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A Healthcare Leader Weighs in on the CX Side of the COVID-19 Vaccines

woman getting vaccinated
Close up of a young woman getting vaccinated

Nurses and other healthcare providers are at the frontline of the COVID-19 vaccination efforts. Ann Marie Muñana, a nursing and healthcare leader at Chamberlain University who also serves on the Chicago Department of Public Health’s Scientific COVID-19 Vaccine Work Group, shared insights from frontline efforts to distribute the COVID-19 vaccines. She also reflected on what it will take to increase vaccine trust and accelerate the vaccination rate. The following interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

Let’s start by talking about the Vaccine Work Group. Can you tell me what is its purpose and what has it accomplished so far?

Sure, absolutely. The work group was put together by our leaders at the Chicago Department of Public Health, our healthcare commissioner, Dr. Allison Arwady. And it includes a number of area experts, physicians, scientists, nurses, ethicist statisticians who look at the data that was coming to the FDA, to the Food and Drug Administration as their process to do the emergency authorizations for the first two vaccines, the Pfizer vaccine and the Moderna vaccine.

And so our goal was to you know, make sure that we were comfortable with how the process was going because there’s been so much dialogue and so much focus on the speed at which the vaccine was developed, that it was important to have members of the Chicago healthcare community support the vaccine in order to improve and increase the distribution, or actually the vaccine acceptance rate that is so important. We can have a vaccination, but if people are not getting the vaccine, you know, that’s a problem. So we were lending our expertise and our voice to the Department of Health to confirm that we feel that the FDA did what the FDA needs to do in order to issue the emergency authorization.

Have you seen any results yet, from your efforts?

Well, our findings, our summary, our results are published on the Chicago Department of Public Health’s website and basically just confirming and holding and supporting the findings from the FDA and the safety of the vaccine. And so our hope is to now, as we move forward, to reach out and be a part of the community effort to encourage and to educate our community on the importance of the vaccine and its safety.

What are you finding is key to engaging the community and also combating the misinformation that’s out there?

One of the challenges that we’ve seen is just the huge amount of information from all areas, right? It’s  from the television, from the internet, from family members, from friends. There’s just so much information that it is daunting for some of our patients and members of our community to sort through and to understand. And so our responsibility and our duty as healthcare providers, as clinicians, as doctors, nurses, and other members of the team, is to be the voice of our patients and to help them understand and help them make that decision that they need to make in order to accept the vaccine and take the vaccine. And so I think one of the challenges has been all that information. I think there’s been a disconnect in perhaps some of the leadership on do this, don’t do this and, and people changing their opinions. So it is very confusing and that’s going to be one of the challenges that we face is to make sure that we are messaging correctly. And appropriately.

Are there any lessons that have been learned from distributing other vaccines that might help such as the flu, hepatitis B, or HPV vaccines?

I think the lessons that are learned every step of this process is important. Every element from the vaccine development to the trials and the men and women who volunteered for the trials. And then now onto the distribution, it’s all very, very important. And I must say we certainly have been impacted by some things as straightforward as the temperature of the vaccine and how that has impacted the distribution.

And so, I think it’s important that not only do we commit the resources to our scientists and our labs and our you know, pharmaceutical company labs to develop the vaccines, but we also have to be very, very on top of the distribution and what that means. And when we say we’re going to have, you know, a million vaccines, well, that’s also a million bandaids, a million needles, a million alcohol swabs, and that whole process needs to come together. I think communication is another lesson that we need to make sure that we’re being responsible in our communication and being accurate. And if we don’t know the answer, then we don’t know the answer. And we find out the answer.
Listen to the full interview at the CXPod

Top 4 Artificial Intelligence Trends to Watch in 2021

Customers may have tolerated subpar customer experiences due to COVID impacts last year, but times have changed. They are expecting easier, better, and faster CX in 2021.

The most successful brands will blend Artificial Intelligence (AI) with human intelligence to deliver the hyper-personalized effortless experiences today’s customers crave. Although there are many ways to synergize machines and humans in the call center, CX experts agree these four are primed to deliver the greatest outcomes in 2021.

