uncover why planning early and utilizing technology is vital, while the final insight empowers frontline staff for quick decisions. We’ll take you through a comprehensive look into handling peak-season customer service, insights from industry leaders such as C-suite leaders and founders.
Plan Early and Utilize Technology
For us, it all comes down to planning early and utilizing technology. We begin with the historical data to make predictions for peak season. This helps us strategically scale our customer service team, so we can get replies on time and address queries efficiently. We also harness technology as best we can. Our knowledge base contains regular updates with FAQs and troubleshooting manuals, enabling customers to get answers on their own. We also use chatbots to answer simple questions, leaving complex queries to our human representatives.
This planning, staffing, and smart-tech combination has been remarkably effective. When our last Black Friday sale was going on, for example, we received 30% more inquiries. But thanks to our proactive strategy, we stayed below 2 minutes on average response time and 95% customer satisfaction.
What I would suggest to other small business owners is to plan accordingly. Check historical metrics, predict the busy times, and set your staffing accordingly. Also, use technology: buy software that makes your customers empowered, freeing up your employees to work with more complicated customers. Remember, a happy customer is a loyal customer, and providing a great experience during the busy season creates an ongoing business relationship for your company.
James Wilkinson, CEO, Balance One Supplements
Templatize and Streamline Client Experience
Managing customer service during our busiest seasons has been a critical factor in maintaining our high standards and ensuring client satisfaction. One tactic that has significantly contributed to our success is the templatization and streamlining of our client experience. Given that much of our work involves performing the same 10-15 tasks repeatedly for different clients, we recognized the need to create efficient and consistent processes.
We began by templatizing our messaging and making our deliverables easy to produce. This involved developing standardized templates for emails, reports, and other client communications, which not only saved time but also ensured consistency in our interactions. Additionally, we clearly defined our processes, outlining each step required to deliver quick and effective resolutions. By doing so, we were able to handle the influx of requests more efficiently without compromising on quality.
However, templatization does not mean we lose the personal touch. We remain committed to being consultative, taking the time to understand each client’s unique needs and guiding them toward the best solutions. With our workflows well-designed and easy to trigger, we can swiftly move through the necessary steps, freeing up time to add personality and build stronger connections with our clients.
My tip for other small-business leaders is to invest time in designing and refining your workflows before the busy season hits. By having a solid foundation in place, you can manage increased demand without becoming overwhelmed, ensuring that your customer service remains exceptional. Streamlining processes not only enhances efficiency but also allows you to focus on what truly matters—building meaningful relationships with your clients.
Brett Ungashick, CEO, OutSail
Implement a Tiered-Response System
During our busiest season, managing customer service is crucial. One tactic that has significantly helped us is implementing a tiered-response system. This allows our team to prioritize urgent inquiries while still addressing routine questions efficiently. By training a few key team members to handle complex issues, we ensure that more straightforward queries are resolved quickly, preventing bottlenecks.
My tip for others is to invest in proactive communication. Keeping clients informed about project timelines and potential delays through regular updates can reduce anxiety and build trust. This approach has helped us maintain strong relationships even during high-pressure periods, ensuring customer satisfaction remains a top priority.
Andre Oentoro, Founder/CEO, Breadnbeyond
Involve All Team Members in Support
When I started my business, we were a small team of two people, and there were days when I’d be the one answering calls and arranging collections and deliveries myself. I was always surprised by how happy customers were to talk to the founder directly, and that personal touch is something I’ve carried through even now—ten years later, with a rapidly growing business serving over 100,000 customers.
One thing that hasn’t changed is how much I learn when I speak to customers firsthand. I gain the most valuable insights from hearing directly about their experiences and being able to respond in real time.
While our team has grown significantly since then, during our busiest seasons, customer requests can still skyrocket. That’s why every team member is required to spend at least a week in customer care training after they join the company. During peak times, team members from other departments step in to help bring those numbers down and deal with customer queries.
This not only helps us manage the influx of calls and requests but also gives our marketing and operations teams direct exposure to what customers are saying. It’s an invaluable opportunity for everyone to understand customer needs and use that feedback to make better decisions in their own roles.
