WHAT DOES A CUSTOMER SERVICE TEAM LEAD DO?
Published: September 17, 2024 - The Customer Service Team Lead is responsible for teaching and training new and existing members, leading team meetings, and handling both inbound and outbound customer calls to schedule and confirm appointments while following up on service received. This position proficiently navigates Windows-based and Web-based systems to optimize schedules, uses expert listening skills to identify customer concerns, and diffuses escalated calls professionally. Additionally, the role includes monitoring and updating the customer database, participating in quality assurance initiatives, and ensuring the privacy and security of customer information while adhering to reporting protocols for adverse events.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Customer Service Team Lead
1. Customer Service Team Lead Duties
- Leadership and Mentorship: Responsible for the direct leadership, mentorship, day-to-day management, and development of the Customer Service team members.
- Order Management: Responsible for order entry, collaboration with external and internal customers, managing allocations and back orders, and respective communications to the Sales Account Teams.
- Warehouse and Distribution Coordination: Collaborating with the warehouse and the 3rd party distributor (DHL).
- Customer Communication: Manage all external communications to customers for stock-related issues.
- Sales Account Collaboration: Collaborate across the Sales Account Team, including giving monthly updates on customer or stock-related topics at the monthly Retail Management Meetings.
- KPI Tracking: Track and report on customer delivery expectation KPIs.
- Export Process Management: Ensure a simple process for delivering to export customers and support the Channel Manager by completing Certificates of Authority (CofA's) for each export order. Book and plan all export delivery times.
- Quality Management: Responsible and accountable for the effectiveness of the quality management system (QMS) in the area of responsibility, including communicating the Quality Policy and objectives to relevant staff, ensuring staff understand and are trained in procedural obligations, and contributing to its improvement.
- Adverse Event Reporting: Responsible for notifying the QA Associate (Complaints) of adverse events to medicines within 24 hours of receiving notification of an adverse event.
2. Customer Service Team Lead Details
- Team Development: Provide encouragement to team members and assist in development.
- Training and Onboarding: Teach and train new and existing team members.
- Customer Appointment Management: Answer incoming calls and make outbound calls to customers to schedule and confirm service appointments, and follow up on services received.
- System Navigation: Proficiently navigates a Windows-based and web-based system to track routes and optimize current and future schedules.
- Efficient Scheduling: Use expertise received in training to schedule appointments for technicians, efficiently minimizing drive time and/or distance, and recommending alternative routes when appropriate
- Active Listening: Use sharp listening skills and probing questions to identify the customer’s concerns and evaluate needs.
- Conflict Resolution: Diffuse escalated calls with customers in a professional manner.
- Database Management: Monitor, update, and maintain the customer database with accurate information, including call details, disposition of calls, payments, and other results.
- Quality Assurance Participation: Participate in quality assurance processes, programs, and initiatives.
- Privacy Safeguarding: Safeguard customers’ privacy and other proprietary information.
- Adverse Event Notification: Notification may come from various sources such as customers, social media, the internet, and digital media, or during casual conversation. Adverse events must be reported with a minimum of four pieces of information: the person reporting, an identifiable patient, one or more suspected medicine(s), and one or more suspected reaction(s).
3. Customer Service Team Lead Responsibilities
- Customer Communication: Effectively communicate with customers to ensure they have a positive experience.
- Active Listening: Actively listen to customer needs and tailor promotions to satisfy them.
- Product Introduction: Introduce new products by initiating interest in new customers.
- Relationship Building: Build relationships with new customers and maintain the current customer base.
- Product Knowledge: Gain in-depth product knowledge through classroom training.
- Team Motivation: Motivate the team and collaborate to contribute to overall success.
- Professional Demeanor: Consistently uphold a positive and professional demeanor.
- Training Assistance: Assist with training and development of new team members.
- Collaborative Communication: Maintain positive and cooperative communications and collaboration with all levels of employees, customers, contractors, and vendors.
- Interdepartmental Communication: Develop strong and efficient communication inside the team and with other departments, especially Sales.
- Inventory Coordination: Responsible for the coordination of consignment and warehouse counts (organization, reconciliation, and follow-up).
- Product Management: Responsible for the management of Short UBDs products in collaboration with the Inventory team to minimize scrap due to expired products.
- Manager Support: Support the Regional Customer Service Manager with communication in local country organizations and in-country management meetings.
- Project Leadership: Lead or supervise projects.
4. Customer Service Team Lead Job Summary
- Operations Strategy: Strategize and monitor daily activities of customer service operations.
- Problem Investigation: Investigate customer problems and find solutions.
- Policy Development: Assist with the development and implementation of service policies, and explain these to staff and customers.
- Initiative Collaboration: Work with Customer Service team management on customer service initiatives.
- Data Analysis: Identify issues in data and statistics.
- Cross-Department Communication: Communicate with other departments and management to resolve problems and expedite work.
- KPI Management: Ensure team Key Performance Indicators are met.
- Work Schedule Planning: Plan, prepare, and devise work schedules according to workloads.
- Recruitment and Training: Assist in hiring and training customer service associates.
- Coaching and Guidance: Provide coaching and guidance for performance improvement and development.
- Performance Review: Review and evaluate the performance of team members.
5. Customer Service Team Lead Accountabilities
- Daily Operations Coordination: Coordinate and perform day-to-day Customer Service Representative activities such as order management, invoicing, and stock adjustments.
- Goal Monitoring: Monitor department and individual goals and objectives.
- Performance Follow-Up: Follow up on the performance of day-to-day activities and KPIs.
- Training and Documentation Compliance: Ensure all Customer Service employees are trained and that documentation meets division quality standards.
- Process Improvement: Maintain a continuous improvement environment for department processes, including order processing (EDI and Esker), returns processing, backorder processing, credit requests, and new product launches. Identify and work on process improvements.
- Customer-Focused Culture: Develop a culture that promotes a customer-focused philosophy of “ease of doing business” both within and outside the Customer Service department.
- Safe Work Environment: Maintain a safe and professional work environment.
- Regulatory Support: Support all company initiatives as identified by management and in support of Quality Management Systems (QMS), Environmental Management Systems (EMS), and other regulatory requirements.
- Compliance Management: Comply with local regulations, other regulatory requirements, company policies, SOX legal requirements, operating procedures, processes, and task assignments.
- ERP Transaction Processing: Ensure transactions in the ERP system are processed in accordance with documented procedures embedded in the ABBOTT QA system.
- Complaint Monitoring: Monitor service complaints and issue corrective actions for local complaints.
- Master Data Management: Responsible for organizing and processing master data maintenance (customer, materials, prices).
- Quality Support: Support the quality and sales departments in FSCA (Field Safety Corrective Action) implementation.