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Secrets To Contact Center Success

Business & Economics Podcasts

Bringing you the latest and greatest tips from the best and brightest minds in the call center and contact center industry. We discuss topics including hiring, training, sales, productivity, customer experience (CX) and much more. Brought to you by BravaTrak. Our Sales Leadership System enables contact centres to increase revenue and achieve their sales growth targets. All by measuring and improving the sales leadership capability of your Team Leaders. This is YOUR show. Send me an email at blairs@bravatrak.com about what you’d like covered, who you’d like to star on the show, and how it can be improved.

Location:

United States

Description:

Bringing you the latest and greatest tips from the best and brightest minds in the call center and contact center industry. We discuss topics including hiring, training, sales, productivity, customer experience (CX) and much more. Brought to you by BravaTrak. Our Sales Leadership System enables contact centres to increase revenue and achieve their sales growth targets. All by measuring and improving the sales leadership capability of your Team Leaders. This is YOUR show. Send me an email at blairs@bravatrak.com about what you’d like covered, who you’d like to star on the show, and how it can be improved.

Language:

English


Episodes
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How We Transformed Customer Care at Spark with Digital Adoption - with Dan Cooper

12/20/2021
Dan Cooper is the Head of Digital at Spark NZ. He’s been working in the contact centre industry since the late 90s. Over the past few years, Dan’s lead the transformation of Spark’s customer care with digital adoption. Today, he shares the details of Spark’s digital adoption journey, the mistakes they made along the way, and their exciting next steps. All so you can shortcut your organisation’s digital adoption journey. Over the past few years, the approach Dan discusses has lead to significant improvements in Spark’s customer interaction NPS score and their employee NPS score. As well as a 45% reduction in human assisted interactions. You'll Learn: How Spark now starts all of their initiatives, instead of the common practice approach of starting with a commercial assessment (02:43). Dan’s core philosophy regarding improving customer experience (03:04). What was wrong with the KPIs the contact centres had in place when Dan arrived (which might be true of your KPIs too), and what he did about it (03:20). The complete flip that Dan made with regards to customer journeys, which has allowed Spark to be more successful (04:26). The proactive approach Spark now takes, to reduce the problems customers experience (04:40). The management restructure that was done in the contact centre, which has been crucial to streamlining contact centre operations (05:32). The continuous improvement approach Spark takes to reduce customer friction (06:21). Why their first attempt to transition customers to use self-service options failed, and the successful approach that followed (08:29). Which digital initiative Spark has launched in the last 12 months, which is going gangbusters (15:15). The changes that Spark are are making to their internal systems, which will dramatically reduce the time taken to bring new hires up to speed (16:28). The ‘unified front line’ approach that Spark is about to embark on, which will enable frontline team members to flow to wherever the customer needs them to be (18:03). The subtle changes they made to the contact centre KPIs, which has resonated extremely well with staff (23:09). A summary of Dan’s advice for contact centre leaders who are deciding to go down the digital adoption route (28:48). See the full show notes. Connect with Dan on LinkedIn. Follow me on LinkedIn.

Duration:00:30:01

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Secrets to Customer Support Success - with John Kelly and Jessica Voss

12/13/2021
John Kelly is the Chief Revenue Officer at SupportLogic, while Jessica Voss is responsible for Enterprise Sales. They have over 50 years’ experience between them in the tech side of contact centres and support services, and keep abreast of the latest trends. They know exactly what technology is needed to reduce escalations, customer churn, operational expenses, and lift customer satisfaction. Today, they share their secrets to customer support success. You'll Learn: How to predict escalations and prevent them ahead of time (02:43). The goldmine of information you have sitting in your contact centres, which is probably going untapped (04:33). How to optimally prioritise the order in which tickets and cases are handled (08:21). A nightmare example of what can happen when you leave it up to agents to escalate support cases (08:57). How escalation prediction can reduce escalations and customer churn, while improving CSAT, NPS and employee retention (13:00). How to get a far more accurate gauge of customer satisfaction, when your CSAT survey response rate is probably 15% or less (16:40). Why customer satisfaction is dead (19:34). See the full show notes Get your free ‘support whisperer’ shirt from Jessica, by emailing her at jessica@supportlogic.com Connect with John and Jessica on LinkedIn. Follow me on LinkedIn.

