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Resolving Customer Grievances on The First Call- Why it is as important as you think

For a business to experience consistent growth, it needs repeat customers. It is more expensive to attract new customers than to maintain existing ones. Every new customer comes through your ability to create content, advertise, make sales calls, follow up, and all that costs you. However, with your existing customers, your main goal is simply to satisfy their needs. When you find ways of nurturing your existing customers, you will generate a steady flow of repeat business. A customer will call you for assistance. How you handle their needs will determine when and if they return. How long it takes you to resolve their problem will determine their level of satisfaction with your services. There are many variables that may cause you not to finalize with the customer in the first call- some of which are out of your control. Nevertheless, your goal should be to resolve customers’ issues as best you can or provide a solution on that very first call. So why is it important? While there are countless benefits here are a few to get you started. It encourages efficient call handling : A phone call is one of the most effective ways of getting assistance from a representative because you get immediate answers. When your team focuses on resolving customer grievances during the first contact, they learn better call handling practices.For example, if a representative is use to escalating calls to the manager, it gives you an opportunity to check why they are not handling the customers. Once you get to the root-cause, which might be a lack of confidence or product knowledge, then you can train it. The next time that representative answers the phone, they will be ready with solutions, not escalations. The result is a satisfied customer who doesn’t have to wait for that satisfaction.Efficient call handling has an impact on your bottom line results. The time spent on a customer will reduce significantly, your customers will be happy with your services, your representatives will be motivated and will enjoy their jobs and often that results in increased profitability and reaching objectives. It has direct impact on customer satisfaction : There is a direct correlation between first call resolution and customer satisfaction. When FCR rate goes up, the levels of customer satisfaction follows suit. Resolving a client’s issue in your first interaction increases NPS. The higher the NPS the more positive reviews your customers will provide. There is nothing like a referral from a happy customer.On the flip side, if it takes two to three calls to resolve a problem, the customer will be frustrated with your services and opt to look elsewhere for better solutions. It is in the best interest of all stakeholders to resolve any issues in that first interaction. A high FCR rate will keep you ahead in the noisy marketplace. It motivates agents : Employees are at the core of a customer interaction. In essence, you measure the first call resolution rate based on the data. That data often tells a story.A high FCR motivates a representative. The more efficient the rep the more likely they are able to be recognized for doing the right things. Working in the call center can become stressful, making it easy for representatives to quit or stop trying to get better. However, when your representatives are motivated, they will overcome the challenges that come with being a representative.Motivated employees will deliver excellent services simply because they enjoy assisting customers, especially when they know how to. It reduces employee turnover : One of the main challenges facing contact centers is extremely high turnover rates. Many factors contribute to the turnover; however, other factors reduce the rates. First call resolution is one of the elements that can reduce churn in your center. Representatives who can resolve an issue in the first contact will feel great about themselves and the organization as noted above.That feeling will raise their confidence leading to increased satisfaction at work. Often it is the customers we must handle several times that create frustration for not only the customer, but the representative. The longer it takes the higher probability that neither party will be satisfied in the interaction. Representatives who deal with those type of customers often find themselves dissatisfied with their jobs, and often it trickles over to their results. In a results driven environment this translates into lower commissions and lower job satisfaction, and ultimately higher churn. While this topic has been discussed, it is one worth revisiting time and time again. The importance of resolving customer grievances on the first call is important to not only the satisfaction of the customer, but the longevity of your representatives. Encourage efficient call handling, train your representatives, provide them the tools necessary to handle those grievances. I assure you that you will see the impact not only to the moral of your team, but in higher NPS scores, and ultimately a happy team, a happy customer equals a higher profit margin.

3 Ways to Help Others Develop Valuable Leadership Skills

Leadership skills do not come naturally to most people, but almost everyone will need them at some point. Most people will inevitably be faced with situations that require them to exercise leadership skills in various aspects of their life ranging from personal to professional. As a leadership coach, it is important for you to understand the various stages of the leadership journey. Once you understand what it takes to become a leader, you will have an easier time helping others develop valuable leadership skills that will help them throughout their lives. According to Blanchard’s Situational Leadership® II model, people who are learning a new task or skill go through four predictable phases. They start in the Enthusiastic Beginner stage then make their way through the remaining stages until they are Self-Reliant Achievers. Those who have made it to the latter level feel confident in their current roles. Due to the level of comfort and familiarity they have achieved in their current positions, they often have trouble adjusting when they take on leadership roles for the first time. As a leadership coach, it is your job to turn Self-Reliant Achievers into confident leaders. Here are three ways you can utilize your coaching skills to help new leaders get past their initial nervousness and uncertainty until they develop the leadership skills they need to succeed. Set Realistic Expectations One of the most common problems new leaders run into is setting unrealistic expectations for themselves. As a coach, it is your job to reinforce the fact that developing new skills takes time and effort. Once individuals in leadership roles realize that each attempt they make is a step towards success and greater experience, they will see their professional journey in a whole new light. Leadership skills don’t just pop up overnight. They must be learned and developed before they can be mastered. Put Knowledge Into Practice You can’t learn a new skill unless you put your knowledge into practice. Even if you fail, you still grow and learn something new from the experience. One of the most important things a new leader can do is try over and over again until they get it right. Accept Help When placed in a new leadership role, it may feel like you are expected to know everything right from the start. However, the best leaders are those who know how to ask for and accept help from others when needed. Most people will not look down on you if you ask them for their advice or expertise. In fact, they are more likely to be flattered at the opportunity to share their knowledge with you. There is no need to try and do it all alone when you have helpful resources all around you. Collaborating with others is also a great way to enhance organization culture and improve interdepartmental cooperation. Becoming a successful leader is a difficult process that can be painful at times. However, with perseverance and proper coaching, anyone can accomplish their goal. Great leaders become invaluable assets to their companies and communities and enjoy rich rewards for their hard work.

