One of the major cost cutting mistakes organizations can make is slashing the budget for call centers. Clients have become increasingly demanding and forging strong customer loyalty is essential to successful business. Companies can still reduce expenses by using call center analytics to run the operation efficiently without reducing the level of service.

Dangers Of Poor Customer Service

Many executive underestimate the value of their call centers. Since the direct benefits to the company are hard to quantify, it's easy to look at a balance sheet and decide the department has no real worth. Hours are cut. Staffing is reduced. As hold times increase agents are forced to get clients off the phone as quickly as possible, often not giving them the help they need.

This can quickly have ripple effects. Customers move to other clients, reducing revenues and forcing another round of layoffs. What's worse is it is very hard to get these customers back. Even if an organization has offered many years of good service, clients will always remember their last interaction. The company may never be able to return to its former level of success.

Treating Customers Like They Matter

Customers are the company's source of revenue. If you lose clients, you lose income. They are essential and irreplaceable resources that too many organizations don't give the attention they deserve. Some businesses have the attitude that even if a customer leaves, there will be another one along in no time. And yet that new customer would come anyhow. Doesn't it make more sense to keep your current clients and add new ones?

Call centers are not a company expense. They are an investment in future success. Money spent here increases retention and guarantees future business. Call center reports are valuable tools that help both agents and managers monitor and react to current call volume while still allowing them the time to treat every caller like the most important caller.

Benefits Of Good Customer Service

The short-term rewards are clear. Customers are happier and more likely to give future business. They tell their friends about your great company, and new clients flock to your business. The company's reputation as a caring provider grows, and that is marketing clout that the best publicist can't buy.

There are many other benefits. Employee morale improves. Workers want to be part of a caring organization and are more likely to stay through the hard times at a business who takes the time to help its clients. Getting a handle on phone traffic with call center analytics improves efficiency and lowers agent stress, another morale booster.

This doesn't mean organizations should blindly fund call centers without regard to the expense. However cost reductions should be done only if they can be done without impacting performance. The short term cost of call center analytics typically results in long term savings as the department is run more efficiently.