Profit from Technology Newsletter 05  
 
 
 

This technology is not for you!

Contact Centre hardware and software is for Call Centres......isn't it?
Go on

Dear [[firstname]],

Welcome to Issue 05 of Profit from Technology.

Your business may be part of your family and part of your life, but it is not a child! It is an entity that needs to be fed new business to survive. As the entity thrives so do you. As a result, we all know that businesses want to maintain a competitive edge and keep their names at the forefront of their customers minds. Whilst advertising on T.V. is out of reach for many companies, it's easy to understand why a call Centre would be required to answer inbound calls if an advert had just flashed up on a television screen.

But what about us normal business people! How do we become as effective, without the £'000's price tag or attaining the mind controlling powers of a Jedi knight?

Best Regards, Nigel Maine

A bit of perspective...

Let's face it, no one likes the thought of call Centres. Rows of people, rows of desks and rows of dialogue. Call Centres can conjure up quite a negative impression of a working environment as well as the perception that these "Centres" only relate to financial services or teleshopping.

Whats more, most businesses are not interested in the technology because they think it's not relevant to their business - but they're wrong!

Telecoms manufacturers have created new methods of "contactability" which benefit all areas of customer activity. These areas include calls in, calls out (obviously, but the difference is in the detail) but also encompass, emails, web activity, sms, chat and even fax (but it's not as popular nowadays). All activities are being viewed with equal importance.

 

Is a telephone enquiry more important than an email enquiry?

What was once the preserve of the Call Centre industry and Internet savvy business has now become available to everyone with a price to match. Let's face it, it's only software!

This technology enables a business to incorporate all forms of communication and apply a bespoke level of importance as to how and when the customer is responded to.

The simplest analogy is that of a funnel; as the various "contacts" with your customers flows in, your staff handle each enquiry in the priority you choose on th eway out!

Consider this; How can your customers be "King" if you can't see them, let alone prioritise them.

Psychology of seven touches; OUTBOUND

Many people are aware that on average, it takes a potential customer to experience seven exposures to your marketing efforts before something can happen, i.e. they register your existence.

How many of these activities do you carry out;

::Emails
::Letters
::Mailshots
::Phone Calls
::Brochures
::Newsletters
::Directories
::Advertising
::Seminars
::Networking
::Exhibitions

How do you ensure your company is prepared for a customer to contact you afer you have invested so much in contacting them?

For more information, click on the links below.

The Telephone System



Before I go any further, it's important to be aware that most telephone systems will allow connection of computers which run contact Centre software. If you are unsure, please contact us and firstly we will be able to tell you whether or not you can and secondly how this is achieved.

Take a minute to think about this; if we all have 24 hours in a day and all businesses are equal when it comes to genertating new business, why are some companies better at it than others?

A great deal of functionality can be achieved from your existing telephone system, however, much depends on the creativity of your current supplier. But don't forget, they're not respopnsible for poor sales figures or poor performance.

 

Chicken or the egg!

As the saying goes, running a business without advertising or marketing is like a man winking at a girl in the dark, he knows what he's doing, but the girl doesn't!

So the chicken and egg comes in to play. If you're not making the marketing effort in whichever guise you deem fit, then this technology is not for you - rather, it would be a waste of time, effort and money. The problem is, not many sales companies ask you what amount of investment goes in to your annual budget for attracting new business.

It's about cheques and balances. If your staff have their noses to the grind-stone every day of the week, how can you be assured that the structure you have can accomodate their efforts.

For more information click here

  

Where to start looking

Avaya Contact Centers 4 Dummies Download

A good place to start is the next page, but also, a book has been published by Avaya which is very helpful, especially if you're begining to think that this may be a sensible area to focus on.

The "art" is being able to interpret the technology and features and put them in to a constructive method of operation for your business.

It still boils down to the fact that a business must first be aware that the technology exists before it can have an affect their operations.

Reading this book will help.

If you have any technology queries at all, why post them via our weblog, simply click here.