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10 Inherent Qualities of a Great Leader

A company with great leadership thrives even in the toughest situations and without it the company suffers. True leadership is demonstrated when employees want to do the right thing in all situations without prodding. In the current economy, leading rather than ‘bossing’ will always yield superior results. Great leaders display 10 inherent qualities that attract high caliber employees and inspire them to perform in a culture of inspired excellence. Focus on ‘We’ not ‘I’ To be great, you focus on your team more than you do on yourself. When you take credit for the efforts of others, your team will not support you because you are denying them acknowledgement of their efforts. If your team gets all the blame for failing to reach goals but then you take all the credit for success, nobody will want to be associated with you. To earn your place as a great leader you have to be concerned about how your team is progressing and how you can guide them. Find opportunities to acknowledge their contributions towards the success of the company. Accept Full Responsibility You need your team to be accountable for results but accountability has to begin with you. Accepting responsibility means taking the heat not only when the company blossoms but also when things may appear to be going downhill. In business, you encounter bright times and dark times, and how you handle both shows how effectively you assume responsibility. When you make a wrong decision you need to accept that you were wrong, apologize, and find solutions to make it right. Do the Right Thing It is not easy to always do the right thing in every situation and it takes a great leader to shoulder that burden. He or she will not focus on how they are perceived in the short term, but on doing what will benefit the company in the long term. Knowing what is right and acting upon it separates great leaders from the merely adequate. Turn your convictions into action and set the gold standard for your team. Be a Visionary The ability to envision the company 5 years down the line is an asset which great leaders possess. You develop strategies and tactics to achieve the vision. The goals should be well documented and referenced continuously and frequently. Without strategies or goals you will never make any significant progress. Be Passionate About Winning A great leader wants to win, to be the best in the industry and to develop others to achieve their full potential. Passion goes beyond desire. Passion provides momentum even in the face of adversity and ignites the organization as they see the results of tirelessly pursuing the dream. Keep a Positive Attitude Stephen Covey used a 90/10 principle to explain the importance of having a positive attitude which states that 10% of life is made up of what happens to you and 90% is determined by your reaction to what has happened to you. Great leaders practice this principle and demonstrate it by being enthusiastic, cheerful and energetic. Build Strong Relationships Leadership is about trust, which is at the core of relationships. Can you follow someone that you do not trust? Would you even care to be associated with such a person? Of course not. Relationships built on trust and respect enable candid feedback without which improvement is impossible. A great leader builds strong and respectful relationships that are beneficial to everyone. Be Composed During Tough Times Maintaining calmness when the boat is rocking is an invaluable quality that great leaders exhibit. It helps the rest of the team to calm down and be objective about the situation at hand. Even when they cannot be certain about what will happen next, they try to make sense of the situation and focus on solutions in times of crisis or uncertainty. Listens to Others Critical feedback can be negative but, by listening to others, a great leader shows that they value and appreciate input. They also do not wait for the feedback to be volunteered but instead solicit it from all relevant stakeholders. Effective communication is two-way and it takes great character to be humble and listen, truly listen to feedback. Celebrate Progress A great leader understands the value of acknowledging and celebrating progress. He or she does not wait until the final achievement, but celebrates each benchmark as it is completed. Acknowledgements keep the team motivated and focused on attaining the big goal. Great Leaders set themselves apart by following these principles and practices and by creating the fertile environment to develop these traits in others.

7 Reasons to Move Toward SaaS-based Sales Processes

Currently, most software providers deliver applications as Software as a Service. In fact, SaaS sales represent over three-fourths of all SaaS delivery models because customers want choices of methods to consume software applications. If you are considering this model for your business, here are seven of the most important reasons to move toward SaaS-based sales processes. 1. Marketing to new customers Traditionally, software delivery models involved customers buying hardware, implementing it on-site, and then deploying the software. That type of conventional environment adds expenses and complexity that many consumers prefer to avoid. Utilizing software as a service offers a simpler financial model. Instead of a large investment to purchase dedicated hardware, customers can pay a monthly fee that aligns with their operational budget. Software providers offering SaaS sales can reach a wider base of customers. 2. Shortened deployment times SaaS reduces implementation time by standardizing the launch of a software solution. Technical environments vary between customers, particularly when deploying an on-site software program, resulting in the software provider inheriting and needing to resolve the unique problems. Cloud deployment standardizes the environment, making implementation a routine process. Automation and orchestration technologies can also be leveraged to increase customer satisfaction, drive down consumption times, and further streamline deployment. Products can also be delivered faster and more affordably than with more traditional go-to-market approaches. 3. Risk mitigation Reducing risks is one of the most important factors of a successful business. Selecting an experienced cloud partner with a proven track record in SaaS delivery avoids many mistakes in hosting the software. It can also significantly reduce the overall risks of the business while still enabling the provider to provide SaaS sales to customers who are not interested in purchasing on-site hardware. 4. Capturing new revenue streams With SaaS sales models, a larger single payment is split into steady and ongoing monthly annuity rates instead of one large payment. When software providers include infrastructure services in the initial sale, they profit from the overall IT landscape. 5. Partnering with change management, monitoring, and ITSM Many vendors provide just the cloud infrastructure, but producing a genuine solution entails more than building a software environment. It also means scaling and managing that context by supporting and managing customers alongside their SLAs. An experienced customer service partner can identify the problem quickly whether it’s an operating system or database backup, an outage that requires failover, or a restore issue. 6. Selling security Customers want assurances that solutions are secure. By selecting SaaS deployment partners who meet end users’ compliance and security requirements, you can provide an audited and safe environment that opens doors to clients with regulatory concerns. 7. Offering flexibility Customers want options, but offering all the options they demand is expensive and inevitably leads software providers to drive clients toward models they produce, even those that aren’t in the customer’s best interest. Create a go-to-market plan that includes SaaS strategies and managed, hosted appliances and then trust qualified partners to provide seamlessly the items you can’t affordably offer your clients. Software as a service is transforming the way businesses across all industries utilize software, and SaaS sales offer excellent potential at a decreased risk. This blog is first published on LinkedIN