Duration:00:21:54

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Discover a Supportive Performance Management Approach, Which Helps Your People Reach Their Potential - with Justin Baty

12/1/2021
Justin Baty is the Auckland Cars Regional Manager at Turners Auto Retail. With 9 years’ experience in the business, he’s seen firsthand how the company’s supportive performance management process is highly effective at getting people back on-track and reaching their full potential. Today, he shares what it is. You'll Learn: The details of the Performance Improvement Plan which Turners puts people on to support them to reach their potential, which you can swipe and deploy (02:31). How managers structure their catch-ups, to ensure their team stay on track (02:55). How team members can get daily coaching, in real-time (04:11). The stunning success rate of the Performance Improvement Plans (05:18). Just how quickly individual performance turns around with this approach, and how it motivates the rest of the team as well (06:21). How this approach can be applied across the entirety of your business, including management (08:25). See the full show notes Connect with Justin on LinkedIn. Follow me on LinkedIn, or connect with me on Facebook.

Duration:00:09:42

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How the Next Generation of Conversational AI Can Revolutionise your Contact Centre - with David Stone

11/22/2021
David Stone is a Senior Vice President at the conversational AI startup, Curious AI. With 30 years’ experience in the call centre industry, he’s spent his career working both in contact centre, for outsourcers, and for industry vendors. Over the past 10 years, he’s seen the evolution of AI in contact centres. Today, he shares how the next generation of conversational AI can revolutionise your centres. You'll Learn: How David gets asked all the time by senior and CX leaders how their centres can take less calls from customers, and his unexpected answer (02:01). The way conversational AI can be a bridge from your voice to your digital solution, at a lower price, and deliver better customer experience than an agent (03:11). The 3Ps of this new wave of conversational AI, that allows for powerful customer conversations at scale (03:41). Why traditional ‘conversational AI’ is neither conversational, nor overly intelligent, and why the next generation of the technology is vastly different (04:26). How this next generation of the technology can be deployed within 10 days as opposed to months like traditional conversational AI, at a 10th of the cost (05:57). Dave’s mantra for which companies will win in the digital age, and how you can join the winning side (08:21). How you can tell when customers are likely to need to call your centre and proactively reach out to them, instead of needing to be able to take voice calls (08:48). How conversational AI helps agents be even better, and will never fully replace their role (11:00). How Curious Thing was able to able to deploy a solution for a government agency in Australia in 4 days, to make 1.5 million personalised calls (15:19). How conversational AI is able to drive a constant loop of innovation, helping you gain better customer insights, and provide more value to them (17:07). Full show notes Connect with David on LinkedIn. Follow me on LinkedIn, or connect with me on Facebook.

Duration:00:21:10

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A Smarter Way to Improve Your Organisation’s Customer Service and Experience - with Alex Mead

11/14/2021
Alex Mead is the Chief Customer Service Experience Director at a start-up digital bank in Bahrain. With 20 years experience in this role at organisations across multiple industries, Alex has discovered many organisations have got fundamental parts missing from their customer experience equation, leading to poor outcomes for customers. He’s developed a framework in response, which when implemented, is the secret to customer service success. Today, he shares what it is. You'll Learn: The industry change that happened more than a decade ago which has compromised customer service experience ever since (01:29). The 2 very separate parts of customer experience which have been forgotten (02:40). The outdated view that many leaders have of customer service (04:22). What Alex’s ‘EPIC’ framework stands for, which includes what organisations should always provide to customers in their service experience, but is commonly missing (05:24). What your agents require to deliver on the needs of customers, which is summarised by Alex’s ‘TIME’ framework (07:58). Why customer effort is king when it comes to world-class customer service (09:47). What Alex is putting in place in his current role, to ensure it’s seamless for customers to move from self-service to talking with an agent (11:31). Why most chat bots aren’t providing the level of customer service they could, and what to do about it (12:45). The one (controversial) thing Alex recommends organisations do to improve the customer service experience they provide (13:20). Full show notes Connect with Alex on LinkedIn. Follow me on LinkedIn, or connect with me on Facebook.