3 Easy Steps to Improve Customer Service Through Live Chat

Customers are doing more online shopping than ever. Many of them are turning to the internet because they want to be more in control of their transactions. They do not necessarily want to interact with people on the phone and in person. Internet Retailer reports that improved wireless networks and mobile devices are the driving force behind online sales, which are expected to increase by 56 percent from 2015 in the next five years. Businesses that are looking to take advantage of this trend need to do more than create spectacular websites. They need to implement measures that allow them to improve online customer experience. Etech Global Services offers the following suggestions for companies who are looking to use online customer service to corner the market. Accessibility is Crucial : Customers expect a lot from any website they intend to do business with. Whether they are searching for information or looking to place an order, your live web chat tools should not be hidden or obscure. Chat support should also be easily accessible. Your chat boxes should be as intuitive as your websites. They should appear as soon as customers access your sites and they should be easily noticeable and accessible if they are closed accidentally or intentionally. Many customers are not looking to engage with anyone when they are online. However, when they need answers, live chat is often the first source of assistance they seek. Speed Up Response Times : The rate and efficiency at which your online agents respond to customers are very important. So is the amount of time it takes for them to resolve issues. One of the biggest incentives for consumers to do business online is that it allows them to get things done expeditiously on their time. They do not have to pick up a phone and wait to be serviced. Instead, they can get on their tablets, cellphones and other electronic devices to get the services and products they need whenever they want. Regardless of how well your websites are put together, live web chat tools can drastically improve overall customer experience with your online business. As long as assistance is provided in a quick and efficient manner, you’ll gain more customers and increase consumer loyalty. Provide Ongoing Chat Agent Training and Support : Agent training is just as important as the quality of the live chat software you are using. Agents need to undergo continuous training in order for them to maintain their efficiency and productivity. They need to know how to anticipate the needs of customers and how to deliver the necessary results right away. They should also have access to support in case they run into customer situations where they are not knowledgeable enough or equipped to handle them. Live web chat is one of the most effective tools that businesses have in the online world. It helps to bridge the gap and improve the relationship between customers and businesses in a multitude of ways. When leveraged properly, live chat can be a very powerful weapon that can enhance customer service to improve your business’ bottom-line. This blog post published in LinkedIn By Jim Iyoob

FCR- Are You Making It a Priority?

Where does FCR rank in your list of priorities? The role of the contact center is to offer customer services to their clients. The key is to exceed expectations and provide superior customer experiences at all times. There are no exceptions. If you don’t deliver then the client moves on to the next center and the customer moves on to the experience they are looking for. FCR is a critical measurement that gauges how well you are meeting your customers’ needs and how satisfied they are with the service you provide. The challenge for the contact center is to consistently maintain the high-quality standards of service that the client expects. Remember you represent their brand and so the experience you provide is a direct reflection of them. How can you ensure that you are among the top contact centers and what metrics should be your main focus? It has been my experience over the years that FCR, when analyzed well, will differentiate you from the competition. Look at is this way. It is an all-encompassing metric The digital advancement changed how call centers operate. It is not just about phone calls anymore. It is now about being where the customers are and social media will play a major role in how customers discuss your brand; they post, email, chat, and tweet. The definition of FCR has expanded over the years from First Call Resolution to First Contact Resolution. It includes all points of contact with the customer, and means that the customer’s issue will be resolved by the first person they contact no matter where that contact takes place. Think about it. If a customer with a billing problem chats with an agent via the website, they are looking for that agent to resolve their issue. We live in a fast paced, instant gratification society. Customers want a superior experience and expect that they will get it no matter where they are contacting the company. It measures quality standards FCR is a quality metric. It helps to measure the quality of services rendered to customers. Today’s customer have high expectations and they should. When asked, the customer states that getting a solution from the first person they contact tops the list. The connected customer has more options today than ever before when it comes to products and services. Your contact center needs to meet his or her expectations in the best, and fastest, way possible. At the end of the day when you offer superior customer experiences, you will have high customer satisfaction levels for your brand and the brand you are representing. It helps you identify training needs Training is a fundamental element for the success of your contact center because it improves agents’ performance. FCR provides you with information gaps that can help you streamline training. If you are measuring FCR properly you can identify the weak areas of your center and focus on providing the necessary knowledge and competencies to handle the customer issues you are missing. Monitoring FCR via your quality assurance team and calibration sessions will help you highlight the specific areas you must focus on. The sooner you identify those areas the quicker you can improve your agent’s knowledge base and close the gaps. It gives you a better understanding of your customers A contact center is a customer-centric company and having a good understanding of the customers you serve will help you provide the experience they are looking for. Using FCR, you gather vital information about your customer needs. Why did they call? What are their common issues with a product or service? Do they have common misconceptions that you can outline in your frequently asked questions page? This is all information that helps marketing, customer service, sales and leadership work to provide the experience that the customers want vs. what we think they want. It increases efficiency Inefficiency in a contact center will quickly eat away at profitability and your brand. When customers are dissatisfied with the service and employees frustrated with their jobs due to lack of knowledge you will lose them both. FCR data illuminates root-cause issues and provides the foundation for training, coaching and development to stop what is hindering an organization’s ability to provide the customer support necessary to maintain high customer satisfaction levels. So where do you stand with FCR? If it isn’t a priority today, you may want to start looking at how you are measuring the customer experience and if you are in line with what the customer is saying about the service they are receiving vs. the service they expect. Bottom line when you resolve customers issues at first contact you are leaving a customer with more time to promote you and the brands you represent! This blog was first published on LinkedIN

3 Tips To Help Create the Best Chat Experience

To stay on the cutting edge of customer service, you’ll want to offer your customers every available avenue to provide help and support. One of the newest, most innovative and customer-friendly methods is live chat support. Studies have shown that customers prefer this type of communication with companies over the phone or email. You might be surprised, in fact, to learn that customer satisfaction rates for live chat support are 73 percent. In comparison, email as a customer service route received 61 percent approval, while phone support only received 44 percent. Why wouldn’t customers pick online chatting over other avenues? For starters, with a live chat service, your customers are able to browse through your website at the same time they’re having their questions answered. This simplifies your ability to direct them through areas of the site where you’re helping them. Real-time chat sessions give your customers the best of all worlds here. How do you provide your clients the best possible live support experience? Take a look at the following three tips to keep your customer satisfaction rates at their peak. Train Your Team : “Chatting” with customers involves more than friendly banter. Your team will need to know how to understand the customer’s questions, accurately resolve problems and turn around dissatisfaction. Your chat team members will benefit by learning professional chat methodology principles and response tools, which will enable them to effectively communicate through a medium that might otherwise seem neutral or emotionless. Training courses are an invaluable element in keeping your chat team efficient, yet personable. Know Your Customer Demographic : With direct personal interactions, it is easy to adjust your style of speech and vernacular to match that of your customer, and therefore establish a rapport. However, you lack this type of face-to-face exchange in a chat session. It isn’t always possible to tell whether you’re chatting with a 20-something or a senior citizen. The issue goes beyond age – factors such as location, personality and background also apply. It can be challenging for chat personnel to discern these tidbits of information through a computer monitor. Even so, being able to identify with your customer by picking up on and matching his or her unique inflections is a valuable skill. Quantitative research studies can be vital in providing insight into your company’s particular demographic and average customer base. Understand Your Customers’ Needs : What exactly is it that your company provides, and what might they have issues with that prompt them to seek your help in a chat session? Being able to fully understand the help a customer may need, your particular services and your products is the golden ticket to providing stellar online chat support. You and your team might understand every aspect of your business inside and out, and that in itself makes a huge difference. However, you will get more in-depth, intuitive results by investing in objective research based on third-party interviews. In this way, you stand a much better chance of seeing your customers’ concerns through their eyes. Live chat support should be fun, engaging and thoroughly rewarding for your customers. These tips should help you elevate your team to chat superstars. This blog was first published on LinkedIN

