Remote customer service is an advanced solution for businesses with limited space, professionals who work in the field, or where owners don’t have the time or capacity to provide the levels of customer support and responsiveness they would like to.
Companies can hire phone support agents from any location, routing calls and inquiries to freelancers who deliver a professional, friendly, and helpful service, ensuring every customer is delighted with the support they receive.
What does a customer support agent do to manage calls from a different location? Utilizing call routing, forwarding, or cloud-based telephony and virtual calls through software like Skype, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams ensures a seamless user experience without disrupting your operations.
How Does Remote Service Work?
The best structure depends on your business requirements. Still, the norm is to have a professional customer representative working set hours per day or week–either covering your phone lines and live chat function when you are otherwise engaged or during your busiest periods.
Customer phone support agents can cover a range of tasks, such as:
- Helping customers place orders or make changes to their accounts
- Tracking shipments and deliveries and providing updates
- Offering advice and information about how to use or install a product
- Answering questions and giving troubleshooting guidance
Satisfied, supported customers are far more likely to buy from the same business again, leave a positive review, or recommend your brand to friends and family, translating an investment in high-quality customer service into commercial growth.
How Can I Hire a Remote Phone Customer Services Agent?
Virtual and remote support has become increasingly prevalent in the post-pandemic environment, where businesses use remote or hybrid work structures in which team members work from home or on the go rather than from one office location. As a result, professional freelancers offering other customer-based and administrative services, such as virtual assistants, provide dedicated customer support from their location, offering cost efficiencies and convenience.
Guru is one of the largest freelance networks and provides access to thousands of customer support agents, virtual support personnel, and experienced administrators who can submit a written proposal for your job requirements. Simply post a job ad detailing what you are looking for, or browse our freelancer database to handpick the customer assistance professionals you think will be a great fit for your needs.
What Is the Benefit of Introducing a Remote Customer Support Function?
The biggest advantage of having a talented customer support agent on the end of your business phone lines is that every call, message, email, and inquiry will be answered immediately–meaning your customers are never left hanging or without a response. Small businesses, service professionals, and tradespeople often find it impossible to be available during business hours and miss sales opportunities, chances to quote, or calls from prospective buyers.
A remote customer support agent is a safeguard, ensuring that any important phone calls are acknowledged and customers have the on-demand help and assistance they expect, so you can concentrate on your business without worrying about missing an important lead.
Cost-Efficiencies of Remote Customer Support by Phone
Freelance customer phone support providers add value to your customer experiences. They are flexible, often working set hours each day when you expect the largest proportion of calls and inquiries or covering your communications whenever you need to be out of the office.
Aside from the hourly or weekly agreed pay rate, there are no further outlays, as you won’t need to cover the costs of a desk, software, desktop system, or rest breaks, and you can hire a freelancer on an ad hoc basis or during peak sales seasons.
Seamless Customer Service Coverage
If you serve an international customer base, you can hire freelance multilingual customer support assistants to manage your customer phone support 24/7, working in alternative time zones for maximum responsiveness.
The freelance talent pool is vast, with a wide variety of customer service professionals, consultants, and communications experts available to hire on demand. Post your Guru job listing today, and you could have your very own remote customer service freelancer in place by tomorrow!