Push Marketing to Pull Marketing Through Social Media Acquisition

Selling your products or services requires regular and consistent communication with your customers. In the traditional model, push marketing was the preferred mode of communication as it focuses on putting the product in front of the customer, for example through advertisement placement on primetime television and billboards. Pull marketing on the other hand focuses on drawing customers to you. It targets the right customers at the right place and time. In the 21st Century, it became easier to pull customers because of the rapid growth of internet use. Social media has opened up markets that were previously unreachable. One way to grow your company is through acquisitions, for example acquiring other business or their customers. Effective sales teams should consider how to grow pull marketing through social customer acquisition. Social customer acquisition is about building and maintaining relationships for retention purposes. Statistics show that 77% of B2C companies acquired customers through Facebook while 54% of B2B marketers said they generated leads through social media. You can either grow or kill your business online by what you do in the social media arena. A few tips can help you achieve your share of social customer acquisitions. Create Content Sharing Calendars The first step is to know what content you want to share. You are in a position to direct the conversations that take place on your social media pages. Your content should be customer-driven, meaning it is something they are interested in reading and sharing. Content can include blog posts, Ebooks, webinars, and press releases among others. When you generate and distribute high quality content, you benefit your customers leading to a high acquisition rate. Using calendars ensures you stay organized, given the numerous number of social media platforms, on which you need to maintain presence. For example, you can plan for Facebook posts for the month and schedule them as needed. Social media providers are working to ensure you achieve your goals by offering these features. Even when you have scheduled a series of posts, remember to allow for insertion of critical current news in your scheduling plans. Scheduled content should not be used at all costs; you should maintain some flexibility in order to offer relevant content at all times. Provide Value Only when something is of value would someone waste their precious time viewing it. The same applies to online communities. Before you ask your customers for something, you need to invest in the relationship. When customers feel that you are adding value to their lives, they will be more predisposed to reciprocate when you call on them. The other essential factor for real value is the need to give more than you take from your customers. Social media is the modern equivalent of word of mouth. When you publish something of value, your customers will readily spread the word and their peers will also continue to share the valuable content creating a chain reaction of exponentially more powerful messaging. Practice Patience Sales is a game of patience. If you give up when the first response is not as expected, you will not go far with your acquisition plans. Think about the time and resources you use to create content and to promote it, you probably spend more time promoting to achieve the desired results. The same goes with building communities that lead to sales. The secret is providing value to those communities instead of pushing sales. You will make more friends by giving them what is more important to them and they in return will give you what is important to you. Practicing patience as you build genuine relationships online, will lead to improved customer retention which has a direct impact on your social customer acquisition rate. Social media is a great tool for any business and knowing how to use it to your advantage will lead to business growth. Use these three tips- creating content sharing calendars, providing value and practicing patience – to implement viable social customer acquisition. Nurture your relationships online and harness the power of social media for increased sales.

4 Essential Factors to Consider for a Great Company Culture

In the modern market, usually the most successful companies have an attractive company culture capable of retaining top talent. What are the keys to cultivating and maintaining this seemingly mythical concept? It all starts with a team mentality and you are the coach. Here’s the game plan for a successful company culture: Focus on Good Fits When you think of hiring a new professional, one of the first items on your checklist is probably a proven track record of productivity. However, it should be a personality that’ll fit well with your company culture. Even if your new hire is capable of producing large volumes of quality work, that doesn’t necessarily constitute a positive contribution to the team environment. What’s the moral of the story? Don’t hire jerks no matter how productive they are or how impressive their resume is. Remember, your employees represent your company even when they are off the clock. Will you latest hire do the company image justice? Make Your Company Values Obvious Perhaps one of the top recommended interview questions is “why do you want to work for this company?” It’s designed to give you insight into each professional’s motives, personal goals and knowledge of the company. If you want to draw top talent to your cause, you have to make your company values known. For example, Google has no problem attracting top talent because it has a clear reputation for high quality, intelligent algorithms and encouraging employee creativity. Whatever your company values are, make them known and find professionals attracted to your values. Management Doesn’t Always Have the Better Idea Let’s head back to the trusty Google example. Most large companies allow little freedom to their employees regarding projects and daily tasks. However, Google News, a current staple of the search engine platform, was not a management idea. A Google research scientist created it after 9/11 because he wanted to see multiple news sources at one time and chooses the focus of the articles. This a classic example of how giving your employees the freedom to make decisions and figure things out is key to company growth and market relevance. Make the Team More Important Than the Individual Every single one of these four points is designed to help you make your organization work culture an inviting one capable of attracting and keeping top talent. Making the team more important helps foster that. When professionals enjoy whom they work with, they are more motivated to complete tasks effectively. Why? The motivation has little to do with pleasing management and more to do with being there for their peers. Don’t encourage your team members to hog the ball. Instead, focus on a symbiotic system. When you consider these four factors of a great company culture, they certainly make sense in a general context, but its up to you to implement these suggestions in a way that will help your company thrive and attract quality professionals. Always keep what’s best for the team in mind and stay focused on the big picture: company success.

Get More for Less: Saas Vs On-premise Software

Have you heard of software as a service? Essentially, you move your internal software systems, databases and programs into the cloud with the help of a SaaS company. You’ll see the same (or greater) range regarding your choices in analytics, data management and engagement features. However, you’ll pass off the responsibility of system maintenance, installation and troubleshooting with a simple monthly description. What are the advantages for SaaS? Data Security and Sensitivity Regardless of your company’s niche, you likely have sensitive information that must be protected like product advancement techniques or projected release dates. Hacking and data scams are an increasing worry in modern Internet culture and with an on-site system, you must also have the appropriate security measures, meaning more software and support professionals. Cloud services on the other hand, have significantly more expansive security and protection resources since it’s a core of their business and product. Easy Upgrades and Scalability When it comes to software, upgrades are dime a dozen and with traditional license software, you may have to foot the bill for these upgrades. However, SaaS services generally upgrade their system across the board with each new update so you see the benefit without add cost. Additionally, many SaaS companies build their products with scalability in mind. When it’s time to move to the next tier, you might have to upgrade your membership, but you won’t have to go through changing your system. Quicker Implementation When a traditional software service, you’ll need to wait for the professional installation, teach your IT department how to care for the system and get everyone up to speed. Cloud services take care the IT troubleshooting tasks with support services and generally eliminate the need for timely and costly installation. At most, you’ll have to download a relatively lightweight app and in a few hours, you’ll be ready to start training your team on the system. Less Buck, More Bang From previous sections, you may have guessed most SaaS services run on a subscription-based model where you only pay for what you use. These packages usually come with some level of customer support in addition to the programs you need. With the subscription fee, you’ll likely save a hefty chunk of your software budget and you might even be able to eliminate your IT department. Why? You gain access to software troubleshooting with your prescription. You might even be able to train your team using the SaaS training resources. Greater Focus on Company Success If you don’t have to allocate people, money and other resources to supporting your software system, you can focus more on actually creating products, doing market research and otherwise improving your company. Move your talent away from resolving structural issues and towards creating quality solutions for your brand in the future. With SaaS services, you give your company the freedom to move forward without carrying the weight of software upkeep. Through outsourcing these responsibilities, you leave more room to run the company and focus on company goals. Leave your old clunky software behind and Jump into the cloud with SaaS services. This blog was first published on LinkedIN    