ONE: Supercharge associates with RPA

Leading contact centers will use Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to manage and simplify associates’ mundane, repetitive, and time-consuming tasks like identifying customers in the system, updating outdated information, and re-routing calls.

Many organizations will also use RPA to keep customers connected to systems of record via chatbots and voice assistants, so customers can act autonomously with internal systems to access bits of pertinent information quickly. For example, customers can track packages, check recent account activity, and update personal details seamlessly, in real time, without human intervention.

RPA in action: Use RPA and intelligent automation to tackle high-volume, repetitive tasks in the background, so associates can focus their attention on providing better customer experience in real time.

TWO: Train employees with AI-powered “customers”

Smart contact center leaders will use AI to train associates faster, in more engaging ways, and at half the price. Many companies will utilize advanced simulated training bots to play the “customer role” in on-demand, real-world scenarios. These revolutionary bots can react to the accuracy, confidence, word choice, tone and sentiment, and behaviors of the learner – making it possible for associates to accelerate through training at their own speed.

Additionally, the AI captures interactions and makes results ready for trainees and supervisors after each simulated interaction, providing a real-time feedback loop to prompt immediate behavioral changes.

Activate next-gen learning: Use training bots to achieve operational and quality KPIs faster, while reducing nesting periods and boosting customer satisfaction.

THREE: Empower associates with AI-driven advice

Today’s most influential brands are using ‘behind the scenes’ bots in their contact centers to give AI-assisted suggestions to their human teammates, in real time. And these new ‘bot-human dream teams’ are revolutionizing the entire customer experience!

These next-gen contact center bots can monitor conversations (text and voice) between associates and customers, and parse through structured and unstructured data sources for the best answers – faster and better than any human ever could. So, customers get the exact information they want, right when they want it – without ever knowing there’s a bot in the background assisting with answers.

Assemble the dream team: Use ‘bots in the background’ to suggest next best actions and responses – in the moment – to improve average handle time (AHT) and first contact resolution (FCR).

FOUR: Cultivate empathetic customer-facing chatbots

Today’s digital-first consumers have little patience for bots that can’t understand what they’re saying or don’t know how to provide an accurate answer. So progressive contact center leaders will spend extra time training and testing AI internally before letting it interact with actual customers this year.

Providing an environment for back-and-forth training between bots and associates ensures AI is optimized before it’s customer facing. Many companies plan to encourage (and even incentivize) associates to act as customers and play with bots using both common customer inquiries and complex questions. Doing this allows customers to receive accurate answers faster in the channel they initiated contact with the brand.

Deliver chatbot booster: Use associates to refine and improve customer-facing chatbots to automatically shift the burden away from customers, so they can receive the best experience possible.

Intelligent automation in the contact center is here to stay

As AI, automation, chatbots, and virtual assistants became even more embedded into our daily lives in 2020, it’s foolish for brands to assume these technologies will stay stagnant in 2021. Innovation in technology moves at lightning speed and can become outdated and clunky very quickly. Use these four ways to tie technology and the human touch together to deliver a better customer experience than either can do alone – everywhere, every time.

NRF 2021: Trends that Retailers Bet will Outlast the Pandemic

Re-opening business after lockdown. Cafe is open and serving customers who keep the social distance

With 2020 in the rearview mirror, retailers are ready to embark on a new path forward. However, it’s impossible to look ahead without acknowledging the changes that the COVID-19 pandemic has imposed on retail businesses, their partners, and consumer expectations. At NRF 2021: Retail’s Big Show, retailers and industry experts shared insights and predictions for which retail trends are likely to last even after the pandemic fades.

Survive, Sustain, Strive
Prior to the pandemic, attempts to fuse online and in-store shopping into a seamless experience were far from uniform. In-store shopping was a physical and social experience whereas online shopping was largely transactional. When the pandemic hit, those experiences shifted when retailers moved into survival mode, noted Mitch Joel, founder of the consultancy Six Pixels Group, in an online presentation. “Suddenly, shopping in a physical space became very transactional,” he said. “No more browsing—you line up, pick up your purchase and leave.”

