Give Reps What They Need Most: Information
When sales reps are in front of customers, or when service reps are on the phone with them, do those reps have all the information they need for the circumstances? Often they don't. They have to derail the conversation at hand to search for what they need. That information is often housed in siloed systems that require a new sign-in, a call to a colleague, or even escalation.
"It's difficult for sales and service to get a complete picture of customers," Coveo CEO Louis Têtu told me during a recent conversation. "CRM tools are designed for the VP of sales. And often sales and service reps need to know information that's kept in another system."
The problem, Têtu explained, is primarily the way companies grow. "Organizations grow in silos," he said, citing banks as an example. A customer may have several accounts with a bank, but may receive an offer for a mortgage as if she's not already a customer of the bank.
CRM technologies and related systems are aimed at managing information, according to Têtu. More often, sales and service reps need to get information rather than manage it. They consume data, he said. "Management needs to provide the right information. They need to inject knowledge and knowledge access," Têtu said, adding that a great deal of agent frustration and churn is caused by agents' inability to get the information they need to serve customers. "They want to help customers solve problems."
The solution, Têtu said, is to consolidate information around the customer--including insight from a CRM system, billing or shipping, inventory, and the like. As a result, when an agent speaks with a customer or a salesperson meets with a one, he has a fuller picture of that customer. Done well, that information could include retail-like insight: "Other customers who bought what you bought also bought X."
Consolidating information delivers considerable ROI, in large part because it's time saver. For instance, as Têtu explained, in the contact center the largest services costs are in level 2 or 3, where calls are longest and the propensity for customer churn is highest. Cutting talk time by providing agents the information they need when they need it will drive significant savings. "From a pure efficiency perspective, it's a win," he said, adding, "More important, what's the cost of not doing it?"
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