Becoming a Focused Leader Part 1

Effective leadership encompasses a myriad of activities but may be thought of as being primarily about directing staff to achieve company goals. Providing that successful direction can be accomplished by targeting leadership focus on the most critical areas. Although focus can be defined as a central point of attention or activity, to be an efficiently focused leader, you must develop the ability to shift attention to the right target at the right time, sense current trends, and growth opportunities. The result will be that the people who follow you will shift their attention to the things you focus on. The urgently focused leader will develop the ability to: Focus on yourself Focus on others Focus on the outer world As Daniel Goleman quoted, “Leaders guide attention. But a single-minded focus on goals can run roughshod over human concerns.” Therefore, you need to be alert not to focus on one area and neglect the others. The challenge is in finding the balance that yields results based on organizational structure. In part 1 of this discussion, we will dig deeper into the first focus point. Focus on Yourself Focusing on yourself does not mean being selfish and working to advance only your personal agenda at every meeting, it means practicing emotional intelligence. You can read more about emotional intelligence here. It begins with being self-aware and in touch with your inner voice. As you develop self-awareness, your gut feelings can simplify your decision-making process by guiding your attention toward the best option. The more you listen to those gut feelings, the more comprehensively you will understand them, leading to better use of your intuition. As a word of cautionary balance however, you should not make all of your decisions solely based on gut feelings only. This process also requires open awareness, meaning that you take note of everything going on around you while at the same time maintaining attention on the critical tasks at hand. Self-control follows self-awareness and includes the cognitive control of your attention where you want it and keeping it there no matter what happens. For example, if you were working on your quarterly sales report and then a colleague calls to chat, you would ask to call them back later. You continue to pursue your goal despite setbacks and distractions. The same self-control helps you keep calm during a crisis to think objectively about the situation and make solid decisions. Self-control is also about exercising your will power. It influences how you act when you exercise self-restraint versus self-gratification and voluntarily disengage your focus from any minor disruptions. You must develop the discipline to resist distractions and concentrate on critical goals. Focused leadership is a balancing act that starts with introspection and evolves to impact the people around you. When you are self-aware and practice self-control, your team will take note and work collaboratively to reach your business goals. Part 2 of the Focused Leader discussion will be coming soon. This blog was first published on LinkedIn

10 Inherent Qualities of a Great Leader

A company with great leadership thrives even in the toughest situations and without it the company suffers. True leadership is demonstrated when employees want to do the right thing in all situations without prodding. In the current economy, leading rather than ‘bossing’ will always yield superior results. Great leaders display 10 inherent qualities that attract high caliber employees and inspire them to perform in a culture of inspired excellence. Focus on ‘We’ not ‘I’ To be great, you focus on your team more than you do on yourself. When you take credit for the efforts of others, your team will not support you because you are denying them acknowledgement of their efforts. If your team gets all the blame for failing to reach goals but then you take all the credit for success, nobody will want to be associated with you. To earn your place as a great leader you have to be concerned about how your team is progressing and how you can guide them. Find opportunities to acknowledge their contributions towards the success of the company. Accept Full Responsibility You need your team to be accountable for results but accountability has to begin with you. Accepting responsibility means taking the heat not only when the company blossoms but also when things may appear to be going downhill. In business, you encounter bright times and dark times, and how you handle both shows how effectively you assume responsibility. When you make a wrong decision you need to accept that you were wrong, apologize, and find solutions to make it right. Do the Right Thing It is not easy to always do the right thing in every situation and it takes a great leader to shoulder that burden. He or she will not focus on how they are perceived in the short term, but on doing what will benefit the company in the long term. Knowing what is right and acting upon it separates great leaders from the merely adequate. Turn your convictions into action and set the gold standard for your team. Be a Visionary The ability to envision the company 5 years down the line is an asset which great leaders possess. You develop strategies and tactics to achieve the vision. The goals should be well documented and referenced continuously and frequently. Without strategies or goals you will never make any significant progress. Be Passionate About Winning A great leader wants to win, to be the best in the industry and to develop others to achieve their full potential. Passion goes beyond desire. Passion provides momentum even in the face of adversity and ignites the organization as they see the results of tirelessly pursuing the dream. Keep a Positive Attitude Stephen Covey used a 90/10 principle to explain the importance of having a positive attitude which states that 10% of life is made up of what happens to you and 90% is determined by your reaction to what has happened to you. Great leaders practice this principle and demonstrate it by being enthusiastic, cheerful and energetic. Build Strong Relationships Leadership is about trust, which is at the core of relationships. Can you follow someone that you do not trust? Would you even care to be associated with such a person? Of course not. Relationships built on trust and respect enable candid feedback without which improvement is impossible. A great leader builds strong and respectful relationships that are beneficial to everyone. Be Composed During Tough Times Maintaining calmness when the boat is rocking is an invaluable quality that great leaders exhibit. It helps the rest of the team to calm down and be objective about the situation at hand. Even when they cannot be certain about what will happen next, they try to make sense of the situation and focus on solutions in times of crisis or uncertainty. Listens to Others Critical feedback can be negative but, by listening to others, a great leader shows that they value and appreciate input. They also do not wait for the feedback to be volunteered but instead solicit it from all relevant stakeholders. Effective communication is two-way and it takes great character to be humble and listen, truly listen to feedback. Celebrate Progress A great leader understands the value of acknowledging and celebrating progress. He or she does not wait until the final achievement, but celebrates each benchmark as it is completed. Acknowledgements keep the team motivated and focused on attaining the big goal. Great Leaders set themselves apart by following these principles and practices and by creating the fertile environment to develop these traits in others.

