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better able to integrate revenue generation available—and because of the connection and
activities into a call if you thought in terms of trust that the CSR has built with the customer,
average interaction time (AIT). This new way the offers are more likely to be accepted. This
of looking at CSRs’ effi ciency allows you to adds signifi cant value for the customer whilst
Instead of
consider the actual dynamics within each call. increasing sales for the company.
AIT can be defi ned as average process It is important to remember that the agents
focusing on
time + average nurture time + average wrap- who are dealing with a company’s inbound calls
up time. Process time and wrap-up time are are the most signifi cant cost within a contact
self-explanatory. Nurture time is the process of centre, accounting for up to 80 percent of
average handle
chatting with the customer. It is the time that the budget. At the same time, CSRs are your
the CSR spends learning what the customer company’s most valuable asset, in no small part time, consider
really needs, recommending additional services, because they are often the only human contact
building a relationship, being empathetic— that customers have with your business. It is,
thinking in
whatever is needed to improve satisfaction and therefore, essential that they are effective and
retention, which can dramatically improve the refl ect an accurate image of your company.
bottom line as well. The best way to enable agents to do this—
terms of average
To put this into context, if a CSR for a and to sell—is to empower them with all the
package-holiday company had access to an easy- information they need to do their jobs well.
interaction time
to-use system that could provide an intelligent If a CSR can access customer information—
view of the customer and his specifi c holiday including purchase history, product
itinerary (and any previous holidays), the information, and special offers, all on the same
CSR would be able to have a better quality of screen—then he will have all the knowledge
customer interaction about the holiday. Armed that he needs to complete these sales, boost
with all the right information (which, before revenue, and increase customer satisfaction.
the implementation of the unifi ed desktop
systems, he would not have been able to access
Guy Tweedale is senior vice
easily), the CSR can try to add on benefi ts to
president of EMEA operations
the customer, such as upgrading the room
or fl ight, booking him onto excursions, or
at Jacada, a provider of contact
even extending his stay if a special offer were centre solutions.
A digital difference
The amount of product knowledge that centre agents had to fi nd a copy of distributed to the contact centre in
contact centre staff at Shop Direct the relevant publication from a central January. Customer service reps can now
Group need to have is overwhelming. storage point, bring it back to their desk, access the relevant page in real-time
The company has nine brands, including and manually sift through it to locate without having to leave the customer
Littlewoods, Great Universal, and the right product. “We estimated that it on hold or schedule a call back in order
Additions Direct. Each of these brands was taking our advisers approximately to fi nd a hard-copy catalogue. What’s
produces multiple catalogues and 50 seconds just to access the correct more, agents can search through the
brochures throughout the year. Contact product in the relevant publication,” digital versions by brand, product name,
centre agents need access to all of them Cole says. catalogue code, or page number, leading
to answer enquiries effectively and upsell So Shop Direct decided last autumn to faster call handling times. The zoom
or cross-sell products. to produce searchable digital catalogues facility on the images enables the reps
“Our seven contact centres would for the agents. The company worked with to better describe the products, and they
need to receive the hard copies CDMS, which produces its hard-copy can add notes of useful information to
of publications following the print catalogues and digital assets. “Once the the pages to assist other users.
run,” explains Briony Cole, process catalogue is signed off to be printed in Just as important, the contact centre
improvement project manager for Shop hard copy, the digital fi le is produced by agents prefer using the virtual catalogues
Direct. “However, with hard copies, they CDMS, which will eventually become the to the hard-copy versions. “Some have
can go missing, pages become defaced virtual book,” says Cole. “Programming even said how relaxing it was to fl ick
after regular and long-term use, pages the fi le to allow photographs to be through the pages, as you can turn the
may begin to drop out, and it is costly to magnifi ed, pages to be fl ickable, and text pages over interactively,” Cole says.
house the numerous publications in each searchable is all carried out by the team “Whilst it is early to measure customer
contact centre.” In addition to its contact at CDMS.” The digital catalogue is then feedback, the positive response from
centres, Shop Direct employs a small made available to all the contact centre our contact centre staff is encouraging.
number of home workers, which further agents via Shop Direct’s intranet. Subsequently, the business is looking at
complicates the logistics. The fi rst digital catalogues—dubbed ways to continue to develop Virtual Books
To answer customer queries, contact Virtual Books within the company—were for customer service delivery.”
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