My team just returned from the annual PACE National Conference and Expo. PACE stands for Professional Association for Customer Engagement. It is a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of companies that use a multi-channel approach to engage their customers.
Every year this conference proves to be packed full of information about upcoming trends in our industry as well as changing laws and regulations that we are expected to know and implement. However, this conference is also incredibly fun! Why, you may ask? Because of the people.
Yes, PEOPLE. When you get right down to it, everything we do, everything that anyone does, is really all about PEOPLE. We live in an age where technology allows us to do so many things that even a decade ago, no one could have imagined. Yet, in the process of learning to use new technology, it’s very important to keep in mind the very fundamental fact that it’s really all about PEOPLE.
This past week, I was reminded of that as I had the opportunity to meet and speak with many people who make their living dealing with people in what we call, the Call Center Industry. It struck me: although I love technology and what it allows me to do, there is nothing that can compare with face-to-face or as in our industry, voice-to-voice human contact.
Out of all of the phenomenal sessions we had the opportunity to hear this past week, a favorite was: Science Hour: The Power of Engaging Conversations. Why? Because this particular session dealt with the human condition. The importance of having engaging conversations that lead to higher customer satisfaction, loyalty and repeat buying.
Do you notice that? What leads to customer satisfaction and loyalty? Conversations!Engaging conversations. Engaging conversations require that human connection. When a customer has the opportunity to connect with a real, live human they feel valued, they feel they’ve been heard and they tend to come back because they’ve made a connection.
Here at Etech, as we continue through 2014 and beyond, we will stay on top of new and emerging technologies, we will keep up with changing regulations and new laws that affect our industry but the most important aspect of our strategy going forward will continue to be PEOPLE. It’s PEOPLE that we serve, it’s PEOPLE that we deal with every day and it’s PEOPLE who will continue to be at the center of everything we do. That is the best Global Strategyfor 2014 and beyond.