7 Reasons to Move Toward SaaS-based Sales Processes

Currently, most software providers deliver applications as Software as a Service. In fact, SaaS sales represent over three-fourths of all SaaS delivery models because customers want choices of methods to consume software applications. If you are considering this model for your business, here are seven of the most important reasons to move toward SaaS-based sales processes. 1. Marketing to new customers Traditionally, software delivery models involved customers buying hardware, implementing it on-site, and then deploying the software. That type of conventional environment adds expenses and complexity that many consumers prefer to avoid. Utilizing software as a service offers a simpler financial model. Instead of a large investment to purchase dedicated hardware, customers can pay a monthly fee that aligns with their operational budget. Software providers offering SaaS sales can reach a wider base of customers. 2. Shortened deployment times SaaS reduces implementation time by standardizing the launch of a software solution. Technical environments vary between customers, particularly when deploying an on-site software program, resulting in the software provider inheriting and needing to resolve the unique problems. Cloud deployment standardizes the environment, making implementation a routine process. Automation and orchestration technologies can also be leveraged to increase customer satisfaction, drive down consumption times, and further streamline deployment. Products can also be delivered faster and more affordably than with more traditional go-to-market approaches. 3. Risk mitigation Reducing risks is one of the most important factors of a successful business. Selecting an experienced cloud partner with a proven track record in SaaS delivery avoids many mistakes in hosting the software. It can also significantly reduce the overall risks of the business while still enabling the provider to provide SaaS sales to customers who are not interested in purchasing on-site hardware. 4. Capturing new revenue streams With SaaS sales models, a larger single payment is split into steady and ongoing monthly annuity rates instead of one large payment. When software providers include infrastructure services in the initial sale, they profit from the overall IT landscape. 5. Partnering with change management, monitoring, and ITSM Many vendors provide just the cloud infrastructure, but producing a genuine solution entails more than building a software environment. It also means scaling and managing that context by supporting and managing customers alongside their SLAs. An experienced customer service partner can identify the problem quickly whether it’s an operating system or database backup, an outage that requires failover, or a restore issue. 6. Selling security Customers want assurances that solutions are secure. By selecting SaaS deployment partners who meet end users’ compliance and security requirements, you can provide an audited and safe environment that opens doors to clients with regulatory concerns. 7. Offering flexibility Customers want options, but offering all the options they demand is expensive and inevitably leads software providers to drive clients toward models they produce, even those that aren’t in the customer’s best interest. Create a go-to-market plan that includes SaaS strategies and managed, hosted appliances and then trust qualified partners to provide seamlessly the items you can’t affordably offer your clients. Software as a service is transforming the way businesses across all industries utilize software, and SaaS sales offer excellent potential at a decreased risk. This blog is first published on LinkedIN

Push Marketing to Pull Marketing Through Social Media Acquisition

Selling your products or services requires regular and consistent communication with your customers. In the traditional model, push marketing was the preferred mode of communication as it focuses on putting the product in front of the customer, for example through advertisement placement on primetime television and billboards. Pull marketing on the other hand focuses on drawing customers to you. It targets the right customers at the right place and time. In the 21st Century, it became easier to pull customers because of the rapid growth of internet use. Social media has opened up markets that were previously unreachable. One way to grow your company is through acquisitions, for example acquiring other business or their customers. Effective sales teams should consider how to grow pull marketing through social customer acquisition. Social customer acquisition is about building and maintaining relationships for retention purposes. Statistics show that 77% of B2C companies acquired customers through Facebook while 54% of B2B marketers said they generated leads through social media. You can either grow or kill your business online by what you do in the social media arena. A few tips can help you achieve your share of social customer acquisitions. Create Content Sharing Calendars The first step is to know what content you want to share. You are in a position to direct the conversations that take place on your social media pages. Your content should be customer-driven, meaning it is something they are interested in reading and sharing. Content can include blog posts, Ebooks, webinars, and press releases among others. When you generate and distribute high quality content, you benefit your customers leading to a high acquisition rate. Using calendars ensures you stay organized, given the numerous number of social media platforms, on which you need to maintain presence. For example, you can plan for Facebook posts for the month and schedule them as needed. Social media providers are working to ensure you achieve your goals by offering these features. Even when you have scheduled a series of posts, remember to allow for insertion of critical current news in your scheduling plans. Scheduled content should not be used at all costs; you should maintain some flexibility in order to offer relevant content at all times. Provide Value Only when something is of value would someone waste their precious time viewing it. The same applies to online communities. Before you ask your customers for something, you need to invest in the relationship. When customers feel that you are adding value to their lives, they will be more predisposed to reciprocate when you call on them. The other essential factor for real value is the need to give more than you take from your customers. Social media is the modern equivalent of word of mouth. When you publish something of value, your customers will readily spread the word and their peers will also continue to share the valuable content creating a chain reaction of exponentially more powerful messaging. Practice Patience Sales is a game of patience. If you give up when the first response is not as expected, you will not go far with your acquisition plans. Think about the time and resources you use to create content and to promote it, you probably spend more time promoting to achieve the desired results. The same goes with building communities that lead to sales. The secret is providing value to those communities instead of pushing sales. You will make more friends by giving them what is more important to them and they in return will give you what is important to you. Practicing patience as you build genuine relationships online, will lead to improved customer retention which has a direct impact on your social customer acquisition rate. Social media is a great tool for any business and knowing how to use it to your advantage will lead to business growth. Use these three tips- creating content sharing calendars, providing value and practicing patience – to implement viable social customer acquisition. Nurture your relationships online and harness the power of social media for increased sales.

4 Essential Factors to Consider for a Great Company Culture

In the modern market, usually the most successful companies have an attractive company culture capable of retaining top talent. What are the keys to cultivating and maintaining this seemingly mythical concept? It all starts with a team mentality and you are the coach. Here’s the game plan for a successful company culture: Focus on Good Fits When you think of hiring a new professional, one of the first items on your checklist is probably a proven track record of productivity. However, it should be a personality that’ll fit well with your company culture. Even if your new hire is capable of producing large volumes of quality work, that doesn’t necessarily constitute a positive contribution to the team environment. What’s the moral of the story? Don’t hire jerks no matter how productive they are or how impressive their resume is. Remember, your employees represent your company even when they are off the clock. Will you latest hire do the company image justice? Make Your Company Values Obvious Perhaps one of the top recommended interview questions is “why do you want to work for this company?” It’s designed to give you insight into each professional’s motives, personal goals and knowledge of the company. If you want to draw top talent to your cause, you have to make your company values known. For example, Google has no problem attracting top talent because it has a clear reputation for high quality, intelligent algorithms and encouraging employee creativity. Whatever your company values are, make them known and find professionals attracted to your values. Management Doesn’t Always Have the Better Idea Let’s head back to the trusty Google example. Most large companies allow little freedom to their employees regarding projects and daily tasks. However, Google News, a current staple of the search engine platform, was not a management idea. A Google research scientist created it after 9/11 because he wanted to see multiple news sources at one time and chooses the focus of the articles. This a classic example of how giving your employees the freedom to make decisions and figure things out is key to company growth and market relevance. Make the Team More Important Than the Individual Every single one of these four points is designed to help you make your organization work culture an inviting one capable of attracting and keeping top talent. Making the team more important helps foster that. When professionals enjoy whom they work with, they are more motivated to complete tasks effectively. Why? The motivation has little to do with pleasing management and more to do with being there for their peers. Don’t encourage your team members to hog the ball. Instead, focus on a symbiotic system. When you consider these four factors of a great company culture, they certainly make sense in a general context, but its up to you to implement these suggestions in a way that will help your company thrive and attract quality professionals. Always keep what’s best for the team in mind and stay focused on the big picture: company success.

