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Industry Spotlight

Industry Spotlight: PeopleTECH – how to get the most out of social media in contact centres…

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The past decade or so has witnessed the astonishing rise of social media. It has changed the way we communicate with friends and family; how we consume news; how we share photos; how we look for a new job and much more – there are an estimated 1.65 billion active daily users on Facebook alone.

Social media has also changed how consumers interact with brands. Because consumers are so savvy and switched-on to the immediacy of social media, they know a few tweets can save them time spent on frustrating calls and long waits for engineers. Twitter and other social channels are plugged into marketing, PR and sometimes even the CEO; therefore issues will often get addressed as a priority.

This means brands have had to invest in social media, and bring that into existing customer experience channels. At times this has even meant that many brands focus on social at the expense of other channels. But while this is understandable in some ways, it is also a mistake. Organisations that provide omnichannel service will prosper far more than those who concentrate on social media channels at the expense of others – this is how to really get the best from social media in the contact centre.

Provide agents with the right training

When a consumer is expressing dissatisfaction with a service or just want a question responded to on social media, it requires a slightly different approach to other channels. With a phone call, live chat or face-to-face interaction, it is taking place in private. Social media interactions are taking place in public.

While the Millennials that make up a lot of the workforce within a contact centre have grown up with social media, there is a difference between how it is used personally to how it is used professionally. Make sure you staff are clear on what they can and cannot say on social media.

Don’t put all your customer experience eggs in one basket

Social media is an intrinsic part of both everyday life and also customer experience. But brands and their contact centres should be very wary about not over-focusing on social media. More than half of consumers who expect a brand to respond to a Tweet, demand that response comes in less than an hour, rising to 72 per cent when they have complaints.

When companies don’t meet these expectations, 38 percent of the public feel more negative about the brand. But is it realistic to meet those demands all the time? Social media is actually a limited channel for addressing customer queries or complaints, and interactions are often transferred to a different channel to be fully resolved.

So while any brand that doesn’t use social media as a customer channel looks to look at their strategy very hard indeed, it is imperative not to overlook other channels or over-invest in social media – it just isn’t sustainable.

Social media and the Single Digital Channel 

The best use of social media within a contact centre is as part of an omnichannel strategy, providing to consumers a unified, consistent and contextual customer experience, across ALL channels. In addition to omnichannel providing this seamless experience, the right tools can also give brands unparalleled information and data relating to that customer and their likely intent.

This data includes an awareness of what the customer has done previously, allowing frontline customer service staff to offer a better service to that customer, resolving issues quicker and offering help at the right time and via the right channel.

The Single Digital Channel (SDC) is also important and should be a customer experience goal for any brand. This gives an agent access to all media types from their desktop, with all contact interaction taken by customers – voice, email, chat, social media – waiting in one queue to be addressed by the right agent. The ‘right’ agent can mean the next available agent, one with a particular skill-set or area of expertise, or even one with a prior history with that customer.

Social media is a channel that can play a major role in delivering the right customer experience. But it shouldn’t be the sole focus. There can be a danger that brands will focus too much on this and let other channels suffer, when they would be far better advised to include social media as part of an overall omnichannel strategy.

 

Mike Hughes is a director at PeopleTECH consulting and one of the UK’s foremost customer experience experts, having worked with companies such as Thomas Cook, BskyB and France Telecom.

PeopleTECH combines experience working with some of the world’s biggest companies, with a deep understanding of digital transformation, helping to drive efficiency and profitability by offering a bespoke and agile approach to improving the customer journey. 

Industry Spotlight: Customer satisfaction in telecoms industry ‘on the up’, despite remaining the lowest ranked sector…

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Continuing the ‘ongoing upward trend’ in satisfaction since 2011, overall customer satisfaction in the telecoms sector has reportedly increased in the last 12 months, according to the UK Customer Satisfaction Index (UKCSI) published by The Institute of Customer Service.

The UKCSI, which analyses customer satisfaction levels across 13 ‘key’ industries, has given the UK telecoms sector a customer satisfaction rating of 72.9 out of 100; 1.2 points higher than its recorded score in the same report the previous year – however still remains the lowest ranked sector.

