Friday, April 3, 2015

Your Agent is Your Brand; The Experience They Provide is Your Reputation


A Purdue University Study found 85% of respondents “formulate their opinion of the company and its brand by the contact center and the agent”.  It seems like common sense to those of us that have spent a career in customer service but does your executive team understand the ramifications of this survey finding?

If you are running a contact center, think of the responsibility you have regarding the success of your company. It is a statistic that every executive at your company should have emblazed in their memory. If you have an executive team that doesn’t believe investing in the people, processes, and technology of your contact center, share this with them and see if it changes their mind?

Can your company afford to ignore or continue the current strategy you have for the contact center? The idea that the contact center is a “cost” center rather than a revenue center is debunked by this one piece of data. To make the point, how much is your company spending on their branding initiatives in the Marketing budget? If your company is spending money to increase brand loyalty and awareness, the best bang for the buck would be putting some of it right into the contact center. In order to support a branding effort, the company better be able to back up that campaign with agents and management in the contact center that understand the important role they play in the value of the brand.

Is the cost of operating a best in class contact center worth the cost? If 85% of your brand reputation is based on a positive experience with your contact center; you bet!

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