Why Saying Yes Is So Important In Customer Service 

Say YesForbes contributor Micah Solomon recently wrote a piece on this same topic, and in it he mentioned an innovative idea by Virgin Hotels: a customer telephone with just one button to press for help: “YES!”

Virgin Hotels CEO Raul Leal told Solomon he got the idea after being frustrated by the phone at a competing hotel, which had nine different icons to call for various services, including housekeeping, the doorman and the valet. “As a guest, I just wanted one button,” Leal said.

Leal’s idea is just about making the experience easier for the customer. No one has to fumble around to find the right icon or risk getting the wrong department and being told to contact someone else. A single button streamlines the customer experience, making it simple for customers to get what they need.

However, Leal’s idea also gets to the heart of one of the most important customer service principles: Whenever possible, just say yes. Organizations that excel in customer service make this their mission. Rather than pushing back or finding reasons to say no, make the customer’s happiness the No. 1 priority.

How to Create a “Yes” Culture

Creating a culture in your organization where the default answer is yes requires some effort. Sometimes even employees who mean well think they cannot say yes because they are bound to follow strict policies and procedures, or because they see superiors pushing back when customers make a request.

Here are some tips for shifting your culture that will lead to higher customer satisfaction, greater brand loyalty and better customer retention.

Empower your employees: Whether we’re talking about call center agents or customer-facing employees, empower your employees to make decisions that are in the best interest of the customer. When employees are bound by strict guidelines, procedures and rules, they feel like they have no choice but to say no when a customer’s request is outside of those, even if it’s reasonable. Policies have to exist in some capacity, of course, but give employees the leeway they need to make exceptions when a customer’s happiness is at stake.

Approach it from the top down: If leaders aren’t in the habit of saying yes to reasonable requests, employees will model that behavior. Think about how you, as a leader, communicate with employees. If you’re constantly saying, “I’m sorry, we can’t do that,” chances are your employees are doing the same. Be mindful of what you say, how you treat employees and the example you’re setting.

Reward employees for saying yes: As Solomon points out in his piece, you have two choices: punish employees for going the extra mile for customers (because it goes against policy, takes too much times or reduces productivity) or reward them for providing great customer service. Companies that have mastered great customer service do the latter. The rewards do not have to be financial – simple recognition goes a long way.

Hire customer-centric people: When interviewing for customer service positions, dig deeper to understand the person’s philosophy when it comes to customer service. Are they simply interested in punching the clock every day and earning a paycheck, or do they genuinely enjoy helping people? Ask the interviewee to share a story of a time they went above and beyond for a customer.

Kunnect sells 100% cloud-based call center software that includes a predictive dialer to businesses and political campaigns. Our software, hosted seamlessly in the Amazon platform, manages all inbound and outbound calling for a flat rate of $125 per agent per month with a flat deposit of $125 per user. There are no hidden fees.

Learn how Kunnect can help you, why not get in touch with us? >>>Contact us

Why Corporations Are Moving Contact Centers to the Cloud

When cloud computing first emerged, it was thought of as largely a small business solution. Large enterprises were wedded to on-premise systems because they had expensive infrastructure in place, and most couldn’t see past that.

However, as the cloud has matured, large organizations are switching in droves – particularly in the contact center. The reasons are many, but they include technological improvements, aging infrastructure, budget constraints, better cloud security and more. Here, in more detail, are the top reasons enterprises are making the cloud shift – and why you should, too.

Reason No. 1: Aging Infrastructure/Legacy Systems

As legacy contact center software is aging and becoming increasingly obsolete, enterprises are faced with a choice: replace it at a cost of tens or hundreds or thousands, or consider a more affordable and nimble cloud solution. Enterprises weren’t willing to consider the switch when they still had years of life left with on-premise systems, and that made sense. But as it comes time to replace legacy software, large enterprises are taking a closer look at the cloud.

Reason No. 2: Affordability

We touched on this above, but it’s a big one. Contact center operations are a major expense for large enterprises, and call center leaders are constantly looking for ways to reduce the bottom line without sacrificing quality of service. Enter the cloud. Cloud call center software offers the same advanced features as on-premise software, but for a low per-agent monthly fee. Few if any upfront expenses are required. Cloud systems also require fewer internal resources to manage. All of the maintenance and upgrades are taken of for you by the vendor.

