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Ten Principles to Drive Effective Collaborations-part 2

As a continuation from the first article on principles to drive effective collaborations, here are five more tips to strengthen your foundation. Manage difficult trade-offs Not everything works out as intended, not only in life but also in business. You need to have a provision of making compromises where necessary. These trade-offs may not be easy but will make all the difference in the way your organization collaborates. Knowing when to make the trade-offs requires the leader to be informed and empowered because these decisions will change the course of the business. The good news is that collaboration provides the tools for the key decision makers to obtain the right information at the right time. Exploit the rhythm of convergence and divergence History repeats itself; meaning the organization experiences highs and lows almost at equal measures. For example, when initiating a telesales campaign, you start with a large number of prospects, but during the campaign, two things can happen:- Convergence – the number reduces to capture the real sales Divergence – developing more products to meet the needs of the customer Look at the rhythms created over time in your organization. How do you gather information, sort it and later on develop it? You may be surprised at how that data will affect your decision-making. Articulate and implement a few strict rules Without rules, there is chaos, and this is especially true when there more than one party involved. With the understanding of what you want to achieve and how to go about it, you can articulate rules regarding the employee behavior. Each department needs to understand their roles and responsibilities, and what is acceptable and what is not. For the organization to experience effective collaboration, do not leave the rules at the articulation stage; implement them. Also depending on your company policies, you can use rewards and punishments to enforce those rules. Design flexible organizations that encourage the required collaboration Without contradicting the above principle on articulating and implementing a few strict rules, you need to have a flexible company culture that will facilitate effective collaboration. Remember that your internal functions or dysfunctions, spill over to the external environment and vice versa. Therefore, you need to be attentive, adaptive and responsive to your environment. Flexibility means that you can sense the shifts in the environment, can work together to respond to the changes, and the leaders decide what to do in real time. Collaboration makes all these possible and helps you deliver the best business results in the worst-case scenario situations. Align support systems to endorse ownership After working hard on the other nine principles, the glue that will make them stick is ownership. When everybody in the organization takes ownership of the process and the outcome thereof, achieving effective collaboration will be easy. They will share information at the right time, hold dialogues and make the right decisions for the betterment of the company. Your core role in leadership is to align the support systems. Utilize the collaboration technology to promote ownership of the process. It should make life easy for the staff, not complicate things. In summary, effective collaboration is a team’s effort, and these principles help to provide the guidelines and foundation for achieving that. Just to recap the ten principles are, Focus on business results Encourage high standards for information sharing, Align information and authority, Encourage accountability, Look at collaboration as competence, Manage difficult trade-offs, Exploit the rhythm of convergence and divergence, Articulate and implement a few strict rules, Design flexible organizations that encourage the required collaboration and Align support systems to endorse ownership.

Role of Senior Management in Delivering Customer Service

Hundreds of articles focus on customers and agents when it comes to customer service, and senior management role pops up as one of the many points in the article. However, I believe the contact center leadership plays a big role in ensuring that customers receive exceptional experiences. Leadership is about achieving results through others. Dwight D Eisenhower summed it up by saying, “Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want to be done because he wants to do it.” Today, I would like to change the focus to the senior management and the significant roles they play in the customer service delivery process. Here are their five key roles;- They Set the standards Before the customer representatives can pick up the phone and answer calls, they need to have a script guideline in hand. Managers draw up these guidelines or scripts based on the results they want to achieve as well as their experience with that brand and customers. They also sit down in meetings and discuss ways to help the company using data intelligence. For example, if the supervisor notices that the average handling time per customer is high, then he investigates the issue to uncover the possible reason the representatives are taking too much time on a call. He then discusses it with the managers to come up with a solution. Senior management formulates the company mission and vision, and they are at the forefront to ensure that all strategies implemented lead the company towards their goal. Without a goal, the organization will walk blindly. They Empower Employees Employees execute the set strategies. What would happen if you have the best customer service strategy, and tools and techniques in place but you do not have great employees to do the work? Absolute failure! Senior management is responsible for hiring the right people for the job, training them on the best practices, inspiring and motivating them to deliver results, monitoring their performance. When you have a knowledgeable team on the ground, you will achieve good results. However, a great leader knows that knowledge alone is not enough to achieve great success; they empower the agents to make decisions on behalf of the organization. An empowered team is an unstoppable team. They improve processes Technology is at the core of the excellent customer service delivery. An agent cannot make the decision to change obsolete equipment, but the senior manager can. The management monitors the trends in the industry and the organization output and makes the decision to upgrade or change the system. They understand the impact that great customer support software has on the level of service provided and are always on the lookout for what is working and what is not. When the team is well equipped, they will be effective and efficient in their work. The best way to support the representatives is to provide them with up to date tools and technology that gives them the opportunity to focus on the customers. They create the culture Senior management helps to create the corporate culture. New employees come and adapt to the existing culture. If the management creates a culture where exceptional customer service is a top priority, everybody else will follow suit. They create a great working culture by leading by example because they know that actions speak louder than words and most people learn by observation. For instance, you can answer some calls in the presence of our agents and show them how to handle difficult customers. They Foster Open Communication For any organization to thrive, they need to have open communication policy. The employees should be comfortable to come to you for assistance. Having a top down communication only will paralyze your effort to deliver exceptional customer service. Open communication brings together people into strong teams. Open communication also means that you provide your agents with all the information they require to meet customers’ needs. When you withhold information from the representatives, they will keep escalating issues to you. Therefore, you will waste time on one customer while the agent could have resolved the client’s problem if he had all the information. These roles of top management, setting standards, empowering employees, improving processes, creating a positive working culture and fostering open communication molds the contact center to deliver great customer services. When the leadership is strong, the representative will be strong.

Why Companies Still Need Chat?

