Phone An Expert: Mastering Customer Service with Ian Golding

Diksha Gusain

Author

Expert Opinion

February 18, 2021

5 mins read eye

Table of content

What do my customers want? Am I catering to their needs satisfactorily? What more can I do?

In a market as consumer-centric as the one we see today, these questions often give business leaders sleepless nights.

In a growing economy like ours, people tend to spend more and save less. No longer do markets exist solely as a place to purchase essentials. Now, businesses vie for meaningful interactions with clients so as to create long-term relationships.

And truth be told, customers can make or break any business. One good review on social media could potentially go viral and skyrocket your business. Conversely, negative word-of-mouth could bring you crashing down.

What does all this teach us? It’s quite simple—focus on the customers, make them your priority. This means you have to make sure your firm’s customer service does not stop at satisfactory but is absolutely delightful.

This may sound like a Herculean task, but even the tallest of buildings are made brick by brick. Certain smaller changes in your business practices can make all the difference and elevate your customer experience. And we know just how to get you started.

Ian Golding is a customer experience specialist and certified CX professional, having spent 20+ years in business improvement. A keynote speaker and featured columnist for CustomerThink, he has worked across various industries, advising businesses on the field. Ian’s first book, Customer What?: The honest and practical guide to customer experience, was published in April 2018.

Here are some insights from our exclusive interview with Ian wherein he gives tips to businesses—new and established—on how to tackle customer experiences effectively.

Ques 1: Why did you choose customer experience as your career?

I am not sure I chose CX as a career—I’m absolutely certain it chose me. I, like many other CX professionals, had been practising customer-centric ‘thinking’ many years before CX became recognised as a profession.

The big turning point in my career was the time I spent working at General Electric in the ’90s. Still led by Jack Welch, GE was a wonderful example of customer-centricity at the time. Jack had a huge influence on what I have done ever since.

Ques 2: According to you, what is the difference between a good and a great customer experience strategy?

This is an interesting question. It’s difficult to provide a concrete answer generically—it would very much depend on the specific circumstances. However, if an organisation has a desire to become sustainably customer-centric, defining and embedding a customer experience strategy is a core component of doing so.

A CX strategy defines what the intended experience is–how an organisation wants its customers to feel every time they interact with them. I would define a good strategy is one that has been clearly articulated and understood but is not yet consistent or mature enough to lead to differentiation.

A great strategy is one that has been embedded in the way the organisation works, enabling it to differentiate not just on its products and services, but on the whole experience!

Ques 3: You started your career as an auditor, and today, you are a founder and CEO of Customer Experience Consultancy Ltd. How would you describe this journey?

It has certainly been a rich and rewarding one. Having spent 17 years in corporate organisations, I learned that my brain was wired to do ‘the right thing’—for customers as well as my colleagues.

However, I learned the hard way that organisations do not always want people to ‘do the right thing’. All too often, I was told to do things that would benefit my organisation in the short term, but to the detriment of the customer.

This I found very difficult to do. I would regularly challenge thinking—very often to my own detriment. In fact, I’ve been belittled and patronised for my desire to do what’s right for customers. I’d end up thinking I was the anomaly.

But over the last 8 years, I’ve come to realise that changing the way traditional organisations think and act is incredibly challenging. I consider myself to be hugely fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with hundreds of firms, of all shapes and sizes, in 44 countries around the world.

I can now combine my experiences of doing CX on the inside, to support businesses to do CX from the outside. Additionally, I am hugely passionate about supporting individuals—my fellow CX practitioners.

Ques 4: What difficulties did you face in the beginning when advising companies on delivering better CX?

There were many, actually. It all depends on the specific scenario, but the top three are:

Lack of support from and involvement of leadership: Very often, fellow practitioners needed my help or support, but the ultimate decision-makers were not on board.

Lack of knowledge: CX has become a science. Firms sometimes think they know what CX is all about, but bringing the science to life in full can be very eye-opening.

Lack of awareness: Many businesses aren’t aware of brilliant CX professionals who can bring in genuine specialist knowledge to the table.

Ques 5: How do you think businesses can provide the best customer experiences effectively?

By keeping it simple! While I do describe CX as a science, it’s no rocket science. People tend to radically overcomplicate things, and as a result, fail to realise any demonstrable change.

If a simple but structured approach can be adopted, a customer experience focus can completely change the fortune of an organisation. That is why I am such an advocate for the need to embed a customer experience framework. Structure and rigour are essential.

Conclusion

Ian Golding has a lifetime of experience in the field of customer service. By witnessing and initiating client-centric changes himself, he’s realised what works best and what doesn’t. He is also very inclined to help out others in the field.

The insights from this interview can really help you boost customer service, and consequently, customer relationships, for your company. In no time, you’ll be reaping higher profits and improved productivity.

Feel free to reach us at any time to understand how cloud technologies can aid your customer service ventures. Simply call 1888-859-0450 or drop an email at [email protected].

If you're interested in improving your business communication solution

Give us a call on

1888-859-0450

Write an email to

[email protected]

Reviews

0(0)

Diksha Gusain

Author

Diksha is a junior content writer at Acefone. As a tech-lover, she aims to bridge the gap between tech articles and non-savvy readers. She’s equally interested in pop culture and worldly affairs. And in her free time, you can find her with her nose buried in a book or discovering new music for her chaotically diverse playlist.

Do’s & Don’ts For Curating Your Voicemail Greeting

Yukti Verma

Author

Contact Center

February 17, 2021

6 mins read eye

Table of content

The first experiences your customers have with your business are the deciding factor when it comes to customer retention. Your contact center plays a pivotal role in creating these experiences.

When a customer contacts you for the first time, their buyer journey––starting from the greeting till the call is disconnected––reflects the credibility and professionalism of your brand. Therefore, you need to craft the most contextual and seamless experiences with every call, thereby earning more customers.

The importance of a voicemail greeting

A welcoming and professional voicemail greeting can ensure that you have satisfied and returning patrons, and not disgruntled one-time customers.

Pleasant voicemail greetings help facilitate an effortless customer experience. However, unfriendly ones, especially if they have excessive IVR prompts, can confuse callers. Such greetings ruin a client’s mood who is then bound to have a bad experience even if they connect to an efficient agent.

Having said that, we have consolidated a list of dos and don’ts that should be considered when designing your voicemail greetings. Check them out right away!

1. Do keep it simple

Your voicemail greeting is simply to welcome the caller—not to resolve concerns. Keep it simple with a welcome message and a little more about what to expect.

The optimal length of a voicemail greeting is considered 20 to 30 seconds. So, try to fit the information you’d like to impart within this timeframe.

Ensure that you do not include too much marketing jargon in your greeting. Keep it straightforward for better understanding.

2. Don’t sound overwhelmed

The tone of your voicemail makes a huge difference during the call. Though the greeting should be welcoming, it shouldn’t lean towards sounding overenthusiastic or overwhelmed. This may drive away customers with a negative image of your brand.

Maintain a balanced tone to accommodate customers with varying concerns. By ensuring neutrality, you can offer a decent experience to happy, confused, or angry clients alike. Remember, this is not a platform to promote your services—your representatives will do that job once the call has been connected.

3. Do keep consistency

Callers don’t find it appealing when voicemail messages sound different across different levels of the menu or every time they call. Imagine looking at a website that goes from red to blue to orange with each click. Not an appealing thought, right?

Similarly, a change in pitch, tone, or volume each time is jarring, to say the least. Not only does this showcase a lack of professionalism on your part, but it also gives the impression that you were careless while designing your voicemail greetings.

Thus, ensure that you use the same tone, volume, and pitch for all your voicemail greetings and throughout the multi-level menu.

4. Do reflect your brand

Branding guidelines play an important role in creating a unique identity among your target audience. When customers call your contact center, they’ll like to see and feel the reflection of your brand.