Online retailers, meanwhile, leaned into efforts to replicate the in-store experience with virtual reality tools that let shoppers try on clothes and jewelry from home and other innovations. Similarly, restaurants made improvements to their online ordering system and deliveries, making it an effortless experience.   

Customers have responded positively to the changes; many like the efficiency of buy-online-pickup-in-store, virtual fitting rooms, and fast deliveries. More than half (58%) of respondents indicated that they would like more digital interactions at a restaurant such as an interactive menu, the ability to place orders from a smartphone inside the restaurant, and AI recommendations, according to a global survey of more than 5K consumers commissioned by Gouvea Ecosystem, a business management consultancy. And 54% want more in-store digital interactions such as virtual mirrors and scannable packaging.

“The question is, which of these innovations will we keep?” Joel asked. “And if you take something away [that customers like] what does that say?” Answering these questions will be crucial as retailers shift from what Joel described as “survival mode to sustain mode to striving mode.”

Services are the new experience
Another example of an accelerated retail trend that is likely to stay is the shift toward services as an experience. “It’s not that experience is the new thing, it’s that services have become the new experience,” Joel said. What started as necessary services—curbside pickup, grocery delivery, and online classes—is morphing into a key way for companies to interact with customers and differentiate their brands.

Consider livestream shopping, which is promoting and selling products through live streams with influencers and other experts. Livestream shopping and shoppable videos have been around for several years but mainly as a gimmicky marketing tool.

“The pandemic accelerated our live selling features. [Even though] the stores were closed, we wanted to give that personal and interactive experience,” said Ophelia Ceradini, VP of digital technology at the Estée Lauder Companies, in an online panel discussion. Estée Lauder brand Clinique, for instance, hosted a livestream with “Game of Thrones” star Emilia Clarke showing viewers her skincare and makeup routines. Viewers could click on each product as she used it and purchase it for themselves.   

Consumer response was especially strong when the company livestreamed sessions with a skincare or makeup expert, Ceradini said. “The education and shopping part really took off; consumers enjoyed engaging with our consultants and the instant gratification part of being able to immediately purchase [products].” Estée Lauder is continuing to expand its livestreams for other products, Ceradinia said. Makeup and skincare were a natural fit but the company is looking into other products—even fragrances, she added.  

Follow the customer
For retailers who haven’t already figured it out, it’s important to let the customer guide decisions. “It’s so important to follow the customer,” said Miya Knights, retail expert and author in an online discussion. “The customer has really spoken with where their money has gone.” The rise in mobile commerce shows mobile is key to customer-facing innovation, Knights continued. Even if mom-and-pop retailers can’t invest in a sophisticated mobile experience, the least they should do is make sure their stores can be found in a digital world. “Make sure your location is accurate on Google Maps, opening times are accurate,” she said.

Showrooming has also been turned on its head. Most consumers now enter stores with the intention to make a purchase versus browse and so retailers should plan for the discovery stage to take place digitally.
The key takeaway is that while the retail landscape was upended, retailers have an unprecedented opportunity to innovate the customer experience and deliver the reliability and convenience that customers crave. There’s no turning back.

A Coronavirus Survivor on What it Takes to Lead through a Pandemic

As the COVID-19 pandemic drags on, prevention guidelines and restrictions can feel incredibly challenging. Eric Yaverbaum, CEO of Ericho Communications, knows firsthand what it is like to be stricken with the coronavirus while leading a company. He shared key insights and lessons for helping employees combat COVID-19 fatigue. The following is a lightly edited transcript of our conversation.

So here we are in the ninth month of the pandemic and from what I understand, you contracted the coronavirus infection. Can you tell me what was it like recovering from it?

Awful, it’s as bad as you may have heard. You know, I was in bed for 29 days. I was pretty ill, I had an oxygen tank and I had five nights where I didn’t know if I could get air into my lungs. I mean, that’s five nights in a row where I’m thinking it was the last breath. So, you know not to be overly dramatic, but it’s awful.

The thing about it is, is that I stayed in bed. I took care of myself. I never, for a second lost hope. I was very, very transparent about my particular set of circumstances and in a 40-year career, this wasn’t the thing I wanted to be known for, for being, you know, the sick guy in bed. But I wanted people to know that there was help. You can get better, but take it serious and listen to what people, government officials are telling you to do, as confusing as that might be. Let’s get this under control. You don’t want what I had.