If you know me, I consider myself a nice person. However when I receive terrible service, I try not to complain. I don’t kick and scream, I try to not call the company and complain, I do not try and make a scene. I’m one of those “nice” clients we hear so much about. All I will tell you is this; I am also the customer who never comes back. Sure, I could tell you off and feel better, but in the long run, I prefer to leave quietly and tell everyone else I know about my experience. You see, we talk about those nice customers who never complain and we all think they are great. But the sad part is most companies don’t understand there are plenty of people just as “nice” as me. When a “nice” person like me gets fed up, we go to your competitors. I tell you this because as I was trying to purchase products this week on a company’s websites and could not get any live help. Imagine that? I was trying to buy on an E-Commerce site and could not get help. Well my E-Commerce company – you have lost a great consumer this week and you have no idea how much revenue you lost because you chose not to have chat as an option to help me when I needed it most. Stats: Last year in the US alone more than 155 million consumers spent more than $165 billion – Yet, the shopping cart abandonment rate averages 70%. I was one of those people. Why? Because I could not get any help… Wouldn’t it make sense to assist these consumers before they leave without purchasing? You know the deal, have you ever gone online, found the product you’ve been looking for at what you thought was a great price, but you felt you did not have 100% of the information you needed to put it in your shopping cart? You look for a way to self-serve, ask questions and to your surprise no one is online helping you because the store is not open when you are ready to buy. I know what you are saying Mr. Webmaster. 95% of the information that consumers are looking for is already on your website. But let me ask you this – is it easy to find? Consumers like me want the information NOW. It’s fast food for the internet – I do not want to look around to get my answer, click 100 times to find the answer- I want someone to help me in real time. Nearly one half of shopping cart abandoners say that they plan to conduct more online research before purchasing in order to get the best price. As people abandon the shopping cart like I did, they are going to competitors who may have chat and will capture their sales. That’s what I did. People appreciate live chat for a number of reasons, and time is a key factor. Of those who prefer live chat, 79% said they did so because they get their questions answered quickly and 46% agreed it was the most efficient communication method. https://econsultancy.com/blog/63867-consumers-prefer-live-chat-for-customer-service-stats#i.1kthq2g12uce8n As more website visitors become more experienced online, even more visitors will abandon their shopping carts, and online comparison shopping will become ever more commonplace. Highly educated, experienced shoppers are more likely to use voucher codes or look for them online. Chat agents can offer the codes for them so there is no more searching and time spent not making the sale and increase AOV. Forrester found that web buyers that abandon shopping carts spend more time online than those that don’t. More than two thirds of shopping cart abandoners say they like to shop around before making a purchase. Reiterates how valuable it is to keep customers on your website. Look, if you can answer the shoppers questions in real time, do their comparisons for them in real time, keep them on my site and satisfied, they are more likely to make the purchase from me? Would you leave your brick and mortar store open without a sales clerk there? Of course not, but you do it every day on your website. If you do not have Chat or Social media as your solution you can start now it’s never too late. This Blog was first published on LinkedIn

Why Live Chat Is the Perfect Tool for Help on Demand

E-Commerce and Internet marketing are standard in the digital age. Nearly every successful business, retail or otherwise, uses some form of web-based sales or information distribution. However, although many customers are happy to do business online, at times Internet-based companies seem to lose the human touch. Offering a live chat service on your website can help you make more sales and provide instant customer support. Customer Convenience Having a 24-hour help desk available via telephone is beneficial, but your clients may be shopping online precisely because they do not want to make a phone call. Also factor in the time and pain factor of dealing with automated menus and waiting for a representative to answer a call. With a live chat tool, on the other hand, it is easy for your customers to continue whatever they were doing while they wait for a representative. The written word may be easier for some customers to understand and respond to, and the option to receive an emailed transcript of a chat after the fact is invaluable. Technical Support Providing technical support via chat can make the difference between keeping and losing a customer. If there is a problem with a client account or with the shopping experience, many people are likely to navigate away from your site and onto a competitor’s site. Live chat, however, may be able to solve a problem instantly, thus winning back your customer and increasing his or her satisfaction with your brand. Being able to instantly assist users with account updates puts your company in the position of providing excellent customer service and possibly closing more sales. Having live chat operators on hand to solve your clients’ technical problems on the spot can have an enormous impact on customer retention. Shopping Assistance If you run an e-commerce site, live chat is indispensable. You may have shoppers visiting your site at any time of the day or night, from all over the world. If no one is available to answer visitor questions regarding product choices, customization, lead times and so on, your site’s bounce rate may be high, and you may be leaving money on the table. In addition to answering product questions, your live chat operators should be prepared to respond to questions about shipping. This includes tracking items that have already shipped and helping customers decide whether or not your standard or expedited shipping will best meet their needs. Other shipping-related questions to anticipate include what gift wrap options are available and whether or not packages arrive with their contents visible. Benefits to You Providing a live chat option enhances the customer experience and provides a valuable service to your clientele. It also helps you run your business more efficiently. In addition to potentially increasing customer retention, live chat may cost your company less than telephone customer service. Your well-trained chat employees may be able to help more people in a shorter amount of time than they would be able to do on the phone. Text-based customer service, such as live chat, has many benefits. It gives your clients instant access to support and provides your company with multiple upselling, customer care and lead-generation opportunities.

The Effects of Live Chat Integration on the Customer Experience

A great customer experience can enhance the value and length of the consumer and merchant relationship. Each product in a marketplace has to be a better or more affordable substitute, tying commercial success to service. Businesses that roll out sophisticated customer experience tactics to add value to their offerings with giveaways, enhanced services, loyalty-based bonuses, live chat, and up- or cross-selling are quickly becoming leaders in the customer service industry. Defining Customer Service Customer service is the interaction between organization and customers. While there are many different definitions, there isn’t a right or a wrong interpretation because what makes customer service good depends heavily on what meets consumer expectations. Customer Experience Ideologists Top industry experts drive innovative strategies for enhancing the customer experience. They create client-centered philosophies for businesses to leverage the emotional aspects of the experience. Some of the top influential people and their service-oriented industry tactics include: Shep Hyken – Supports developing a culture and loyalty mindset to enable clients to share experiences and promote your products on social networks Colin Shaw – Predicts trends for reducing shopping cart abandonment Ken Varga – Believes aligning relevant advertising efforts prompts customers to buy what they’re researching Donna Fluss – Offers free, valuable advice for integrating customer relationship management software in support centers for quality assurance to optimize customer experiences Hank Brigman – Communicating offerings through newsletters, advertising, and word of mouth achieves the goal of being omnipresent A successful customer-centered corporate culture utilizes the services of a dedicated customer experience manager to focus on the emotional aspects of interactions to communicate relevant information. Influencers and the Wow Effect Formula The difference between influencers and ideologists is fuzzy. It may seem that influencers concentrate more on enhancing whatever fun there is to have and less on revenue. In the long run, they influence customer expectations and drive companies to introduce innovative customer-centered mechanisms into action. These people flourish in the social media environment, taking advantages of various platforms such as Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and social video channels including YouTube to share their thoughts on the customer experience. Influence as a Marketing Tool Not all influencers are published authors or professionals. Anyone who creates ideas and concepts and strategizes on leveraging the customer experience to drive revenue and satisfaction is considered an influencer. For instance, Joseph Michelli, a keynote speaker, focuses on the Wow effect, which is a descriptive designation for a large customer experience goal. He found that 70 percent of customers indicate five main touchpoints for recommending products to others: Engagement: Genuine acknowledgment and care of consumer needs Executional Excellence: Outstanding quality and product knowledge Brand Experience: Ensuring customers believe they’re getting a deal Expediting: Proactively caring about the consumer during the shopping process Problem Recovery: Assurance of satisfaction and compensation Interestingly, engagement and brand experience are the only two touchpoints significantly impacting loyalty. Should a company decide to increase these key performance indicators, it can use techniques such as gamification, an online marketing technique to encourage engagement, or customer support empowerment to feed its culture into the community. This blog was written by Jim Iyoob, EVP Customer Experience and Operational Excellence for Etech Global Services. Connect with me here https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimiyoob

Seven Stages of Design Thinking; An Essential Tool for Customer Experience Manager

