Call Center 2.0 – The Next Generation
Caylin White
Modern call centers today are not only not in brick and mortar centers, but they handle more interactions than just calls. So, what is the next generation of call center? It’s decentralized enabling a remote workforce and equipped with cloud-based technology to handle true omnichannel customer interactions.
The new model for contact center solution is so anti call center there is no actual center. Instead of a large facility, imagine a virtual team of professional, talented, happy Brand Ambassadors (no longer referred to as agents).
Building a customer service organization today is like coordinating beautiful orchestra. Creating a virtual contact center solution for clients is a symphony. Sally Hurley and the team at VIPdesk Connect have woven the musicians together to create the orchestra to conduct the symphony of the next generation of call center.
Customer Service > Call Centers
Can we replace the phrase “call center”? At VIPdesk Connect, we think we can. We now live in a time of virtual teams, remote customer service representatives, chatbots and artificial intelligence. We no longer need the cubicles of chorded phones and unscalable facilities. We can build an empire across the nation by connecting amazing people with cutting-edge technology.
When you think of customer service, you may feel a twinge of negative energy. It may feel like a pain point where you can’t understand who or what is on the other end of the line attempting to help you. We at VIPdesk Connect are trying to reverse that feeling of negativity and replace it with that of a humanized version of faith.
Customer service means being there for the customer and we are breaking the mold on the call center mentality. We are squashing the idea that everyone has to be in the same room, screaming over each other, fighting for a happy workspace. Welcome to the anti-call center way of life.
Manage from Afar
We are a virtual team at VIPdesk Connect and there is much to be said about managing a team across the nation. The key factor in managing a large team is trust. That all starts with finding the right people to fill the role.
We have a fantastic Director of Recruiter & Systems, Maggie Piper-Presing who finds the ultimate talent and brings them into our virtual world of customer service. She vets the best, finds the elites and places them in the hands of the team to rock the customer experience. This takes trust!
Managing a virtual team also takes more than one person – it takes the best leadership you can ask for! We have a robust team of professional leaders that truly shine in the light. It takes patience, care and consistency to help guide each Brand Ambassador to be their best self. We are proud of who they have become and that is all done through communication.
Even though they don’t share the same office, they share the same goals – elite customer service.
Team Up with Technology
One way that we create synergy is through our quest for the latest innovative technology. Without it, we would not be able to run a successful virtual operation. We have been ahead of the curve when it comes to technology and offer the ultimate best to our team members because we know if we provide it, they will thrive. Technology is the portal to excellent customer service and we are always growing to improve this.
We partnered with Bright Pattern, Loxysoft, Zendesk, Microsoft and more to build a technological path to success. One thing we do to communicate with our team members across the nation is to hop on to video calls. It is so important to be ‘face to face’ even if we can’t be in the same room, this allows us to help each Brand Ambassador feel the individual care they need.
Encourage Growth
Being available is key to helping our team grow in a positive way. Team meetings, chats, and even phone calls are all necessary to thriving in the customer service environment. Listening to understand and hearing the day to day grind is ultimately our goal to empower and encourage our team. It is part of our core values that we lift up our Brand Ambassadors with positive language and encouraging words. This will then filter down to the customer.
If you recently read our latest post on “Thankful Teams Mean Thankful Customers” you will know that we take the time to hear everyone’s gratefulness on our Leadership Meetings. This short time allows a peek into the world of each team member and helps us to understand them better. It is so important to move forward with a sense of gratitude because this enables our customers to feel this in our service.
Straight from the VIPdesk Connect values –
“Talent has no limits. Our team allows us to stand out above the rest; that’s why we are constantly on the lookout to attract, develop and retain A-players matched exclusively to our clients’ needs. The uncompromised quest for finding the best people for each client program has led VIPdesk to broaden its distributed team. By having virtual teams, dedicated to each client, we bring the best talent to our clients’ brands, eliminating any geographic hurdles.”
Track, Evaluate and Learn
Part of growing is learning. To understand the future, we must always live in the present and evaluate the past. Tracking is a big part of what we do on our team. Customer service and experience are all about tracking what worked and what didn’t work. It is truly important to learn the ways in which we succeeded and the ways in which we failed.
Here is how we track our team efforts. Each call is monitored, each chat is recorded and each day our team logs into the world of customer service for all to see. The transparent nature of our service is not to make sure that our staff is working. Yuck! It is to make sure that we are always there for our customers and we provide the best service we can.
Each day we get a Daily Performance Report from our Workforce Forecast Manager, Lexie Campbell. This report details the queued calls, length of calls, SLA and response time. It shows wins and losses so the whole team can benefit from the information. It is so important to have your team be aware of what your internal (and virtual) teams are doing in order to be successful.
Gone from Geographic Restraints
Gone are the days where we gather around the water cooler to complain about our bosses. Welcome to the 21st century where teams gather around the video chat and share their stories via live audio. This doesn’t make us less human, it encourages a positive work-life balance.
Geographically, does it truly matter where your team answers their calls and emails? No. What matters is that they are communicating, engaged and feel part of a team. Creating a sense of gratefulness matters when you run a virtual customer solutions team. We do this by weekly Leadership meetings where everyone is on camera, sharing what they are grateful for, what they have accomplished and their goals for next week. No matter how busy we get, we all get a chance to smile at each other across the nation.
Provide a work-life balance for your team that you are proud of. Encourage your team Moms to watch that soccer game, go to that chorus concert and attend that family dinner. You know they will be happy to get their work done if they have a team that supports their personal life as well as their professional.
Call to Action for building a 2.0 Call Center
Saying you are going to have the anti-call center mentality and making it happen are two very different things. We constantly tell people that we aren’t a call center, per se, and that we don’t represent that negative mental image you perceive when thinking of it.
We don’t feel, act or provide service like one. We go beyond traditional call center services and create unique, relevant and interesting experiences across all touch-points. Delivering superior service at every interaction, we give your customers the option to choose the channel in which they wish to interact with your brand.
“I’m so proud of the model we leverage today for our customer service operation. It allows us to tap the most talented and committed team members and deliver an elevated service for our clients.” – Sally Hurley, CEO, VIPdesk Connect
We hope this opens your eyes to the new and improved anti-call center experience that we provide here at the VIPdesk Connect team. At the end of the day, it is the performance results that we consistently deliver to our client-partners that really matter. Whether your goals are to improve performance, increase customer satisfaction or develop long-term relationships with your customers, VIPdesk Connect delivers as no other partner can.
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VIPdesk Connect
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