Get More for Less: Saas Vs On-premise Software

Have you heard of software as a service? Essentially, you move your internal software systems, databases and programs into the cloud with the help of a SaaS company. You’ll see the same (or greater) range regarding your choices in analytics, data management and engagement features. However, you’ll pass off the responsibility of system maintenance, installation and troubleshooting with a simple monthly description. What are the advantages for SaaS? Data Security and Sensitivity Regardless of your company’s niche, you likely have sensitive information that must be protected like product advancement techniques or projected release dates. Hacking and data scams are an increasing worry in modern Internet culture and with an on-site system, you must also have the appropriate security measures, meaning more software and support professionals. Cloud services on the other hand, have significantly more expansive security and protection resources since it’s a core of their business and product. Easy Upgrades and Scalability When it comes to software, upgrades are dime a dozen and with traditional license software, you may have to foot the bill for these upgrades. However, SaaS services generally upgrade their system across the board with each new update so you see the benefit without add cost. Additionally, many SaaS companies build their products with scalability in mind. When it’s time to move to the next tier, you might have to upgrade your membership, but you won’t have to go through changing your system. Quicker Implementation When a traditional software service, you’ll need to wait for the professional installation, teach your IT department how to care for the system and get everyone up to speed. Cloud services take care the IT troubleshooting tasks with support services and generally eliminate the need for timely and costly installation. At most, you’ll have to download a relatively lightweight app and in a few hours, you’ll be ready to start training your team on the system. Less Buck, More Bang From previous sections, you may have guessed most SaaS services run on a subscription-based model where you only pay for what you use. These packages usually come with some level of customer support in addition to the programs you need. With the subscription fee, you’ll likely save a hefty chunk of your software budget and you might even be able to eliminate your IT department. Why? You gain access to software troubleshooting with your prescription. You might even be able to train your team using the SaaS training resources. Greater Focus on Company Success If you don’t have to allocate people, money and other resources to supporting your software system, you can focus more on actually creating products, doing market research and otherwise improving your company. Move your talent away from resolving structural issues and towards creating quality solutions for your brand in the future. With SaaS services, you give your company the freedom to move forward without carrying the weight of software upkeep. Through outsourcing these responsibilities, you leave more room to run the company and focus on company goals. Leave your old clunky software behind and Jump into the cloud with SaaS services. This blog was first published on LinkedIN    

5 Reasons why Customer Service is Incomplete without Live Chat

Exceptional customer service differentiates you from the other providers in the market. That differentiation is crucial because today’s customer is sophisticated and has more options than ever before. With the click of a button, they are out of your online shop and into the next. The secret is to offer them support and assistance that is relevant, timely and personal. One way to achieve this is through Live Chat Support. Live support is a web service that allows you to communicate with your customers in real time. Many companies have embraced the use of live chat software as more customer service channels arise in the market. Customers really appreciate it when you listen to them and meet them where and when they want. When you are able to do that, you guarantee increased satisfaction levels. Here are five critical reasons to invest in effective chat software for your customers. Live Chat Taps Into Customer Pain Points : Pain points are customer needs that have not yet been met. For example, a client will reach out to your company because he or she wants to ask a question pertaining to the performance of the product or just some clarifications. However, when the agent is alert, he or she will detect the customer’s mood and attitude, if there is something bothering them, the agent can inquire about underlying issues. These pain points, when effectively addressed, are great opportunities for brand positioning in the mind of the customer. You can leverage the interactions with the customer to discover which improvements are needed in your products or services. The essence of tapping into these pain points is to uncover critical areas of improvement, meeting the customers’ needs in the most direct way. The result will be higher customer satisfaction levels and incremental business growth. Live Chat is Convenient : Receiving support through live chat is very convenient. It provides your customer with immediate access to information. For example, when a customer is shopping online and he or she is having trouble with the purchase, while still on the page, they can chat with an agent who will resolve their issue on the spot. It is convenient also because you can speak with a customer service representative anytime and anywhere. If the customer is in traffic and there is a lot of noise, the live chat continues without any interruptions. How wonderful is that? Even when the customer has to wait in line for the next available agent to become available, the wait is not that long compared to waiting for a call to go through, because an agent can chat with more than one customer at any given time. Convenience is a win-win situation for the agents and customers. Live Chat Removes Language Barriers : Most companies reach, especially with online retail operations, extends beyond their borders and their customers are spread all over the globe. This can lead to communication challenges. Imagine having a phone conversation with an agent for whom English is their second language; you will run into language barriers because of the diverse accents and idioms. However, with live chat you will understand each other easily. As you type, words and sentences will be autocorrected, minimizing margins of error. A conversation that goes well, not only leads to customer satisfaction but also leads to employee satisfaction. Language can be vetted beforehand to present the most easily understood word choices. Live Chat is Versatile : Live chat is a great platform to attend to customers no matter the complexity of the issue presented. From a simple product question to a technical one, the tools and resources available through live chat can address a wide gamut of issues. Another critical quality component of the chat process is that, because all of the conversations are written, they are readily accessible by the performance management teams to review for quality assurance. The customer can also refer to it for directions in case they forget what you told them and an agent can evaluate their own performance on how well the conversation evolved. Live Chat Builds Strong Relationships : Strong and long-lasting relationships are worth building and fighting for, in order to grow your business. With live chat, you can introduce a human element into the online conversations with customers. Even though most companies have prepared their Frequently Asked Questions for access by website visitors, the FAQ’s are never enough to satisfy all of the questions asked by all of the customers. When customers are happy and satisfied, they will not only purchase more but also advocate for your brand to others, leading to higher conversion rates. Making yourself easily available to your customers when and where they want to have the conversation is powerful for your business. Live chat is critical to success platform in providing the unique opportunity to complete your customer service processes. Train and coach your agents in the best practices for live chat and you will see the improvement in customer satisfaction levels and healthy business growth.

5 Most Effective Social Media Strategies

For a strong modern business, a social media strategy can boost your current market relevance and performance or even establish it. However, conquering this new and ever changing social media realm can be difficult, so here are the five most effective strategies you need to know. Establish a Visual Brand Consider widely known brands like Apple or Coke. Apple consistently has a sleek look involving mostly whites, greys and the now famous Apple logo. Coke on the other hand uses specifically stylized letters, white and red. Even if you blocked all the words from either one of these companies social media profiles, many consumers globally would recognize the profile owner in a glance. How can you do the same? Pick a memorable logo. Choose a color palate. Stick with a few fey photo filters or none at all. Use a brand template. Be consistent with your use of your visual brand. Choose the Right Platform There are a multitude of social media platforms and only a handful will be right for your company, brand and message. What happens on Twitters doesn’t happen on Facebook and Instagram is a different platform entirely. If you are a restaurant business, your recipes can be perfect for Pinterest, but a consulting firm might have better luck posting provocative articles on LinkedIn. To start, pick two or three platforms and focus on creating quality content on those platforms. Blog Consistently If you open an Instagram account and only post twice a year, don’t bother having a published account. Bloging regularly and consistently is key for staying relevant in the realm of social media. You don’t necessarily have to post every Tuesday at 2 pm EST, but if you state you have a surprise for your followers at that time, don’t fall back on your promise of juicy content. Regardless, you shouldn’t allow any of your accounts to collect any level of metaphorical dust. Don’t Waste Any Space Character limits on social media posts have moved beyond text limits (except Twitter). On Instagram, you can have a full novel for a caption, but that doesn’t mean you should always load your photos with words, especially since it’s a photo-based platform. However, you shouldn’t over look the bio on your social media accounts. It’s a great place to say what your team is about or place a link to whatever you want to promote. Plus, if you say “link in bio,” you followers head to your main page and might just get lost in your other eye catching content. Connect, Promote and Engage Bloging your own content on social media is maybe half of the battle. Now, you engage connect with your followers with real-time comments, reposts and follows. Connect with popular social media presences relevant to your niche and/or target demographic. Of course, you also should promote your latest product, blog post, Tweet, web site and anything else you can think of. Give you company the full social channel workaround and starting engaging with a new and responsive marketing arena. Remember to start small and build consistently.