From your experience being a patient and an employer, what would you say was key to maintaining employee morale?

Leadership has to instill a little bit of hope, a little bit of confidence. You got to lean in, you got to make sure that you’re very, very transparent. My personal life in 40 years of being in the news has never been discussed nearly to the degree that it is now. I think it’s important that people know about that. I’m just like you, I don’t want to get sick. I don’t want my neighbor to get sick. I don’t want anybody in my family to get sick.

I’m also pragmatic and I’m a realist and I’ve been inspired by some historical figures in my life. Some of them, you know, I’ve represented. And, you know, I was always struck by Mr. Rogers, Fred Rogers’ testimony before Congress in ‘69, before there even was a PBS. And, you know, he said that in, in times of trouble, look for the helpers. If you see that they’re there you’ll know there’s hope. And I just want to be a helper.

Your headquarters is based in New York City—what’s your outlook for the coming year? When do you expect companies to return to pre-pandemic levels of business?

EY: I think they might not. I think it’s going to be different. Look, I’m biased. I think New York City is the greatest zip code on the planet, but I don’t think life will resume as it once was. I think it will be different in my industry for what we do. We actually don’t need those fancy conference rooms. We don’t need to pay the rent that we paid in the old days. We don’t need it as long as we can stay in touch, watch each other’s backs, play, you know, each of our individual roles. 

Listen to the whole interview at the CXPod.

In a Crowded Healthcare Industry, Stand Out with Stellar Patient Experience

Not that long ago, people had limited options when seeking healthcare: they went to their primary care doctor or, for more emergent needs, the local hospital. But these days, patients have a growing number of additional options: walk-in care centers, clinics located within retail pharmacies – even Amazon has entered the healthcare landscape.

As competition grows, so too are consumer expectations, meaning healthcare organizations must offer superior patient experience to stay relevant. Patients are increasingly savvy, and the healthcare industry needs to catch up, experts say.

“(Consumers) want things to be simple, they want things to be easy,” and they want a personalized experience, said Karen Andrews, vice president of customer experience and communications at TTEC during a recent CCW webinar, The Future of Patient Experience. “Of all the industries, healthcare is the most difficult [in which] to make that happen, yet we’re seeing those are the expectations of our consumers.”

Focus on the Patient Journey

“As the demographics are shifting in healthcare, people are coming armed with more knowledge,” said Stephanie Clark, chief learning officer at Tennessee-based Baptist Memorial Healthcare Corp. “They’re researching, they’re looking at what they need to know, they’re coming with options and they want to be involved in their care – and they’re demanding that we meet their expectations.”

Now that patients have more options to choose from, she added, “We’re going to have to either shift of we’re going to lose business.”

To offer a great patient experience, providers have to bring services and information to patients the way they want to receive them. And that, increasingly, is digital.

Among healthcare consumers, 86 percent of people who have access to online portals use them entirely for all their communications, and 90 percent use mobile apps when they’re made available. Nearly one-third, or 30 percent, have used an app to communicate with their providers in real time.

“That’s the way the world is going, and healthcare is going to need to pick up the pace to meet those expectations,” said Dr. Mark Kestner, chief medical officer at TractManager, a company that helps meet the infrastructure needs of hospitals and physician groups.

Investing in an omnichannel approach that focuses on the patient journey not only benefits patients, but will also pay dividends for healthcare organizations over the long term. Research has found that 86 percent of consumers, across all industries, will pay more for a better experience.

Patient Experience Starts with Employee Experience

To provide an optimal patient experience, organizations need to start by turning inward and focusing on their employees. How employees feel about their work and their employer – and whether they see it as an extension of themselves, or merely a means to a paycheck – can have a direct impact on patient experience.

As Clark puts it: “Unless your employees’ needs are met, they cannot begin to meet the needs of patients.”

Organizations should assess where teams thrive, where they struggle, and whether they even function as cohesive teams to begin with. Too often, Kestner said, employees tend to operate in separate silos, even within the same organization.

