How your competitors boost CX engagement 10X
Under the new normal, there is a digitalization movement toward self-service, which involves automated answering machines from call centres, chatbots, and other related innovations.
BUT
Customer Xperience (CX) is still king, and it’s more critical than ever in the digital era, via various touchpoints along the customer life cycle journey.
Customers will testify to the importance of human interaction, regardless of whether the business is B2B or B2C. Most people prefer to speak with a live agent right away when they call a call centre but that is not happening since we all have to go through hell and select a million options before speaking to someone and sometimes that person is not the right person either.
American Express and Zappos, a US internet retailer, all have well-known call centres that offer outstanding customer support.
Let me clarify when I say legendary; I mean you reach a live human agent who already knows who you are (assuming repeat customer) when you are calling and can probably solve your query on the spot 99% of the time or redirect to the correct party.
AMEX appeals to me because they employ local in-country Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) rather than outsourcing their activities overseas. This ensures there are no gaps in terms of cultural and linguistic comprehension.
As far as I understand it, you can contact Zappos to talk about anything and everything, as though you were talking to a friend, and they don’t keep track of time. They have a very stringent recruiting process and a business ethos focused entirely on delivering outstanding customer support.
The expenses that will be incurred for providing the extraordinary levels of customer service are certain, but the potential benefits cannot be disputed, namely having a large fan base of returning customers.
Any other company which seeks to sustain high productivity while limiting training costs must think about how to retain experienced call centre employees in order to keep up with the demand for skilled personnel.
The next question is, how do we delight our clients when they call us? Any customer encounter is an opportunity to gather feedback, engage the customer, and ensure that they leave happy. There are upper limits to educating or recruiting inherent star customer support personnel; however, we must ensure procedures and expertise are in place for the CSRs to easily find answers to customer queries.
How do you organize product training or reinforce specific processes so that employees remember and conform to them? In a post-covid environment where many call centre employees may work remotely:
How do business leaders ensure that CSRs receive timely and accurate information through proven and efficient channels when they need them at the crucial moment on the phone when the customer is waiting for an answer?
Do you still send important information (such as product updates or client-specific requirements) via email to a large team and expect them to read, digest, and acknowledge it? Every day, people are bombarded by so many emails and spam that it’s difficult to keep track of what’s relevant.
What happens if your emails are compromised, deleted, or never opened? We have all worked with someone who fails to read their emails regularly so what is the best way to make sure your CSRs have the details they need while they are talking to customers?
Have you heard of a Knowledge Management System (KMS)? Companies like Knosys offer a cloud base solution like KIQ Cloud that helps create, organise, control and share company knowledge with one simple platform. This means your CSRs receive access to answers when they need them in a secure environment offering real insights, real answers in real-time, which profiles them as an expert for your brand.
A call centre environment is often chaotic, hectic, and high-tension. Your patient CSRs often deal with challenging customers (who had to leap through hoops to reach a live agent). Without a doubt, character is critical when interviewing for a suitable CSR for such a stressful role; however, beyond that, how can you onboard and train your employees to ensure they perform on the job, remain in the position, and keep your customers happy?
One can only imagine the ramifications of branding when an unhappy employee flares up at a client. Yes, clapping requires two hands, but in customer service, the customer is supreme, and only they can slap. (metaphorically) Regardless of who is right or wrong, the CSR must maintain composure.
However, attending training, whether in person or online, can be a luxury that requires time away from work, necessitating the arranging and covering of shifts. Not to mention the expenses of coaches, travel time, administration, and so on. And what if there are no takeaways from the session, and everyone returns to work without learning anything but just to satisfy internal training and compliance requirements?
From a process perspective, information should be readily accessible from your KMS as a single source of truth. In this manner, regardless of whether the employee attends the training or read your email updates is irrelevant because they know where to find the information when they need it and count on the fact the information is reliable and updated.
Knowledge is power, and with the right resources and systems in place to deliver it, every company can empower their employees to provide the right information at the right time.
Customer-focused experiences will pay back several times over the course of the long term, and improve ROI in all organizational functions. To help your organization succeed, read more about the solution at hand today.
Your competition is already using KM solutions to boost their CX engagement. What are you waiting for?
“Do not wait to strike whenthe iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.” — William B. Sprague
Ephraim, the author, has over ten years of experience in B2B consultative and solution sales. He is a technology enthusiast for SaaS solutions and cloud-based software. His personal motto is to embrace technology, challenge himself, learn new things, and step outside of his comfort zone to try new things. Here’s where you can learn more about him.