How to Successfully Engage and Retain SaaS Customers

When your company provides software as a service, it’s important to constantly work toward a high level of engagement of your customers. Engaged customers are often more likely to be retained by your company. The software as a service customer has specific needs that need to be addressed effectively and in a timely manner by your company. Etech Global Services can give you ways to provide the best customer service through SaaS, integrating software and satisfaction solutions. Offer Consistent Support First and foremost, your SaaS must be backed by consistent technical support from your team. Retaining customers without proper support is something that isn’t realistically going to happen. When customers need help, make sure your team is up to the challenge. Make Things Easy and Convenient It’s also important for you to make things as easy and as convenient as possible for your customers in the software environment. If simple tasks are too difficult or convoluted, your customers won’t be happy. Have a Way to Get Feedback Another important way to keep your customers engaged is to have a way to get feedback that is incorporated into your software system. When there are questions or concerns, you want to make sure your customers are heard. Tie Business Practices Back to Customers With software subscription business models, every aspect of the company needs to be tied back to the customer. Your revenue is linked to creating a favorable experience for customers, so all product development, business management and financial departments need to be working toward the same customer satisfaction goal. Increase Employee Product Knowledge Keeping all employees updated with pertinent product knowledge is another useful way to keep your customers’ business. No matter what part of the company someone works for, everyone needs to know extensive knowledge about the most popular software offerings. Communicate With Different Teams Communication between departments is essential as well for best outcomes with customers. When customers are not happy with product quality, that information needs to be shared throughout the departments of your organization. Foster Community Within Your Product Having a designated place for software discussion or support online is a great way you can facilitate community among your various customers. When you provide this service, this shows optimum transparency and commitment to product improvement. Simulate the Customer Experience Knowing how things look through the customer’s eyes is an effective way to keep up with issues that may occasionally pop up. Be sure to run different simulations or tests that allow employees to get this experience. Take Effective Action When Needed No matter what is going on with your subscription software, you must know when it’s time to take action. Analyzing different issues as they come up can help you determine the appropriate course. Focus on Problem Solving Most of all, your company’s business model should stress problem solving. If subscription software becomes its own problem, you’ll lose your customer base. That’s why it’s important to create innovate solutions throughout the life of your organization. Maintaining customers and finding new ways to engage them with your subscription software can make a huge difference on the bottom line. Additionally, your company can continue to recruit new business while improving your routine practices. This blog was first published at LinkedIn

Implementing Quality Assurance Controls for Call Center Projects

If your Call Center already maintains an effective Quality Assurance (QA) program you have a leg up on other companies who do not invest in this resource. The best programs act not only as independent auditors of agent behaviors, they also provide valuable insight into the ‘how to’ of program or center improvement, including valuable Voice of the Customer feedback. When new projects are launched it is wise to spend some time planning how to incorporate this critical resource into the Project Implementation plan. Gather Requirements from Client You may find during the Discovery process as you gather requirements for the project from your client that there are particular deliverables required for a QA process. In the event that the client does not already use a QA process this would be your opportunity to introduce them to the concept, explain industry Best Practices and make recommendations about how to incorporate Quality Assurance as part of the overall Performance Management plan. Recommendations could range from the content of the Audit tools to White-Label configuration of the QA software. During this phase you can establish expectations and act as Trusted Advisor. Identify and Equip Personnel Dedicated to the Project QA personnel must be independent thinkers with attention to detail who can objectively score a call or chat with consistency. After being provided initial training on the subject matter and scoring forms, QA agents must also receive calibration including ongoing sessions so that all of the behaviors included in the Audit Tool are both defined and interpreted accurately. Effective calibration should result in variance of less than 5%. For new programs it is typical to arrange calibration sessions with your client to ensure that the team is correctly scoring all behaviors accurately. These sessions may result in additional or refined definition of the targeted behaviors. After the QA process is established and the personnel have been trained and calibrated, for ongoing program excellence you must also provide a mechanism to inspect auditor accuracy. This can typically be accomplished with an Audit the Auditor process, where senior or certified auditors are given the responsibility to sample the accuracy of the output of the QA agents. This step will ensure that high levels of accuracy are not only established but maintained and measured throughout the life of the program. Develop QA Audit Tools Once the process flow has been mapped, the specific behaviors which are critical to the success of each customer interaction must be identified, defined and weighted. The most typical rubric is to achieve a total possible score of 100% with higher values assigned to the most influential behaviors. With thought to the reporting throughputs which will be generated you may also consider creating logical groupings or sections with their component behaviors. For example, for an Outbound telemarketing project, you may wish to organize the scoring tool to mirror the desired selling behaviors such as Introduction, Needs Analysis, Product Presentation, Closing and Handling Objections. The subset of behaviors which could be included in the Introduction section might inquire whether the agent was ready for the call and whether the agent introduced themselves appropriately. Most audit tools would include a separate section for etiquette and language skills and a category of ‘auto-failure’ for any behaviors which are mandated by regulation or client requirement. Reporting Detail and Broad Trends As individual customer contacts are audited, a body of data will be created which can then be mined for purposed of targeted performance improvement initiatives. It is advisable to structure the reports which will be generated so that analysis may be made of individual agent behaviors, team performance, and broader segmentation if the project is located in multiple locations to target performance gaps. If the scoring tool has been segmented by groups of behaviors, the aggregated data will indicate which areas large groups of people may need additional training or coaching for. For example, if in the example above for the sales process, if each behavior section has been scored for the project in the 80 to 100 percentile except for Handling Objections, then the Operations Management and Training Departments can devise effective strategies to modify the training curriculum, provide ongoing training and target individual coaching sessions. Reports should be used to close loop the performance management process and should be an iterative process so that the tools accommodate the desired outcome. In addition to auditing critical behaviors, the QA process can and should also reveal insight into the Voice of the Customer. If significant numbers of customers complained of difficulty navigating a website, then that is critical feedback to report to the client and its programmers. VOC summaries will address issues outside the control of the individual contact center agent and identify both areas of opportunity and also those things which drive customer satisfaction. Monitoring and Improvement Once the initial implementation work has been completed, the longer term processes should include steps to seek constant improvement, both on the individual level and for the organization as a whole. A typical quality analysis over time will likely show that a few behaviors present a large majority of the quality failures. You should plan on identify each critical to success behavior and working on improvement plans until behavior levels are acceptable. Establishing a closed loop feedback process will become a critical part of the quality culture. QA: In House or Outsource? For some, the ability to develop a Quality Assurance department or program may not be cost effective or be may constrained by other considerations such as lack of software or scale. The qualified QA provider will supply the requisite software and personnel and a seamless consultative experience to those who find ground-up development too cost prohibitive to consider. Quality management can be the missing piece to move your brand ahead of the competition. Whether you create your own program or contract with a provider, Quality should always be integrated into all of your programs and will be in the long term, well worth the effort