5 Reasons why Customer Service is Incomplete without Live Chat

Exceptional customer service differentiates you from the other providers in the market. That differentiation is crucial because today’s customer is sophisticated and has more options than ever before. With the click of a button, they are out of your online shop and into the next. The secret is to offer them support and assistance that is relevant, timely and personal. One way to achieve this is through Live Chat Support. Live support is a web service that allows you to communicate with your customers in real time. Many companies have embraced the use of live chat software as more customer service channels arise in the market. Customers really appreciate it when you listen to them and meet them where and when they want. When you are able to do that, you guarantee increased satisfaction levels. Here are five critical reasons to invest in effective chat software for your customers. Live Chat Taps Into Customer Pain Points : Pain points are customer needs that have not yet been met. For example, a client will reach out to your company because he or she wants to ask a question pertaining to the performance of the product or just some clarifications. However, when the agent is alert, he or she will detect the customer’s mood and attitude, if there is something bothering them, the agent can inquire about underlying issues. These pain points, when effectively addressed, are great opportunities for brand positioning in the mind of the customer. You can leverage the interactions with the customer to discover which improvements are needed in your products or services. The essence of tapping into these pain points is to uncover critical areas of improvement, meeting the customers’ needs in the most direct way. The result will be higher customer satisfaction levels and incremental business growth. Live Chat is Convenient : Receiving support through live chat is very convenient. It provides your customer with immediate access to information. For example, when a customer is shopping online and he or she is having trouble with the purchase, while still on the page, they can chat with an agent who will resolve their issue on the spot. It is convenient also because you can speak with a customer service representative anytime and anywhere. If the customer is in traffic and there is a lot of noise, the live chat continues without any interruptions. How wonderful is that? Even when the customer has to wait in line for the next available agent to become available, the wait is not that long compared to waiting for a call to go through, because an agent can chat with more than one customer at any given time. Convenience is a win-win situation for the agents and customers. Live Chat Removes Language Barriers : Most companies reach, especially with online retail operations, extends beyond their borders and their customers are spread all over the globe. This can lead to communication challenges. Imagine having a phone conversation with an agent for whom English is their second language; you will run into language barriers because of the diverse accents and idioms. However, with live chat you will understand each other easily. As you type, words and sentences will be autocorrected, minimizing margins of error. A conversation that goes well, not only leads to customer satisfaction but also leads to employee satisfaction. Language can be vetted beforehand to present the most easily understood word choices. Live Chat is Versatile : Live chat is a great platform to attend to customers no matter the complexity of the issue presented. From a simple product question to a technical one, the tools and resources available through live chat can address a wide gamut of issues. Another critical quality component of the chat process is that, because all of the conversations are written, they are readily accessible by the performance management teams to review for quality assurance. The customer can also refer to it for directions in case they forget what you told them and an agent can evaluate their own performance on how well the conversation evolved. Live Chat Builds Strong Relationships : Strong and long-lasting relationships are worth building and fighting for, in order to grow your business. With live chat, you can introduce a human element into the online conversations with customers. Even though most companies have prepared their Frequently Asked Questions for access by website visitors, the FAQ’s are never enough to satisfy all of the questions asked by all of the customers. When customers are happy and satisfied, they will not only purchase more but also advocate for your brand to others, leading to higher conversion rates. Making yourself easily available to your customers when and where they want to have the conversation is powerful for your business. Live chat is critical to success platform in providing the unique opportunity to complete your customer service processes. Train and coach your agents in the best practices for live chat and you will see the improvement in customer satisfaction levels and healthy business growth.

5 Most Effective Social Media Strategies

For a strong modern business, a social media strategy can boost your current market relevance and performance or even establish it. However, conquering this new and ever changing social media realm can be difficult, so here are the five most effective strategies you need to know. Establish a Visual Brand Consider widely known brands like Apple or Coke. Apple consistently has a sleek look involving mostly whites, greys and the now famous Apple logo. Coke on the other hand uses specifically stylized letters, white and red. Even if you blocked all the words from either one of these companies social media profiles, many consumers globally would recognize the profile owner in a glance. How can you do the same? Pick a memorable logo. Choose a color palate. Stick with a few fey photo filters or none at all. Use a brand template. Be consistent with your use of your visual brand. Choose the Right Platform There are a multitude of social media platforms and only a handful will be right for your company, brand and message. What happens on Twitters doesn’t happen on Facebook and Instagram is a different platform entirely. If you are a restaurant business, your recipes can be perfect for Pinterest, but a consulting firm might have better luck posting provocative articles on LinkedIn. To start, pick two or three platforms and focus on creating quality content on those platforms. Blog Consistently If you open an Instagram account and only post twice a year, don’t bother having a published account. Bloging regularly and consistently is key for staying relevant in the realm of social media. You don’t necessarily have to post every Tuesday at 2 pm EST, but if you state you have a surprise for your followers at that time, don’t fall back on your promise of juicy content. Regardless, you shouldn’t allow any of your accounts to collect any level of metaphorical dust. Don’t Waste Any Space Character limits on social media posts have moved beyond text limits (except Twitter). On Instagram, you can have a full novel for a caption, but that doesn’t mean you should always load your photos with words, especially since it’s a photo-based platform. However, you shouldn’t over look the bio on your social media accounts. It’s a great place to say what your team is about or place a link to whatever you want to promote. Plus, if you say “link in bio,” you followers head to your main page and might just get lost in your other eye catching content. Connect, Promote and Engage Bloging your own content on social media is maybe half of the battle. Now, you engage connect with your followers with real-time comments, reposts and follows. Connect with popular social media presences relevant to your niche and/or target demographic. Of course, you also should promote your latest product, blog post, Tweet, web site and anything else you can think of. Give you company the full social channel workaround and starting engaging with a new and responsive marketing arena. Remember to start small and build consistently.

