Be Different or be dead

August 31, 2019

5 proven ways to improve the call center experience

Call centers have become a routine thing these days. Television not working? Call the customer care number. Your order is delayed? Call the customer service people. These are just a couple of examples of our frequent encounters with call centers.

Having said that, it does not mean everyone has a good experience while interacting with the customer service representatives.

The one thing you must know to ace the call center experience is the ease of use.

What do we mean by lease of use”?

The purpose of any call center is either provide support or do sales. In both cases, it is important that the call center software that the business is using makes it easy - a) for customers to reach them, and b) for the agents to support the customers.

Ways to improve the call center experience

Simple IVR

In simple terms, an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is used for inbound calls. A pre-recorded menu is played for the caller to choose the relevant option. Now, the idea is to keep the options limited to reduce confusion and faster resolution of the customer’s problem.

Additionally, having multi-level IVR is good as it allows the caller to choose an option specific to their query. Having said that, care must be taken that too many levels are not there as that wastes the caller’s time and tests their patience.

Intelligent routing

Do not make the caller wait for answers. The longer the caller waits, poorer the experience and less chance that they will return to your brand. Moreover, if the caller is connected to the right agent at the first time itself, it has two-fold advantage - the customer is happy and the agent is productive.

Let us understand this with an example. Jack calls MoneyLending Bank with credit card lost complaint. He goes through the IVR and is connected to an agent. Once Jack explains his problem, the agent puts his call on hold as it needs to be routed to a different department.
This spoils the experience of the customer and wastes the agent’s time. Thus, having good routing algorithm in place will direct the call to the right department in the first attempt itself and make things smooth.

Single screen for all activities

Call center agents have a lot on their plate on a daily basis. They do not need more chaos due to incomplete customer information which leads to angry interactions or having to toggle between multiple tabs and windows.

Having a unified desktop which provides the agents with a holistic view of the customer puts them in a much better position to answer customer queries faster and with satisfaction. Moreover, with a single screen interface, the agents can perform all their activities there itself, without having to switch multiple tabs. This further improves the response time and allows the agents to multitask as well.

Creating a knowledge hub

If the agents have all the information ready to go, it makes their life and job a lot easier. A knowledge base is a repository of all important documents, articles and FAQs will allow the agents to quickly search for the required information and answer the customer queries.

For instance, a customer calls to inquire about insurance plans - what’s included, any add-ons, etc. For an agent, who handles hundreds of calls in a day, it becomes difficult to remember the details of all the plans. With a knowledge base system, the agents can simply search the query using certain keywords and get relevant content.

Encouraging collaboration

Another way of making things easy for faster resolution of a customer issue is to encourage other agents and even the supervisor to help each other to work as a team.

Understanding this with an example, if a caller asks a question which is out of the agent’s purview, the agent can have a conference call with the customer and her/his supervisor. Doing this will ensure that the customer’s problem is addressed and resolved in that call itself rather than making them wait or delaying the problem.

Concluding thoughts

Call centers are one of the easiest and most common ways through which the customers reach out to companies. By implementing the above options, the brands can look to significantly improve call center experience for both, the agents and the customers.

A call center software provider which understands the business requirements and customizes the solution accordingly is what one should look for.

Some of the must-have features to excel at delivering exceptional customer support is integrating the right call center functionality as discussed here.

With the right integration, any organization can make use of any existing system in addition to deploying any new CRM or other third-party systems. After all, it all comes down to simplifying things for better call center operations and the customer service experience.

— Shambhavi Sinha is a technical blogger & product marketer and has been writing for 3 years. She is into technology and writes tech-based stuff. Her aim is to provide knowledge to users by sharing tips and tricks about new technologies, DIY, and knowledge about call center software.

• Posted 8.31.19 at 04:40 am by Roy Osing
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August 9, 2019

10 ways top level executives can improve company culture

Source: Pexels

10 ways top level executives can improve company culture.

Culture is the one element that glues an organization together, and this starts at the top of the hierarchy—the CEO.

Excellent leaders leave a positive impact on the people they work with. They have the power to influence how people work and act in the organization. With this, they make it a goal to build a healthy company culture that promotes learning, empowerment, adaptability, and of course, fun.

C-suite executives who strive to lead their organization to success value their employees first and foremost. They have this purpose of ingraining a positive culture to inspire and motivate everyone in the company.
When you manage to create a workspace that breathes your values and hold your employees in high esteem, it translates into their work.

Signs that your company embraces a healthy culture

In thriving organizations, their culture goes beyond free gym passes, bean bags on the lounge area, snack bars, free meals, and other perks. They continuously promote their shared values — the company’s DNA — and create a sensible and employee-centric work environment around those and their principles.