The Emerging Role of Social Customer Care in Business

The month of April was action packed, and among the most memorable things I did, was taking part as a speaker at the PACE Convention & Expo. The focus of the convention was creating an effortless customer experience and the emerging role of social customer care in business. Customers need engagement throughout the product life cycle, from their research to purchase to consumption and even after consumption. Unlike before, whereby, you only needed to engage the customer before and during the purchase. Social customer care should be a big part of your marketing strategy because more and more customers are going to social media to seek for answers. This trend has gained popularity among consumers because, They do not have time to pick up the phone and ask the customer care representatives. They are not sure how long it will take you to respond to the online contact form. They are aware of the “onlooker effect” whereby the potential reach is broader than just the dialogue between the consumer and the company. They want value for their time and money. How then, can you engage your customers on social media? Be proactively reactive. This means that you respond in a timely, personal and relevant manner. Timely Consider these statistics: In Twitter, there are approximately 5,000 tweets every second. 30% of the users expect a response within 30 minutes. One in five brands say they “rarely” respond to customer complaints made via social media, yet consumers who use social media expect a response within an hour According to Sprinklr 38% of consumers, feel “negative” about a brand who fails to meet their expectations for a timely social media response. Consumers expect instant feedback from you. When you make them happy, they will make you happy too. If you do not respond immediately, you lose the opportunity to please a customer and many others that follow you. Personal Social Media provides the window to personalize your message. As a brand, you need to take advantage of the issues raised; the social media channel preference, location and influence of the customer. For example, when a customer asks a question on your twitter handle, you need to answer them in the same channel, use their name in your response, be sympathetic with them and their concern and most importantly, offer them an appropriate solution. When you do not personalize your response, it leads to channel irritation, which easily spreads to other customers. Relevant When a customer raises a question, it is up to you to remain relevant. Relevance to the customer means that you help solve the particular problem. However, relevance to your organization means leveraging the data for future use, aligning your responses to other marketing initiatives and remember, what you say reflects on your brand. For example, if a customer wants to know when the new products will be available in the stores, do not start telling them about the production process and the numerous unforeseen challenges that can come up. Be precise with your answer, give the tentative dates and promise to keep him or her updated on the progress. The task of managing all your social media platforms concurrently may sound like a daunting task and you may shy away from trying it. At first, it will overwhelm you a little, but with practice, it becomes easier by the day. You can also outsource this part of your customer service to experts in contact centers who will give you all rounded social customer care. In conclusion, we have looked at the role of social customer care in business, and the best way to engage consumers; being proactively reactive by providing timely, personal and relevant responses. Are you engaging your customers online? What are some of the tricks that you have tried and tested and worked wonders for your company? Feel free to share with us. This blog first publish on LinkedIN

Tips to Grow your Business through Direct Email

Direct email has taken a back seat with the increasing popularity of social media channels, but it still works and should be a channel to consider in your marketing plan. Some of the reasons cited as hindrances to using it include spam filters. I personally appreciate spam filters because they move the unwanted emails before I even see them, saving me time and protecting me from potentially harmful viruses. How can you leverage this strategy despite the above challenges and still grow your business? Here are tips for you to consider as you draft your email marketing strategy. 1. Determine Your Ideal Audience The first step is to define your target audience. You know what product you want to push and the people it will benefit the most. Write out their profile for you to narrow down the scope. If you are selling software, you can classify your audience into users, decision-makers, and sponsors. This is important to do because direct email marketing works best when you send professional, attractive and compelling ads to a smaller group of recipients that will be interested in the message. The person you choose to target must be in a position to influence the buying decision. You can start with the user or sponsor or the decision-maker, it all depends on the approach that works best for your product. 2. Use the Right Tools to Source for Contacts Because you will need contacts for your target audience, consider credible tools to gather this information. A wide variety of online tools exists such as LinkedIn or the target audience website under the team page. Remember to mention how you obtained their contact information in the email. 3. Write the Email Message You now have your contacts and are ready to start your marketing. Your next step is to draft your email message. Your message will make or break your results because how you communicate to your prospects will determine how they respond. A well-crafted message will make them appreciate the time and effort you spent to provide them with a solution for their business. Use an attention-grabbing subject line; this is what captures your audience’s attention. The title will make the person open the email immediately or trash it. The secret is to customize it, therefore, making it relevant to the person. Make sure it includes some reference to how they will benefit by collaborating with you. In your message body do not write unending stories. Remember that everybody has busy schedules and a long email will be dismissed immediately. When your targeted prospects are ready for more information, they will get in touch with you. Keep it simple and to the point. Do not forget to include a call to action clearly stating what you want from each person. Write a compelling call to action that is easy to respond to such as ‘click here for a free demo’. Make your email message interesting and worthwhile for the reader. 4. Test and Review Utilize technology to test how people are responding to your emails. Measure what matters most to your business: clicks, appointments bookings, or positive and negative replies. Test every part of the email message from the subject line to the call to action. These tips will help you think strategically about direct email marketing and can contribute enormously to your marketing mix. As you do all the above remember to offer something of value, the same way you would if you were meeting someone face to face.