Maintain a consistent message that is conveyed across all your marketing and branding mediums. Make sure that the material that you use in your voicemail and calls fit the tone of your brand.

For example, if your products are for kids, you have to maintain a child-friendly, light, and fun tone in your greetings––whether it’s in your greetings, your calls, or your marketing collaterals. And if instead, you end up sounding stuffy or distant, you’re bound to confuse your callers and leave them feeling unhappy about your interaction.

5. Don’t overload callers with information

Your voicemail is simply meant to establish a connection and make your customers feel comfortable during the call. Remember, your voicemail helps create an image for your brand, it is not a sales pitch.

Keep it clean—only include basic information rather than stuffing the recording with your history, offers, and values. This is counterintuitive and may make the customer feel irrelevant.

6. Do update your greetings

The world is dynamic, so why shouldn’t your business keep evolving as well? Try to change your voicemail regularly. This will give a fresh perspective to your brand and show your callers that your business is alive. It’s also a good idea to incorporate the latest trends and address important happenings.

For example, when a customer is associated with your brand for a prolonged period, they may feel bored and indifferent to the same voicemail that’s played every time. Eventually, they’ll stop paying attention and get sick of waiting while listening to the same message.

Changing the voicemail greeting with varying tactics will show your versatility in dealing with clients along with creating a positive image among the target audience.

7. Do inform the customer about call status

The best voicemail greeting is one that is short yet informative. Ensure that you provide all the necessary information to your customer during the call. Cutting down on cardinal information in an attempt to shorten the call ends up wasting more time in the long run.

For example, as the call connects, introduce your brand, department reached as well as the average call waiting time. The caller can make sure they’ve reached the right place and determine if they’d rather shift to a different medium of contact.

8. Do give appropriate options

Self-service is the trend in the call center ecosystem. Ideally, present-day call centers implement a multi-tiered IVR system. This enables customers to resolve simple queries themselves, eliminating the need to connect with a live agent for all concerns.

To begin with, provide the customers with information about your working hours and agent availability. Give updates on holidays and specific phone line numbers.

Moreover, you need to tell them how to reach these multi-tiered IVR systems. Details on how you have categorised your departments and how your customers can reach their desired department will help customers navigate easily.

Make sure your customers know just how they can connect to live agents—or find resolution elsewhere. If their query can be solved from your FAQ base, don’t waste their time with an agent and simply direct them to the knowledge base.

This allows you to keep your call queues and waiting time in control and allow smooth call flows in your contact centers.

Wrap up

Voicemails are important when it comes to kickstarting the right type of conversations with your customers. You should draft simple, easy-to-understand, and friendly voicemail greetings to strike the right chord among your target audience.

Hopefully, the aforementioned do’s and don’ts of creating voicemails will help you create the best-suited voicemail for your brand.

Learn more about cloud-based communication services to boost your brand today. Call 1888-859-0450 or send an email to [email protected] to get started.

If you're interested in improving your business communication solution

Give us a call on

1888-859-0450

Write an email to

[email protected]

Reviews

0(0)

Yukti Verma

Author

Yukti is a content marketing enthusiast with a soft spot for Saas. She loves weaving complicated concepts into simple stories. When not at work, she is found reading books or watching movies.

7 Invaluable Lessons That The COVID-19 Pandemic Has Taught Us And How We Can Apply Them In 2021

Acefone Editor

Author

Operations

February 15, 2021

6 mins read eye

Table of content

The year 2020 was tough, to say the least. COVID-19 changed the way organisations functioned. Businesses were thrown off-track and forced to pull their shutters down on brick-and-mortars to adhere to social distancing norms.

Needless to say, the impact of this on business processes was huge too. Stakeholders were left confused about how to manage cybersecurity issues, maintain collaboration, handle their workload, and deliver good customer service while taking care of their remote employees.

Finding a workaround for these challenges and preparing hardware and software to set up a remote environment for the entire organisation consumed most of last year.

Now that we have stepped into 2021, it is time for business owners to look back at 2020 and understand what they’ve learned to enhance their work processes accordingly.

Here are a few lessons that the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us and how they can be applied this year.

1. Accept remote work as the new norm

Traditional office culture required the employees to come to the office every day. Stakeholders believed that meeting in person was the only effective medium for establishing a successful company. Several companies include this punctuality to gauge employee performance and rate them.

However, with COVID-19 taking over in 2020, many companies were forced to shift to remote working culture. But, work from home allows employees flexibility and keeps their comfort and safety in mind. Your employees can do things in their own time as long as it doesn’t affect the quality of their work.

Stakeholders should understand that organisational ecosystems have undergone a massive shift and working from home has become the new normal to stay for long.

2. Consider employee safety

Employee safety was always important. Manufacturing industries and companies that involved heavy machinery insisted on using the right safety gear and spent a sizable amount of their funds to maintain the same.

However, now, employee safety is more than just a guideline. It is essential to running a business. Considering the rapid spread of COVID-19, it has become pivotal to reconsider employee safety norms not just during this pandemic but even after it.

A few steps that can be considered:

Check the temperature of the employees once they report to work
Provide hands-free sanitising equipment at the doorstep
Try and ensure social distancing in common areas like the restrooms and pantries
Allocate fixed timings for your employees to take a break in a phased manner
Do not hesitate to provide sick leaves
Organise periodic health check-ups for your employees whenever possible
Provide the necessary safety gear like masks and gloves if your business demands close physical contact

Ensuring these precautions will help in maintaining your employees’ health.

3. Going digital is critical

Exploring digitalisation was once an option for companies. A lifesaver for organisations that did not have any other means to reach out to their target audience. Companies that couldn’t afford to have a dedicated marketing team used to work on social media platforms and maintain their websites to attract organic traffic.

COVID-19 has changed this notion. Digitalisation is here to stay as a major medium of customer communication. It is important to maintain a positive brand image across social media platforms. In fact, marketing specialists insist on sharing collaterals over multiple platforms.

Send emails, post blogs, and market content from your website to customers. Participate in discussions over social media, initiate interactions and answer queries trending in your industry. Reach out to influencers and most importantly, do not hesitate to connect with your customers and obtain feedback on your products and services. This will turbo boost your online brand image for years to come.

4. Prioritise collaboration

Collaboration is how you survive in the industry, regardless of the size of your business. With remote work on the rise, employees operate from different locations and it has become necessary to weave them together with state-of-the-art collaborative tools.

For example, consider your team working remotely. If a team member faces trouble with something or needs an explanation, how will they contact the other team members instantly?

Though calling is the conventional way, having the right collaborative tool can make things easier.

Instant messaging apps come in handy in such scenarios. Your team members will be able to text and clarify things in a jiffy. These tools also facilitate video and audio conferencing. This will enable your team to meet up virtually once in a while. Though it may not be possible to meet in person, virtual meetings give the feel of an in-person meetup.

These messaging apps can be further used to build team collaboration by organising online team activities like games and informal discussions. They also help in initiating informal chats for relaxation, thereby creating a connection within the team.

5. Be prepared for a crisis

One lesson that COVID-19 taught us is to be prepared to face any crisis.

The first response is data readiness. This pandemic has taught us to incorporate new-gen disaster recovery solutions. It is important to have a data backup that aids uninterrupted access to information anytime and anywhere.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was overnight. Offices were asked to close down and employees were refused entry. A repeat of this situation will be chaotic for businesses that may not have considered centralised access to business-critical information.

Furthermore, staying equipped with the necessary tools is also important. Businesses were left helpless when their employees had to work from home. They had to provide hardware (like laptops), necessary software, and a secure Internet connection.

Instead of grappling to find these at the last moment, it is recommended that you be prepared with additional tools that can be used in case of a crisis.

