A call centre typically provides customers a means to extend their queries, problems and suggestions to an organisation they do business with and provides the organisation with a means to cater to their customer service needs. However, the call centre is rapidly evolving from contact centres to cost centres as the advances in call centre CRM software is transforming them from not only being cost-effective, but profit making.
CRM is the customer centred strategy of the decade and therefore has naturally found its place in the call centre to compliment the customer satisfaction and customer focus this part of a business provides. Implementing a CRM strategy has bought many benefits in housing vital customer data and using it for business advantage.
We take a look at the 5 ways in which CRM is empowering the Call Centre sector:
1. Increases call centre & staff productivity
CRM makes it far easier to track the overall performance of the call centre and, with a plethora of data just a few clicks away, Managers can make more insightful decisions based on true, transparent results. The ability to slice and dice calls into pre-defined categories and other sophisticated segmentation also helps to increase inter-department co-ordination and visibility.
This, overall, helps improve process understanding (and the ability to correct it!) by helping user analyse everything in order to build an effective process and avoid errors such as duplicity.
CRM also enables call centre employees to perform their duties easily and with less strain on account of its user friendly attributes. Staff productivity and efficiency is also boosted with ready-to-send templates. And if the staff are happy then it all contributes to keeping the customer happy!
2. Reduces call centre costs
Think of the cost savings you could make by implementing CRM into your call centre. By using call scripts and sharing training material through CRM simultaneously means your call agents have the most-up-to information they need in order to maximise the success of their calls.
Not only that, average handling time can also be reduced through call routing and case assignment rules within the system – keeping both the customer and staff happy, not frustrated!
3. Increases customer satisfaction
We all know how infuriating it can be when phoning up a call centre and being on hold for long period of time, passed from pillar to post and still no resolution to our issues!
The most important priority of any call centre is to keep the customer happy – this can make or break the very nature of the business relationship and, if it’s the latter based on a bad call centre experience, then the outcomes can be even more damaging.
Therefore consistency across all customer facing touch points is imperative. So regardless of which operator they speak to, the experience needs to be the same – this is where using call scripting within CRM is essential in delivering a quick and consistent customer resolution.
Plus, the benefit of having quick access to customer’s data helps resolve issues even faster even allowing for pre-populated records when executing call scripts to strengthen that customer relationship and rapport.
4. Boosts revenue
CRM not only allows you to save money but make it too – Simply put the more satisfied a customer is with their call centre experience, the more loyalty they are likely to have to your business and, in turn, will want to do MORE business!
As well as boosting revenue from a satisfied service, with critical data about the customer’s buying habits, their purchase history, and buying trends, you’ll know the right time and right products to cross-sell and up-sell on every call.
5. Presents valuable customer insight at every stage
You may be beginning to spot a trend here….. the key driver for all the benefits CRM Software can bring to the call centre is most definitely the valuable customer insight it can present call agents with. The data is entirely essential for all day to day activities! It helps agents by equipping them with a clearer view of the customer being handled and enables them to give the right answers to customer queries, problems, etc. and knowing the customer, his preferences, his purchase history etc all contribute significantly to the needs of the customer.
Having such a detailed view of the customer you have on the other end of the phone will set your company apart to any other. Nowadays, modern consumers expect personalisation at every moment of their buying journey and the relationship is more often far more valuable to them than cosmetic things like price points etc. With CRM software, you can personalise their experience and showcase an understanding of their needs that cannot be achieved without it.
So, as you can see, the role of the Call Centre is the ‘CRM laboratory of an organisation’. Gain a 360 degree view of your customers using call centre CRM software – talk to us today about developing your strategy and implementing your software by getting in touch here.
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