Contact Center Customer Experience Takeaways of 2017

Work shifts into overdrive at year-end and the New Year. I bounce from laptop to tablet to cellphone, answering emails, texts and calls.

Amid the rush, I’m taking the time to reflect and reach out. Thank our current contact center clients and follow up with prospective ones.

I learn a lot from both. They give me insight into their businesses and industries. I’m the wiser for it.

2017 Customer Experience Learnings

The best part of my job is talking and meeting with clients. Understanding their operations. Participating in quarterly business reviews about the performance of on-demand customer sales and service agents. Here are a few takeaways:

• Amazon Factor –This juggernaut redefines how and where consumers buy. To compete, businesses tell us they must pivot and perform better online. Such responsiveness requires service providers that not only keep up, but more importantly, anticipate change for them.
• The Unexpected – Companies factor in “what ifs,” but in the moment, they might come up short. Epic hurricanes and business upheavals can catch any organization off guard. Again, clients want providers that got their backs—and fronts, with ready resources at hand. Be it for disruptions or disasters.
• True Partnerships – The word “partner” is often used in business. For clients, true partnerships separate vendors from valued providers. They look for similar cultures, shared values and bankable outcomes. Clients seek a partner that complements their own teams. All reasonable expectations.

Transform Contact Center Operation in 2018

Equally enriching is presenting solutions to contact centers. Those encounters enable me to learn firsthand about their business needs:

• On-demand Call Center Services – From an outsourcer, contact centers want something they don’t have in-house: flexibility and scalability. On-demand services provide both, fast-flexing with client needs. The fluidity of business today requires quicksilver resources, which ebb and flow with demands.
• Elevated Customer Experience – Amazon pleases consumers, from online purchases to doorstep delivery. Prospective clients want to satisfy, too—with lower abandonment rates, higher net promoter scores and improved customer satisfaction numbers. They all can be achieved, using agents well-schooled in a client’s customers.
• Better Customer Care – These days, customers prefer to do simple tasks themselves. When things get complicated, they expect a hand-off to a human being. So, a conversation that begins with automated chatbots could segue into the value of live-agent interactions. Proven providers know which way to go and when.

Contact Center Resolutions for 2018

We take to heart what clients and prospective clients tell us. Their words shape our aspirations in 2018:

• Responsiveness: You know the expression—you can never be too rich. The same applies to service. Too much is never enough. That means anticipating the answer before the question is asked. That’s our goal.
• Problem-solving: Ever experienced a phantom pain? Discomfort in one place that originates from another. Solving customer problems can be that way. At Working Solutions, we’ll role-play more to better understand the source of customer concerns—listening with both ears to solve their problems.
• Enabling Tech/Touch: Customer interactions are accelerating. Touchpoints multiplying. Dealing with it all requires high tech and high touch. Compliment live representatives with AI.