6. Break siloed environments

The free flow of information within different departments of an organisation is extremely important. In conventional ecosystems, data was limited to stakeholders, and information was guarded by supervisors. Limited people had access to it.

Though authentication of data is still important, we also need to share data across the organisation. A siloed system will not serve any purpose in the current work environment. We need to break the virtual barriers and help employees make informed decisions.

Put all the critical information on a centralised repository and allow authenticated people to use this information. This will reduce dependencies on individual employees and facilitate a friction-free environment.

7. Adhere to security regulations

Businesses deal with different types of data. This pandemic did not provide the time for companies to renew their security compliance before switching to remote work. The need to initiate remote work started overnight.

The important lesson from this is that companies should strictly adhere to security protocols. We shouldn’t wait for a crisis before looking into compliance regulations.

Take complete charge of your IT infrastructure. Renew the compliance and security protocols from time-to-time. Also, make sure that security patches, system upgrades, and maintenance happen in a scheduled manner. This will keep your system crisis-ready at all times.

Wrapping up

2020 took a toll on numerous businesses across the globe. We can only hope that 2021 will be better and at the same time, be equipped to handle any unprecedented situation.

The points mentioned above throw light on the lessons learned from the pandemic, how they change the industry and how we can be better prepared for any crisis.

If you would like to learn more about cloud solutions and how your business can benefit from a cloud-hosted contact center, connect with one of our experts at 1888-859-0450 or send us an email at [email protected]

If you're interested in improving your business communication solution

Give us a call on

1888-859-0450

Write an email to

[email protected]

Reviews

0(0)

Acefone Editor

Author

Acefone provides a broad range of cloud communication services to businesses of all sizes, which includes Hosted Phone Systems, Free Phone Numbers, and Cloud Contact Center Solutions. Being the UK's leading provider of VoIP service provider, we always strive to provide excellent customer service and high-quality custom solutions to our customers.

How UCaaS Eliminates Virtual Team Communication Challenges?

Yukti Verma

Author

Contact Center

February 11, 2021

7 mins read eye

Table of content

Seamless communication between the moving parts of an organisation plays an important role in defining its success. In the present-day scenario, remote work is not just preferred, it’s vital. With several companies shutting shop due to the pandemic, business owners have begun to consider extended remote work seriously.

However, even before the pandemic, there were many companies that preferred to work remotely in hopes of achieving a better work-life balance and improved savings on infrastructural investments.

The biggest challenge in a remote ecosystem is to successfully create a virtual working environment. And although there are risks associated with working in total silos, businesses are adopting unified communication systems to overcome this major challenge.

So, what are UCaaS systems? Let us understand better.

Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) is a communication model delivered by providers on the cloud. This model facilitates the unified delivery of communication across an organisation—empowered by virtual meetings, enterprise telephony, unified messaging, and improved mobility. UCaaS enables you to establish a frictionless connection within your organisation and with customers alike.

So, let’s explore how virtual teams rise above their challenges with UCaaS.

1. Improved productivity

When employees work in silos, they do not get access to a holistic view of the problems presented by the customers. In the absence of a free flow of information within the different departments, you’re likely to propose inconsistent solutions to clients.

And without proper resolutions, customers tend to come back with the same concerns. By doing so, they highlight the lacklustre quality and productivity of your business and have overall unsatisfactory experiences.

UCaaS is a cloud-based system, and therefore, can be accessed from anywhere across the globe. It provides a holistic view of the business processes to the employees. Your teams can access all the tools and infrastructure required to deal with customers on a single page, even when working remotely.

For example, let’s say you run a UCaaS-based contact center. If a returning customer connects with your agent, you can pull out the customer’s previous call history and personal data from the CRM, and access product details from the knowledge base simultaneously.

When your agent is equipped with all the relevant information to deal with the customer’s query, he can resolve issues in no time, and with confidence. Therefore, productivity is enhanced right from your employees’ home offices.

2. Boost collaboration

Collaboration is essential for a successful remote ecosystem. A simple miscommunication can snowball into a massive organisational error. Therefore, you should ensure that you adopt the right collaboration tools to weave your team together.

Traditional systems do not support a virtually cooperative environment. They do not offer collaboration tools and work best only if your team meets in-person.

UCaaS overcomes these limitations. It supports the unified working of your employees even in a distributed environment. All this is possible with the use of virtual team meetings, instant messaging, and online team building activities that improve collaboration.

Furthermore, UCaaS offers features that enable document sharing and simultaneous editing. This allows your team to work on the same page even when they’re miles apart.

3. Simplified integrations

With unified communications, you can combine the capabilities of different technological platforms to improve business workflows. In distributed work set-ups, the potential of these platforms is best met when they work in unison.

Conventional communication systems may not accommodate the integration of third-party apps. They would have to be completely shifted to a separate technological platform along with the tools for the best results. This can be a time-consuming and expensive affair.

However, UCaaS supports integrations and helps employees deliver seamless services even in a virtual ecosystem.

For example, a CRM is used to save customer information. It can provide pivotal customer details and interaction history that result in faster resolutions when dovetailed with your telephony system. It also helps deliver contextual and personalised experiences that build customer loyalty.

4. Showcase reliability

With all said and done, the COVID-19 pandemic did end up giving consumers an idea of the preparedness and reliability of brands. Businesses that strived to sustain and work remotely to provide uninterrupted services will continue to emerge successfully. However, companies that did not give this aspect a thought may find themselves struggling to keep up.

Reliability is an important quotient that reflects the strength of your business. You should ensure that your brand delivers uninterrupted services even in the case of a disaster or crisis. The mark of a professional firm is its ability to bounce back to normalcy even in tough situations. That’s how your target audience knows they can trust you.

In legacy systems, your sensitive business data is not stored on a centralised repository. In case of data loss, you’re unable to operate and your business could even come to a standstill. This will definitely impact your brand negatively.

UCaaS eliminates this concern completely. It guards your data by adhering to high-level security policies. Moreover, data is automatically backed up and, in the event of a crisis, restored spontaneously. Your day-to-day operations continue smoothly.

Essentially, UCaaS ensures business continuity and high-end disaster recovery, thereby showcasing your brand as a reliable one.

5. Safeguard data

Security is a huge concern for all kinds of organisations—especially when employees work from their homes. There is always a threat of security breaches and data theft and misuse by fraudsters. Traditional systems are exposed to these threats as one has to manually intervene to obtain compliance and maintain security measures.

UCaaS ensures that all your data is guarded by foolproof security policies and GDPR best practices. These include 256-bit industrial-grade encryption and multi-factor authentication. Moreover, all your data is stored on the cloud and can be retrieved if a cyber-attack occurs.

Again, your provider will automatically keep updating the system to the latest security best practices. The provider will also necessarily include antivirus firewalls and anti-spam ware to further safeguard your data.

6. Portability

Traditional communication systems can only be connected to specific devices. It demands the presence of the employees in the office who can access the system and perform everyday activities.

However, UCaaS systems are highly portable—a major boon for companies having a remote workforce or widespread operations. All you need is a stable Internet, regardless of geographical locations.

Your team will be able to work collaboratively from anywhere across the globe with the same efficiency as in-house teams.

And this system enables your employees to use any device they prefer to work on. Moreover, they can flip calls within devices, eliminating the need to be glued to their desk during work hours. This flexibility makes UCaaS the most preferred communication platform amongst companies having a virtual workforce.

7. Easy onboarding of virtual talents

The onboarding process helps strike the right chord with your employees. A thorough onboarding process can assure a nurturing working relationship with your workforce. How do you think this can be achieved in a virtual environment?

In the case of legacy systems, businesses will have to compromise on the quality of the onboarding process or they will need to stop their hiring process even if there is an urgent need.