Design thinking is a methodology used by designers to solve complex problems, and find desirable solutions for clients. It draws upon logic, imagination, intuition, and systematic reasoning to explore possibilities of what could be and to create desired outcomes that benefit the customer. However, looking at the above elaborate definition, it is a great process for managers to adopt not just designers. In regards to a customer experience manager, the process allows you to think from the customers’ perspective. How is the customers’ life and how does he or she encounter the company. The marketplace is customer-driven. Your products and services should create value and meet their needs. The only way to understand what they need, how they need it, when they need it and what is of value to them is to involve them in the product life cycle. Here are the seven stages of design thinking Stage 1: Understand the Customer The first step is to understand the end user because they are the core of the design thinking process. Empathize to understand their experiences fully with your products and services. Employ all possible means to comprehend their experiences from observing to interacting with them. Your aim should be to experience your products and services the same way they are. Stage 2: Definition You now know your customer and can define the problems they are facing. In this step, it is crucial to describe clearly the problems and identify the success factors. Otherwise, you will not know when you arrive at your destination. A plainly defined problem will set the pace for the rest of the process. Stage 3: Research Do not leave any stones unturned, dig through previous work done in regards to solving those problems. Research helps you to understand the genesis of a particular problem and tried and tested solutions and the outcome. You need to make sense of everything you find out as you research. However, if it is a new issue, then you have the opportunity to document it well. Stage 4: Ideation With the research findings in place, put your imagination and intuition to work. Conduct brainstorming meetings with other managers and employees to come up with possible solutions to resolve the identified issues. Do not limit yourselves to the obvious ways, dig deeper into ideas that may seem unachievable. The goal at this stage is to have a broad range of ideas. Encourage each participant to float their idea and record all of them. Stage 5: Prototype Next, put your wide range of ideas to test. You need to expand them, combine some, refine others and reject others. Give them a physical form that moves them from un-achievable to realistic ideas. It will allow you to interact and experience the solutions before presenting them to the customers. Remember; you are wearing the customers’ shoes, and you understand what they want from your organization. Stage 6: Select and Implement The above rigorous process will be futile if you do not get to apply the suitable solutions. Start with the most powerful solutions from the selected prototypes. Do not just focus on the practical ones, but on the ideas with the highest impact on the issue at hand. As you implement the prototypes, record the results of customer experiences. Stage 7: Learn Finally, yet importantly, learn from the users. Which solutions solved the problem fast? Which did not? Which ones needed improvement? Your aim is to refine your prototypes to be the best solutions. After your review, do not leave the findings at that, improve the prototypes for the benefit of the customer. In conclusion, design thinking can help you look at problems in a different way and discover solutions that would otherwise remain hidden. Using the above seven stages, you can revolutionize the way you develop customer experience strategies. Design thinking is your secret weapon to finding solutions to difficult customer issues.

3 Tips on How to Build a Lasting Business Relationship on Linkedin

LinkedIn is the largest professional networking platform in the world. That means it is the perfect place to connect with the who’s who in business. I have been using LinkedIn for a long time and I know its benefits firsthand. However, there is one thing that has really got me thinking (after it annoyed me beyond words), and that is my overflowing inbox with spam messages. Maybe you have gone through this, maybe not, but I will share my experience here; I recently accepted a connection invite and the next thing I see is this. **Hi Jim, Thanks for the connect!! Hope you are doing well, I just had a look through your company portfolio and I must say I’m very impressed, I would like to take this opportunity to share our company profile and our expertise in IT services. So I am inviting you for an online presentation, just to showcase our abilities in various IT services. We are not looking for any immediate requirement, in future if you have any requirement you can consider us. Please let me know your leisure time so that I can schedule the online presentation. Once again I like to remain you that, this online presentation is just to introduce my company and to build a healthy rapport with you. Kindly revert me if you have any clarification. My response: I sent it to our SR director of Development – if he is interested he will reach out to you Thanks, Jim, I am just sharing my contact details below. If I want to contact your SR director also, I can do that with your permission. Again I need to thank you for spending your precious time. Thanks, My response: – if he is interested he will reach out to you, I have nothing to do with IT (Trying to be nice) **Hi Jim, if you could give me about 20 min time slot in your schedule? I can arrange a meeting to discuss our company profile. Kindly share your email Id, so that I can send you a calendar invite. Thanks, My response: I have nothing to do with IT (Expecting that they got my “not interested” message and will keep their word…wait for it… another inbox that was even longer) Hi Jim, Thanks for your candid response !! This corporate presentation is just to introduce my company profile, IT services & our projects for about 15 min, so in the future, if you have any requirements you can consider us. So if you have any leisure time, please let me know. I will not text anymore and disturb you until you text me. Have a great day !! Thanks, My response: Thanks – Not interested though. Have a great week Now you get it, using the above example let’s look at three lessons we can learn on how to do effective sales pitches on LinkedIn, 1. Do your due diligence – Before sending a generic sales pitch, research properly. You can look through the person’s profile and take a further step by visiting their website for more information. If the above “connection” looked through my profile and company, they would know that we did not need the services they had to offer. 2. Listen – active listening is one of the most important skills a sales representative should embody. It is not limited to the actual hearing, and in this case, it meant following and understanding what I wrote. I was kind enough to tell the person I was not interested, but they just ignored me and continued to push their sales agenda. How rude! 3. Develop a relationship – LinkedIn is a networking platform, meant for making meaningful connections and learning from each other. Believe me, marketing will happen automatically after developing a direct relationship with your connections. The connection may not buy from you but could be a credible referral source in the future. LinkedIn will continue being a great business-to-business networking platform that could be an invaluable marketing asset when used well. Change your strategy with these three tips and experience better results with a bigger meaningful network. Don’t get me wrong I get tons of great connections who understand it, here is one I recently got over the weekend. I am actually excited to learn more about this person below and see if we can work together someday. Hello Jim, Thank you for connecting with me on LinkedIn. I look forward to communicating with you and learning more about your business. If I can be of any assistance in introducing you to people in my network please do not hesitate to let me know. Best Regards, XXX Have you been through a bad LinkedIn experience? I would like to know how you handled it. This blog was first published on LinkedIn