Duration:00:15:15

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How to Increase Customer Loyalty by Reducing Customer Effort - with Gabriel Mendez

11/8/2021
Gabriel Mendez is an auditor and senior consultant in customer experience processes and technology applications. Based in Mexico City, Gabriel has decades of experience in contact centre data and voice technology, and has been a judge for industry awards in Mexico and Colombia. Today, he shares how to increase customer loyalty by reducing customer effort. You'll Learn: The 3 key metrics you need in place to measure and track customer experience (04:00). How customer effort is the biggest determinant of customer loyalty, repurchasing and spending you can measure (04:59). The common reasons why customer effort is higher than it should be (07:17). Why many IVRs don’t create as much value as they could for customers (10:26). Technologies which can reduce customer effort, and the common pitfalls when deploying them (13:02). Why Customer Effort Score should replace NPS as your primary customer experience measure (15:52). See the full show notes Connect with Gabriel on LinkedIn. Follow me on LinkedIn, or connect with me on Facebook.

Duration:00:18:10

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Tips on How to Modernise Your Reporting, To Empower Managers to Make Better Decisions - with Immanuel Joseph

11/1/2021
Immanuel Joseph is the Reporting Manager at Allianz Australia. With a master’s degree in IT, Immanuel has worked in the Allianz contact centre for the past 4 years to modernise their reporting. Today, he shares tips from the journey Allianz has been on to modernise their reporting, so you can do the same, and empower Centre Managers and Team Leaders to make better decisions. You'll Learn: 3 critical problems with using Excel for reporting (01:34). The 2 key steps Immanuel took to migrate reporting to being live and online, which reduced costs and increased buy-in from managers (04:39). The way the contact centre has created a scalable framework so they can produce any number of reports with the same ease (08:15). Why having people with an IT background in your contact centre can save your centre money, and solve your problems quicker (10:49). Tips on a better approach for using Excel for reporting (12:05). See the full show notes. Connect with Immanuel on LinkedIn. Follow me on LinkedIn, or connect with me on Facebook.

Duration:00:14:06

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How We Maintain a Positive Work Culture Through Values, and Changes We Made as a Result of Lockdown - with Stephanie Riordan-Edmonds

10/25/2021
Stephanie Riordan-Edmonds is the Head of Customer Service at Southern Cross Health Society. She’s been in the contact centre industry since the mid 90’s, and loves making a difference to customers and her people. Today, she shares they maintain a positive work culture through values at Southern Cross, and changes they’ve made as a result of lockdown. You'll Learn: The 4 things Stephanie did when she first started as Head of Customer Service (02:05). The 5 functions of a team, which formed the basis of a workshop Stephanie ran to foster trust and a positive culture (02:36). The 2 common areas her Team Leaders realised they needed to take action in (03:23). The 5 things Southern Cross has done to help the health and wellbeing of staff in the Covid lockdowns (04:09). One of the aspects of Friday standups which people find really motivating (05:29). The 5 ways they embed the organisation’s values at Southern Cross (07:26). The 4 steps Stephanie suggests Senior Leaders can take to improve the psychological safety and engagement of their people (09:47). See the full show notes Connect with Stephanie on LinkedIn. Follow me on LinkedIn, or connect with me on Facebook.

Duration:00:11:23

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How to Create Amazing Team Leaders - with Marc Carriere

10/20/2021
Marc Carriere is the creator of the 7 Pillars for Creating Amazing Team Leaders course. With 35 years’ international experience in the contact centre industry, Marc has managed contact centes, owned one, won industry awards, and consulted with businesses, coaching and mentoring their Contact Centre Managers and Team Leaders. Today, he shares how to create amazing team leaders. The approach Marc takes when training Team Leaders: Ensure they know their role and responsibilities, with respect to being a Team Leader, and the interactions they have with their Centre Manager. Otherwise, it can be unclear who’s supposed to do what, when (06:44). Have them stop doing activities which an admin person or HR person should be doing, so they have the time needed to train and coach their team (08:11). Teach them how to give effective training and feedback to their team (09:08). Create a coachable call structure, that sets out the steps of a call, which Team Leaders can coach to (09:23). Have them monitor recorded calls, which they score and give feedback on (11:09). Have them run pre-shift meetings, to get their people prepared and focused for the shift ahead (12:05). Have them do skills audits to identify what areas their agents need help with (12:55). You'll Learn: Why Team Leaders are the backbone of any contact centre operation (02:56). How most Team Leaders are missing fundamental skill sets to be effective leaders (05:01). The key to effective time management (13:52). How a coaching call structure differs from a quality guidelines (15:15). Full show notes: https://bravatrak.com/marc-carriere-podcast Connect with Marc on LinkedIn. Get Marc’s free course, 7 Pillars For Creating Amazing Team Leaders Who Coach, Nurture And Lead Winning Teams Check out Marc’s website and YouTube channel for more for more resources. Follow me on LinkedIn, or connect with me on Facebook.