“Are the physicians part of the team? And do they see that the nurses are an extension of their practice? That is a very important point that you sort of have to observe first, and not just assume that physicians are part of the team,” he said.

Leaders should be transparent with their employees, Clark added. Explain to them what goals are and how the organization plans to meet them, and ask them how they feel about that. Employee feedback should be solicited regularly, and leaders should use that information to inform their processes, she said.

In an increasingly technical world, it’s also critical to embrace technology in a feasible way that will work for your organization. Technology tools and their resulting processes, if they’re ever going to be successfully embraced, need to be as simple as possible, Kestner advised.

Equally important is leaders’ willingness to accept feedback and, when necessary, tweak processes or change course, he said.

“You have to be willing, as a leader, to abandon what you thought was going to be the next great idea,” Kestner said. If it’s not meeting a team’s needs, make adjustments.

For patients and employees alike, he added, “Everyone wants to have a voice and they want to be heard.”

To hear more from Clark, Kestner and Andrews as they discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the healthcare industry when it comes to patient experience, watch the full webinar, “The Future of Patient Experience.”

Another Round of CX Happy Hour: 3 Employee Experience Tips for 2021

In 2020, we can always use another round of happy hour. Luckily, TTEC’s Liz Glagowski reunited with CX expert Dan Gingiss for their second LinkedIn Live ask me anything, EX for What’s Next: Most Standout Trends in Employee Experience for 2021.

Here’s a recap of Dan’s best insights for driving positive and productive employee experiences in their happy hour discussion. Cheers (again)!

Takeaway #1: Champion the champions

A memorable customer experience starts with employees who feel valued. No other business has the unique individuals that can champion your brand story, but this is meaningless if you don’t champion your employees. An employee who is not valued, represented, or does not believe in the values of their organization can just as easily, if not more, impact customer experience compared to those with positive experiences.

It’s critical to focus on the values your customers cherish and look inwards to see if that translates to your employees. Happy employees are your brand cheerleaders and it’s important to ensure that they are seen and heard.

This approach is for more than just customer-facing employees. Every job role has a direct and indirect impact on customers. Ensuring a healthy and proactive environment for front- and-back-office employees leaves no customer experience untouched. More importantly, you’re treating everyone how they deserve to be treated.

Takeaway #2: Level the playing field

The days of strict corporate hierarchy are for now over. The complete takeover of communication software like Zoom has ordained every individual to the same box, literally. This more direct form of communication has leveled the playing field for employees who want to communicate with their peers and leaders in a direct fashion that forgoes the hierarchy of the traditional workplace.

This is a prime opportunity for employees to share innovation and ideas within their organization. In a digital remote world everyone is in the same predicament, so there’s opportunity to find common ground and explore how to make the new-normal extraordinary. This starts with ditching the power dynamic and looking at each other eye-to-eye (webcam-to-webcam).

Takeaway #3: Embrace the tangible

Employees might be in a digital-first world, but there are still plenty of opportunities to create physical connections. The simple act of sending a card to celebrate a birthday, work anniversary, and more can create small moments of delight for employees who have come to expect everything in the form of an email.

This can even apply to team building games. Dan recollected one activity where everyone would be sent individual Starburst candies to rank amongst each other. Activities like these would fit perfectly into the remote environment where everyone can enjoy a break from instant fulfillment. Not every activity needs to be done at lighting-speed, sometimes it pays to take it slow and enjoy the moment.

Leaders who show appreciation for employees can go a long way, tangible items and activities are authentic and genuine way to bring people together.

Forge a better employee future

Organizations will return to normalcy at different rates, some will embrace a return to full officers and others may never come back. Each visitor at happy hour faced a different future, but the experiences that bring them together need to remain consistent regardless of locations. Tomorrow’s employee experiences lay in understanding and acting on how to make your brand worth championing for everyone.

If you’ll like to learn more about the trends shaping 2021 please visit our CX Trends: The 2021 Edition today.

Startup Founders Weigh In on CX Innovation in a COVID-19 Era

woman receiving package
Mature woman getting package from delivery person during pandemic. Courier guy delivers parcel to a woman at home during quarantine.

