Is your in-house call center helping you build relationships or driving a wedge between you and your customers?
The relationship between “sellers” and “buyers” has drastically changed from just a few years ago. In the past, buying decisions usually started with a trigger from someone with something to offer – a newspaper, radio or television ad or even a mailer or billboard.
Today, consumers find their doctors the same way they find their next car, HVAC contractor or dog walker. The decision-making journey starts with research, talking to friends, co-workers, and family, reviewing online reviews and listening to Twitter conversations.
Customers know what they want, and they probably know your competition better than you do, so what can you do to capture their trust and buying dollars?
Fine Tuning Your Customer Experience Strategy
Noted marketing strategist, Jay Baer, recommends customer service managers who want to increase customer satisfaction rethink their relationship building strategies. Baer says help is far more important to today’s savvy consumer than hype.
Rather than investing time creating an extraordinary sales pitch, it’s more beneficial to figure out how you can help buyers and prospects get what they want. Every decision you make that impacts the decision-making journey should point toward increased consumer satisfaction.
Let’s consider your telephone policies. Would it surprise you to learn that according J.D. Power & Associate research, 33% of caller satisfaction is determined by those interactive menu trees and automated answering systems (IVR)?
Negative experiences (long wait times, hard to understand options, improperly routed calls) dramatically impact client relationships.
The key to leveraging automated call center technology is to put your customer at the forefront. Step out of your role as “sales agent” and take a look at your policies from the caller’s perspective.
1. Are the menu trees easy to understand and navigate?
2. Is there an option to reach an operator on every menu?
3. What option(s) does your caller have if they don’t hear what they need?
4. Is the maximum hold-time reasonable?
Supporting Your Call Center with Automated Services
Remember, your focus is customer experience, help and not hype. For example, adding features like automated email or text messages to confirm appointments reduces no-show costs. However, you must serve diverse clients with diverse technology. For a customer who isn’t “connected,” those bells and whistles mean nothing. By adding multi-channel options like live calls and pre-recorded solutions, you’ll reach more of your customers.
Properly designed and supported automated services do benefit businesses – and improve customer experience. Today’s consumer is savvy and well-informed. Your call center strategy must respect their research and deliver innovative solutions to give them what they need. Can you think of other tasks you could automate to streamline your processes? Request a free quote today to see how we can help you.