Duration:00:19:21

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Two Critical Steps to Successful Strategy Implementation - with Michael Clark

10/11/2021
Michael Clark is the Principal Consultant at CXTT Consulting. He has more than 20 years experience in the contact centre industry across both the private and government sectors. This year, he started his consultancy, focused on helping organisations with their transformations in the customer experience and technology space. Today, he shares the essential steps to take when implementing your strategy. Michael’s Top Tips For Successful Strategy Implementation: Build interdisciplinary teams, so there’s common ground and collaboration between the departments involved (01:49). Strategy implementation falls apart when it’s top-down only. You get the best results from engaging with the frontline. You’ll have a better chance of getting their buy-in, plus, you’ll uncover roadblocks implementing change (07:45). You'll Learn: What Michael did to reset expectations with work-from-home teams due to COVID, which helped lower everyone’s stress (04:03). The style of leadership Michael finds best to empower employees, give them ownership, help get their buy-in, and help them deliver change (09:02). What design thinking is, how it’s helped Michael tackle all sorts of business problems, and how it can help you too (12:46). The key thing to consider in your business, so you remain relevant in a world disrupted by COVID (16:58). Full show notes: https://bravatrak.com/michael-clark-podcast Connect with Michael on LinkedIn. Check out Michael’s blog for more resources on the topics he covered. Follow me on LinkedIn, or connect with me on Facebook.

Duration:00:20:29

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Digital Customer Service Conversations That Sell – What You’re Probably Missing - with Paolo Fabrizio

10/4/2021
Paolo Fabrizio is a Digital Customer Service consultant. He’s been in the contact centre industry since the mid 90’s, and as been focused on helping companies improve their digital channel customer service for the past 7 years. Today, he shares what’s stopping your agents from providing the best digital customer service. Paolo’s Top Tips When Adding Digital Channels: Introduce one digital channel at a time, ensuring you have the staff with the necessary skills for each (32:15). Once you get results with a new digital channel, market the results within your organisation, so you get buy-in from your colleagues (33:49). You'll Learn: Why having the right company culture is far more important than the digital platforms you use (03:26). The common mistake Paolo sees organisations in their adoption of new digital platforms (04:52). Why good agents in your phone and email channels might not be the right people to provide digital customer service, and what to do about it (06:18). The 2 essential skill sets that agents need to be equipped with to master digital customer service (08:06). Why getting rid of scripts for agents will be crucial for you to separate your organisation from your competitors (12:15). The approach Paolo is seeing contact centres take to make the cultural changes necessary to meet customer expectations (14:05). ‘The Blockbuster risk’ which could make your organisation obsolete, and what to do about it (17:55). The new skillset Team Leaders need, if they’re to effectively manage agents in digital channels (20:10). The framework Paolo uses when he assists clients to improve their digital customer service (26:19). Get his e-book which covers the framework at https://customerserviceculture.com/en/resources/#ebook Full show notes: https://bravatrak.com/paolo-fabrizio-podcast Connect with Paolo on LinkedIn. Get your copy of Paolo’s e-book, Digital Customer Service Personas: The skill-set model for Digital Customer Service Assistants Follow me on LinkedIn, or connect with me on Facebook.