The Index provides fundamental insights into key metrics – such as complaints, trust and changing channel use — and this year, the sector has experienced improvements in measures including the speed of service for face-to-face contact with customers; as well as the ease in getting through to companies on the phone. Nonetheless, telecom continues to generate the highest number of complaints, with 20 per cent of customers having experienced an issue.

Although this has dropped by 2.6 per cent over the past year, the figure is still much higher than the UK average of 12.5 per cent.

Analysts found a total of eight organisations within the sector have made significant improvements, with only one demonstrating a fall in customer satisfaction. Giffgaff tops the tables as the highest scorer in the industry, with Tesco Mobile considered as the most improved.

CEO of The Institute of Customer Service, Jo Causon, said: “’Getting it right first time’ has to be a prerequisite for any organisation. Customers expect to be dealt with quickly and competently – as soon as they start to feel let down or ignored, their trust is lost. It’s encouraging to see the telecoms sector is making progress, but prevention is always better than cure, so the industry should take note of the areas which need to be focused on. Efficiency, effectiveness and empathy are key, and organisations should always follow up with customers to ensure that the problem is resolved.”

The Index concluded its results on the basis of 10,000 consumer responses, and found that in many sectors, there has been an increase in the score for ‘customer effort’ – meaning customers had to invest more time in dealing with organisations than they did a year ago.

 

Download the UK Customer Satisfaction Index (UKCSI) here

italk’s ‘proactive’ approach to workforce management…

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Staff motivation and retention seem to be recurring challenges that a majority of call centres are faced with. This is why, at telecommunications company, italk, we have invested considerable time and energy in perfecting our sales technique and ensuring our managers really get the most out of their workforce.

 

What does getting the most out of employees mean to us?

We train our staff to focus on the right kind of sales, rather than stress over impossible targets. We incentivise and support the team and, crucially, show how instrumental they are to the success of the company. As a result, we have high retention rates and a rapidly growing business model; this was highlighted earlier in the year when we were named Vodafone’s Fixed Partner of the Year.

Based on our successful and long-standing methodology, we share our top tips for getting the most out of your workforce:

 

Focus on training

We put a lot of impetus on creating a bespoke training programme for all new hires, primarily focusing on the product and the ‘italk sales technique’. Rather than rushing the training process, we spend several days in the classroom environment to ensure all agents feel completely comfortable and confident before they go out onto the sales floor.

We work closely with all new hires to try and eliminate fear, which we have found to be a huge barrier for success when selling over the phone. Once our agents have passed the training process, we then monitor them closely to quickly identify any possible issues; working with each individual on a case-by-case basis and providing more bespoke training when required.

As managers, our role often involves offering moral support, and we encourage a feeling of inclusivity across teams with more experienced members of staff helping to train and mentor new hires from the offset.

 

Promote positivity

The techniques our agents use focuses on value rather than the hard sell approach, and works within a positive framework. We aim to only sell our product to those who really need it, targeting the benefits our clients will gain from switching to our services which are usually cost-led.

We encourage our agents strike up engaging conversations with prospective customers, to spend the time required to understand their needs, as we believe this not only delivers a better service overall, but helps our employees to feel valued; in turn boosting motivation and job satisfaction.

 

Be real

For us, adopting a realistic approach has led to an open dialogue across the workforce, as many of whom have been used to a call centre environment dictated by high sales figures and a lack of genuine communication when it comes to career prospects.

We don’t want to flog or force our products, and our sales targets reflect this expectation. As a result, we have a very high staff retention rate and our agents are actually selling more. Customers tend to respond better to genuine conversations rather than scripted sales spiel.

 

Recruit internally

Furthermore, our high retention rate is also linked to our policy of hiring internally. Giving our employees the opportunity to move up within the company provides a clear vision and a drive to succeed.