UCaaS, on the other hand, comes with inbuilt messaging and conferencing capabilities that can be used to virtually meet recruits. A huge advantage of remote work is that you are free to hire talents from across the globe irrespective of their location. When you can seamlessly onboard remote employees through virtual conferencing tools, it further showcases your company as trustworthy.

Conclusion

Having an effective communication system is pivotal to the success of remote businesses. However, you must choose your communication platform with the utmost care. Hopefully, these points will throw light on a few of the advantages of UCaaS. Everything from portability and reliability, to data security and remote tools are at your service.

Feel free to let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!

To get a virtual team communication solution curated just for your needs, contact us at 1888-859-0450 or send an email to [email protected].

If you're interested in improving your business communication solution

Give us a call on

1888-859-0450

Write an email to

[email protected]

Reviews

0(0)

Yukti Verma

Author

Yukti is a content marketing enthusiast with a soft spot for Saas. She loves weaving complicated concepts into simple stories. When not at work, she is found reading books or watching movies.

Expert Opinion: An Inside Look at Customer Experience Strategies with Katie Stabler

Kritagya Pandey

Author

Expert Opinion

February 10, 2021

5 mins read eye

Table of content

Modern-day customers demand more than just satisfactory prices and standard services. These buyers are empowered like never before, and exceptional service is the only way to stand out and drive customer loyalty.

Customer experience, thus, is no longer merely a part of your strategy—it is a way of doing business and maintaining relations.

In fact, CX can be considered the new battlefield for all types of businesses. Every company now strives to make their customers a priority and outshine each other in extending exceptional services.

According to a Superoffice study, 86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a great customer experience. Thus, it is clear that a positive consumer experience is a driving force behind boosting sales and multiplying revenues.

In continuation of our ‘Expert Opinion’ series, we have Katie Stabler, Founder and Director of CULTIVATE Customer Experience by Design. She will share with us her CX journey and valuable opinions on the customer service domain.

Katie has co-authored the Amazon No#1 bestseller ‘Customer Experience 2’ and has been named one of 150 top Global CX Thought Leaders in 2020. Also a keynote speaker, trainer, and a global team leader, Katie brings the best of industry research and customer service knowledge to the table.

Here are some insights from an exclusive interview with Katie. Read on to know more.

1. Your CX journey has been really fascinating. Would you like to tell us about it?

I started, like most, with humble career beginnings. I worked in a fish stall as a checkout girl on my local seafront, and then as a customer service representative in contact centers. And I’ve always been in customer-facing roles.

In fact, I spent a decade in the not-for-profit sector, where my interest in the area really started to grow. After all, you can’t get a more organically customer-centric organisation than a charity––a place that literally exists to serve its ‘customers’.

I then took my first major corporate role, managing the customer experience programme for one of Europe’s largest credit management companies, a.k.a. a debt collection company. It was a huge cultural change and an ambitious challenge. But I worked with an amazing team and we saw fantastic results in the two years I spent there.

I now run my own customer experience consultancy. We advise organisations on their strategic and operational practice, working with them to work more effectively, efficiently, and profitably.

2. Being a customer experience expert, how do you feel while interacting with and serving your customers?

I believe conversing with customers is highly enlightening––what you learn from every interaction is invaluable. Client communication is essential in my role, and I encourage everybody to take that opportunity in their organisation. Team leaders, managers, directors, MDs, wherever appropriate, should keep their feet on the ground and speak with customers.

3. What are some obstacles that you faced on your journey to becoming a customer experience leader?

Organisational performance measures are often the most common obstacles I have faced. It isn’t unusual to see organisational goals benchmarked against performance measures with little or nothing to do with customers. This can pose to be a challenge when trying to introduce new tactical customer-focused initiatives.

4. Can you advise readers on delivering a good experience, regardless of business size and industry?

Very much in relation to the previous question, the more you focus on what is important to your customers, the more likely you will be to perform on outcomes important to the business.

5. When responding to a customer, how do you decide what information to include or not?

This absolutely depends on your conversation, but the bottom line is that your customers want quick, friendly, and straightforward responses. So, always make sure to acknowledge what they have said and provide the information they seek in a concise yet familiar manner.

6. Can you tell us about a time when you were particularly impressed with an experience with a client?

Many years ago, when I worked for a debt charity, my role was to give legal advice on debt management. There was truly no better feeling than when I spoke to a despondent person who genuinely believed they had no solution and was able to tell them there was a way out for them.

If you empower your employees and enable them to do a great job, they will always provide a great customer experience. And they will enjoy their employee experience to boot!

7. Since you co-authored Customer Experience 2, would you be willing to share some tips from the book?

My chapter focuses on customer experience recovery. It’s about the reality of business—that sometimes things simply go wrong despite our best efforts. Customer experience recovery is about planning to fail; it’s about being prepared to turn a bad customer experience into a great one! (Minimise complaints, stop bad reviews and retain customers.)

8. Do you have a new book that we can look for in the stands soon?

Watch out for my new book sometime soon! Why not head over to my website for my existing books information and other services available – www.cultivatecustomerexperience.com

9. Lastly, how did you feel when you were named one of the top 150 Global CX Thought Leaders in 2020?

What a fantastic accomplishment! It’s a privilege to be recognised among some genuinely amazing CX contributors and I’m thankful to have a spot on the list. It’s a badge I wear with pride and one I hope to maintain over the coming years.

To wrap up

Customers can take your brand from rags to riches (quite literally). However, to make sure that your clients keep coming back and purchasing from you, it is essential to provide world-class services.

Customer satisfaction is now a dated concept. To gain customer loyalty, businesses must take a step forward and exceed buyer expectations.

We hope that this interview provides you with exceptional CX enlightenment and actionable steps that help you craft your next strategy.

To know more about Katie’s opinions and views, you can follow her on LinkedIn.

Visit our ever-expanding content repository for more resources on customer service, experience, and cloud technology.

You can reach our expert agents at 1888-859-0450 or simply send an email to [email protected]. We look forward to hearing from you.

If you're interested in improving your business communication solution

Give us a call on

1888-859-0450

Write an email to

[email protected]

Reviews

0(0)

Kritagya Pandey

Author

Kritagya Pandey is a creative and technical content writer, editor, and strategist. She has been writing on customer experience, customer service, artificial intelligence, cloud communication, and more. She invests her time researching the current business, market trends, and studying about social media strategies.

5 Ways To Make a Better Home Office

Acefone Editor

Author

Contact Center

February 9, 2021

5 mins read eye

Table of content

COVID-19 pandemic has deeply affected all aspects of our lives. We can’t tell what the future holds, but the world will surely be a different place. Among the various changes we’ve incorporated, remote working is definitely here to stay. Therefore, it’s essential to create a better home office experience—for both your employees as well as customers.

At the heart of every business is customer experience. This doesn’t change just because your working location has shifted. This far into the pandemic, you’re expected to have adapted to the new model and create a safe and comfortable working environment with the utmost professionalism. It can be tricky to maintain this balance, but our guide will help you navigate through your remote set-up and improve your staff’s remote offices.

Ensure your employees have all the equipment they need

Firstly, and most importantly, you must ensure that your teams have all the equipment they need to work comfortably from home. Depending on the nature of your business, they may need a laptop, tablet, or a smartphone—in addition to a stable Internet connection.

Once that’s taken care of, they can focus on improving the customer experience rather than struggling with substandard equipment. In terms of data protection and privacy, providing your staff with company equipment is a great way to ensure that necessary security protocols are followed at all times.

Check-in with teams frequently and encourage meetings

Remote working can be lonely and monotonous at times, particularly for employees who live alone. Their mental health can suffer due to heavy workload and the burden of preventing a burnout rests in the manager’s hands. A hosted phone system allows colleagues to connect in a matter of mere seconds, simply by dialling or clicking on their number/extension.

Instant messaging is also a great platform to utilise. It allows people to share specific details and also simply chat without disturbing their workflow.