Duration:00:36:43

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Why Your Agents’ Headsets May Be Hurting Customer Experience and What To Do About It - with Chris Clark

9/29/2021
Chris Clark is the National Partner Manager at Jabra in New Zealand. Chris has been in the unified communications - or call centric - industry for 15 years. As a result, he’s got great insight into best-practice when it comes to contact centre headsets. Today, he shares why your agents’ headsets may be hurting customer experience, and what to do about it. You'll Learn: The 2 key elements of audio which determine customer satisfaction (06:00). Why your current headsets may allow hackers to listen in to customer conversations, and the technology you can use to prevent it (09:32). Why many headsets are inappropriate for use in contact centres (10:41). Why noise cancellation in headsets is terrible for contact centres, and a better approach (11:44). The headsets which are now working hand in hand with AI (14:35). Why it’s critical to ensure your headsets are certified by the platforms you use (18:06). The 2 common mistakes Chris sees in headset selection for agents (21:03). Chris’ biggest piece of advice for choosing headsets for your agents (26:18). Full show notes: https://bravatrak.com/chris-clark-podcast Connect with Chris on LinkedIn. Follow me on LinkedIn, or connect with me on Facebook.

Duration:00:27:44

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Exciting New Technologies That Can Transform Your Contact Centre - with Cloud Tech Gurus

9/20/2021
Darren is the Co-Founder of Cloud Tech Gurus, and Rob Enslow is Senior Executive Partner. Cloud Tech Gurus are technology matchmakers. They help call centres to more effectively and efficiently source and procure technology solutions. They invest 40+ hours to each client project, at no cost to you, as they are compensated by suppliers. Today, they share the little-known next generation of contact centre technology solutions, which can make a big difference in your centre. You'll Learn: The technology solutions which are in the highest demand right now (06:35). The solution which handles better, faster, and cheaper than a live agent. Often with a higher CX score (08:33). What RPA is, and how it can replace 2 to 6 of your people, for a fraction of the cost (09:27). The technology that can clone your subject matter experts and high performers, and cut training time for new hires in half. And return your investment in 90 days (11:30). How you can access a global workforce of contact centre agents on-demand, cutting your cost of talent acquision and staffing in half (13:24). How a conversational AI tool has generated $25 million in additional revenue for one organisation, in the past year (15:57). How an AI tool predicts and prevents escalation in customer care, and is creating savings of 30 - 60% of escalation costs (17:01). The technology solution which enables you to get rid of your PBX and has 100% guaranteed uptime, saving you tens of thousands of dollars (18:14). Full show notes: https://bravatrak.com/cloud-tech-gurus-podcast Connect with Darren and Rob on LinkedIn. Check out the Cloud Tech Gurus website, and get updates on the latest technologies. Follow me on LinkedIn, or connect with me on Facebook.

Duration:00:21:28

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How to Increase Sales through Excellent Customer Service - with Phil Skingsley

9/13/2021
Phil Skingsley is the MD at Sales Performance Improvement Strategies. He was in the top 3% of salespeople for Xerox in the UK, transformed performance at American Express in New Zealand, and helped a major New Zealand bank achieve sales of between 200% and 300% of target. Today, he shares how to increase sales through excellent customer service. You'll Learn: The 2 key ways to ensure your sales consultants create good customer outcomes (03:31). The SPEND framework that Phil recommends consultants use to uncover customer needs (04:51). An example of how a high-performing sales consultant delivered outstanding customer care (06:09). The power of uncovering the impact problems are having on customers, and how it turned a small speaker manufacturer into a global powerhouse (09:47). How great selling is really just great customer service (13:09). How opportunities to lift sales and achieve good customer outcomes may be sitting right in front of you (15:56). What customers are really buying when they purchase from you. It’s probably not what you think (18:11). An easy exercise you can do with your team, to lift their sales and belief in your products (19:15). How a major retail chain increased extended warranty sales by just over 20%, nationwide (22:07). The 2 magic words that need to be used in sales conversations (23:38). The most important step to lifting sales, which comes straight out of the playbook of the All Blacks, the best rugby team in the world (24:08). Full show notes: https://bravatrak.com/phil-skingsley-podcast Connect with Phil on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-skingsley-9b1aaa22/ Follow me on LinkedIn, or connect with me on Facebook.