Most of our managers — including our managing director — started out on the phones, and this visible progression helps to motivate staff members and showcase how hard work is greatly valued. We have created an environment with almost endless opportunities for progression in the sales team and beyond, and it’s an exciting prospect for everyone involved.

 

Get your employees involved in the brand

The first thing we do with new hires is get them invested in the italk brand. We’ve found that in order for people to do an exceptional job; they really need to believe in the product and the benefit it provides to customers.

A focus on high-quality marketing and our new website — which launched a few months ago — helps to instil pride and continue our passion for creating a brand with real personality.

 

To find out more about italk, click here

Industry Spotlight: Industry professionals come together at the Call Centre Conference

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The Call Centre Conference kicked off to a great start with Chair Nicola Collister, managing director of Custerian beginning the day with some words on recent industry trends. Our attendees then sat in on some brilliant sessions led by established keynote speakers and industry experts. Our main seminars from the morning were headed up by William Montgomery, CEO of TEN; Ian Williams, director of Jericho; Carolyn Blunt, director of Real Results Training; Simon Norie, Custerian co-founder; while Anthony Stears of The Telephone Assassin hosted a Q&A session.

William Montgomery, director of TEN; a cutting-edge training, mentoring, facilitation and consultancy provider, taught our attendees all about “What it takes to be a great leader,” giving them the skills and confidence they need to take up a leadership role in any organisation. He covered core skills, personal attributes, gaining staff trust, practical techniques and how to handle real-life situations to become a first class leader.

Meanwhile, business transformation specialist and Jericho director Ian Williams hosted a session on “Customer experience – the bottom line,” taking a unique look at the relationship between customer experience and profitability to help businesses optimise their customer experience without compromising on shareholder returns.

Attendees learnt ‘Why average handling time is not the bad guy’ with Carolyn Blunt, renowned trainer, author and business owner. Carolyn discussed the hotly debated topic by covering a case study on the principles designed to achieve an effective balance between average handling time and customer experience; leaving delegates with lots of tips and tricks to implement an effective average handling time strategy to achieve fast results.

In Simon Norie’s session, delegates got an introduction to the latest technology in the contact centre industry to discuss whether these tools can really enable a seamless channel experience. Simon presented a pragmatic view on what the capabilities, barriers and opportunities are to shift ‘service’ from being seen as a cost centre, becoming the experience glue that binds customers to a brand; to build ongoing loyalty and value.

Furthermore, Anthony Stears, also known as the Telephone Assassin hosted a Q&A session giving delegates the opportunity to share the issues, frustrations and concerns they are currently facing. Anthony also provided practical solutions, tips and techniques to help delegates overcome these and unlock the secrets to telephone success, and covered issues such as measuring the effectiveness of people on the phone and pacifying unhappy or frustrated clients.

During networking coffee breaks and a buffet lunch served by the Tower Grill restaurant within the Grange Tower Bridge Hotel, attendees had the opportunity to speak to a selection of hand-picked suppliers including the likes of 8X8, Ctalk, Maximum, Premier CX and Quickscripts before another round of seminars and sessions commenced.

The afternoon sessions were headed up by industry specialists; Nick Fleming, market development manager at the BSI; Dougie Cameron, director of Addzest Consulting Ltd; Neil Clough, managing director of This is Prime; and Simon Beeching, director of Syntec. The day was topped off with an interactive panel discussion with Neil Clough, Anthony Stears and Carolyn Blunt hosted by Chair Nicola Collister.

Nick Fleming joined us to discuss ‘How the BSI’s standard BS 8543 can help take the pain out of complaints’. BS 8543 specifies how to design and implement an efficient complaint-handling process, and Nick gave delegates a breakdown of how to implement a truly effective complaints management system.

In addition, attendees received a breakdown on respecting customers’ time with experienced consulting director, Dougie Cameron. He discussed problems with contact centres, real life experiences, the psychology of queuing, big strategic options and practical solutions to queues.

Neil Clough, motivational speaker and former The Apprentice finalist, hosted a sales and motivation session. Neil shared top tips picked up from his own experience to help attendees use motivation to achieve their career goals, learn from failures to come back stronger, stand out from the crowd and build rapport.