Ten Principles to Drive Effective Collaboration-part 1

As companies become bigger and customers demand more from them. rapid growth poses a new challenge for seamless service delivery. This is where collaboration comes into the picture. Collaboration can be defined as two or more people working together to create or achieve the same thing and we often think of it as an activity stream where information passes from one department to another. If you are only looking at this process from this angle however, you may expose your enterprise to the inherent risks of information overload and misinformation, which will eventually affect people outside the organization and negatively impact your chances of success. To foster active collaboration, practice the following principles as a foundation. Focus on business results Start with the end in mind. What business goals are most critical to business success? Some goals have greater value than others do because, when achieved, the ripple effect leads to the achievement of others without any effort. Focus collaboration on the business aspects that have the highest impact. For example, focusing on employee engagement will lead to higher customer satisfaction levels, happy employees and contribute positively to the bottom line. This means that collaboration among all concerned parties, including entry-level employees is of utmost importance to the company. Encourage high standards for information sharing It should go without saying that for effective collaboration between parties to be possible, you need to have open communication. It is very common for people to hold a meeting that yields nothing and is a total waste of time because the discussions were only about office politics. To overcome this, train, promote and reward employees who practice high standards in their dialogues and discussions. When employees consistently observe the high standards, it leads to open information sharing. Align information and authority During a meeting, not every person is the decision maker but everyone should contribute to the discussion to supply the critical information upon which the ultimate decision depends. You need to align the information flow and the authority to make decisions. The challenge to overcome here is getting information from people who keep silent on crucial matters, which can have an immense influence on the decisions made. Your task is to ensure that the people preview to sensitive information, have authority to make certain decisions on their own or with approval from a senior manager. Encourage Accountability Closely related to the above point, personal accountability is essential for effective collaboration. When every person takes responsibility for his or her actions and how it leads to the success of the business, then collaboration becomes easy. An employee who does not take ownership of their roles will be the first to hoard information because they just do not care what happens. On the other hand, an employee who is accountable will immediately report a matter to the manager when they feel it has an effect on the business. When responsible, like-minded people work in a team, you will achieve greater business results. Look at collaboration as a competence Collaboration is one piece of the business success puzzle, and we know to complete the puzzle all pieces must fit in correctly. The other pieces include business rules, processes, quality standards, systems, staff duties, organization roles, data flow, and management style among others. You need to align all the pieces well and monitor on all of them equally so that your puzzle does not grow disproportionately. Collaboration will help you achieve this and much more. In summary, effective collaboration extends beyond the available collaboration technology. The entire team should roll up their sleeves and do all it takes to ensure they achieve business goals seamlessly. Focusing on business results, encouraging high standards of information sharing, aligning information and authority, promoting accountability and looking at collaboration as competence, will give you a head start in driving effective collaborations in your organization. Look out for Part 2 of this topic for more principles.

Is Your Call Center Ready to Adopt Integrated Customer Engagement?

Call center environments are constantly changing with the trends, just like any other business in this century. To keep up with the trends and meet customers where they are you need to embrace practical strategies. To start, consider who you are, where you want to go, your capacity and your customers’ profile. To integrate means to combine one thing with another so that they become a whole. Integrated customer engagement involves interacting with customers via a single face as opposed to several channels. It is a harmonized operational model that ensures you respond to customers in a preferred manner. The 21st century has expedited the evolution of call centers from multi-channel to Omni-channel interactions, driven by your customers’ journey with you, which is more vibrant, non-stop and easily reached. Most call centers became contact centers to accommodate the above changes. Are you ready to adopt an integrated approach to meeting customers’ needs? Here are some key signs you are ready to adopt a seamless customer experience: 1. Channel Ownership Challenges If you are currently struggling with channel ownership, whereby, agents in the voice department only know how to work the phones or the live chat agents only know how to interact with customers in that way then it is time to align your services. Your agents should be well-rounded because customers may reach out through various platforms before a problem is resolved. For example a customer may connect with you via email, but due to the complexity of their issue require a phone call. If you have to redirect them to someone else then you waste time and the customer will have to explain their issue all over again. When you align your offerings, the customer can get assistance from one agent. The faster a customer gets support, the higher his or her satisfaction level. 2. Technological challenges For your call center to deliver on commitments you rely heavily on technology. If you are at the point of having several systems, separate customer relationship management for each department, multiple sources of data for performance evaluation, several routing options and lots of contact management, you should consider an Omni-channel strategy. Managing different departments that handle various aspects of customer support can be stressful for you, not to mention costly for your company. When you streamline your operations you can also optimize your operations. 3. Operational challenges The day-to-day running of a call center requires proper planning. If you feel you are expending too much energy streamlining operations in different departments, and how they relate to each other, then you need a different strategy. Likewise if you are spending too much time trying to marry data from different departments to understand your customer v. spending that time satisfying your customer, focusing on an Omni-solution could be your answer. Complex department structures can also affect customer satisfaction. The back and forth of checking which channel is lagging behind and evaluating performance is taxing. With a simple, streamlined end-to-end process, your operations will be seamless and thus increase your ability to keep agent and customer effort low and satisfaction high. If your call center is experiencing the above challenges, not all is lost. Here is how you can start the implementation process:- Plan – chart your course from where you are to where you want to go. Every key stakeholder should be involved in the planning process for it to incorporate every aspect. Act – after thorough planning, ensure you put the plans into action. Allocate the necessary resources; undertake training and use your strategy document as your guide. Optimize – evaluate your performance and improve areas that will give customers superior experiences as well as achieve corporate goals. In summary, integrated customer interactions will affect your center in a positive way. When you resolve the channel ownership, technological and operational challenges, you will be on the right track to implementing an Omni-channel strategy. This blog was first published on LinkedIn

The Effect of Training on the Multi-channel Environment

The connected consumer has changed the way businesses communicate, especially because of their high expectations. What are these expectations? Consumers need to hear from you when they want to and through their channel of choice. The implication of this heightened expectation is that you have to be accessible on all communication channels. Simply put, you need to have a multi-channel communication strategy. Multi-channel communication goes beyond the traditional customer care hotline to include email, social media platforms, mobile, live chat, and self-service options. Does your contact center support your multi-channel communication strategy? If yes, how prepared are they to handle all customer demands and offer a seamless customer experience? These are important questions which is why contact center management puts a lot of effort into people development through training the agents. The following is a detailed analysis of the effects of trained agents as part of your business. Increased Staff Loyalty Call centers employ a large number of agents and training them well takes huge amounts of resources. It is always a win-win situation when agents are loyal to the company. Training of agents in multi-channel communication helps them to find their work more interesting and diverse. With multi-channel communication there is no monotony to say answering calls all day long, day in, day out. An agent can take a hypothetical break from the phone when responding to an email inquiry. They become rounded agents – thus can step in when the demand from one channel increases. This keeps them happy with their work environment and prevents them from looking for the proverbial greener pastures. Enhanced Teamwork Without proper teamwork, your agents will not be effective and efficient especially in the multi-channel environment that gives them access to several touch points. Agents that work for and through each other achieve tremendous results in a shorter time. Teamwork begins at the individual level. If an agent feels good about his work environment and teammates, he does his best to make the environment even better. This training exposes them to numerous opportunities of learning, developing, and building a solid career in the call center. With the diverse knowledge gained, agents are able to switch roles easily. Empowered Agents An empowered agent is one who has the authority to make decisions on behalf of the company. For example, an agent that is allowed to provide customers refunds up to a certain level without consulting with the manager is empowered. This agent takes full responsibility seeing that customer concerns are resolved within the shortest time possible. Training agents in the various ways they can offer the desired customer service instills in them trust in their capabilities of satisfying customers. They go the extra mile and are more devoted to their duties. This empowerment increases productivity, lowers operating costs, and helps them to embrace change easily. To management, empowered agents are easier to lead which provides more time to be dedicated to the strategic advancement of the call center. Increased Customer Satisfaction The essence of a call center is offer customer service support and ensure the customer receives the best experience. Well-trained agents offer a superior customer experience and are well equipped to handle questions and issues of all types and resolve them quickly. Have you ever talked to a customer care representative who was not helpful; especially in regards to the information you required, either due to the lack of right information or poor customer care? That experience leaves you dissatisfied with the company and more often than not, they lose you as a customer. However, when you are satisfied, you become their brand advocate. In conclusion, training your agents in the multi-channel environment is beneficial to all stakeholders. The effects are increased staff loyalty, enhanced teamwork, and empowered agents which all lead to increased customer satisfaction. As Aristotle, the ancient Greek scientist and philosopher said, “Excellence is an art won by training and habituation: we do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” Therefore, continuous training of agents ensures excellent customer service is provided across the multi-channels. This blog was first published on LinkedIN