How to Successfully Engage and Retain SaaS Customers

When your company provides software as a service, it’s important to constantly work toward a high level of engagement of your customers. Engaged customers are often more likely to be retained by your company. The software as a service customer has specific needs that need to be addressed effectively and in a timely manner by your company. Etech Global Services can give you ways to provide the best customer service through SaaS, integrating software and satisfaction solutions. Offer Consistent Support First and foremost, your SaaS must be backed by consistent technical support from your team. Retaining customers without proper support is something that isn’t realistically going to happen. When customers need help, make sure your team is up to the challenge. Make Things Easy and Convenient It’s also important for you to make things as easy and as convenient as possible for your customers in the software environment. If simple tasks are too difficult or convoluted, your customers won’t be happy. Have a Way to Get Feedback Another important way to keep your customers engaged is to have a way to get feedback that is incorporated into your software system. When there are questions or concerns, you want to make sure your customers are heard. Tie Business Practices Back to Customers With software subscription business models, every aspect of the company needs to be tied back to the customer. Your revenue is linked to creating a favorable experience for customers, so all product development, business management and financial departments need to be working toward the same customer satisfaction goal. Increase Employee Product Knowledge Keeping all employees updated with pertinent product knowledge is another useful way to keep your customers’ business. No matter what part of the company someone works for, everyone needs to know extensive knowledge about the most popular software offerings. Communicate With Different Teams Communication between departments is essential as well for best outcomes with customers. When customers are not happy with product quality, that information needs to be shared throughout the departments of your organization. Foster Community Within Your Product Having a designated place for software discussion or support online is a great way you can facilitate community among your various customers. When you provide this service, this shows optimum transparency and commitment to product improvement. Simulate the Customer Experience Knowing how things look through the customer’s eyes is an effective way to keep up with issues that may occasionally pop up. Be sure to run different simulations or tests that allow employees to get this experience. Take Effective Action When Needed No matter what is going on with your subscription software, you must know when it’s time to take action. Analyzing different issues as they come up can help you determine the appropriate course. Focus on Problem Solving Most of all, your company’s business model should stress problem solving. If subscription software becomes its own problem, you’ll lose your customer base. That’s why it’s important to create innovate solutions throughout the life of your organization. Maintaining customers and finding new ways to engage them with your subscription software can make a huge difference on the bottom line. Additionally, your company can continue to recruit new business while improving your routine practices. This blog was first published at LinkedIn

Implementing Quality Assurance Controls for Call Center Projects

If your Call Center already maintains an effective Quality Assurance (QA) program you have a leg up on other companies who do not invest in this resource. The best programs act not only as independent auditors of agent behaviors, they also provide valuable insight into the ‘how to’ of program or center improvement, including valuable Voice of the Customer feedback. When new projects are launched it is wise to spend some time planning how to incorporate this critical resource into the Project Implementation plan. Gather Requirements from Client You may find during the Discovery process as you gather requirements for the project from your client that there are particular deliverables required for a QA process. In the event that the client does not already use a QA process this would be your opportunity to introduce them to the concept, explain industry Best Practices and make recommendations about how to incorporate Quality Assurance as part of the overall Performance Management plan. Recommendations could range from the content of the Audit tools to White-Label configuration of the QA software. During this phase you can establish expectations and act as Trusted Advisor. Identify and Equip Personnel Dedicated to the Project QA personnel must be independent thinkers with attention to detail who can objectively score a call or chat with consistency. After being provided initial training on the subject matter and scoring forms, QA agents must also receive calibration including ongoing sessions so that all of the behaviors included in the Audit Tool are both defined and interpreted accurately. Effective calibration should result in variance of less than 5%. For new programs it is typical to arrange calibration sessions with your client to ensure that the team is correctly scoring all behaviors accurately. These sessions may result in additional or refined definition of the targeted behaviors. After the QA process is established and the personnel have been trained and calibrated, for ongoing program excellence you must also provide a mechanism to inspect auditor accuracy. This can typically be accomplished with an Audit the Auditor process, where senior or certified auditors are given the responsibility to sample the accuracy of the output of the QA agents. This step will ensure that high levels of accuracy are not only established but maintained and measured throughout the life of the program. Develop QA Audit Tools Once the process flow has been mapped, the specific behaviors which are critical to the success of each customer interaction must be identified, defined and weighted. The most typical rubric is to achieve a total possible score of 100% with higher values assigned to the most influential behaviors. With thought to the reporting throughputs which will be generated you may also consider creating logical groupings or sections with their component behaviors. For example, for an Outbound telemarketing project, you may wish to organize the scoring tool to mirror the desired selling behaviors such as Introduction, Needs Analysis, Product Presentation, Closing and Handling Objections. The subset of behaviors which could be included in the Introduction section might inquire whether the agent was ready for the call and whether the agent introduced themselves appropriately. Most audit tools would include a separate section for etiquette and language skills and a category of ‘auto-failure’ for any behaviors which are mandated by regulation or client requirement. Reporting Detail and Broad Trends As individual customer contacts are audited, a body of data will be created which can then be mined for purposed of targeted performance improvement initiatives. It is advisable to structure the reports which will be generated so that analysis may be made of individual agent behaviors, team performance, and broader segmentation if the project is located in multiple locations to target performance gaps. If the scoring tool has been segmented by groups of behaviors, the aggregated data will indicate which areas large groups of people may need additional training or coaching for. For example, if in the example above for the sales process, if each behavior section has been scored for the project in the 80 to 100 percentile except for Handling Objections, then the Operations Management and Training Departments can devise effective strategies to modify the training curriculum, provide ongoing training and target individual coaching sessions. Reports should be used to close loop the performance management process and should be an iterative process so that the tools accommodate the desired outcome. In addition to auditing critical behaviors, the QA process can and should also reveal insight into the Voice of the Customer. If significant numbers of customers complained of difficulty navigating a website, then that is critical feedback to report to the client and its programmers. VOC summaries will address issues outside the control of the individual contact center agent and identify both areas of opportunity and also those things which drive customer satisfaction. Monitoring and Improvement Once the initial implementation work has been completed, the longer term processes should include steps to seek constant improvement, both on the individual level and for the organization as a whole. A typical quality analysis over time will likely show that a few behaviors present a large majority of the quality failures. You should plan on identify each critical to success behavior and working on improvement plans until behavior levels are acceptable. Establishing a closed loop feedback process will become a critical part of the quality culture. QA: In House or Outsource? For some, the ability to develop a Quality Assurance department or program may not be cost effective or be may constrained by other considerations such as lack of software or scale. The qualified QA provider will supply the requisite software and personnel and a seamless consultative experience to those who find ground-up development too cost prohibitive to consider. Quality management can be the missing piece to move your brand ahead of the competition. Whether you create your own program or contract with a provider, Quality should always be integrated into all of your programs and will be in the long term, well worth the effort

