People have short patience. No one likes to wait in a phone queue, be put on hold, get a busy tone or having to repeat their customer number over and over again when calling a company. So, what can we do to avoid all this? Here are our best tips to get the happiest customers over the entire Nordic region. It all starts with cloud based telephony!
Cloud based telephony for better communication
Whenever someone is calling a company, they only have one thing in mind: to get help. Today, the demands for fast communication are higher than ever – people want to reach the right person and have their issue solved immediately, preferably right in the first call. Today, cloud based telephony is the primary solution to meet these needs. Here are four important things to help you nail your communication with the customers.
1. Be aware of customer expectations
Depending on who the customer is trying to reach when calling your company, expectations can vary a lot. There is a big difference between calling a function and calling a person directly.
When the customer calls a function...
… support, customer service or invoice management, for example, they want immediate response. These kind of company functions are always manned during specific opening hours, and the customer expects to get a similar and clear answer to their questions, regardless of who they’re talking to. For this, the function or department has to have common routines and a good overview of each other, in order to meet the customer's needs or forward the call to the right colleague in a neighbouring country.
When the customer is calling a person, on the other hand...
… the rules are completely reversed. An individual has no “opening hours”, when the customer expects them to answer their phone. Although most employees’ working days may be from 8-17, there is much greater acceptance for flexibility. The important thing, however, is an explanation to why a person cannot be reached right now. An IVR system (voicemail) where each employee can record their personal voice messages and set smart references will do the trick!
2. Take care of the caller – every second is precious
With consistently high customer expectations, it becomes necessary for companies to have full control over their PBX system – including all employees answering the phone. Only 10-15 years ago, it was not uncommon to hear a friend mutter about their waiting in a telephone queue for two hours. Today, you get sick of waiting after only two minutes!
Customers today are no strangers to switching suppliers in a heartbeat, or completely reject a company that provides poor service. You only get one chance! Therefore, it’s important to take good care of each call and value customer relationships carefully. With cloud based telephony and a supportive platform, this is easier than you think.
Today, there are automatic functions where the PBX can easily direct calls based on employees' unique skills or language skills, for example. Everything that can help minimise the number of steps or reduce friction is important – since customers are getting more impatient by the second.
3. Cloud based telephony puts safety first!
A happy customer doesn’t mean a thing if you don’t actually know who you are talking to. Today, many companies have developed a policy where it’s extremely important to know who’s at the other end of the call. Because of the GDPR, it is crucial for companies to not leak personal data to the wrong person. There’s fraud everywhere, and that’s why you need to create a secure and safe environment for the customer. Some cloud based telephony solutions, including Telavox, have integrated e-identification tools like BankID directly into the system. This means that the customer can confirm their identity right within the call if they need help with something where login information is required, for example. Safety for everyone!
4. Help each other across national borders
A flexible and cloud based telephony and PBX also enables every employee to strengthen the customer experience – no matter what role you have. When you have a unified PBX system across all offices throughout the Nordic region, every colleague is just as easily available as if they were sitting across the room. Even if you are the only person with a certain role in Sweden, you can quickly get help from someone with similar tasks in Norway, and thus solve a tough case faster. You can also easily transfer the call to another colleague if you need to jump into a meeting, for example – since all information is stored in your shared system.
At the same time, it becomes easier for managers to quickly utilise employees in several countries. If the customer service department in Norway is going away on a conference, for example, it’s easy to have some employees from the Swedish office filling in during the absence – without even having to leave their desks.
Compare results for better insights
People are usually also encouraged by numbers and comparing statistics between countries. Measuring the results of similar departments is a great feature with a unified system. It’s also very valuable to be able to share knowledge and insights between teams, in order to implement new, working methods across multiple offices.