Remote team meetings via conference call further help the teams and leaders feel engaged in the organisation. They can also freely share their ideas and opinions for the firm and be better involved, even from home.

A simple video call can drastically increase the personalisation level, and therefore, bring people closer together. Whether it’s a team meeting or a check-in from a manager, hosted phone systems make it easy to keep in touch with colleagues during remote working.

When teams collaborate effectively to solve problems and share information, customer experience is bound to benefit too. Well-informed staff can give great customer service even when remote working. Since the online portal stores all customer data as well as product information the agent might need to solve queries, customer experience doesn’t need to suffer at all!

Greater access to relevant information

Working remotely can be a real struggle for employees as they may find it difficult to access information which would freely be available in the office. To ensure that all workers can access the same information in real-time, Acefone’s online portal is the ideal solution.

The online portal is capable of storing all the information you need, including customer phone numbers, purchase information, and more. Each employee can access the portal from their compatible device and can see detailed notes on customer accounts. It also connects seamlessly with most CRM systems, so data is shared freely back and forth.

So a simple log-in into a secure portal (with two-factor authentication) gives agents everything they’ll need on a single screen.

With access to this information and the ability to collaborate and leave notes for other employees, say about customers preferences, your remote workers are at no disadvantage from not being in the office. They can provide excellent customer service from the safety of their own homes. Customers are much more sensitive to the struggles businesses are facing through the pandemic, and will appreciate your investment and dedication to providing consistently strong solutions even more.

Encourage self-care

Happy, healthy staff are more likely to provide a great customer experience. It’s in the interests of both employer and employee to ensure that teams take regular breaks, spend time away from their home offices, and have the correct set-up.

So how should an ideal home office look? There needs to be a suitable desk and chair to avoid back pain, and good lighting to prevent straining the eyes. You need to support your teams to ensure they’re getting such basic amenities, in addition to their cloud-compatible devices and Internet connectivity. Their comfort is essential to enable their productivity.

Encouraging staff to take regular breaks is also a great way to keep them motivated, and safeguard their energy for delivering exceptional customer service. Having these simple considerations in place will optimise your teams’ productivity as well as enhance consumer experience—as agents will likely go the extra mile when they’re comfortable and motivated.

Create a better home office experience with a hosted phone system

Hosted phone systems provide a flexible solution for remote working. It allows agents to have access to everything they need, and they can work from the device of their choice, as long as they can connect to the Internet. Acefone’s cloud phone solutions are secure and robust; they can support your remote workers, regardless of where they’re based.

Once your staff has all the tools they need, they can focus on delivering excellent customer experiences to each and every person who calls.

To find out more about remote working and creating a great home office experience, call our team today on 1888-859-0450.

If you're interested in improving your business communication solution

Give us a call on

1888-859-0450

Write an email to

[email protected]

Reviews

0(0)

Acefone Editor

Author

Building Brand Trust: 3 Hidden Barriers & How to Overcome Them

Acefone Editor

Author

Contact Center

February 8, 2021

7 mins read eye

Table of content

To attract and retain customers, you need brand credibility and a great reputation.

This may seem simple, but there are often barriers to overcome when trying to create a decent brand reputation.

Your brand’s reliability doesn’t just create loyal customers, it can also be the deciding factor between a new customer using your services or opting for a competitor. We all make these decisions every day based on how much trust we have in a brand.

This is the reason people visit the same supermarket every month or choose a branded product over a cheaper alternative—we have more trust in some brands as compared to others.

Once you know the barriers, you can take steps to solve these issues and ensure that nothing stands in the way of building a credible brand. This article will explore exactly what brand trust is, highlight three of the biggest barriers you may face on the way, and how you can solve them.

Why Do you Need a Brand Trust?

Brand trust measures how much confidence customers have in your product and your business. As an important element in any customer’s buying journey, brand trust helps you retain customers for the long haul. Businesses trusted by consumers will retain their loyalty even with attractive competitors nearby.

Therefore, you need to refine every client interaction, offer outstanding service and offers, and quality products. Brand trust isn’t just about positive interactions though. It is about the ability to bounce back from a negative occurrence and deal with problems effectively that make a massive difference.

The Hidden Barriers to Building Brand Trust

Sometimes, you do everything right and still don’t receive the level of trust you would like. This is why it is important to identify the hidden barriers to brand trust and how your business can overcome them.

Here are some of them:

1. Companies aren’t ready for remote work

Although many firms have been working from home for quite some time now, others are still not correctly set up for remote working. A virtual office might face issues like missed phone calls, lost connections due to poor equipment and infrastructure, and lack of proper devices.

While the start of the pandemic may have garnered you some leeway, customers expect firms to have settled and started professional operations by now. Failing to do so will have a detrimental effect on your brand image, and therefore decrease client trust.

So, if a customer is not able to get through to the company easily, or is finding wait times to be excessively long, they will start to lose faith in the service. Furthermore, if your agents struggle to access customer data and find relevant information in real-time, it results in a negative customer experience.

Ultimately, this will cost you clientele and lead to loss of revenue.

How to solve this

With a cloud phone system, you are set up to work remotely in seconds. Hosted phone systems work on a plug-and-play basis, so they are really easy to set up and maintain. Your virtual office can be up and running instantly—with all the capabilities of your physical office.

Employees using hosted phone systems can easily handle customer issues via their work or personal WiFi-enabled devices. They also have access to an online portal that gives them detailed information about each customer account, daily goals and performance, and much more.

For more complex queries, employees can easily switch between devices—without disturbing the ongoing call. So you could go from your smartphone to your laptop instantly to access certain details. The customer won’t know the difference, and will simply receive great service from your advisers.

With access to all the relevant information they need in real-time—and even integration with your CRM system—your employees are well placed to offer support and make sales effortlessly. With hosted phone systems, it is easy to add or remove phone lines so you can hire and connect temporary workers from around the world to help out in stressful times.

Another great advantage of a cloud-based communication suite is that you can mask your agents’ private contact details from callers. This comes in handy in a world that greatly values privacy.

Customers can call your usual business number and get routed to the best-suited agent. Similarly, for outbound calls, you can assign a caller ID to your number to maintain a high level of professionalism and credibility right from home.

As a manager, you can keep track of everything from costs to call waiting times through the online portal and make informed decisions and insightful strategies. By keeping everything running smoothly through difficult times, customers will feel they can rely on your brand and you’ll appear much more reliable and prepared—therefore increasing your brand trust!

2. Lack of focus on customer privacy

The importance of privacy goes both ways—for agents as well as consumers. Customers value their privacy and do not wish to get spammed or scammed if their number gets out into unwanted hands.

Businesses with a lack of focus on customer privacy are much more likely to run into problems when building brand trust. Important data has been leaked even from multinational corporations that promise unparalleled security to their high-profile clients. This, inevitably, damages trust.

So it’s important to invest wisely and generously to implement privacy measures for clients. Here, we’re referring to communication solutions such as number masking (or freephone numbers to conceal identity), 2FA, security provisions, multiple data centers, and more, as examples to safeguard customer privacy.

How to solve this

With a cloud-hosted phone system, you can mask customer and agent contact details by creating temporary virtual numbers for the interaction. However, adopting proper security protocols is the most important step that you need to take.

Acefone’s hosted phone systems hold data in multiple geographic locations. So if something does happen to your physical premises, your data is securely saved elsewhere and can be backed up right away. Additionally, hosted phone systems include multi-level security measures, including firewalls, encryptions, and more.

A reliable provider will keep your customer data in the cloud and be fully compliant with regulations like PIC, FCC, GDPR, and CPNI. Therefore, opting for a hosted phone system is a great way to show your clients that you take data privacy seriously and gain their trust.