Simon Beeching, strategic development specialist, led a session on PCI DSS in contact centres, improving customer trust and de-scoping from the regulations. News about data breaches make consumers wary of reading out payment card details over the phone. Simon joined us to present Syntec’s research on what consumers think and how they want new technology to resolve this problem.

The last session of the day was a panel discussion led by Nicola Collister, featuring Neil Clough, Anthony Stears and Carolyn Blunt. They went through the solutions to key concerns for many attendees for managing contact centres step by step; giving attendees top tips and handy hints for improving their contact centres and the services they provide.

Feedback from delegates, speakers and suppliers has been very positive already, with many attendees saying they’ve learned valuable skills throughout the day and are walking away with tools and techniques they can put into practice straight away. Our speakers have left with a feeling of confidence – and even a few requests for proposals to do training at some of the attendees’ companies.

We’d like to thank all of our speakers for putting in a huge amount of effort to make the Call Centre Conference so successful, as well as our suppliers and media partners: 8X8, Call Centre Helper, Ctalk, Institute of Customer Service, Maximum, Premier CX, Quickscripts.

We’ll be releasing a full webinar to show you what they discussed, so watch this space.

To watch an interview with Anthony Stears at the Call Centre Conference, click here

For more information on the next Call Centre Conference, please click here or contact:

David Boore
Conference Sales Executive
T: 01992 374097
E: d.boore@forumevents.co.uk

For more information on exhibiting at the next Call Centre Conference, please contact:

Gayle Buckland
Portfolio Sales Manager
T: 01992 374063
E: g.buckland@forumevents.co.uk

 

Words by Shreena Chandarana, Marketing Communications Executive

Industry Spotlight: Poor customer service results in £11 billion loss for UK firms…

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According to new research from the cloud technology provider, NewVoiceMedia, poor levels of customer service in UK businesses is resulting in a £11 billion loss per year, with the main reason given by 44 per cent of consumers for leaving a company is down to ‘feeling unappreciated’.

The company, which has developed an extensive portfolio of White Papers related to the discussion of customer service and engagement, determined other reasons for consumers leaving were in line with previous findings; as 35 per cent stated that staff were ‘unhelpful/rude staff’; 33 per cent  felt they were ‘being passed around’ to multiple people/agents; 27 per cent were unable to retrieve the answers needed; the same number were ‘fed up’ with queuing; and 25 per cent were not able to speak with an appropriate person.

Abundant emphasis on the integration of self-service options has become a consistent topic of conversation in the industry for the last few years, however, 61 per cent consider telephone communication to be the ‘quickest solution’ to resolving a query, whereas emailing is a preferred method by 49 per cent of respondents as a way of communicating with a company.

Surprisingly found to be the quickest solution, there does seem to be an overall dislike in calling companies by 48 per cent of respondents; in addition to 42 per cent noting the annoyance of not being able to speak to a ‘real person’ straight away. The cost of calling and the multiple menu options before being directed to an agent were also key issues addressed, and the average call time before a consumer decides to hang up was calculated at 11 minutes.

The CEO of NewVoiceMedia, Jonathan Gale, said: “With revenue being transferred between companies at an alarming rate, this research highlights the considerable impact that customers have on a business’s success. Customer experience is the key differentiator, and by doing it well, organisations can drive the customer acquisition, retention and efficiency that make leading companies successful.”

Furthermore, more than half of those who have experienced poor customer service would write to complain; 20 per cent would post a review online; 16 per cent would tell friends or colleagues not to use the company and the same number would vent frustration via social media platforms to publicly complain about a company’s service.

Despite a heavy focus on the negative, if consumers were provided with exceptional service, 68 per cent would ‘be more loyal’ to a particular company; 59 per cent would recommend the company to others; and 34 per cent would use the company on a frequent basis.

The £11 billion figure is also a decrease of £1.2 from research commissioned in 2013, which reported UK firms were losing £12.2 billion.

To download the ‘Feedback loops in customer service’ White Paper, click here