When this is instilled, employees are more driven to do quality work, perform the best of their abilities, voice out their out-of-the-box ideas, and grow collectively. Ultimately, you have happy employees, satisfied customers, and a boost in revenue. It’s a win-win situation!

Here are a few indications that you have a positive company culture:

● Low employee turnover
● A sense of employee engagement
● Open and transparent communication across all departments
● Clear mission and values
● Absence of office politics
● Satisfied employees

Below is a visual guide that best illustrates the different ways top executives can improve company culture and motivate their team to shape a more positive work environment. If you want to enhance your employees’ productivity, efficiency, and welfare, start taking notes.

This is how you can hone a roster of future leaders in your company.

— Melanie Alvarez provides fast, convenient advice to high-growth, innovative teams with specialized recruitment requirements in the Philippines. She also connects top-level candidates to Manila Recruitment’s placement services, through social media and digital channels. As a leading member of the client services team at Manila Recruitment, Mel is passionate about helping clients solve their executive, expert and technical recruitment needs in Manila’s dynamic job market.

• Posted 8.9.19 at 04:26 am by Roy Osing
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July 29, 2019

How a small business can be better than their competitors

How a small business can be better than their competitors.

If you own or operate a small business, how much time do you spend developing your business strategy? If you’re like most small business owners, not much.
Every small business leader is busy working IN their business; they don’t necessarily spend enough time working ON their business.

I often hear “I don’t have time to plan, I’m too busy running my business”, or “Everything is so unpredictable these days I don’t see the point.” They are consumed by day-to-day priorities and crises and have little time and energy left to develop a strategy for their business.

In addition, developing a strategic plan is often viewed as an expensive, complicated and time consuming activity that is an interruption to the “normal” flow of business.

The truth is that every business needs a strategy; otherwise progress can’t be measured and success never achieved.

Building your strategy doesn’t have to be a complicated time consuming exercise; I have developed an approach that results in having your strategy in not more than three days, and you can begin executing it on the fourth.

To not have a plan is to aimlessly bump and grind along, accepting whatever performance you can deliver.

My strategic game plan — SGP — makes it easy for you to plot your future. It can be created in less than 2 days with your small business leadership team in an informal and fun setting.

It’s called a ‘game plan’ because the focus is to build a just about right direction that can be executed rather than waste time trying to create the perfect plan which looks good on paper but no more.

My process is based on discovering the answers to 3 questions; the answers define the strategy.

#1. Growth — HOW BIG do you want to be?

Do you want $1 million in revenue within 24 months or do you want to be more aggressive and go for $5 million?

Most planning processes end with financial results. They calculate the growth results of executing the strategic direction chosen.

My process starts with your growth intentions, and builds the strategy from HOW BIG you want to be. The reason is simple: more aggressive growth goals require a more aggressive — and risky — strategy, and more moderate growth goals need a more incremental — and less risky — strategy.

The traditional planning approach forgets that there is an extremely tight relationship between revenue growth and strategic intent; my strategic game plan doesn’t and that’s what makes my approach DiFFERENT than others.

#2. Customers — WHO do you want to SERVE?

You have a goal to grow revenue 25% annually over the next 36 months. The next question is where are you going to get it? Where are you going to invest your scarce resources of time and money?

You have a choice here; customers are not all created equal and you need to focus on those who have the potential of satisfying your growth goals and that leverage the core competencies of your business.

It boils down to selecting a group of customers who collectively have the potential to generate the revenue you have decided to go after.

To get the right answer to this question requires an intimate understanding of the various customers you serve. You can’t choose the customer group to generate the revenue you covet if you don’t understand the propensity of your various customer segments to buy from you — discover their secrets and success will follow.

#3. Competitors — HOW will you compete and WIN?

It would be nice if you were the only provider of products and services to the customer group you’ve chosen, but that’s not likely to be the case. There is likely to be healthy aggressive competitors targeting the same customers you want to target, so the challenge you face is to determine how you will differentiate your organization from all others you will be competing with.

Why should people choose your organization when they have other choices available? What makes your team special in view of the alternatives available?

If you can’t give your chosen customers relevant, compelling and unique reasons why they should buy from you and not your competitors then unfortunately you have no other option but to compete by offering lower prices than everyone else, which is rarely a viable long term strategy for a small business with limited economies of scale and scope.

HOW to WIN is intended to explore the competencies of your organization that you can exploit to gain a sustainable competitive advantage over others who compete with you for the customers you’ve chosen to serve — the WHO.

My method is to create the ONLY statement that defines precisely what you and only you provide the customers you are targeting.

SGP soundbite — The final step in my process is to integrate the answers to all three questions as the high level summary of the strategic intent you’ve chosen.

“We will (HOW BIG) by focusing our scarce resources on (WHO to SERVE). We will compete by (HOW to WIN).”

