Many sectors especially within the baking, telephony and utilities industries have taken up call centers which are now not considered to be an add-on but is now considered to be a very important differentiator. With the internationalization and price competition on the increase worldwide, it is the kind of experience a customer has with the company’s over the telephone or online service that will determine the direction the company takes. A company is in a better position to calculate the cost of losing out on a customer due to interaction with the company that was negative. This gets even worse as the customer may share his bad experience at your company with people in his social network of choice. This is the aspect that is mostly ignored by many yet it is the one that hurts the company’s income a lot.
Most company management structures are usually working to find ways that will improve services that are cheaper and may also lower the cost of operations. Such exercises have seen the function of customer service exported in wholesale to areas in which costs of labor are friendlier. Some are even going for processes of customer service that involve automation and even scripting. This however still does not have a positive impact on the performance of the company as it seems to bring in profit percentages that are not visible. This may be due to inconsistencies that may come up during interactions between the customers and the company. This in turn calls for a better understanding of how decisions need to be made within a call center and procedures that are necessary. This together with training of the call center personnel and monitoring their performance on a daily basis will help the company retain its clients and lead to increased profits.
As much as a company may want to go for an automated system for a call center, it is important to note that such automated systems usually work on a predefined process that cannot be changed whatsoever. This is not how you want your call center to function. Instead you need to look into procedures. Procedures tend to wok better than processes as it is the procedure that is put into practice that will lead to customer satisfaction. The capability of your company’s call center to be able to interact with the customers while responding to their queries directly instead of having machines do this, you will be building much trust between the customers and the company. No human being wants to talk to machines as machines are rigid unlike humans who will give you the response you need at that particular time.
Companies that invest more on pleasing customers through interaction make more money than those companies that take certain risks with call centers. Interacting with potential clients on a one to one basis makes them feel like the company cares for their needs unlike when a company uses an automated call center. What needs to be emphasized in such call centers is the need for the staff to know that the customers they talk to facilitate their salaries hence they should ensure that the clients are satisfied with their jobs. The company that does this makes more profits than before thanks to call center performance and customer satisfaction that follows thereafter.
Article inspired by Stelar BPO , Global Experts in contact center solutions.