The Emerging Role of Social Customer Care in Business

The month of April was action packed, and among the most memorable things I did, was taking part as a speaker at the PACE Convention & Expo. The focus of the convention was creating an effortless customer experience and the emerging role of social customer care in business. Customers need engagement throughout the product life cycle, from their research to purchase to consumption and even after consumption. Unlike before, whereby, you only needed to engage the customer before and during the purchase. Social customer care should be a big part of your marketing strategy because more and more customers are going to social media to seek for answers. This trend has gained popularity among consumers because, They do not have time to pick up the phone and ask the customer care representatives. They are not sure how long it will take you to respond to the online contact form. They are aware of the “onlooker effect” whereby the potential reach is broader than just the dialogue between the consumer and the company. They want value for their time and money. How then, can you engage your customers on social media? Be proactively reactive. This means that you respond in a timely, personal and relevant manner. Timely Consider these statistics: In Twitter, there are approximately 5,000 tweets every second. 30% of the users expect a response within 30 minutes. One in five brands say they “rarely” respond to customer complaints made via social media, yet consumers who use social media expect a response within an hour According to Sprinklr 38% of consumers, feel “negative” about a brand who fails to meet their expectations for a timely social media response. Consumers expect instant feedback from you. When you make them happy, they will make you happy too. If you do not respond immediately, you lose the opportunity to please a customer and many others that follow you. Personal Social Media provides the window to personalize your message. As a brand, you need to take advantage of the issues raised; the social media channel preference, location and influence of the customer. For example, when a customer asks a question on your twitter handle, you need to answer them in the same channel, use their name in your response, be sympathetic with them and their concern and most importantly, offer them an appropriate solution. When you do not personalize your response, it leads to channel irritation, which easily spreads to other customers. Relevant When a customer raises a question, it is up to you to remain relevant. Relevance to the customer means that you help solve the particular problem. However, relevance to your organization means leveraging the data for future use, aligning your responses to other marketing initiatives and remember, what you say reflects on your brand. For example, if a customer wants to know when the new products will be available in the stores, do not start telling them about the production process and the numerous unforeseen challenges that can come up. Be precise with your answer, give the tentative dates and promise to keep him or her updated on the progress. The task of managing all your social media platforms concurrently may sound like a daunting task and you may shy away from trying it. At first, it will overwhelm you a little, but with practice, it becomes easier by the day. You can also outsource this part of your customer service to experts in contact centers who will give you all rounded social customer care. In conclusion, we have looked at the role of social customer care in business, and the best way to engage consumers; being proactively reactive by providing timely, personal and relevant responses. Are you engaging your customers online? What are some of the tricks that you have tried and tested and worked wonders for your company? Feel free to share with us. This blog first publish on LinkedIN

Tips to Grow your Business through Direct Email

Direct email has taken a back seat with the increasing popularity of social media channels, but it still works and should be a channel to consider in your marketing plan. Some of the reasons cited as hindrances to using it include spam filters. I personally appreciate spam filters because they move the unwanted emails before I even see them, saving me time and protecting me from potentially harmful viruses. How can you leverage this strategy despite the above challenges and still grow your business? Here are tips for you to consider as you draft your email marketing strategy. 1. Determine Your Ideal Audience The first step is to define your target audience. You know what product you want to push and the people it will benefit the most. Write out their profile for you to narrow down the scope. If you are selling software, you can classify your audience into users, decision-makers, and sponsors. This is important to do because direct email marketing works best when you send professional, attractive and compelling ads to a smaller group of recipients that will be interested in the message. The person you choose to target must be in a position to influence the buying decision. You can start with the user or sponsor or the decision-maker, it all depends on the approach that works best for your product. 2. Use the Right Tools to Source for Contacts Because you will need contacts for your target audience, consider credible tools to gather this information. A wide variety of online tools exists such as LinkedIn or the target audience website under the team page. Remember to mention how you obtained their contact information in the email. 3. Write the Email Message You now have your contacts and are ready to start your marketing. Your next step is to draft your email message. Your message will make or break your results because how you communicate to your prospects will determine how they respond. A well-crafted message will make them appreciate the time and effort you spent to provide them with a solution for their business. Use an attention-grabbing subject line; this is what captures your audience’s attention. The title will make the person open the email immediately or trash it. The secret is to customize it, therefore, making it relevant to the person. Make sure it includes some reference to how they will benefit by collaborating with you. In your message body do not write unending stories. Remember that everybody has busy schedules and a long email will be dismissed immediately. When your targeted prospects are ready for more information, they will get in touch with you. Keep it simple and to the point. Do not forget to include a call to action clearly stating what you want from each person. Write a compelling call to action that is easy to respond to such as ‘click here for a free demo’. Make your email message interesting and worthwhile for the reader. 4. Test and Review Utilize technology to test how people are responding to your emails. Measure what matters most to your business: clicks, appointments bookings, or positive and negative replies. Test every part of the email message from the subject line to the call to action. These tips will help you think strategically about direct email marketing and can contribute enormously to your marketing mix. As you do all the above remember to offer something of value, the same way you would if you were meeting someone face to face.

Strengthen Your Brand with 3 Seamless Customer Experience Tips

Your brand has made a mark in the noisy market-place and every day you need to ensure you maintain that position. Whether you stand for integrity or innovative products, one key aspect that will help you keep that standing is a seamless customer experience. Customer experiences are not only limited to the retail space but also in the online space, and today’s consumer has more options than one could ever imagine possible. By a click of a button, they have walked out of your store, and into that of your competition. A seamless customer experience means that you are customer centric, and you fully develop all your channels. This makes it easier for customers to navigate to the information they need on whichever channel they prefer and still get the same brand experience across channels. Follow these three basic steps to improve your customer experience and elevate your brand relevance. Simplify the Buying Process : In the online retail space, simplicity is king. Once the customer is online, they want to view the products and with a click, make the purchase. However, when they have to scroll through several pages to make the purchase, they are frustrated and abandon the cart. According to a study carried out by American Express Survey, 78% of customers have bailed out on a transaction or not made an intended purchase because of poor customer experience. When customers are happy with the services they receive, they will tell others about it, and that increases your sales. However, when they are dissatisfied, they abandon your brand together with their friends. With a myriad of options available, the most hassle free and direct outlet wins. Efficiency : Efficiency goes beyond the service delivery to operating costs. When your team offers a flawless experience, they spend less time per client. They become so good at their duties because there is consistency in what they do. Leveraging technology also helps your entire organization to become efficient because the same standards are applied. Especially when you have an offline and online retail space, it increases your output while reducing your operating costs. Remember, to meet the high expectations of today’s empowered customer you need to improve your efficiency. Pleasing the Customer : Your organization exists to meet a particular customer need, and when that happens, the customers are satisfied. When you improve your services by offering a personalized and seamless experience, you leave your customers feeling special and valued, which leads to brand loyalty. Loyal customers are an asset to your company because they advocate for your brand to their friends and family. There is no better way of marketing yourself than through your satisfied customers, who willingly talk about you on their social media platforms. News of bad customer service reaches more than twice as many people as praise for an excellent service experience. Therefore, only superior experiences can grow your brand. In summary, the pendulum has shifted, and your consumers define your brand image based on their experiences. Do everything in your power to ensure that you offer superior experiences to your customers for a healthy brand. If you can provide a simple buying process, efficiency and make your customers feel valued, your company will have a good handle on the importance of seamless experiences to your brand.