Disruptive companies are designed to, well, disrupt existing industries and business practices. But what happens when companies across the spectrum of industries and sizes are disrupted by a pandemic? At the recent MIT Sloan Retail Conference 2020: Modeling the New Normal, a panel of startup founders shared their experiences adapting to the changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and their outlook on a new retail landscape.


The COVID-19 effect
Prior to the pandemic, Zak Normandin, founder and CEO of Iris Nova, the parent company of organic beverage brand Dirty Lemon, had a bustling wholesale business selling to hospitality and food services companies—many of which are now struggling to stay open. On top of that, Normandin said he noticed an influx of brands popping up. “The barriers to entry for launching a beverage company are relatively low,” he said. “Now, startups are accelerating because people are out of work and sitting at home.”

Normandin said these pressures forced him to move even faster to acquire and serve customers. That included expanding the company’s same-day delivery capabilities. And while the company was already mobile-first, it was also seeing a large behavioral shift in older customers such as Boomers placing online orders. “All of a sudden, food and e-commerce has been accelerated by several years in a matter of months,” he said.  

Meg Maupin, co-founder and CEO of Atolla, a direct-to-consumer brand that sells customized skincare products, also saw a sudden uptick from other demographic groups. After the pandemic broke out, “who our customer is quickly changed,” Maupin said. “Because people can’t get facials or see an expert in person, we started seeing older customers put together their full routine [online].” In addition to more people shopping online, customer demands have changed, noted Cynthia Plotch, co-founder of Stix, a DTC brand that sells pregnancy and ovulation tests. “We’re seeing more demand for educational resources and online content because how people access medical care changed,” Plotch said. Plotch said she and her colleagues also noticed that instead of customers looking for information and products to increase their chances of pregnancy at the onset of the pandemic, as was anticipated, “70% of our customers were using our products to avoid pregnancy.” The company is using such customer insights to drive its marketing and ensure it delivers relevant content.    

Rob Smith, founder of the Phluid Project, a gender-free retail brand and community space, had recently opened a store in the trendy New York City neighborhood, NoHo, when the pandemic hit. “As a retailer, you always have competing priorities,” Smith said. The pandemic caused him to reorganize his priorities by closing the store to focus on the Phluid Project as an education platform and “lean into the activist part of who we are,” he explained.   

New game plan
Leveraging more data insights and experimenting with other ways of reaching customers were top of mind for the panelists as they forge ahead in an altered retail landscape. “With all these brands coming online, it’s becoming expensive to acquire customers through paid channels like Facebook,” Maupin said. Her plan is to test a variety of earned and owned media channels, while embarking on more R&D to build out the company’s digital products.
Smith noted that in some ways, COVID-19 provided an opportunity to focus on what is needed to be successful. “I freaked out when everything disappeared in March,” he said. “But then I thought of a quote from Deepak Chopra: find every challenge and make them into opportunities. COVID has forced me to regroup and refocus.”

A Diehard Fanbase of Customers Help Create Sales Champions

One of the many lessons 2020 has taught us is that game time just isn’t the same without fans. Sure, the game can still be played, as long as there are skilled teams following solid game plans – but dedicated fans can really put a team over the top, giving it that winning edge.

This is true as true in sales as is it in sports – probably more so. But what’s the best way to develop diehard fans?

Timothy Blank, a vice president at TTEC, recently spoke with Customer Strategist Journal Editor-in-Chief Elizabeth Glagowski about the crucial role practice plays in a sales team’s success. Here are some highlights from their discussion.

Value your customers

“Customer loyalty is absolutely critical,” said Blank, referring to both relationship-building and bottom-line benefits. “The proof is in the pudding for why you want to retain loyal customers.”

It typically costs five times as much to acquire a new customer than it does to retain an existing one, he said, and developing diehard fans can help brands score well into the future. Loyal customers are five times more likely than new ones to repurchase, five times more likely to forgive a bad experience, four times more likely to refer people, and seven times more likely to try a new offering.

True-blue fans can also be a slam dunk when it comes to sales.

“Converting is the ultimate goal,” Blank said, and brands typically have a 60 to 70 percent success rate when selling to existing customers, compared with a 5 to 20 percent success rate when selling to new ones.

