Call Center Scheduling Featured Article
Look to the Contact Center as a Powerful Tool for Customer Conversion
Looking for ways to boost sales is what companies of all sizes do…it’s the reason they’re in business. Today, however, the methods of increasing sales are different than those in the past. Vehicles such as direct mail, email and cold-calling have been on the decline for years, but many companies continue to put a great deal of effort and money into those marketing media.
Increasingly, customer support is being recognized as a great way to boost sales conversion rates. Listening customers and responding to their needs is a proven way to help customer conversion rates go up, according to a recent blog post by Monet Software (News - Alert) CEO Chuck Ciarlo. It’s not something you can buy, but a strategy that needs to be developed internally and organically.
“The way to get there is not through some sophisticated formula – it’s the basic business practices that we know we should be doing every day, but sometimes fall short amidst the day-to-day challenges that running a business entails,” wrote Ciarlo.
To improve the customer experience, companies need to start by examining their current practices and identify what’s working for customers by asking them, and what practices are in place for the convenience of the customer support organization. This is where a great analytics solution can help provide valuable insight.
“Data generated by workforce management and quality monitoring can point managers toward efficiency goals – but people are always more important than numbers, and agents should feel confident in the freedom to take some extra time with a difficult customer to bring about a successful result,” wrote Ciarlo.
Chances are good you already have a lot of the data you need to turn your customer support around…you’re just not using it properly because you lack the analytics and reporting to turn the raw data into actionable intelligence.
From here, you can turn to your scheduling solution to make adjustments required to ensure that hold times don’t get lengthy and that the right agents are available to meet the varying needs of customers at the right time.
“Part of responding to customer needs is answering calls quickly – 30 seconds or less is a reasonable goal,” wrote Ciarlo. “Accurate forecasting and scheduling through a workforce management solution that predicts call volume is the key to developing consistency in this critical skill.”
Agent training will come into play once you’ve identified your customers’ most urgent needs. While of course you can’t meet every customer need at every moment of the day, you can use technology to better tailor the services you offer to their needs.
“Don’t be afraid to test new procedures and experiment with script changes or other variables that might improve the customer experience,” wrote Ciarlo. “Not every test will be successful, but you’ll never know which ones will make your business better until you try them.”
Edited by Stefania Viscusi