How to prepare for pandemics

The rapid spread of the Coronavirus, which causes the illness medically known as COVID-19, has caused distress and alarm globally, as the number of confirmed cases has kept on rising. The governments of all countries where this virus has been observed to spread have been taking initiatives to create awareness among the masses, so that people can take the necessary precautions and keep themselves and their dear ones safe.

Since the virus is newly discovered, there is a lot of anxiety and panic among people and sometimes people are being misinformed about the latest updates regarding this pandemic of the virus. In such situations, different businesses are trying to come up with faster and more effective modes of communication for their businesses. They are outsourcing call centers that can assist with the additional customer service workload during this period of crisis. Here are some tips on how different companies and organizations can manage their plans of communication.

Tip #1: Adapt a work from home policy

Many companies are telling their employees to work from home due to this pandemic. However, companies are not traditionally used to work from home policies or virtual workforces, so it may lead to some gaps. You could find it difficult to come up with and implement a smooth and effective policy/structure around it. One workaround is to work with an outsourced call center service that can pick up the extra workload needed to communicate with customers.

Tip #2: Proactive communication

Proactive communication is focused on letting customers know what’s going on with your business before they can call in. However, internally it is very important to agree about the facts that will be communicated well before announcements of any nature are made. This assures that the messaging is consistent across different zones. Develop message development protocols that will enable prompt drafting and approval of statements so that communications can be completed in a timely way.

Another important element to keep in mind is the tone and nature of communicating with the masses, and the type of audience your company has to deal with. Deciding the appropriate time to bring out a piece of news is also required, since wrong timing may result in an adverse effect on your business.

Tip #3: Use automated greeting messages

Identifying the major concerns of your customers who could be students, guests in hotels, your clients or patients would be the first step before you can reassure them through automated messages. When customers make calls, use of messages to reflect how the COVID-19 has been having an effect on the business is a very useful customer service tip during this crisis situation.

It’s extremely crucial to let customers know about the policies that have been adopted to extend support to their customers’ needs as well as the steps that your company has taken to protect them from getting exposed to the virus. This includes giving updates about the kind of measures that have been implemented or will be taken to ensure the safety of their employees. You can also communicate contingency plans in cases where an outbreak occurs in the area around your company, and which authorities have been assigned the task of taking prompt steps.

Tip #4: Use social media to give updates

Social media happens to be one of the biggest platforms to exchange updates regarding the latest information regarding the spread of the coronavirus, as well as the areas where the spread is greater and the new data that is being discovered regarding the COVID-19. Companies require a team to handle media related actions with utmost caution in these times. The use of live trackers to give correct updates on the internet would catch the attention of people online instantly.

Social media-based communication also implies being prepared for addressing inquires. Preparing FAQs for instant answers is an important tool for managing websites for your company. The outlets of media devote both time and money to cover topics. What goes hand in hand with this is the authenticity of facts that go on your website, be it on your Facebook page or Twitter. If the customers are misinformed about the crisis, it would hamper the reputation of your company. Thus, it is advisable to gather accurate and latest information that is verified by health experts or medical organizations so that there is no scope for guesswork.

Tip #5: Bring in some help

Since the crisis has achieved the nature of a pandemic, and not limited to a few areas, it is necessary for companies to outsource their call centers or customer services. Offshoring customer service would guarantee greater efficiency in the communication systems of companies. This would intensify the efforts that are being directed to empowerment as well as compliance. People should be very clear in understanding the importance of abiding by practices recommended for protection.  It would also aid in developing a system of the protocol to monitor updates timely and accordingly chalk out the subsequent steps. Taking the support of offshore customer services would mean greater aid in planning and the exact steps of dealing with responses that come to your company.

How to get additional help within 72 hours

If you need more help with customer service during this period, consider working with CC Capital Group. We can train our staff to help you get up and running within 72 hours for extra customer service support.

CC Capital Group offers call center services for handling inbound customer service calls for your business by managing several elements simultaneously like virtual agents, client retention prospects and others. For over 9 years we have been on the work from home model and have been plugging and playing our proven model to our clients’ sales and service processes. 

To learn more about how CC Capital Group can provide offshore call center services for your business, click the ‘contact us’ button below to get in touch with us.