It’s much easier, and more efficient, for brands to get to know an existing customer better than it is to learn about a brand-new customer. It makes sound financial sense too: increasing customer retention by 5 percent can increase profits anywhere from 25 to 95 percent, Blank said.

It’s also important to recognize a customer’s lifetime value, or the amount that customer will spend with a company over the duration of the relationship. Brands can boost that value by increasing the amount of the customer’s spend, lengthening the duration of the customer’s relationship with the brand, or both.

Cultivate relationships strategically

No one becomes a diehard fan overnight – or, in the sales world, after just one touchpoint. The key to turning casual buyers into loyal customers is delivering a great customer experience, and a key element on that front is having an omni-channel strategy.

“Customers want to be met where they want to be met, when they want to be met, and in the manner in which they want to be met,” said Blank. That may mean offering them the option of communicating through chat or voice offerings, for instance.

Customers’ expectations are changing; these days, they want the fastest, least expensive, and easiest way to interact with brands complete transactions. But even as the sales cycle gets quicker, it’s important to ensure each interaction with a customer is well thought out and intentional.

“Every interaction with a customer is a selling interaction,” said Blank. “Whether that is a typical sales interaction or even a service interaction, it should be viewed as a selling opportunity as you engage with your customers in varying levels.”

Every effort to attract and retain loyal fans should center around customer experience, he added. Once high-value customers are identified, developing rewards programs that are tailored to their needs – in a way that makes sense for your company – will help clinch the game.

“It’s very much about taking a customer-centered approach,” Blank said.

Watch the full discussion and learn more sales strategies and tactics in the TTEC web series, “The Ultimate Sales Conversion Highlight Reel.”

Sales Acceleration is Possible, Even in a Pandemic

There’s no doubt the COVID era is reshaping the consumer goods industry, possibly forever. Consumers’ shift to digital, which had been steadily gaining momentum prior to the pandemic, has ratcheted into overdrive during this time of social distancing and stay-at-home orders.

Against this backdrop, the sales cycle continue to get faster, meaning companies looking to prioritize sales acceleration have to be smart – and quick – when it comes to devising and implementing strategies to boost sales. Even in these unprecedented times, consumers still want their needs met in the quickest, most convenient way possible.

To accelerate sales, brands need to meet consumers where they are – and, these days, that’s largely online, where people are flocking to buy everything from basic needs to luxury items. Successful companies are increasingly focusing on digital sales.

Once the pandemic hit, Indiana-based guitar and music retailer Sweetwater adapted quickly to meet changing customer and employee needs, said CEO and founder Chuck Surack.

“There were literally hundreds of adjustments, big and small that had to be made to adjust to the quickly changing environment,” he said. “We’ve been utilizing texting to communicate with our customers for a while, but when we moved to work-from-home and the ability to effectively call customers was diminished, we leaned heavily into texting to connect quickly and efficiently with our customers.”

It’s also been a priority to keep staff, including the sales team, engaged under these unusual circumstances.

“Internally, the real key for us was to communicate with the team even more than normal as they adjusted to working from home, using modified tools and being a notch removed from their coworkers and other resources,” Surack said. “We wanted to do all we could to ensure that nobody felt like they were on an island.”

The approach, he said, is working: sales are booming at the company, and Sweetwater has grown its workforce in nearly every month of 2020. The company sells instruments, music gear, lighting, and other supplies.

Surack attributes the company’s growth in sales to its “old-school” focus on customer service, coupled with the ability to adapt and embrace emerging technologies.

“For us, it’s always been about a focus on customer service. I’ve always believed that if you put in the effort to consistently do the right thing and do all you can to add value and take great care of your customers and each other, that the money will take care of itself,” he said. “It’s been that personal touch that has made the difference for us. It’s always been and always will be about building and maintain great relationships.”

COVID has spurred brands across nearly all industries to rethink their business models.

When foot traffic in brick-and-mortar stores dried up earlier this year, sports retailer Nike shifted its focus to digital sales. Selling on digital platforms had long been a part of the company’s sales strategy, but the pandemic pushed it to forefront.