3. Lack of focus on customer-oriented integrations

If a business is not focussing on ways to make interactions smoother for customers, it will struggle to build solid relationships. You need to take a proactively customer-centric approach to your business operations.

When calling with a query, the last thing customers want is to have to keep repeating the same information while the agent fumbles for solutions. If you can’t resolve queries on the first call, you’re bound to lose credibility. Dissatisfied customers don’t just take their business elsewhere, they might also spread their negative review of your brand—thereby deterring you from getting any new clients as well.

How to solve this

With a cloud-hosted phone system, you and your customers can benefit from seamless integrations with CRMs, Google Contacts, and more. These integrations are designed to make it easier to connect with customers and truly understand their issues.

You’ll have real-time access to call notes from previous conversations, data from your CRM, and much more—all on the same screen. With all this information at your fingertips, your employees will be able to handle calls more efficiently and in a professional manner.

This information can also help employees connect with customers and deliver a more personalised experience, such as by offering add-on services and beneficial offers. If you deliver personalised support, your clients will feel much more valued, and therefore, will have more trust in a brand they feel really knows them.

Overall, brand trust is an integral part of any business’ customer service strategy and businesses should strive to curate relationships with customers at every opportunity. Hosted phone systems make things simpler for employees and enable them to connect and build rapport with customers, so why not switch today?

To find out more about switching to a cloud phone system, call our team on 1888-859-0450, and our experts will get you started right away.

If you're interested in improving your business communication solution

Give us a call on

1888-859-0450

Write an email to

[email protected]

Reviews

0(0)

Acefone Editor

Author

Reimagining Bollywood Classics in a World of Cloud Telephony

Acefone Editor

Author

Cloud Telephony

February 5, 2021

8 mins read eye

Table of content

Bollywood movies manage to connect with their audience, irrespective of their native language and hometown. Since the first Bollywood movie in 1913, Raja Harishchandra, we have flocked to our nearest cinema theatres every weekend for a much-needed dose of spice and drama in our lives. Evergreen classic hits, starting from Mughal-e-Azam, Pyaasa, Sholay, Mr. India, Lagaan, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Dil Chahta Hai and many, many more have defined our lives in several ways.

Through this blog, we will reimagine some of these blockbusters with the lens of cloud telephony solutions, while also understanding the workings of the technology. So, get-set to start on this mesmerizing ride down the memory lane with some interesting twists.

Quick tip: Grab some popcorn!

Sholay

This is one of the most iconic Bollywood films till date, with almost all scenes receiving near cult status. But picture this: what if the residents of Ramgarh were in constant touch with the police? What if they could keep them updated about the notorious Gabbar’s whereabouts through toll free numbers? The dacoit would never have been able to kill Thakur’s family.

Hence, there would be no need to get Jai and Veeru to the rescue. Overall, one simple cloud telephony solution––toll free numbers––could have easily saved the lives of our beloved gaon-wallas, and Veeru and Basanti would have eventually found their way to each other.

(1) Toll-Free Numbers

These are free-to-call (1800) numbers. Customers can dial up a business or organization without incurring any charges. The call costs are instead borne by the business. It allows easy customer communication and helps organizations gather and disseminate crucial information.

Lagaan

“Dunga Lagaan Dena Parega”

We bet you read this dialogue with a British-Hindi accent, didn’t you?

Poor villagers of Champaner are worried about a possible drought and their inability to pay any taxes to the British administration. With no other hope, they approach their king––only to find themselves in an even bigger scramble. Either win a completely alien game of cricket or pay double the tax!

Now imagine, if the villagers of Champaner received automatic weather updates from their local king, Raja Puran Singh via bulk SMS campaign. Villagers would not have been worried about erratic rainfall. Bhuvan would not have needed to tussle with Captain Russell, hence, no “Dunga Lagaan” and everybody would’ve lived happily.

(2) Bulk SMS Services

Bulk SMSs are an effective marketing and broadcasting medium that help businesses reach out to the masses or a targeted audience. All one needs to do is draft a single message, select a contact database and that’s it. The bulk SMS service provider shall take care of the rest.

This cloud telephony solution has several applications. It can be used to send out information, updates, new launches and offers. Or it can also be used to gain customer feedback. Businesses can also personalize these messages with names or preferred languages, ultimately adding to the brand image.

Hera Pheri

Who can forget this epic laugh-riot? It introduced us to iconic characters like Babu Bhaiya, Shyam, Raju and their hilarious dialogues. The plot revolves around how the dismal lives of our characters change because of a cross-connection on Babu Bhaiya’s phone.

However, what if Babu Bhaiya had incorporated call forwarding and could transfer the calls to the correct destination––Star Fisheries? While our characters would have remained poor and battered throughout, it would have solved the entire plot instantly!

(3) Call Forwarding

Call forwarding is a cloud telephony feature that automatically redirects or transfers the call to another preset number. The process is so seamless that the caller never finds out that the call was forwarded.

This feature has several business applications. It allows organizations to address all incoming calls efficiently even during peak incoming traffic. Calls can automatically be transferred to active agents, thereby reducing the wait time for callers. Furthermore, calls can be forwarded to another branch if the call center has reached its peak or is down (or unavailable) due to technical issues.

Ghajini

Ghajini was the official Bollywood remake of a Tamil movie with the same name, which was inspired by a Hollywood movie, Momento. Through the movie, we see how the protagonist, Sanjay, develops anterograde amnesia. The term refers to the incapability of being able to remember anything for longer than 15 minutes.

This, of course, is a major inconvenience for him as he hopes to find Ghajini, the villain, and avenge the death of his romantic interest. To cope with the issue, then, he tattoos every clue about his identity and mission on his body.

However, with the help of cloud telephony, our lead wouldn’t have needed to go through the pain of tattooing every detail on his body. He could’ve deployed a virtual number and used the call recording feature to keep track of every detail.

These details would’ve been securely stored on the cloud, and he could’ve accessed them whenever and wherever he wanted. Formulating a revenge plan would’ve become much easier and quicker for him.

(4) Virtual Number and Call Recording

As the name suggests, virtual numbers are facilitated virtually via the Internet (cloud). They operate without telephony cables or SIM cards and are primarily used to forward calls to a preset number. Businesses use this service to streamline their service by offering a single contact number to customers. This number may then forward the calls to different teams or even locations.

Call recording is yet another cloud telephony feature that allows managers and marketers to improve customer service. Using this feature, every customer conversation can be recorded and reviewed in case of any miscommunication or for training purposes.

Gangs of Wasseypur

Gangs of Wasseypur is no doubt a modern classic. This Anurag Kashyap superhit exposed Bollywood viewers to authentic cinema filled with raw details and some fine acting. The two-part saga primarily revolves around the rivalry of Ramadhir Singh with Sardar Khan and his family. “Baap ka, dada ka, bhai ka; sabka badla lega re tera Faisal.” Remember?

Cloud telephony could have immensely helped our characters at various plot points throughout the film. For example, consider Sardar Khan using voice broadcasting and bulk SMS service to inform all Wasseypur-ites’ about the cruel and wrong deeds of Ramadhir Singh. Hence, there would’ve been no need for dancing man announcements!

(5) Voice Broadcasting

It is a powerful tool for businesses and nonprofit organizations alike. It is primarily used to broadcast or disseminate information to a large audience at once. Businesses also deploy the tool to promote new launches, update customers about new offers and discounts or disseminate critical information.

For example, voice broadcasting was extensively used during initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic and during the recent cyclones and floods that created havoc across the country. It is also an effective tool for political campaigns and conducting wide-scale surveys.

Padman

Inspired by the life of Tamilian social activist Arunachalam Muruganantham, the movie highlights the countless struggles faced by the man. In the movie, the hero, Laxmi, is devoted to his wife and wishes to provide her with safe-to-use sanitary pads. When he starts making these pads himself and tries to gather feedback from women, he is mocked by people and forced to leave his hometown.