Duration:00:27:01

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How We Freed Up Team Leader Time to Do More Coaching - with Sarah Mannion

9/6/2021
Sarah Mannion is the Global Support Centre Manager at Fisher & Paykel Appliances. Her earliest contact centre role was back in 2000. She has deep experience in the finance sector, and at the intersection of HR and operations. Today, she shares how she was able to turn around the coaching in her centre, by significantly freeing up Team Leaders’ time. Sarah’s Top 3 Tips (08:12) Identify the role you expect of your Team Leaders, and ask yourself, if you were to start again, how would you structure your contact centre to make that a reality? Make sure you have the right Team Leaders in your centre. It’s vital to keep an eye out for new talent. Connect your people to the voice of the customer, and to your organisation’s values and purpose. That way, everyone is clear about how they fit in to where you’re going. You'll Learn: How Sarah has structured her centre, to allow Team Leaders to spend 90% of their time coaching (02:07). What change Sarah has made to enable much better career progression in her centre (06:28). The tool Sarah uses to do frequent pulse checks of employee engagement (09:19). How Sarah is ensuring Team Leaders do the coaching they need to, even if they have a natural tendency to avoid doing it (09:27). The 2 elements of how Sarah is maintaining a great company culture, even with everyone working-from-home (10:04). As part of this transformation, Sarah would like to acknowledge Suhail Shaikh who joined Fisher & Paykel and saw the gaps in their structure and the impact this was having on their leaders. He worked alongside Workforce Planning Manager, Tarush Airi, to deliver the business case and embed the change to deliver what they have today. Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-mannion-87bb2213/ Follow me on LinkedIn, or connect with me on Facebook.

Duration:00:11:45

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Discover the 4 Key Pillars of a Successful Customer Experience Strategy - with Gerry Brown

8/30/2021
Gerry Brown is The Customer Lifeguard, saving the world from bad customer service. He has over 40 years’ experience in the contact centre industry, and helps businesses save customers at risk and breathe life into their customer service operations and customer experience strategy. Today, he shares the 4 key pillars of a successful customer experience strategy. The 4 pillars which make world-leading companies great (04:51) Culture Communication Commitment Community You'll Learn: The relationship between employee experience and customer experience (08:19). Solutions to the company culture challenges created by work-from-home, based on what Gerry is hearing from senior leaders (13:14). Why cross-functional collaboration is essential to your organisation’s success, and the proven (yet simple) approach Gerry recommends clients use (18:38). The very first thing to do when it comes to improving employee experience and customer experience (26:37). Gerry’s 3 tips when it comes to enhancing organisational engagement, in order to improve customer experience (29:54). Full show notes: https://bravatrak.com/gerry-brown-podcast Connect with Gerry on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerryhbrown/ Follow me on LinkedIn, or connect with me on Facebook.

Duration:00:34:35

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How To Recruit High Potential CSRs - with Rachna Singh

8/23/2021
Rachna Singh is a Managing Consultant at Madison Recruitment. She manages the team who recruits CSRs for Auckland contact centres. Today, she shares what to look for when recruiting high potential CSRs, who have the talent to step up to a Team Leader role. The 7 attributes Rachna looks for in high potential CSR candidates (02:21) Willingness to learn. Clear and effective communication. Sees the bigger picture, of how their work relates to the vision and goals of the organisation. The ability to positively influence others. Firm and confident. Open to feedback and new ideas. You'll Learn: The vital characteristic which leaders need, but is often forgotten (03:25). The 3 attributes which are critical for Team Leaders (04:11). The 3 steps CSRs can take to step up to a Team Leader role (05:53). The 2 top areas of development which most people need to excel as a Team Leader (08:54). The key actions people can take to progress towards their first leadership role (12:12). Full show notes: https://bravatrak.com/rachna-singh-podcast Connect with Rachna on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachna-singh-a7b97a127/ Follow me on LinkedIn, or connect with me on Facebook.