How to Implement a Culture of Collaboration and Communication

Collaboration and communication are both essential to a good customer experience. It may sound obvious, but there are several areas in which a basic lack of either one often leads to a breakdown in customer service. Internal Communication Internal communication is the basis for all effective customer interaction. If your team members do not understand what the company stands for, what the relevant policies are, what products and services are offered or what their individual roles within the company are, they will not be able to provide a positive customer experience. Do not assume that new hires will retain everything presented in an initial training session. Plan for ongoing roundtable discussions and have an open-door policy so that two-way communication becomes the norm. Communicating Company Values Your company’s vision and mission should be printed up for everyone to see. You will also want to make sure that each team member understands these statements and clearly sees how he or she fits into the overall workings of the company. In addition to being displayed in print, your values should be reflected in your company culture and communicated to your customer base by means of your policies and daily operations. Communicating Policy Your company’s policies on various issues should be clearly written and accessible for your employees to review. However, more than simply publishing a policy list is required. To effectively communicate policy, you must help your team to understand the rules and how and when they are applied. Each team member should be able to clearly explain various policies to customers in an easy-to-understand manner. Informing Customer Expectations Clear communication on the part of your brand should result in customer experiences that align with expectations. This is where accurately communicating your values, policies and standard procedures to your team directly pays off. For example, if you sell physical products and have a strict return policy, that policy should be clearly stated in sales materials. Your sales team should also understand how the prospect of future returns affects the sales process and should inform the customer about the policy ahead of time. If a customer enters into a transaction with full knowledge of whether or not the sale is refundable, he or she will not be taken by surprise if a future return is not accepted. Setting clear customer expectations is a major factor in customer satisfaction and retention, even if problems do arise with a product or service. The Value of Collaboration Collaboration involves communication but takes it one step further. To maintain a collaborative environment, all parties must work together toward a common goal. Now that you have laid the groundwork by creating an atmosphere of open communication, you can foster collaboration by asking for team members’ input on important decisions. You can also collaborate with customers when appropriate, such as when planning a new product or service or participating in a community event. No organization can hope to optimize its customer experience without laying a foundation of open communication and collaboration. Doing so involves both internal and external relations and is an ongoing process, but all the hard work pays off in the long run.

Contact Center Data-insightful Information

Contact centers measure and monitor everything that happens with its employees, customers, and technology. The result is a compilation of data that is analyzed and reports derived from the analysis. There is high pressure in the industry for optimization, efficiency and profitability, and this data will help you know where you are. Every contact center has its ways of collecting this data and presenting it, and no one can afford not to have that information. Some use dashboards, or scorecards or both. A scorecard shows a historical performance while a dashboard shows the current performance. However, you need to use these tools together with other metrics that measure quality, productivity, customer experience, and costs. Today’s focus is on how you can use contact center data as valuable insights. To use this data for insights means going beyond keeping score on your agent’s performance, and integrating it with data from other systems to have a comprehensive analysis. Here are the steps to translate data into insights for decision-making: Understand the Trends The first step is to analyze the data to understand what is happening in the contact center. Consistent data analysis will bring out a trend that shows the value of the data. If the trend is not leading the center to its desired direction or achieving the set objectives, you get to know where the problem is. If it is heading in the right direction, then you know what to keep doing. Trends can also help you know your position in the industry when you compare with other companies. The secret is to define what you want to achieve with the data collected. Uncover the Why From the trend analysis, you need to uncover and understand why it is happening the way it is. For example, if your analysis indicates a drop in sales of a particular product, you need to look deeper into the data to understand why sales are falling. Turn every leaf over to get meaning as to what is causing the drop. Only with the understanding of why can you come up with strategies to turnaround the situation. Create a framework With the information above in place, you need to build a structure of next action points. Look at the “what ifs.” You can use multiple charts, tables or graphs to evaluate different what if situations. For instance, if you change a particular strategy, what will be the probable reaction from customers? The framework will help you see how a certain trend will influence the future of your contact center. The framework will be a compilation of insights that show you what will happen if you do one thing or the other. Make the Changes Data is only valuable when it is translatable to actionable insights. It is time to move to action. You have a working framework and you can only know its success by implementing it. Establish guidelines to help your team bring to life the insights gathered. Bringing it all together Data analysis and interpretation are a continuous process that should facilitate decision making in the contact center. By using these four steps, understanding the trends, uncovering the why, creating a framework and making the changes will help you use the data as insightful information. Point to remember is, data will be as numbers if not translated into valuable insights that are actionable.

6 Tips to Increase Your Leadership Proficiency

They say you get better with age, but does it just happen? As I thought about this and evaluated my own leadership journey, I realized it does not just happen. You can be growing older but not getting better. It requires deliberate effort to get better at whatever you commit to do. As a leader, you most likely started out as an entry-level employee, rose to a supervisor, to middle-level management level and then to senior management level. This journey takes time and character adjustments. You need to grow from a personal level to grow your organization. As Jack Welch quoted, “Before you are a leader, success is about growing yourself. When you become a leader success is all about growing others” I believe each level requires new skill sets but here are six tips that can help you increase your leadership prowess to take you to the next level: Engage in Personal Development: You are as good as you believe you are, and thus act in accordance with your beliefs. As a leader, therefore, you can only increase your competencies by being in touch with whom you are and your potential and aspirations. You can enlist the help of an executive coach or a life coach to make this process shorter and more effective. Be a life student: Readers are leaders however, as Harry S. Truman put it, “Not all readers become leaders, but leaders must be readers” the difference is in what you read. Read material that is helping you grow to be the leader you want to be. In today’s competitive market place, the leaders who stand out are the ones who evolve quickly with the trends. The fastest way to keep evolving is through reading your industry reports. However, do not leave it at that put into practice the new methods of doing things that you learn. Be authentic: The people you are leading can tell when you are being real with them or not. Always be honest when interacting with every employee to the biggest customer. Being honest includes owning your mistakes; every so often, you make a wrong decision. When you push the blame to others, you lose credibility with your staff. However, when you are open, you build trust with your staff; you know that without trust, you will have no followers. Be a Visionary: This means you do not accept the status quo and are open to new information. A visionary leader has a vivid imagination and can paint the future today. When you have the ability to visualize the future and write it on paper as a vision. Then inspire others to work towards it, you set yourself apart. Do not be afraid of taking risks as long as you believe in your vision. As a visionary, you should not only take big risks but also calculated ones. Therefore, you will put together your action plan with a specific strategy in mind. Be a good Communicator: You can have all the right strategies to propel your organization forward, but if you lack good communication skills, they will remain as ideas. Cultivate your communications skills, both verbal and written. The result will be a team that knows exactly what the vision is and how to go for it. Good communication is not one sided, you need to be an active listener. Listening to your staff is important because they have ideas that will contribute to your vision and make it larger. With open communication, your team will reach great milestones faster. Mentor others: Your expertise and achievements puts your name out there. Did you do it all alone? Chances are you didn’t but worked with a support system of your staff and fellow mentors. Your expertise comes together when your team is right behind you, moving when you move and halting when you halt. However, after it all, you will pass the mantle to someone else. The best thing to do is to mentor others. Through mentorship, you can inspire them to become the best version of themselves and learn from your mistakes. In conclusion, step out and be the leader that you are meant to be. Incorporate the above six tips into your growth plan and enjoy the ride to top management. What tips have you used before that improved your leadership expertise? This blog was first published on LinkedIn.