Earlier this year, Nike reported that digital sales surged 75 percent during its fourth quarter, which ended May 31. Even though that same quarter brought a $790 million quarterly loss and revenue well below Wall Street expectations, CEO John Donahoe touted the retailer’s renewed focus on digital sales as a success to stock analysts at the time.

The company is pinning much of its sales acceleration strategy on direct digital sales, in particular. After the pandemic shuttered many stores across the nation, Nike put more attention and resources into its direct-to-consumer business. In July, the company announced it was reorganizing its management with the specific intention of growing its direct-to-consumer business.

In the quarter that ended May 31, 30 percent of Nike’s revenue came from digital sales. That’s a target the company didn’t expect to reach until 2023.

Household names and lesser-known brands alike can also accelerate sales by focusing on social media marketing, particularly by enlisting the help of influencers. This technique was gaining popularity prior to COVID-19 and is something brands can embrace even more now.

A 2019 survey of marketers by Big Commerce found 65 percent planned to increase influencer marketing budgets in 2020, and 89 percent said the return on investment from influencer marketing is comparable or better than other marketing channels. The most common influencer budget was $1,000 to $10,000 per year, the survey found.

Consumer habits formed during the pandemic will last well after it’s over, according to research by Accenture, which predicts these unprecedented times have forever altered how we shop. COVID-19 has spurred more people to embrace technology than ever before, whether it’s for health and safety reasons, for ease, or both. It’s also changed workforce dynamics as many employees are working from home.

While these are undoubtedly challenging times for many brands across many industries, there are real opportunities to accelerate sales for those that are willing to expand their digital and direct sales strategies. Just as consumer habits may be forever changed by the pandemic, brands may benefit well into the future from the changes they are making now.

Creating a Can’t-Lose Game Plan for Sales

A strong team that is well-practiced and has mastered the fundamentals is key to sales success – but even the best team can fumble out in the field without a solid game plan. So, what’s the best way to set your team up for a win?

Iain Banks, regional vice president of international markets for TTEC, recently spoke with Customer Strategist Journal Editor-in-Chief Elizabeth Glagowski about the crucial role a strong game plan plays in setting your team on the path to victory. Here are some highlights from their conversation.

Know your sales targets

Team leaders and members need to know their end-game goal if they’re going to devise a winning strategy to attain it.

“Ultimately, in the sales industry, we are here to deliver on target,” said Banks.

A good place to start, he added, is by setting clearly defined and measurable targets. Each team member will bring a different level and type of experience to a team, and it’s the leaders’ job to identify the strengths of each member and assign them the tactics that will capitalize on their skills and set them on the path to success.

Sales is a tough – often ruthless – game, and the best way to prepare a team is ensure members are motivated and focused around target objectives. Those need to be clearly communicated, and reiterated as needed, to keep everyone moving toward the end zone.

It’s also important, Banks noted, to set a clear budget and communicate how team members will achieve key milestones. For a team to win, everyone needs to have their eyes on the same prize. That’s why it’s also important to periodically review the team’s sales approach, making improvements as needed.

Having a solid game plan from the outset brings an added bonus: it makes it much easier for teams to make quick adjustments if the unexpected happens.

Be flexible with your sales gameplan

Just as a football team might call an audible on the field, switching to a different play at the last minute, sales teams need to be quick on their feet and ready to adapt if things don’t go according to plan. If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s to prepare for the unforeseen.

It’s important to have a solid game plan, but equally critical to be able to pivot quickly when needed, Banks said. Agility is a major asset to any team and will help make any last-minute transitions as seamless as possible.

When something goes awry and adjustments need to be made, the first thing to do is take a brief timeout to consider the situation from all angles. Then, adjust accordingly.

“What’s really critical is that you take a step back and really observe what’s going on – make those changes, look at what’s happening in the market, look at what’s happening in the verticals that you’ve prioritized, and really understand how to switch from defensive to offensive schemes,” said Banks.

He added, “You have to be able to be flexible and adapt; and be able to switch in and switch out, substitute, and move as those strategic themes pan out through the course of your sales cycle.”

Watch the full discussion and learn more sales strategies and tactics in the TTEC web series, “The Ultimate Sales Conversion Highlight Reel.”

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