Strengthen Your Brand with 3 Seamless Customer Experience Tips

Your brand has made a mark in the noisy market-place and every day you need to ensure you maintain that position. Whether you stand for integrity or innovative products, one key aspect that will help you keep that standing is a seamless customer experience. Customer experiences are not only limited to the retail space but also in the online space, and today’s consumer has more options than one could ever imagine possible. By a click of a button, they have walked out of your store, and into that of your competition. A seamless customer experience means that you are customer centric, and you fully develop all your channels. This makes it easier for customers to navigate to the information they need on whichever channel they prefer and still get the same brand experience across channels. Follow these three basic steps to improve your customer experience and elevate your brand relevance. Simplify the Buying Process : In the online retail space, simplicity is king. Once the customer is online, they want to view the products and with a click, make the purchase. However, when they have to scroll through several pages to make the purchase, they are frustrated and abandon the cart. According to a study carried out by American Express Survey, 78% of customers have bailed out on a transaction or not made an intended purchase because of poor customer experience. When customers are happy with the services they receive, they will tell others about it, and that increases your sales. However, when they are dissatisfied, they abandon your brand together with their friends. With a myriad of options available, the most hassle free and direct outlet wins. Efficiency : Efficiency goes beyond the service delivery to operating costs. When your team offers a flawless experience, they spend less time per client. They become so good at their duties because there is consistency in what they do. Leveraging technology also helps your entire organization to become efficient because the same standards are applied. Especially when you have an offline and online retail space, it increases your output while reducing your operating costs. Remember, to meet the high expectations of today’s empowered customer you need to improve your efficiency. Pleasing the Customer : Your organization exists to meet a particular customer need, and when that happens, the customers are satisfied. When you improve your services by offering a personalized and seamless experience, you leave your customers feeling special and valued, which leads to brand loyalty. Loyal customers are an asset to your company because they advocate for your brand to their friends and family. There is no better way of marketing yourself than through your satisfied customers, who willingly talk about you on their social media platforms. News of bad customer service reaches more than twice as many people as praise for an excellent service experience. Therefore, only superior experiences can grow your brand. In summary, the pendulum has shifted, and your consumers define your brand image based on their experiences. Do everything in your power to ensure that you offer superior experiences to your customers for a healthy brand. If you can provide a simple buying process, efficiency and make your customers feel valued, your company will have a good handle on the importance of seamless experiences to your brand.

Omni-Channel Communications Strategy

Omni channel is a harmonized operation model of serving customers, in which the company channels are aligned into a single face, along with one consistent way of doing business. The companies replace the many views of the customer they often hold today with one unified view of the customer across all the channels. It enables you to respond in a consistent way to the customer’s constantly growing needs. An Omni channel strategy involves giving a consistent and seamless experience via technology, customer service and the retail space. Your customers experience the same from all points. For example, a customer can purchase a product online and when he encounters a problem, can return it to the physical store for a replacement or repair with ease. An Omni channel strategy is most useful to communication service providers e.g. call centers that are facing intense competition fromother emerging companies. What spurred this dynamic transition? The customer has changed significantly; he is now more connected, his journey with you is now vibrant, nonstop and easily reached. Vibrant – this is powered by technology, customers no longer follow the traditional purchase model – of awareness, then consideration and evaluation and lastly purchase. Today’s customer checks around several online stores before making a purchase. Non-stop – the customer journey is continuous because the devices he uses i.e. mobile phones, tablets and computers are always on and can find the information they are looking for at all times. Easily reached – customers have access to information like never before. Many sources (articles, blogs post and websites) of this information are not in your control. What steps can you take to adjust to these changes? Your aim is to offer customers a consistent experience across all the channels, such that they feel like it is a continuation of a previous interaction from whichever channel they initiated the process. Leverage digital to gather insight You cannot make any meaningful changes without knowing what you are changing and how you are changing it. There is a huge data pull online that when utilized will generate the necessary insights, not forgetting what can be gathered from the physical channel. These insights drive your marketing efforts. Knowing your dynamic customer, gives you the basis of personalizing their experiences at their channel of choice while remaining relevant. Integrate the channels As stated above, Omni channel is about creating a single channel, your next step should be to integrate all your channels into one. The current multi channels operate independently with their own strategies, the physical store, the call center, the social media management team. Integration means that, if a customer wants to make a purchase or payment, they can do it from any channel without any challenges and they leave satisfied. They can go to the store, or through the e-commerce enabled website or by calling the call center. For example, when you run a promotion on your social media platform and website, customers should be able to enjoy the same in your retail space. They should not see the promotion still running online yet the products are out of stock. We understand that customer service is no longer a marketing function only; all departments that interact with customers offer it. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to integrate the new Omni channel approach across all the functions, from the technical team, sales and marketing team, the other staff and management. For example, when a customer speaks to an agent about a device problem he is experiencing, and the agent advises taking the device down to the service center, the customer shouldn’t go there and have to start explaining his problem all over again. A simple customer number should suffice. This integration offers the customer a seamless experience and he will be satisfied with the service. Leaders need to encourage faster and easier implementation of the Omni channel communications strategy. Integrate the business units In summary, Omni channel communication is the way to go because of the connected customer challenge, the same customer whose journey with you is vibrant, non-stop and easily accessed. Your role therefore, is to respond to the customer and offer a unified consistent experience that begins with you leveraging technology to gather insight and then integrating it across all business units and channels. This blog was first published on LinkedIN

How to Use Call Center Performance Metrics to Achieve Success

Call center managers are charged with a tough job, because supporting customers means constant revision to your process, so you move with their needs and deliver consistent quality. Understanding how your various KPI measurements work together to give you an idea about the balance of your services is an important first step to achieving success as a manager, and it is also the key to understanding when your call center is succeeding, so you avoid over-tweaking your process and overdoing change in the name of call center performance. Understanding the Four Metric Categories The four main areas of concern for call center managers are: Service Quality: Measuring service quality means looking at whether or not your call center meets customer needs efficiently, asking questions like: Do your employees have the knowledge and resources necessary to act decisively and solve problems? And how is customer feedback reflecting training efforts? Accessibility: These metrics allow you to track use of your self-service system, wait times, and call abandonment, and they tell you whether or not customers have a hard time actually reaching the point where service quality comes into question. Inaccessible systems tend to be rated more lowly on service quality, too, even when actual call center performance at problem solving is quite excellent, because accessibility issues affect the customer’s perception of the entire process afterward. Operational Efficiency: Metrics that cover call wrap-up time, forecasting accuracy, the average handling time for each call, and your employees’ adherence to their schedules are all designed to ensure that high quality, accessible work is also efficient enough to handle the call load your center receives. Cost: Last but not least, cost considerations ensure you operate within budget by measuring cost per call, agent attrition, and absenteeism to give you a full picture of your call center’s effectiveness. Balancing the Metrics Knowing what categories to measure and which KPIs are most important in each category is just the first step. To achieve the best possible call center performance, managers also need to understand how to balance the metrics, to achieve success in every area. Otherwise, cost effective and efficient call centers may still be hampered by training issues or accessibility problems that reduce their overall performance, and similarly, the best and most accessible service is unsustainable if costs are too high. The issue is more complex than that, though, because some areas affect others in direct ways. For example inefficient but high-quality service typically means long wait times and less calls processed. This creates a situation where accessibility goes down even as service goes up, and the long run, that can lead to service quality measurement declines as customers who have been kept waiting remain dissatisfied and stressed even after receiving the service they desired. The goal, then, has to be achieving success in all four areas without focusing too intently on one, unless that one happens to be lagging behind. Training efforts and organizational restructuring, as well as the investment in new resources, needs to be balanced to address the needs of all four categories at once, as well. That allows for better overall call center performance, and, more importantly, the kind of success that is sustainable into the future.

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