Transforming Customer Care with Four C’s

Many components must be carefully orchestrated for business success, none of which is more critical than Customer Service. Customer care has evolved over the last couple of years primarily due to digital advancements. To set yourself apart, you need to incorporate the 4C’s, which stand for customer experience, conversation, content, and collaboration. Look at them as pillars that hold your client service together. Working on these components in unison and actively managing them will transform your business. Let us examine these four elements and the ways you can use them as a competitive advantage. Customer Experience Customer experience is the product of interaction between a customer and an organization over the duration of the relationship. It reflects how the customer feels about the company and its products. Customer experiences are conversation starters because customers will talk about your products and the customer service they receive from you. If they are happy, they will talk positively about you and thus, build your business. If they are dissatisfied, they do not talk about it, and when they do, it will damage your business. Therefore, giving your customers great experiences is an investment to the company. To transform your business, generate positives conversations with customers by offering superior products and excellent customer service. Bring the same offerings you are giving offline to your online platforms. Social media is a powerful tool for reaching all your customers at once. Drive positive conversations with your customers by managing their customer experiences. Happy and satisfied customers grow from being loyal to becoming brand advocates. Conversation Conversation is the exchange of ideas between people. Customers have discussions with employees via the various platforms from phone to social media. Conversations build on customer experiences and go the extra mile observing, facilitating and participating in the discussions. Real and meaningful conversations take place when the employees are helpful to the customers. They seek to understand better their issues as well as offering them solutions. Actively participating in discussions on social media brings you closer to the customers and gives you a human face. Begin by listening to your customers – what are they asking? What tone are they using? What matters more to them? – And respond appropriately. Following these conversations will help you understand customers better and thus direct your product development and content strategy. Content Content is the information and communication you present to your customers. It should be relevant, fresh, reliable and accurate. You can orchestrate your content to generate conversations in the direction you want it to go. You cannot afford to leave the course of conversations with your customers; create a content sharing strategy. The content you share determines customer perception towards your organization. Do you position yourself as an expert in your field? Does your content help customers understand you and your products? Does it create value? Your content should accomplish these tasks and much more. Have a dedicated team to develop and implement a content sharing strategy. They should monitor social media conversation 24/7, and answer customers in a timely and relevant way. Remember, great content will grow your reach. Collaborations Collaboration is working together to achieve a common business objective. The goal, in this case, it exceptional customer service thus the company and customers should work together. When you loop in customers, they will freely offer their assistance to grow your business. The involvement helps them feel important, valued and appreciated, which will increase their commitment to the organization. A customer will be proud to be associated with a great company and will spread the positive word around as well as defend you where necessary. Create communities on social media and let customers interact with each other in a safe and controlled environment. That sense of belonging will go a long way to transforming your business into a success story. In summary, these four components – customer experience, conversation, content, and collaboration – intertwine to utilize the power of the people and social media. You cannot have one without the other. Follow these Best Practices today and avoid gaps in your customer service strategy.

Challenges for Call Center Workforce Management

A call center boasts a large number of employees given the nature of its operations, 24 hours, 7 days a week. Customers need actual assistance day and night, and an agent is always present to provide the service. Other than hiring the vast number of agents, the managers need to schedule their working hours, have temps on standby for the busy seasons and maintain a productive team. The workforce is an enormous asset for the call center because they are at the forefront of ensuring that customers are satisfied. They need to be well managed to ensure optimum performance. Here is a list of challenges that you expect to deal with when managing a call center workforce. High Turnover Rates Call centers experience the highest turnover rates around the world. The high turnover poses an enormous challenge for the leaders to manage the agents. For instance, it is the peak season, and 10% of your employee quit. You have to recruit and train new staff to fill in the 10% gap left, motivate and encourage the remaining employees so that they do not leave as well and process the papers for the employees who left. Remember that the call center operates all year round; therefore, you do not have the luxury to wait and see how the remaining employees will handle the calls. Research shows that a majority of people quit their bosses, not their jobs -they need income to live. Tip :- Create a work environment that fosters cooperation between the agent and managers. A positive work environment will lower the high turnover, therefore, making your tasks a little easier. Workload Forecasting A significant role of workforce management is forecasting agents’ workload and creating schedules for the staff. When you under-staff the center, customer satisfaction levels drop, and the agents are overwhelmed. When you overstaff the center, agents will be idle and thus get bored with the work and the call center will waste resources. The challenge is finding the correct balance; to handle the workload at your service-level target using the least number of agents. Creating a schedule that matches the anticipated workload is tricky. Tip:-Assess the previous workload reports and use that information to forecast the plans and activities that will influence the future workload. A Strong Possibility of Making Errors The numerous tasks involved in workforce management increase the chances of making mistakes. From maintaining employee files to recording attendance to documenting the expenses and the list go on. The situation becomes worse if you are doing all these things manually. To err is human, and that is bound to happen when you get tired of the tedious manual work. The entire call center will be affected by such mistakes. Tip:- Utilize available workforce management software that makes forecasting, scheduling, measuring, tracking and all other management tasks easier. The automation will make your work fast and seamless, giving you more time to focus on the welfare of the agents. Monitoring and Measuring Performance It is essential to monitor and measure agents’ performance because you will know the areas that require commendation or improvement. The challenge is setting realistic goals that can be achieved within the specified time frame. Without clear objectives, you will be tracking and measuring the wrong data. The result will be confusion and directionless efforts. Tip:- Set goals that are realistic and in line with the organization’s vision and mission. Automate the tracking and measuring process to get accurate results that will lead to improved performance. In summary, these four challenges high turnover rate, workload forecasting, a strong possibility of making errors and monitoring and measuring performance can paralyze your workforce management efforts. However, when you plan well and automate where possible, your efforts will be fruitful. You will have energized and motivated agents who go the extra mile to meet customers’ needs.