Omni-Channel Communications Strategy

Omni channel is a harmonized operation model of serving customers, in which the company channels are aligned into a single face, along with one consistent way of doing business. The companies replace the many views of the customer they often hold today with one unified view of the customer across all the channels. It enables you to respond in a consistent way to the customer’s constantly growing needs. An Omni channel strategy involves giving a consistent and seamless experience via technology, customer service and the retail space. Your customers experience the same from all points. For example, a customer can purchase a product online and when he encounters a problem, can return it to the physical store for a replacement or repair with ease. An Omni channel strategy is most useful to communication service providers e.g. call centers that are facing intense competition fromother emerging companies. What spurred this dynamic transition? The customer has changed significantly; he is now more connected, his journey with you is now vibrant, nonstop and easily reached. Vibrant – this is powered by technology, customers no longer follow the traditional purchase model – of awareness, then consideration and evaluation and lastly purchase. Today’s customer checks around several online stores before making a purchase. Non-stop – the customer journey is continuous because the devices he uses i.e. mobile phones, tablets and computers are always on and can find the information they are looking for at all times. Easily reached – customers have access to information like never before. Many sources (articles, blogs post and websites) of this information are not in your control. What steps can you take to adjust to these changes? Your aim is to offer customers a consistent experience across all the channels, such that they feel like it is a continuation of a previous interaction from whichever channel they initiated the process. Leverage digital to gather insight You cannot make any meaningful changes without knowing what you are changing and how you are changing it. There is a huge data pull online that when utilized will generate the necessary insights, not forgetting what can be gathered from the physical channel. These insights drive your marketing efforts. Knowing your dynamic customer, gives you the basis of personalizing their experiences at their channel of choice while remaining relevant. Integrate the channels As stated above, Omni channel is about creating a single channel, your next step should be to integrate all your channels into one. The current multi channels operate independently with their own strategies, the physical store, the call center, the social media management team. Integration means that, if a customer wants to make a purchase or payment, they can do it from any channel without any challenges and they leave satisfied. They can go to the store, or through the e-commerce enabled website or by calling the call center. For example, when you run a promotion on your social media platform and website, customers should be able to enjoy the same in your retail space. They should not see the promotion still running online yet the products are out of stock. We understand that customer service is no longer a marketing function only; all departments that interact with customers offer it. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to integrate the new Omni channel approach across all the functions, from the technical team, sales and marketing team, the other staff and management. For example, when a customer speaks to an agent about a device problem he is experiencing, and the agent advises taking the device down to the service center, the customer shouldn’t go there and have to start explaining his problem all over again. A simple customer number should suffice. This integration offers the customer a seamless experience and he will be satisfied with the service. Leaders need to encourage faster and easier implementation of the Omni channel communications strategy. Integrate the business units In summary, Omni channel communication is the way to go because of the connected customer challenge, the same customer whose journey with you is vibrant, non-stop and easily accessed. Your role therefore, is to respond to the customer and offer a unified consistent experience that begins with you leveraging technology to gather insight and then integrating it across all business units and channels. This blog was first published on LinkedIN

How to Use Call Center Performance Metrics to Achieve Success

Call center managers are charged with a tough job, because supporting customers means constant revision to your process, so you move with their needs and deliver consistent quality. Understanding how your various KPI measurements work together to give you an idea about the balance of your services is an important first step to achieving success as a manager, and it is also the key to understanding when your call center is succeeding, so you avoid over-tweaking your process and overdoing change in the name of call center performance. Understanding the Four Metric Categories The four main areas of concern for call center managers are: Service Quality: Measuring service quality means looking at whether or not your call center meets customer needs efficiently, asking questions like: Do your employees have the knowledge and resources necessary to act decisively and solve problems? And how is customer feedback reflecting training efforts? Accessibility: These metrics allow you to track use of your self-service system, wait times, and call abandonment, and they tell you whether or not customers have a hard time actually reaching the point where service quality comes into question. Inaccessible systems tend to be rated more lowly on service quality, too, even when actual call center performance at problem solving is quite excellent, because accessibility issues affect the customer’s perception of the entire process afterward. Operational Efficiency: Metrics that cover call wrap-up time, forecasting accuracy, the average handling time for each call, and your employees’ adherence to their schedules are all designed to ensure that high quality, accessible work is also efficient enough to handle the call load your center receives. Cost: Last but not least, cost considerations ensure you operate within budget by measuring cost per call, agent attrition, and absenteeism to give you a full picture of your call center’s effectiveness. Balancing the Metrics Knowing what categories to measure and which KPIs are most important in each category is just the first step. To achieve the best possible call center performance, managers also need to understand how to balance the metrics, to achieve success in every area. Otherwise, cost effective and efficient call centers may still be hampered by training issues or accessibility problems that reduce their overall performance, and similarly, the best and most accessible service is unsustainable if costs are too high. The issue is more complex than that, though, because some areas affect others in direct ways. For example inefficient but high-quality service typically means long wait times and less calls processed. This creates a situation where accessibility goes down even as service goes up, and the long run, that can lead to service quality measurement declines as customers who have been kept waiting remain dissatisfied and stressed even after receiving the service they desired. The goal, then, has to be achieving success in all four areas without focusing too intently on one, unless that one happens to be lagging behind. Training efforts and organizational restructuring, as well as the investment in new resources, needs to be balanced to address the needs of all four categories at once, as well. That allows for better overall call center performance, and, more importantly, the kind of success that is sustainable into the future.

How HR Can Add Value to Customer Experience Excellence

Customer experience is no longer a function of the customer representatives’ only or customer-facing employees only, but the entire organization participates in ensuring customers experience high satisfaction levels. They all act in different capacities that lead to superior customer experiences. Human resource department is the force behind employee engagement with the blessing and guidance of the top management. When the senior management sees the employees for who they are – internal customers- they will do what it takes to ensure they are motivated, engaged, valued, appreciated and satisfied. We know that an engaged employee will perform at optimum and thus provide excellent services. The above statement is a generalization; let us get down to the specific actions that the Human Resources department can undertake to add value to the customer experience. Have a Dual Vision For the human resource department to be efficient, they need to align their strategy to external customer engagement strategy. They do this by first understanding customer expectations and employee behaviors that will help meet those expectations. A dual vision will help them set clear objectives, and strategies to achieve them. When the HR takes care of the employees with the customers in mind, they will have a greater impact on the service delivery process. That customer driven strategy will contribute to the overall success of the organization in customer service excellence. Be Approachable and Available Just like an organization positions itself to be readily available to customers with positive or negative feedback, so should you to your “customers”. The only way to understand the employees is to have a dialogue with them. When you keep your doors open for constructive conversations, you will influence the employee behaviors. Think about how easy it is for them to do business with you; are you putting into practice what you are teaching them regarding their behavior towards customers? Is it easy to get in touch with you? Do you give them timely feedback? Do you have channels that your customers can reach you when and how they choose? These questions will guide you in developing a customer focused strategy, as well as know the best channels to communicate with your staff. Recruit Meticulously A core responsibility of human resource is staff hiring. However, to add value to the customer experience excellence, you need to hire differently. For instance, you can focus on recruiting staff that have the right attitude more than the skills. Reason being, you can train on the skills but not attitude. When you have the right team from the onset, with the right attitude towards customer service, then you are on the road to excellence. Facilitate cross-functional collaboration All departments need to work as one because a customer looks at the company as one entity, not units. The human resource department promotes partnerships between the other units. If there is no unity and a process of handling customers, it affects the quality of services delivered. For example, if the representative needs technical support to resolve a customer’s grievance, but the technical team takes too long to respond to the escalated issue, then only the HR manager can mitigate that problem. He or she will open lines of communications and instill the need for all departments to collaborate for the benefit of the organization. At times, they organize team-building activities that encourage cohesion among the staff. In summary, the human resource department play a crucial role in customer experience excellence. It is all about people when HR takes care of the internal customers and by default, the excellence flows to the external customers. This blog was first published on LinkedIN

