In business, you always have more to focus on than you have time available, right?

The key to success lies in figuring out where to focus your efforts.

Pick the wrong thing, and you waste months, or even years, figuring out it was the incorrect path to be on.

So, it only makes sense to borrow from the experience of others where you can.

Here’s a few of the top priorities, as identified by key players and minds:

1. Optimizing Your Digital Experiences

Fareed Zakaria, CNN anchor, wrote the book “10 Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World,” which really contains key considerations for all aspects of society.

Those lessons apply to businesses too.

Whether you agree with his politics or not, you can’t deny his point that “digital experiences have staying power.”

This was actually ramping up for the decade prior to coronavirus, which has only amplified the effect.

If you sink company resources into digital customer service, you’re moving in the right direction.

That’s what the market demands. And more and more so as Millennials and Generation Z age.

2. Constant Growth and Learning

This almost goes without saying.

But as you know, many companies put customer service at the bottom of their list of priorities.

Think of all the consumer services you use. You can probably name one or more companies who make it clear they could care less about you as a customer.

It makes you wonder why they even have a customer service team at times.

How much do you think they invest in the growth and learning of their customer service team?

If you do any search related to the companies most loved by consumers, Amazon comes out at or near the top.

One of the reasons, according to Laura Melisa Forero, a senior customer service analyst at Amazon, is the company’s focus on experiences: “We want to offer the customer a high-quality experience, even if our representatives are working remotely in their home office.”

And to make that happen, they never rest. They’re always growing and learning how to do customer service better.

3. Improve Service Efficiency with Technology – Without Increasing Stress

Bobby Stapleton, a Senior Manager of Customer Support at Intercom, says, “We released a research report last year that found nearly half (47%) of support teams said inbound volume increased since COVID-19, and by an average of 51% above their normal volume.

Do you have the resources to increase the size of your customer service team by 51%?

No one does.

So the only thing you can do is improve your efficiency.

Working your employees more hours or asking them to do more with the same time available is a recipe for resentment, burnout, poor productivity, and low employee retention.

You must learn how to automate (without sacrificing too much with customer relationships) using technology.

Customer service is always a challenge. And hopefully these tips have helped you identify what you can do to keep it top-notch going forward.