Customers spend far more time online than they do talking to you. As such, if you wait for them to call so you can thank them for their custom, ask if everything is OK, or enquire if there is anything else they want – you are probably missing a trick.
Today’s consumer has moved on, they research online before they buy and share a wealth of personal information, including their experiences with brands on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social sites.
People are having more interactions online each day than interactions with you over the phone each year. The phone is still a crucial contact method for any business, and in fact it stands head and shoulders above all others when the customer has a complex query, however, those businesses that are ignoring social media are potentially ignoring conversations with prospects and customers.
I recently heard the true story of Dave, your average shirt sales person in a US department store, however, there is nothing average about Dave. When he sells a shirt, he encourages the customer to connect with him on Twitter – he then tweets regular updates on what new shirts he has in stock and what the latest fashion trends are, he even encourages his customer followers to request that he places new items aside for them. Dave connects with his customers, and his customers positively talk about him.
The Social Contact Centre
The social contact centre acts like Dave. It listens out for people mentioning their organisation – it responds by saying thank you for positive comments and responding quickly to negative comments.
It leverages every opportunity to connect with customers socially and uses this to build regular interaction to complement the phone – building loyalty and advocacy
Jason Roos is Chief Executive Officer at Cirrus
Jason founded Cirrus with the Direct Response Group in 2011 after a successful development project to redefine call centre technology for the DRG outsourced call centre business