Placing the Right Agents on the Right Campaign

As the marketing manager, you have spent a considerable amount of time drafting and planning your next marketing campaign, it is now ready to go. What is your next step? You sit down with your colleague at the contact center to break down the brief. One lingering question on your mind is “will this yield my desired results?” The determining factor in your results is the type of agents assigned to your campaign. Here is a list of the key areas of the importance we consider when placing the right agents for your unique campaign. 1. Key Competencies How competent an agent is directly affects their job performance because this reflects their level of knowledge, skills, and ability to handle the campaign. Do they have knowledge of the company’s offerings? How proficient are they with the contact center tools? What outstanding skills do they have? How capable are they of handling different types of customers? For example, you work for a large clothing Retail Company and you’re running a “get a 20% discount on every referral” campaign. The key competency this sales agent must have is the ability to convince the customer to buy and refer someone. On the other hand, a key competency of a service agent is excellent customer experience and the ability to actively listen to what the customer is saying. The aim is to have agents with the right competencies to achieve your campaign objectives with ease. Without competent agents, the campaign is as good as dead and a waste of valuable resources. 2. Personality type Personality is something that is unique to each and every one of us. Finding the right combination and fit for each campaign is something that has to be done for each campaign the contact center takes on. Some individuals are may have more people skills, while others result/numbers oriented. An agent’s personality type plays a huge role in how effective they will be at a particular campaign. For example, the way a people-oriented agent will handle customer objections is different from the way a numbers-oriented one will. The first agent will go the extra mile to see that the customer’s issue is resolved and that the customer is fully satisfied; the second agent will naturally count that as a lost sale and move on to the next contact. Personality type also shapes the agent’s internal attitudes towards their roles. A positive attitude is vital when it comes to having a successful agent. Finding and hiring agents that have that contagiously positive attitude will not only help that agent succeed, but it could also play a helping hand in the entire campaign’s performance. Agents are very aware of the overall mood and environment on the campaign floor so having that extra boost that a single agent can generate can truly make a difference, not only for the agents on the floor but also for the customers on the other end of the interaction. The important thing is to uncover the agent’s personalities during the hiring process and place them in the right department where they will thrive and exceed performance expectations. 3. Motivational fit Personal motivators vary from one person to the other but they generally follow Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and can be summarized in three categories. Personal interest: Does the company offer what the person wants in order to achieve their career objectives? For example, if a person has loved working in a high-energy, fast-paced outbound call center, will they enjoy working in an inbound center? Job fit: Do the job roles and responsibilities motivate the person? Is there enough room to be creative in their delivery? Does the working relationship with the immediate boss, hinder or encourage excellent delivery? Is the work environment helpful? Culture fit: Does the culture of the company and contact center equal the individual’s priorities and interests? This includes the type of people who work there, how the center management leads, company values, and company commitment to employee development and training. In conclusion, the above considerations; competencies, personality, and motivational fit are all related in various ways. However, an established contact center comes in handy because we are able to give you the right people who will guarantee results. Having the right people in the right position at the right time is critical to the success of your campaign. This blog was first published on Linkedin

4 Extreme Leadership Success Tips

A majority of people aspire to be leaders and every leader aspires to be successful, but it is not always a smooth ride to the top. At times you will experience success beyond your wildest dreams, and at other times you will encounter challenges that will make you want to quit. The highs and lows of business may call for extreme leadership. Extreme leadership is synonymous to extreme sport. Extreme sports are activities perceived to have a high level of inherent danger. These activities involve speed, height, an elevated level of physical exertion and specialized gear. Steve Farber explains extreme leadership as the dynamic interplay of fear and love –two of the most powerful experiences in human nature. Embracing extreme leadership can be easy if you follow these tips. Put on Your Specialized Gear Any player knows that a key rule of the game is to have the right equipment. For example, if you were a snowboarder, would you go without your snowboards? Whether you are just practicing for a competition or doing it for leisure, you need your snowboards to enjoy the activity. The same applies to leadership, your first step is to be equipped for the job, and you should have the right set of equipment. Set up the systems you need to run and manage your business effectively. Be selective in your purchases especially of technological equipments, so that they meet the needs of the business and its customers, giving you a competitive edge in the crowded marketplace. With the right gear you are able to handle challenges that come your way with ease. Focus on Where You Are Going You cannot hit what you cannot see. Focusing on your long-term goal will help you reach your destination faster. However, when you are distracted by what is happening on the sideline and questioning your every move, you will take too long to achieve your objectives or not achieve them at all. If you need to adjust your goals, do that only after aligning them to your customers’ journey. Utilize the insights you gather from the big data analysis. Other than understanding your customers’ needs and wants, you will also know what is dragging you down. Focus gives you discipline and tenacity to keep moving forward. Be Ready to Speed You need speed to win. Think about rafting; the waves come in different magnitudes and they do not wait for you to get ready. If you are not ready, you will fall. When you are prepared to steer with confidence and speed, and think 10 steps ahead of your competition, you will come out on top. Being ready helps you to maintain momentum even when things get tough. However, to make your journey less bumpy, ensure you gather all necessary information to take action. Business is changing at a faster rate than ever before, and you need to adapt with ease and speed to be successful. Be Confident Your confidence determines how far you go. If fear of the unknown overpowers your love for what you do, you will definitely not be able to stay afloat on the big waves. Your love for the “sport” gives you the foundation for your confidence and insights from Big Data build it to greater heights. Confidence is also about believing in you. You should wake up every morning with energy to face what comes your way. Extreme leadership is a necessity for every leader to excel and succeed in the aggressively competitive market. You do not have to be loud to be extreme, just be strategic. When you put on your specialized gear, focus on where you are going, be ready to speed and maintain confidence, you are on the right track.