Here’s an example:

“We will grow sales revenue by 25% over the next 36 months by serving the needs of four seasons vacationers in Washington State. We will compete and win by being the only organization creating personalized experience packages that incorporate the many activities that Whistler has to offer.”

The traditional business planning process has its limitations for small business. It generally requires more time than the small business leader has to devote to the task, and it costs more than most small businesses are prepared to pay.

3 questions; 3 answers that will define an effective strategy for your small business because it recognizes the special challenges that small businesses face.

Give it a try.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead book series

• Posted 7.29.19 at 01:06 am by Roy Osing
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June 17, 2019

Why is emotion really important to a winning business plan?

Source: Unsplash

Why is emotion really important to a winning business plan?

Without emotion, you’re business plan is lifeless and probably useless.

What makes one organization wildly successful and another either fail or achieve lookalike mediocrity?

There is no shortage of opinions on this. Academics, consultants, subject matter experts and thought leaders all weigh in on the ingredients necessary for an organization to outperform their competition and solidify themselves as consistent long term winners.

A good business plan

Having a strategy, of course, is important and it should conform to these guidelines:

—  It should be simple. It should define in simple language the end game the organization has in mind;

— It should be just about right. It should define in loose terms what must be achieved in order to be successful. A perfect strategy — one that management spends copious amounts of time developing with the belief that if more time is invested, the plan will be ‘more perfect’ — doesn’t exist;

A strategy is formulated with the best information and insights available when it is created, and by definition this is a flawed process. No sooner is the strategy finished, the world changes and some part of the information used to develop it is no longer relevant.

— It should be driven to carve out a unique space in the market. Value propositions that are similar to the competition will likely fail because they don’t provide a compelling reason why a potential customer should buy from them as opposed to their competitor.

The special sauce

But even a strategy built in the image of these principles won’t guarantee success unless it is mixed with a special sauce.

A strategy is useless unless it captures the hearts and minds of the people on an emotional level.

If people intellectually understand the strategy they won’t necessarily be compelled to deliver it consistently day-in and day-out.

They may understand that ‘unleashing the power of the internet’ is the strategic intent, but unless they are emotionally driven to act on it, execution is dysfunctional and lacklustre and no real progress toward realizing that goal is made.

A strategy without emotionally charged people to execute it will fail. The good plan on paper won’t progress beyond that stage if the special sauce is absent.

This is definitely NOT an OMG! moment for the reader; it’s not a revolutionary thought that you’ve never heard of before. Quite the contrary; the “we need motivated employees” notion is promulgated ad nauseam by the pundits of strategy.

So, if highly motivated people is a well known requisite to effective strategic execution, why are there so many strategies that fail?.

Here are 5 reasons.

1. There’s no ‘energized visioning’

Energized visioning is needed to get the juices flowing.

Communicating strategic intent must be an emotional experience for the employee audience. They must be excited and moved by the picture that leadership paints about the journey that awaits.

Pedantic, monotonic and left brained people have no place articulating the chosen path, for it will turn people off and do nothing for execution.

2. There’s no line of sight for people

Line of sight clarity is necessary for people to know what to do.

When people know specifically what to do to support strategic intent, magic happens.

The problem most organizations have is they don’t spend the time to translate what the strategy means to each function and each position in terms of the new outcomes expected and the old ways that must be discarded.

3. There’s not enough action people

Hiring people who love to do stuff as opposed to think about stuff is critical.

Pontificators block effective execution. They love to talk about possibilities rather than get down and dirty to start doing stuff.

You can’t train people to cast off their intellectualization proclivity; you must hire people who have a natural bent to do it — action must run through their veins.

4. There’s no serving leaders

Leadership by serving around unearths the grunge and barriers that get in the way.

Leaders in the workplace asking “How can I help?” separates the hyper effective executioners from the bland ones. Brilliant execution is all about a “clean” internal environment where barriers to getting things done frustrate people who want to deliver what is expected of them.

And this happens when leaders get out of their office or the boardroom and assimilates with the crowd of employees charged to implement. They discover what’s preventing amazing execution and they fix it (and people love them for it).

5. There’s not a ‘tries’ culture present

The more tries that are made, the greater the likelihood of success.

Strategic intent is never deterministic; it never turns out the way it was originally conceived. Despite the rhetoric of the academics, real progress is made when people try things — a lot.

The end game may be clear but the way to get there is not; and this requires different tactics: some work and others don’t.
The truth is, however, if you’re not maximizing the number of tries you’re making you’re unlikely to arrive at your desired destination.

Strategy is important but it is smoke unless it’s infused with passion and emotion.

Cheers,
Roy
Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

• Posted 6.17.19 at 04:43 am by Roy Osing
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