Reason No. 3: Scalability

With legacy on-premise systems, enterprises were wedded to the size of their existing infrastructure. Expanding phone systems and software was difficult, expensive and time consuming, so at the time of purchase companies had to take their best guess at what their needs would be five years down the road. With cloud call center software, adding or reducing the number of agents – and thus adjusting the monthly bill – can usually be taken care of with a quick phone call. Reason No. 4: Flexibility Choosing a call center software vendor used to be a weighty decision because enterprises were committed to them for many years – even decades. The investment was too great to switch vendors when problems arose. With cloud software, few vendors require long-term commitments. If you’re unhappy with the software, you’re free to switch. It’s preferable to do the research in advance and find a vendor that is the best fit, of course, but if something doesn’t work out you’re not tied down. Enterprises appreciate that freedom. Reason No. 5: Better security Cloud security has vastly improved. Vendors know that if their products are not secure, they will not be able to compete in the market. These days, cloud call center software is often more secure than software that is managed in-house. Not all vendors are alike, of course, and it’s crucial to find out exactly what kind of security tools, safeguards and procedures your vendor uses. But, in general, the widespread fear that cloud software puts data at a greater risk is dissipating. Reason No. 6: Collaboration With cloud call center software, agents across separate locations have access to the same information, allowing them to work collaboratively. Agents can work from remote locations or from home with access to all the tools and information they need. Some enterprises have gone as far to allow a bulk of their agents to work from home, which dramatically reduces overhead expenses. This was just not possible with on-premise call center software.

Kunnect sells 100% cloud-based call center software that includes a predictive dialer to businesses and political campaigns. Our software, hosted seamlessly in the Amazon platform, manages all inbound and outbound calling for a flat rate of $125 per agent per month with a flat deposit of $125 per user. There are no hidden fees.

Learn how Kunnect can help you, why not get in touch with us? >>>Contact us

Kunnect Integrates with Zoho CRM and Applications

Customer-ServicesOn the heels of our Salesforce.com CRM integration, Kunnect is pleased to announce that our seamless, cloud-based call center software can now be integrated with Zoho.com CRM and apps.

Zoho.com provides a suite of affordable, web-based apps to small and medium-size businesses. They offer sales and marketing tools such as customer relationship management (CRM), social media monitoring and insights, campaign management and more. They also offer tools such as word processing, databases, spreadsheets, presentations, invoicing, web conferencing and desktop sharing. Zoho has more than 13 million users, so the integration broadens our potential customer base.

The Zoho.com integration allows us to push data to and from Zoho CRM and apps, which means Zoho customers who use our call center software do not have to switch back and forth between systems and applications. They can access all Zoho data right from the Kunnect interface, making it easier to store, access and record all the data they need to provide great customer service.

In the modern age of the customer, call center agents need the ability to quickly access information about a customer’s preferences, purchasing history and more to effectively solve problems, upsell and meet customer expectations. Customers expect personalized service, and that requires quick and convenient access to customer data. Technology integration is crucial to the experience.

(Click here for a great article on how companies can go about making cloud-hosted apps their own.)

Specifically, our Zoho.com integration offers:

  • Real-time Zoho screen pop – Kunnect now has the ability to access a contact record when any type of call is launched or received, without the user having to do a manual lookup
  • Detailed customer information – Call center employees have easy access to complete customer information, including previous interactions, sales history and more.
  • Simple Zoho updates – Zoho can be updated without leaving the Kunnect interface. Customer service employees can create new tasks, events and contacts all in one system, which improves efficiency.
  • Dynamic linking – The ability to link to other parts of Zoho.com (i.e. appointment module, spreadsheet, etc) based on the active contact record, without having to leave the Kunnect interface.

Like Salesforce.com, the integration is made possible through Zoho’s application programming interface (API).

The Zoho.com integration capabilities come at no additional cost. Potential customers who use Zoho can take advantage of Kunnect’s complete and user-friendly call center software for $125 per agent per month with a flat deposit of $125 per user. There are no additional fees or hidden charges.

In addition to Salesforce.com and Zoho.com, Kunnect’s 100 percent cloud-based software integrates with Microsoft CRM and Frontrange. Our software, hosted in the Amazon platform, includes features such as a predictive dialer, call scripting, call recording, ACD, skills-based routing, IVR, living monitoring, real-time statistics, historical reporting and more.

Interested in learning more about Kunnect call center software or our Zoho.com integration? Contact us for a free demo.

Learn how Kunnect can help you, why not get in touch with us? >>>Contact us