Duration:00:13:09

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Your Omnichannel Strategy: Common Problems and How to Solve Them - with Julien Rio

8/16/2021
Julien Rio is the AVP of International Marketing at RingCentral, a leading provider of employee and customer communications systems. Although Julien comes from a marketing background, his passion has always been around customer experience. He is a CCXP (Certified Customer Experience Professional), and co-host of the CX Therapy podcast. Today, he shares the common problems he sees in omnichannel strategies, and how to solve them. Julien’s Top 2 Tips Open one new channel at a time, by finding out which one customers use on daily basis, and then launching it with only a sample of customers. That way, you can expand it at the rate you’re comfortable, or switch it off if it doesn’t work (11:28). If you’re thinking of switching off a channel, make sure the data shows that it’s time to transition away from it. Assumptions can often get in the way of making the right choice (13:12). You'll Learn: The difference between omnichannel, multi-channel, and cross-channel, and why it’s important to know (02:47). Why moving to an omnichannel approach is mission critical for your business, if customer experience is a priority (04:28). The 2 steps (which are often missed) that will help you deploy your omnichannel channel strategy successfully (05:46). The skills to bear in mind when recruiting agents to deliver an omnichannel experience (08:24). The danger of having phone teams also do email, which hurts customer experience (10:22). Why good customer experience is the shortest path to additional revenue (14:57). How your Customer Service Representatives can be the best possible sales people in your team (16:37). Connect with Julien on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julienrio/ Tune in to Julien’s podcast, ‘CX Therapy’ on YouTube, or follow it on Twitter or LinkedIn. Follow me on LinkedIn, or connect with me on Facebook.

Duration:00:19:45

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How to Overcome the Sales Leadership Challenges in Financial Services - with Mark Kenning

8/9/2021
Mark Kenning is the Head of Sales at Cigna Life Insurance. He has 26 years experience in the contact centre industry, and has had various roles involved with sales throughout that period. Today, he shares how to overcome the sales leadership challenges in financial services, triggered by the Royal Commission in Australia, and the FMA’s review in New Zealand. Mark’s Top 3 Tips The customer has to be at the top of the pyramid, not the drive for remuneration (16:55). Do the basics well. It’s easy to inadvertently drift away from doing them as you start doing new things in the business, and as new people come in (17:19). Be ruthless with standards, but gracious with people. Treat your team with care and respect, at the same time as having high standards of the behaviour you expect of them (18:26). You'll Learn: The process agents follow with customers which ensures they create good customer outcomes, that’s often overlooked (06:53). The change which Mark is making, to empower staff but ensure compliance is being met (10:28). The 3 steps Mark is taking, to motivate agents to create good customer outcomes (14:47). Show notes: https://bravatrak.com/mark-kenning-podcast Connect with Mark on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-kenning-4b551367/ Follow me on LinkedIn, or connect with me on Facebook.

Duration:00:20:33

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How We Created World-Class Customer Experience at the Best Bank in the World - with Geeta Sreeraman

8/2/2021
Geeta Sreeraman is the Head of Customer Centre at DBS Bank in Singapore. She has 22 years’ experience in banking across 3 countries, and 15 years’ experience in the contact centre industry. Today, she shares how she helped create world-class customer experience in the bank’s contact centre, and how it’s lead to: DBS becoming the World’s Best Bank, 3 years in a row. An increase in complements from 300 to 10,000 a month. A consistent drop in customer contacts year-on-year, of between 8 and 10%. Consistent Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) ratings of around 4.6 out of 5. Consistent awarding of the Best Contact Centre of the Year by the Contact Centre Association of Singapore. Geeta’s Top 3 Tips Given your agents are dealing with customers everyday, you have rich insights into what customers like and want. Find a way to capture the essence of that data, and see how you can use it to refine your customer journeys (17:02). Ensure you have a very strong support system for your agents, which includes their training, how they’re empowered, and the simplification of systems which they use (18:12). Put customer experience at the centre of everything you do. All other metrics should play only a supporting role (18:55). You'll Learn: The 3 parts of DBS’s service which turned around customer experience (03:26). How the contact centre changed from meeting only the functional needs of customers, to also meeting their emotional needs (04:32). The radical change in agent empowerment that was made in the centre (07:15). The clever (and simple) piece of technology agents use to hone their skills (08:25). How agents working from home are supported, so they have just as much support as they’d have in the office (08:57). The 2 steps Geeta takes to continually reduce call volume (10:38). Connect with Geeta on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geeta-sreeraman-0575337/ Follow me on LinkedIn, or connect with me on Facebook.

Duration:00:20:21