4 Ways Live Chat Can Improve the Success of Your Online Business

Managing a successful online business is hard work. Although everything operates on the internet, your success hinges solely on whether you can attract customers and generate sales. Live chat customer services are enabling businesses everywhere a way to reconnect with customers to increase sales and customer satisfaction. Improve Customer Experience Live chat offers customers the assistance and convenience they need when accessing your sites. Customers enjoy the convenience that comes from being online, but when they need answers, they often find they have nothing and no one to turn to. Customers don’t want to spend their time looking for information on products and services they feel should be readily available. Make live chat services available for customers to use and significantly transform customer experience in the following ways: Reduces wait times. Eliminates the hassles of phone calls. Increases customer satisfaction. Increases product and service sales. Reduce Operational Expenses In this day and age, businesses are finding it challenging to maintain a balance between operational expenses and profits. Organizations large and small are feeling the pinch and are constantly looking for ways to minimize their expenses. Adding website customer service can help online businesses everywhere to stop the loss of valuable time, money and resources. Benefits of online customer services include: Increase employee productivity. Increase flexibility and remote capabilities. Reduce overhead expenses and equipment costs. Employees are less likely to waste time on the phone and utilize more of their energies in the chat system. Customers receive more attention, faster responses, and assistance, thus improving the overall quality of information and services they receive from your company. Reduce Bounce Rates to Increase Sales When customers go to a website for a product or service, they don’t always have all of the information they need to make an informed purchase decision. In many cases, they are confused and may still have questions that could trip them up during the purchase process. Customers need guidance, reassurance, and information to encourage them to purchase. When there are online chat customer services available for them to provide these features, your bounce rate will drop, and sales will skyrocket. Online chat services also present the perfect opportunity for cross sales to increase your profits even more. Gain Useful Insight One great way to gain an edge and improve customer experience is to add the live chat feature to your websites. Customers are no longer calling in to complain when they have a problem. Many of them are rushing to tell their peers and post on social media how displeased they were without giving businesses a chance to rectify the situation. Live chat offers customers a way to make their complaints heard so they can be acknowledged and resolved. In turn, you can take the feedback that you receive from your customers and use it to create better products and services, and even tweak your website to better meet the needs of your customers. Considerations To improve the effectiveness of your chat services, make sure that your representatives are very knowledgeable and resourceful enough to find the answers they need to properly assist customers. All responses should be personable and relevant. Don’t turn off customers with robotic responses that don’t really address their concerns. Encourage employees to ask for the sale each and every time. Generating sales through chat offers customers a concierge-like experience that incentivizes them to return and do business again. Test different chat software before selecting the best option for your business. Train your team and be ready to make adjustments as needed to improve the effectiveness and responsiveness of your chat services. This blog was first published on LinkedIN

Moving Beyond Transactional Leadership: How to Be Transformative

To really engage and inspire your team, you need to do more than simply react to circumstances as they arise. You must be willing to transcend the position-oriented, rewards-based compliance that is often tied up with transactional leadership and towards a values-based style of leadership. The question is, where do you start, and how should you proceed? First, Narrow Down Your Vision The key to implementing a transformative leadership culture is to begin with a vision instead of a number. What do you envision for your company? Think in terms of values rather than sales or other quantifiable metrics for now. If your organization could make a difference in the world, what would that difference be? Communicate and Inspire Now that you have your vision clearly in mind, cultivate the art and skill of communication. To inspire others to work with you toward a common goal, you have to get them to buy into your vision, to share it with you. The punishments and rewards system of management has no place in the transformational leadership model. Make It Happen To be an effective leader of your organization, you have to do the hard work and get the ball rolling. It is your job to make tough decisions, take risks, rise to meet challenges and go the extra mile to see your vision become a reality. This takes courage and decisive action. Fuel the Fire Learning how to inspire others takes time and effort. Observe other inspirational leaders and tap into their leadership qualities and what enables them to connect with their listeners. Your passion for your project and your drive to make your vision a reality will be the main sources of inspiration for others. Connect With the Team Get to know your team members. Learn their names and what motivates them. Connecting on a personal level helps each team member feel that he or she has an important role to play in carrying out the company’s mission and vision. Set the Example Understanding your own vision and being able to communicate it to others is of no use unless you are also living up to the standards you set for the team. As a transformational leader, it is up to you to set the example you want others to follow. This goes for attitudes as well as concrete actions and behaviors you want people to emulate. Follow Through It is essential that you keep yourself motivated and inspired, and revisit your vision and mission periodically to make sure you are still on board with your stated philosophy. If you notice that your enthusiasm is starting to wane, it may be that your vision has changed or that you have gotten distracted and need to get back on track. If you find yourself in a situation where you are not following through, and people are left hanging, this could spell trouble for your organization and for you as a leader. You must continually revisit and reassess your stated goals. Having a team of trusted advisors is one good way of keeping your company and yourself on track. Transformational leadership is based on character, commitment, attitude and pride in one’s work. These aspects of company culture filter down from leaders and managers to individual workers to create an environment where change and innovation are sought after and embraced.