Considering the noble pursuit of our hero, he should have been aided with cloud telephony solutions. Laxmi could use Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and number masking to discreetly gather feedback about his product.

While number masking would have kept his and the customers’ identity private, IVR would have allowed him to gather opinions without having personally interact with anyone, saving a lot of people from awkwardness.

(6) Interactive Voice Response and Number Masking

IVR is one of the most powerful and popular cloud telephony tools. It automatically answers incoming calls, provides callers with an easily navigable menu and forwards the call to concerned teams or agents. It also helps you manage incoming call flow seamlessly and further reduces the chances of human error while enhancing your brand image.

On the other hand, number masking is a unique feature that provides an added level of security to every conversation. It masks the number of both the caller and the receiver by displaying short-lived virtual numbers. This ensures confidentiality. The tool is especially useful for end-to-end service providers like cab, food and other delivery aggregators.

Conclusion

Bollywood is often a reflection of our own lives. It is said that a good story is ingrained in reality. Cloud telephony could have come to the rescue of our lead characters through generations of plot points, and it can come to your aid too! The technology can streamline your processes, maximize your profits and enhance your brand reputation––all without any major costs or effort. Its diverse products and custom pricing make it ideal for all businesses.

If you're interested in improving your business communication solution

Give us a call on

1888-859-0450

Write an email to

[email protected]

Reviews

0(0)

Acefone Editor

Author

10 Customer Experience Stats To Learn From For 2021

Diksha Gusain

Author

Infographics

6 mins read eye

Table of content

Here are two cliches for you: Customer is king, and the numbers don’t lie. In this blog, we’re attempting to combine the two.

Businesses worldwide have begun to realise the importance of customer service. Not only does it affect your reputation and position in the market, but your revenue and profits too.

No matter which business leader inspires you, you’ll find that they’ve stressed the importance of putting clients first—time and again.

Steve Jobs, CEO, and co-founder of Apple Inc., famously said, “Get closer than ever to your customers. So close that you tell them what they need, well before they realise it themselves.”

Or consider the words of Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon and one of the richest men in the world: “We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It’s our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better.”

What they’ll tell you is further proved by these 10 top customer experience statistics. Read on:

Customer Experience Stats To Learn From 2021

These stats give us three types of findings mainly:

First, companies with better customer experience, outperform their competitors. This means they see higher profits and better growth. This is aided by the fact that better customer relationships reduce the cost of operations as well.

Secondly, employees are better engaged with your firm when they are made to focus on customer experience. This could be explained by the reasoning that instead of dealing with arbitrary numbers, they’re developing meaningful relationships. As representatives of the brand, they tend to feel more connected with it while engaging with customers.

Last, but not the least, we come to customer loyalty. If you offer exemplary services and support, customers will choose to buy from you over others. They’ll also come back to you for repeat purchases and refer their friends and family to your business. And what’s amazing is that customers are willing to even pay more for brands that have treated them well in the past.

Therefore, it’s quite clear that customer satisfaction is a necessity, and not just an ideal, in this business scape. In fact, leading brands target customer delight, which is when you not just meet, but also exceed consumer expectations.

But the question that arises is, how do you get there?

Here are some tips to follow for curating an effective customer experience strategy.

Evaluate your current strategy

There’s no way to plan for the future when you’re unaware of how things are working in the present. It’s important to assess your current plans and identify what strong points to keep, what bottlenecks to fix, and find out the lacunae to fill.

An effective way to do this is by asking yourself some questions.

What do you want to achieve with your customer service?
What do your customers expect from you?
What do your competitors offer that you lack?
What actions would have the most impact on your customers?
How realistic and sustainable are your goals?

Hence, you can identify what steps you need to take and the goals you must realise.

An important part of this assessment is sketching out buyer personas. You need to be cognizant of what demographic you’re targeting, their preferences, habits, needs, stages of their journey, and so on.

A good buyer persona makes the exercise of customer service a lot easier for your representatives.

Use the smarts of artificial intelligence

Automation is the leading player in this technological age. With handy cloud communication services, your agents can comfortably converse with clients while leaving the grunt work to AI.

So you can deploy an IVR service to automatically greet and route callers to the best-suited agent or department. In the meantime, the system also collects relevant customer information to aid faster and provide more efficient support.

Integrating CRM tools with your phone system also aids in customer service. You can access all client data right on the screen and therefore, provide more contextual and personalised services.

Another great use of automation is for self-service. Clients don’t always have time to wait on call or have detailed conversations with agents. Sometimes, they know what’s wrong and they just need a quick fix.

Self-service lets them do just that. They can input their query via a multi-level IVR and the system can retrieve the appropriate response from an FAQ repository. This leaves your agents free to deal with more complex issues and the client experiences quick resolution and hence, feel more empowered.

Act on perception and feedback

You can’t just bury your head in the sand and keep doing what worked well for you at one point of time. Times are dynamic, and your modern customers can be even more volatile.

It’s important to constantly assess how customers are perceiving you and work on things accordingly.

The only way to understand what customers want is by listening to them. Encourage your clientele to leave feedback and stay in touch with you even beyond the purchase.

You can send bulk SMSes or use IVR to collect this feedback and generate analytical reports based on them. Chatbots are also a good way to assess customer perceptions. Sentiment analysis uses keywords from the conversation to figure out client moods.

Establish omnipresence

In order to make customers think highly of you, they first need to keep thinking of you. That’s what omnipresence ensures.

Make sure you’re available wherever your clients want you to be. Allow communication via smartphones, laptops, tablets, or any other device of their choice. Apart from multi-device compatibility, your support solutions should accommodate different channels—call, email, chat, social media, chatbots, website content, and so on.

The trick is to be proactive and constantly make posts, encouraging clients to reach out to you as well. So be it Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, or even Snapchat, make sure you have social media handles which regularly post relatable content.

Keep up with the trends

Like we mentioned earlier, your consumer base is completely dynamic. Staying trendy has become an acquired skill these days.

You need to be aware of how preferences, moods, and societal perceptions keep changing over time. For example, since people started using mobile phones over telephone lines, it became important to adapt to this change and provide appropriate options.

Similarly, with the advent of social media, a new kind of marketing came into being. The quicker you jump onto the bandwagon, the more exposure you can get with potential clients.

Conclusion

As communication becomes more open, customer connections become even more important. Furthermore, that becomes evident if you look at reports and statistics that have studied customer experience.

Therefore, it’s time to realise the importance of CX and work towards improving the avenues for client communication. It always helps to use advanced tools like cloud technologies to make your agents’ job easier and help them be more productive.

To learn more about how you can avail cloud services and the benefits you can derive from them, call us at 1888-859-0450 or drop at email at [email protected].

If you're interested in improving your business communication solution

Give us a call on

1888-859-0450

Write an email to

[email protected]

Reviews

0(0)

Diksha Gusain

Author

Does Your VoIP Telephony Service Provider Ensure Secure Communication? Here is All You Need To Know.

Acefone Editor

Author

Voice - VoIP

February 4, 2021

6 mins read eye

Table of content

Customer trust is of utmost importance for businesses hoping to stay ahead in the race. To build customer trust, you must ensure that your communications are private and secure, and no one can access precious information.

The best way to do this is to get a secure VoIP phone service. Not only does it foster trust in your brand, but it also prevents you from paying hefty fines for breaching data protection laws or GDPR rules.

After all, we’ve all heard the horror stories about phone hacking. And hackers are getting more and more sophisticated every day. So, it is especially important to have a robust VoIP telephony solution which is compliant with all relevant security regulations.

In this blog, we give you tips on how to keep your communications secure with VoIP telephony solutions so that you are not a victim of VoIP hacking.

So, how can you spot VoIP hacking?