It’s incredibly rewarding to see that we’re building a team that’s always willing to step up and support each other. My advice is to invest in nurturing that sense of teamwork—it makes all the difference.
Matt Connelly, Founder & CEO, ihateironing
Conduct Customer-Success Sprints
During peak periods, we implement what we call a “customer-success sprint,” where our entire team, regardless of their usual role, dedicates a few hours to customer support. This not only increases our capacity to handle inquiries but also instills a deeper understanding of customer needs across our workforce. This collective effort significantly enhances our responsiveness and maintains high customer satisfaction rates.
An effective strategy has been the use of detailed customer personas that guide our customer-service protocols. These personas are developed from accumulated data analytics, giving us a clear understanding of customer expectations and behaviors. My tip is to develop and utilize customer personas to tailor your service approach, making interactions more personal and effective.
Alari Aho, CEO and Founder, Toggl Inc
Adopt a Flexible-Staffing Model
Implementing a flexible-staffing model has been crucial for ensuring we provide excellent customer service during our busiest times.
Our core team works hard year-round, designing new features and supporting schools. But we realized we needed extra help when fundraising season kicks into high gear each spring. That’s when donation requests, registration questions, and technical issues all spike dramatically.
In the past, we struggled to keep up with demand while maintaining our commitment to timely responses. No one wants to wait days to hear back, especially when they’re in the middle of planning an important event.
That’s why we developed a hybrid-staffing approach. In addition to our full-time team, we recruit seasonal support specialists for temporary, flexible roles. These new hires complement our in-house expertise while freeing our regular employees to tackle more-complex issues.
The difference this model has made is incredible. I remember one spring in particular when ticket issues flooded our queue. One of our seasonal staffers worked overtime responding to customers. Her calm, empathetic approach alleviated anxiety and got dozens of fundraisers back on track.
Thanks to innovative, dedicated people like her and our hybrid-staffing structure, we’ve kept support needs and wait times well under control. Schools can feel secure knowing we will be there for them no matter how busy we all get during fundraising season. It’s so rewarding to see the smiles on students’ faces, knowing our customer support efforts helped make their activities possible.
Darian Shimy, Founder & CEO, FutureFund
Switch to a Live Chat Platform
As an online business, all of our support is delivered remotely. When I first started with the company, we were using an outdated email-based system with an average response time of 48 hours.
So, we switched over to a live chat platform called Crisp Chat, which was quite a project because we get hundreds of thousands of visitors a day and hundreds of chats opened. Our legacy email still feeds into the system as well, so we have one dashboard for all customer service.
We hired a team of eight in the Philippines to give 24/7 real-time support. The price is very affordable, and they have been a great team to work with.
Our busy season is during finals week, as many of our customers are students. Also, on Sundays, which are our busiest days. On Sundays, we have greater overlap so that multiple agents are working at the same time. We also pay more overtime to be able to pick up the slack.
We also signed up for Ratingfish. Using this platform, we are easily able to monitor average customer satisfaction for the whole team as well as individual agents, and we work with them to improve performance.
Ben Miller, COO, Undetectable AI
Use Real-Time Inventory Control
When we have our busy times, usually during home-renovation periods of the spring and fall, maintaining customer service in our bathroom and kitchen accessories store means having a highly selective approach to inventory management. We discovered that one of the biggest components of customer satisfaction has to do with stock and accuracy.
For that, we employ a real-time inventory-control system that will update on all our sales channels, including online and in-store. It also lets us know in real time when the supply is running low and informs our customers right on time of availability, so we don’t have to deal with backorders or delays.
Dimitri Zobnin, Managing Director, House of Enki
Outsource Management to a Virtual Assistant
Instead of outsourcing the talent (marketing), I’d rather outsource managing myself. So, I contract a VA to gather information from customers for punctual concerns, and I respond one-by-one. This allows me to stay close to the concerns, but my clients are in contact with someone immediately.
Something I do to keep customer service manageable is to set clear asynchronous channels to reach me: I’m faster to respond to email than WhatsApps, texts, or social media DMs, which tells them that’s the best way to contact me, and it’s easier for me to share the work of self-delegation with a VA who has access to my inbox.
Nadine Heir, Chief Writing Officer, Write Wiser
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