Integration of Live Chat and Social Customer Service: A Logical Evolution

Just stop for a moment and think about what that term means to you. What images does it conjure up in your mind? A smiling and pleasant clerk in a store, restaurant or other business? A busy call center with people fielding multiple customer phone calls? Getting help from a live chat operator or email representative? How about having your question or issue responded to on social media? Yes, make no bones about it, social media is the new frontier of customer service. So much so that we must be calling it “social customer service.” A Historical Look For a long time, traditional customer service was delivered via phone only (in part because there were no other options aside from physically going to a business). At first, the “operators” were more or less only that. They answered calls and processed routine tasks like returns and exchanges. Over time, however, things began to change. Companies began to realize that the interactions that their customer service agents were having with customers were actual marketing and branding opportunities. How well (or not) a customer’s issue was handled could have a direct impact on that person’s view of the company—and whether or not they would choose to refer the company to others or to do business with that company again. Customer service isn’t just a drone task, it’s a huge part of branding and marketing. This reality hits home even more as competitionincreases. Consumers almost always have other options so they do not have to tolerate sub-par customer service. At the same time, other modes of delivering service entered the stage. First it was email and then live chat. Brought about not just technological advances so much as consumer demand, companies everywhere scrambled to integrate these modalities into their service offerings. Doing so became yet one more competitive differentiator and potential branding tool. How quickly as well as how effectively companies could resolve issues became the way to stand out in the crowd. The Next Frontier Once again, the winds of change are a-blowin’. Social media has long ago moved from fad to norm in so many parts of people’s lives—why not customer service as well? Isn’t the whole point of customer service to service customers? Shouldn’t that, by definition, happen when and where customers want it versus when and where companies want it? And where are customers these days? On social media. Consider these facts: In 2010, 25% of businesses looked to social media to deploy customer service. By 2020, that number is expected to rise to 90%. 33% of consumers say they have used social channels for customer service at least once. 18% say they do so regularly. 20% of Fortune 500 companies routinely engage with customers on Facebook. These statistics give some look into the growing importance of social media as a customer service mechanism. But, in addition to considering this, we should also consider the harm that can be done by not venturing into this new frontier. It’s a known fact that people will take to social channels to share their experiences—good as well as bad ones. Negative reviews on sites like Yelp are not the only online commentaries about which to be concerned. There is nothing to stop someone from making a post on Facebook, Twitter or another platform that positions a company in a less-than-lovely light. Of people who used Twitter to comment about a negative experience with a company, 58% never received a reply from the company in question. That’s a lot of companies leaving their brand reputations in the hands of other people. That’s a lot of damage that can be done. That’s a lot of opportunity for companies who want to do it right. Challenges of Social Customer Service While social media offers tremendous opportunity and power to companies as a customer service vehicle, doing it right is not easy. This is in part because of the need to continue to offer service via other channels at the same time. This forces businesses to balance a lot of things. So, while social media should be looked upon as the frontline of today’s—and tomorrow’s—customer service, it must be done based upon a solid plan that addresses the potential pitfalls. Following are the five areas in which too many companies fail when adding social to their service menu: Integration with CRM and Marketing Databases Failing to do this is missing the point of using social channels for service. As noted above, social media gives companies the ability to more effectively control their brand reputations. A strong brand reputation is an integral marketing tool. By simply answering a question online and moving on to the next one, the marketing potential is completely overlooked. Conversations and customer information from social customer service interactions must be fully integrated into sales and marketing databases. This keeps the conversation going in a way that allows the customer to be nurtured for future business. Consistency of Voice and Service Quality Every company has a personality and an associated “voice”. Managing that and ensuring consistency in whatever that voice is can become harder as the number of channels grows. Social media may also provide additional limitations like word or character count that further add to the hurdles here. The voice that is used directly reflects and impacts the level of service that a customer experiences. Controlling this is therefore vital to service delivery and brand reputation. Understanding the “Place”’ for Each Channel Particularly with respect to social media, there are some times when a conversation will need to be taken offline. This may be to protect sensitive or private customer information or to more effectively work with an unhappy customer. Companies need to train reps when and how to do this—and how to close the loop back on the original social channel. One note of caution—some businesses divert conversations away from social channels too quickly. This also should be considered as finding a middle ground is important in this area. Proper Staffing Levels

Customer Experience the New KPI’s for Contact Center

Contact center KPI’s are a widely discussed topic. Reason being, if you cannot measure it, you cannot manage it. The Key Performance Indicators help you measure the agents’ performance and therefore manage their actions. However, it is sometimes difficult to define, control and meet all KPI’s. On one hand, the people think about the agent’s productivity, and KPI’s that measure quantity or volume, speed, time, service level, cost per contact, self-service rate and technology all come into play. The company’s aim is to meet customer’s needs at the lowest cost. On the other hand, the customers need superior experiences with the contact center and these KPI’s come in handy to measure customer satisfaction levels. These metrics include first contact resolution, the speed of resolution, resolution rate, quality, level of service and self-service success, repeat business and many others. The customer needs fast, reliable and personalized services. It is a delicate balance for the contact center. How can you merge customer experience and productivity to satisfy both parties? Align your Metrics Strategy With the above explanation, you will notice some misalignment. If you place more effort on productivity, you compromise the customer experience, and when the focus is on measuring customer experience only, you affect productivity. You need to align your metrics strategy to your corporate objectives. Your metrics strategy should bring together the two interests, and, therefore, include; How self-service is working across the various channels How agents handle customers across these multiple channels. How to reflect productivity (efficiency) and customer experience (effectiveness) and the cost implications as a balanced equation. When your metrics plan is in alignment, you will develop tactics that balance productivity and customer experiences. Retain Traditional Performance Indicators Traditional key performance indicators focus on the agent’s productivity. You should retain them as a baseline for evaluating agent’s performance. They are necessary for the contact center as you will monitor the output of your agents and can then create an effective workforce management plan. As much as you are retaining the traditional KPI’s, you should take it up a notch by defining who is accountable for what, that is the leadership, the supervisors on the floor and the agents handling the interactions. Provide the necessary information for each user for them to assess where they are and whether they are meeting the desired goals. Introduce Customer Experience Indicators Customer experience metrics focus on quality. They may be subjective because you pull the data from customer surveys – customers options may be biased depending on how their last interaction went. However, you should incorporate them into the main metrics strategy for a holistic approach. Pull data from the various communication channels not forgetting the new self-service channel. Important to note is that some metrics are specific to what they measure like service metrics focus on productivity. However, when you introduce metrics that focus on optimizing customer experience like efficiency metrics, the loop is complete. Keep working on the metrics until you find out which pairs meet your corporate objectives well. There is no “one size fits all.” In summary, to bring the new contact center KPI to life, align your metrics strategy, retain the traditional KPI’s and introduce customer experience indicators. Look beyond the accessing and delivering reports for analysis to creating scorecards that extract data from multiple channels. The data will give precise information about the agent’s productivity and customer experience levels.

Understanding and Getting the Most out of Live Chat

No matter what kind of business you have or the industry you’re in, you can always use another way for your customers to get in touch with you. Live chat services are essentially like sending text messages to someone without having to know the other person’s number and sharing messages without needing a phone. With more people preferring to text rather than talk on the phone, offering live chat can undoubtedly improve your service or business. The Advantages of Live Chat The biggest advantage of offering a live chat service is expanding your overall capabilities. You and your employees are able to remain in contact with your customers and audience, no matter where you are. Not only does this give your customer service team the ability to work wherever they like, it can also help reduce your total overhead costs. Another benefit is that you’re still able to ensure your company’s standards remain the same. You can take a look at all live chat transcripts and make sure your representatives are delivering the level of care you’ve built your company on and your customers expect from you. Something else to think about is that live chat services show your business is at the forefront of technology. Younger consumers grew up with instant messaging and are more mobile based, meaning they’re likely more comfortable with live chat than they are with other forms of getting in touch with your company. You also have to consider the fact that many people, no matter how old or young they are, groan at the thought of having to call a customer service number, listening to a recording of menu options, and having to wait for the next available representative. Think of how many potential customers you may have already lost because you don’t offer a method of communication they prefer. Using Live Chat the Right Way Just like with any tool, live chat has to be used the right way if you hope to reap the full benefits. The first thing you want to bear in mind is that live chat should not be used to duck customer service calls. It’s also not a good idea to use live chat primarily as a way to cut costs; there are better and more effective ways to do this. It’s best view live chat as a way to improve overall customer satisfaction and your revenue. Live chat is also an effective way to improve productivity. While customers are dealing with troubleshooting, looking for information, or stepping away from the screen for a moment, your customer service agents can help other customers. One word of caution is to make sure agents don’t take on too many customers at once as doing so can cause more harm than good. Customer satisfaction should always be your end goal. If you aren’t familiar with live chat and its capabilities, start small and ease into it to see how it works for you and your employees. While you’re testing the waters, be sure to ask your customers how they like live chat and how it can be improved. After all, you’re doing this for them, so you might as well give them the best messaging experience possible. This blog was first published on LinkedIN

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