The Five W’s of Hiring a Customer Service Consultant
At Service Untitled, we offer customer service consulting services for organizations that are interested in improving their customer service. We help companies implement the things I talk about on Service Untitled and tailor solutions and ideas for their company.
To help inform people about hiring a customer service consultant, I decided to write the Five W’s of hiring a customer service consultant. They are below:
Who:
Some consultants work by themselves and others have a team. I personally work by myself and have a small team of people that I work with for specialty tasks. Some consultants have these people on staff – others (like me) hire them as needed.
Do your research on your consultant. Do they have a blog? Is it well established? Where have they worked? Ask your consultant for references, case studies, and examples. Be sure you know who you will be dealing with.
What:
What do you want your consultant to do? Most consultants (myself included) will have a phone call or a meeting with you for free to get an idea of what challenges you are facing and how to alleviate them. They should give you specific suggestions, not just sweeping statements about customer service.
Ask your consultant about what they specialize in. For example, people shouldn’t hire me if they specially want to maximize the productivity of each one of their agents. They hire me if they want to improve their entire customer service experience and make a difference with little things.
Why:
Why should you hire this consultant? Ask them that. There are quite a few customer service consultants out there and the consultant should be able to give you a few reasons why they are better than the others.
Why will they use method X over method Y?
Where:
The where part is mainly logistics. Where will the consulting work to be done? Will the consultant work in your office for a period of time or work remotely? How long will they work with you? Will there be a follow up period in a few months? Who will they work with (very important)?
How:
How is the consultant going to make changes? They should be willing to prepare a proposal for you explaining what they will do and how they will do it. They should be able to answer your questions.
Remember, if you don’t feel good about hiring the consultant – don’t. There are plenty of other ones to choose from. You will work a lot with the consultant and you want to work with someone who you get along and feel comfortable with.