Improve the Omnichannel Experience; Reduce Customer Effort

Loyal customers are an asset to an organization, and the secret weapon to win them is offering superior customer experiences. When you focus on how customers feel about the services they expect and receive, you will meet their needs and give them the great experiences they are looking for. The key to any experience can be measured by customer effort. Customer effort is the amount of effort a customer has to put in to resolve his or her request. When customers do not expend a lot of energy and effort in receiving a service, they are more satisfied. Of course the opposite is also true. Customers become increasingly more dissatisfied with your services if they have to go through a lot of trouble to receive it. We’ve all been on both ends of this spectrum. Put yourself in their shoes. What type of service do you prefer? You interact with your customers on various channels, and these channels provide an opportunity to reduce customer effort. Some customers will start a conversation on Twitter and follow it up with a phone call. Do you handle each channel as an independent point of contact? Alternatively, do you integrate them to offer a seamless experience? If you want happy customers then you must provide that seamless experience- The Omnichannel experience. Omnichannel is about utilizing your multiple channels to be readily available when and how customers want to interact with your organization. For the customer, however, the same standards of service across the board is critical. A consistent, seamless experience makes the customer feel like they are carrying on with a conversation despite the channel they started it; he or she does not have to start from scratch every time they interact with you. Customer experience has an inverse relationship with customer effort: when it increases the other decreases. Therefore, it is essential to keep improving those experiences with every interaction in order to brand your business as one that is able to provide the Omnichannel experience effortlessly, time and time again. Here are a few tips on how you can improve Omnichannel experience and reduce customer effort. Senior Management Commitment The journey starts with the executives. An Omnichannel experience requires an entire organizational transformation. When the leadership initiates it, the rest of the company will adopt it. With the company vision in mind executives are in a good position to tell how the organization is doing, whether they are heading in the right direction, and the pace at which they are getting there. To change the way the entire organization handles customers requires more than sitting down to draft the strategies; it needs a complete commitment to the process. It should be a priority and necessary resources should be set aside to facilitate the implementation of an Omnichannel experience strategy. Break down Barriers All departments take part in delivering customer service in one way or the other, and how they approach it affects the results. When units support each other, share information promptly, and talk to each other to get solutions, you create a team dynamic focused on the implementation of a seamless experience. Not all organizations enjoy this. Some corporate cultures have built barriers between departments over the years. You should work at breaking these barriers down by making them understand their role and impact in the customer satisfaction journey. Create an open communication and transparent culture where each department feels comfortable to provide constructive dialogue with reducing customer effort in mind. If you can’t provide that reduction within your own organization, it will be almost impossible to provide it outside of it. Leverage Technology Once Senior management is on board and departments understand their roles and responsibility in the customer’s journey, it is time to leverage technology for efficient information sharing. You need to put an infrastructure in place to capture data, analyze, centralize it, and send it to the right people at the right time. The communications department, led by the CIO, should prioritize data analysis and information sharing. Another important thing to do is ensure that when the data gets to the final users they can understand it and take action. Leverage available technology for a consistent and seamless service delivery. Improving your Omnichannel experience is a continuous process that you have to be deliberate and dedicated to doing. When there is a commitment from senior management, no barriers between departments and you leverage technology, you will effortlessly offer a seamless service. It starts with the organization and spreads to the customer. Customers will receive the same excellent service at whatever channel they contact you on, and reduce their effort throughout the experience. After all, we should be willing to do what is necessary to provide the same service we ourselves are wanting whenever we are on the end of the customer experience. This blog was written by David Carrizales, Assistant Vice President for Etech Global Services.

Integrated Customer Engagement

Technology is changing every day and only getting better, and what’s amazing is how people are taking advantage of these new tools. Businesses are now handling transactions online and consumers like it. If you have never tried chat for your customer service or sales, you may want to consider it as a viable option, especially if you are like me and are too busy to wait on hold for endless hours. With chat you can help your customers at any time and just about any place. Now if you are a forward thinker and like to be on the cutting edge, your company should also be looking into Twitter as a viable option to help consumers. Some companies have a twitter handle, yet only use it for pushing content out which is one direction and not as much value to a consumer who has a problem. Some companies have gone a step ahead to employ people whose work is to respond to posts that are made on the website of the company as well as the social media pages such as Facebook and Twitter. Recent statistics show that Twitter is becoming more popular by consumers who want help or have something to say. As an experienced business person, it would be a good choice if you have not already, to establish a twitter customer care solution where the customers can be engaged on their preferred channel. If a customer has a question they can ask questions and get responses in real time. It is important to note that communication should be conversational with the brand and that no question can go unanswered. Chat customer service is also important as it also helps to improve the extent to which you serve you customers. Make sure that the one using the chat to communicate with the customers is good at chat etiquette to avoid losing customers. Chat etiquette is where one is able to deliver messages in a polite manner and avoid using tone that can raise issues from the customers. This blog was first published on LinkedIN

10 Best Qualities Adopted by High Performing Employees

Every organization strives to have the most qualified individuals on the team. With proper training and hiring of those who would make an efficient employee, you can reach this important goal to help your company be more effective with employee performance. Etech Global Services can offer your organization ways to measure employee qualities with some of the most complete call center quality assurance programs. Here are some things to look for when hiring valued employees. Listen Thoroughly to Issues Great employees are good listeners. These individuals take the time to listen to customer issues, feedback from supervisors and other pieces of information, so they can do their job better. Maintain a Positive Outlook High performing employees are also much more positive than usual. No matter what setbacks may occur, you can count on a top employee to maintain this positivity and to help motivate other members of the team. Able to Meet Challenges Additionally, your best employees are able to meet challenges. In fact, these individuals may often look forward to challenges. You can take advantage of this by using motivational contests between employees to help boost performance. Excel at Time Management Time management is another key factor for success in the workplace, and the most successful people can meet deadlines and complete all of their responsibilities. Top performing people are able to accurately adjust their schedule in order to get everything done on time and with the best approach. Demonstrate Company Commitment Next, the top performers in your company also demonstrate a commitment to your organization. They are typically loyal and devoted to your business’ mission and values. Focus on Developing More Personal growth is another big part of what makes a successful employee work so well. These employees are always on the lookout for ways to increase their skillset and knowledge of a specific topic, which helps them become even better at their job. Adjust Performance Constantly Along with personal development, your most prized staff may also be working to adjust their performance in their work at all times. They often combine feedback and new knowledge and come up with even better strategies of succeeding in their tasks. Reach Company Goals The best employees at a company are the most likely candidates to consistently reach company goals. These workers make it a point to contribute the most to your business’ productivity. Take Responsibility for Actions Additionally, top performing workers are able to own up to their actions and accept when they’ve made a mistake. Usually, after a misstep happens, they don’t linger on the problem, but instead, look for new solutions. Utilize Effective Routines Lastly, the most successful people in your organization may already have an effective routine or strategy of their own. Beyond company training, these people use methods in their own life and tasks that help them get ahead and stand out among everyone else at the top. Finding the best people to join your team can be challenging, but there are countless numbers of benefits when you hire top performers. When you carefully pay attention to specific qualities during hiring, training and quality assurance monitoring, you can help bring out the best in the performance of your employees.

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