VoIP hacking is an unfamiliar term for most.

Put simply, VoIP hacking is a cyber-attack wherein hackers try to infiltrate your VoIP telephony system. Once they have access, these hackers can run up costly bills, steal sensitive information and listen in on your private business calls.

This is a real concern for businesses, especially now that most people are working from home via unsecured networks. If your communication system lacks the right security credentials, it is highly vulnerable to such attacks.

Once you understand VoIP hacking, you will be much better placed to stop it from happening to you. Here are a few signs that will help you recognise whether or not you have fallen victim to unscrupulous hackers…

1. Sudden and unexpected bill increase

Hackers will often increase your bills and run up high call costs. Since most people have a similar bill each month, it isn’t hard to tell when their bill doesn’t reflect the number of calls they usually make in a month. So, this is one of the easier ways to spot a security breach.

2. Unknown calls to unfamiliar numbers

A hacker may use your phone system to make unsolicited calls to numbers all over the world. Therefore, if your call logs reflect several calls to unfamiliar numbers that haven’t been made by your staff, your system may have been hacked.

3. Increase in calls made during off-hours

Hackers may often make calls during off-hours when you and your staff are away. So, one way to identify a breach is to check call timings. If you spot calls that have been made outside of your office hours or any other signs of hacking, it is important that you contact your provider.

Ensure that your passwords are changed and that your provider has all the relevant security measures in place through your phone system so that hackers aren’t able to regain access.

What can hackers target in your hosted phone system?

VoIP phone system are becoming more and more common by the day, courtesy of COVID-19 and the remote working model. While several take advantage of the flexibility and benefits the technology offers, many remain unaware of the risks that unsecure networks pose to their business communications.

If hackers access your VoIP system, they can potentially listen in on your calls. They will be privy to confidential information and will be able to gain all the details about your customers and their business with you.

Hackers can also use the CRM system linked to your hosted phone system and retrieve details like customers’ addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and so much more. This means, not only is your business at risk but so are your customers.

This is, of course, unthinkable. Conversations between a customer and a business should be private and confidential. When this isn’t the case, your business will not only lose the trust of the customers but also its reputation, leading to a drop in revenue and sales, both. Not to forget, such a serious security lapse can lead to legal actions and heavy fines imposed on you.

Thus, it is imperative that businesses ensure that they meet all security compliances and regulations and strive for minimum vulnerabilities. For organisations that have remote working staff, this is even more important.

Ensure that your VoIP telephony is secure from day one

Prevention is better than cure. So, it is important to make sure that your VoIP system’s security is foolproof from day one. Take a good look at your provider and the security measures they take to prevent cyber attacks.

If you are in the process of choosing a suitable provider then this should be a major consideration in the buying process––even more so if you deal with financial or classified data on a regular basis.

Another consideration should be the availability of their support staff. You should be able to avail help for the most part of the day and even for a few hours during the night, if not 24×7. This helps you mitigate the potential damage as much as possible and restore your data backup almost immediately.

The key to protecting your data is to act quickly as the time spent waiting for customer support to return your call could be costly in a number of ways.

Acefone VoIP telephony systems are compliant with PIC, FCC, GDPR and CPNI. Your data is stored on multiple secure servers. This adds an extra layer of protection to your system, such that in the event of a crisis or cyber attack, your data is safely backed up and remains untouched. We also use end-to-end encryption to ensure your data is protected further.

With multiple layers of protection in place, you can rest assured that no matter what happens, your hosted phone system and data will be safe.

How to broach the subject of security with your provider?

As a customer, you are well within your rights to ask the provider for security measures that offer the best protection for your business. While all providers offer a basic level of security, some may have extra layers which would benefit your business and give you and your customers more peace of mind. You may have to pay a penny extra but it is worth the protection you receive.

At the outset, clearly communicate your expectations to the provider and outline their responsibilities. Discuss in-depth the level of security that you’re being offered and what it entails. This will enable you to make an informed decision.

Acefone’s customer service team are on hand 24/7 to address any and all customer concerns and are happy to explain the multiple layers of security available to you.

Does your current VoIP telephony provider ensure secure communication?

If the answer is no, the time has come to change your provider.

Acefone has robust and secure cloud-powered systems that are backed up on servers in multiple geographical locations to ensure that you never lose any of your precious data. This guarantees that you and your customers are protected at all times.

Our support team works tirelessly 24/7 to ensure that we keep everything running smoothly no matter where you are based.

If you’d like to know more about our security and hosted phone systems, speak to our team today on 1888-859-0450.

If you're interested in improving your business communication solution

Give us a call on

1888-859-0450

Write an email to

[email protected]

Reviews

0(0)

Acefone Editor

Author

Phone An Expert: Mastering Customer Service with Ian Golding

Ques 1: Why did you choose customer experience as your career?

Ques 2: According to you, what is the difference between a good and a great customer experience strategy?

Ques 3: You started your career as an auditor, and today, you are a founder and CEO of Customer Experience Consultancy Ltd. How would you describe this journey?

Ques 4: What difficulties did you face in the beginning when advising companies on delivering better CX?

Ques 5: How do you think businesses can provide the best customer experiences effectively?

Conclusion

Top picks for you

Do’s & Don’ts For Curating Your Voicemail Greeting

The importance of a voicemail greeting

1. Do keep it simple

2. Don’t sound overwhelmed

3. Do keep consistency

4. Do reflect your brand

5. Don’t overload callers with information

6. Do update your greetings

7. Do inform the customer about call status

8. Do give appropriate options

Wrap up

Top picks for you

7 Invaluable Lessons That The COVID-19 Pandemic Has Taught Us And How We Can Apply Them In 2021

1. Accept remote work as the new norm

2. Consider employee safety

3. Going digital is critical

4. Prioritise collaboration

5. Be prepared for a crisis

6. Break siloed environments

7. Adhere to security regulations

Wrapping up

Top picks for you

How UCaaS Eliminates Virtual Team Communication Challenges?

1. Improved productivity

2. Boost collaboration

3. Simplified integrations

4. Showcase reliability

5. Safeguard data

6. Portability

7. Easy onboarding of virtual talents

Conclusion

Top picks for you

Expert Opinion: An Inside Look at Customer Experience Strategies with Katie Stabler

1. Your CX journey has been really fascinating. Would you like to tell us about it?

2. Being a customer experience expert, how do you feel while interacting with and serving your customers?

3. What are some obstacles that you faced on your journey to becoming a customer experience leader?

4. Can you advise readers on delivering a good experience, regardless of business size and industry?

5. When responding to a customer, how do you decide what information to include or not?

6. Can you tell us about a time when you were particularly impressed with an experience with a client?

7. Since you co-authored Customer Experience 2, would you be willing to share some tips from the book?

8. Do you have a new book that we can look for in the stands soon?

9. Lastly, how did you feel when you were named one of the top 150 Global CX Thought Leaders in 2020?

To wrap up

Top picks for you

5 Ways To Make a Better Home Office

Ensure your employees have all the equipment they need

Check-in with teams frequently and encourage meetings

Greater access to relevant information

Encourage self-care

Create a better home office experience with a hosted phone system

Top picks for you

Building Brand Trust: 3 Hidden Barriers & How to Overcome Them

Why Do you Need a Brand Trust?

The Hidden Barriers to Building Brand Trust

1. Companies aren’t ready for remote work

How to solve this

2. Lack of focus on customer privacy

How to solve this

3. Lack of focus on customer-oriented integrations

How to solve this

Top picks for you

Reimagining Bollywood Classics in a World of Cloud Telephony

Sholay

(1) Toll-Free Numbers

Lagaan

(2) Bulk SMS Services

Hera Pheri

(3) Call Forwarding

Ghajini

(4) Virtual Number and Call Recording

Gangs of Wasseypur

(5) Voice Broadcasting