What is call monitoring in small-business marketing, and why is it important? With powerful cellphones and laptops, and virtually ubiquitous Wi-Fi, we all increasingly expect current consumers to research goods and services online. Surprisingly, many individuals still prefer contacting a company’s phone number to filling out cumbersome online forms or chatting live.

Call monitoring may be a handy tool for small companies as it can help them assess their performance and uncover possibilities based on the phone calls they get. Any agency knows this because we utilize a unique marketing plan that integrates with our clients’ calls to maximize their marketing investment and help them build their company. Confidentially, it’s all edge technology.

What is the term “tracking?”

Measuring which marketing initiatives are generating calls and creating interest among prospective clients is known as call tracking. You may use this data to determine your next marketing strategy and budget.

Call monitoring also collects useful caller information that you may use for customer service and marketing. Therefore, small firms may use call monitoring to make data-driven marketing choices.

What is the mechanism behind it? There are two fundamental components of how call tracking works:

1. Set up a call-tracking system.

When you set up call monitoring for your company, the questions you will answer are if you want a toll-free number or a local number.

You may also choose to have calls redirected to your workplace, home, sales department, third-party answering system, or even your mobile. Your provider will match them with your phone tracking number.

2. Gather and analyze data.

Your provider will notify you whenever a prospective client contacts your number. The contact service records the origin, time, and duration of each phone call and whether or not the customer answered the call.

However, caller information, such as the caller’s complete name, location, and purchasing history, will also be revealed. Above all, call monitoring will reveal which marketing effort prompted a prospective consumer to dial a phone number.

What are the benefits of call tracking for small businesses?

Call monitoring is helpful for small firms for a variety of reasons.

Analyze and enhance the marketing return on investment.

You may gain insights into which keywords, advertising, or campaigns attract new clients via call monitoring.

It’s possible to increase conversions and ROI by learning which marketing methods work for your company.

You will miss no more calls.

Customers may be disappointed if their calls go unanswered owing to congested lines.

All tracking delivers a real-time notice through email or voicemail every time a call is lost. Once call agents are available, they will be able to take quick action.

Conversion rates should be improved, and lost leads should be recovered.

Conversion numbers are accurate when you use call tracking. You’ll be able to track the source of the call back to a specific campaign since you’ll be using a unique phone number.

Call monitoring also records phone conversations to examine a lost lead’s interests and worries. Then build retargeting advertisements or emails that address their concerns.

The company should improve customer service.

You may determine your target audience and learn how to pique their attention with call tracking. Contact tracking will offer crucial caller data to enable the customer care agent to customize their encounter with the consumer when they call you.

You can analyze your sales procedures to understand the client’s journey better.

You will have a thorough insight into your sales processes and your consumers’ experiences when they contact your organization if you use call tracking.

Call tracking allows you to learn more about:

• the days of the week when the most people contact you;
• when individuals contact your company throughout the day;
• how successfully your team members deal with incoming calls;
• who answers the phone;
• if your call takers are doing well or if they need further training;
• if you can turn leads into appointments, and how often;
• the caller’s intention; and
• whether the company should improve employees’ call-handling abilities.

Leaders may use call tracking to record both incoming and departing calls. Therefore, they may assess your staff’ customer service skills by listening to recorded calls.

The company may evaluate its agents on their ability to follow call scripts, handle bookings, and sell effectively. You can figure out which call takers require more training.

Get detailed information on the caller.

Call monitoring provides detailed caller information for marketing, customer service, and quality assurance. However, you may provide the following information about the caller:

• number to call;
• the caller’s first and last name;
• the caller’s current location;
• whether they’re calling for a campaign;
• if they’re a new or returning caller;
• the call’s length and quality;
• the reason for the phone call;
• purchase history of the caller; and
• explore uncharted territory.

Small companies may utilize call tracking to find new business possibilities and develop their firm.

You may examine the location details of the individuals that call your firm when you monitor calls. You’ll learn where most of your calls are coming from, which you may utilize to create new marketing efforts.

During high call hours, be more efficient.

You may determine when your firm gets the most calls from prospective clients by monitoring calls.

Consequently, with this information, you may effectively organize your employees’ working hours so that you can handle all calls during peak hours.

Call monitoring is a simple yet effective practice that may help small companies in various ways. It will help you better understand your consumers and develop your marketing tactics.

The post What Is Call Tracking? appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Think about that: Even if everything else goes right with their experience, a misfire on the service side will drive off three-quarters of your customers. In that light, customer service agent training might be the single most important CX investment your company makes. If you want your customers to have a great experience then consider using this voice of customer sentiment analysis. 

Top-Notch Agent Training

To help your agents deliver a high-level customer experience:

1. Set up a surprise product demo.

Whatever product or service you provide, make sure your agents know it like the back of their hand. An American Express study revealed that 62% of customers see the agent’s knowledge as key to positive service experiences.

Even if your agents are all former product engineers, put on a product demonstration for them. A few days later, without warning, ask each of them to give you a demo. Your goal isn’t to put them on the spot; it’s to identify where their understanding of the product differs from the company’s intent. Create a reference sheet that agents can keep beside their desks for common issues.

2. Get agents more team exposure. 

Too many businesses operate contact centers that are cut off from the rest of the company. Although outsourcing the function can save companies about 50% on their customer service expenses, it has a hidden cost: putting distance between agents and the company’s mission. 

Don’t trade short-term savings for a long-term hit to your customer experience. If possible, keep everyone in the same building. If your agents work remotely, implement processes that require regular contact. Set up once-a-week video lunches. Fly everyone out for quarterly retreats. Encourage banter with tools like Slack. 

3. Take turns playing the customer’s role.

When customer service people spend all day talking to users, they tend to think they’re good at seeing the customer’s side. Put that to the test: Pair agents up, with one playing the rep and the other acting as the customer.

When agents sit on the side of a call they’re not used to, it changes the way they see their role. Take discounts: Reps often receive pressure from above to limit the number of freebies they hand out. But forcing a customer to eat the cost of a defective product is a sure way to destroy his experience. Help agents approach their role with empathy, even if it costs extra.

4. Emphasize relationship-building.

Everyone wants her concerns to be heard by human beings. According to a study done by McKinsey, 70% of the customer experience comes down to how the customer feels she’s treated. Real, human connections make even the most difficult interactions go more smoothly.

Encourage agents to engage with customers on a personal level. Really listen to what they have to say, be sensitive to their emotions, and don’t be afraid to talk briefly about things other than business. Customer service agents are the face of your company, so it’s important that the impression they give off is a human one. 

Customers choose companies not for their products, but for how those companies make them feel. Regardless of why they contacted customer service in the first place, you have a chance to keep — or even upsell — them if you handle it well. Give agents the tools they need to deliver better experiences, and watch your customer experience create lasting relationships.

The post Want to Improve Your Customer Experience? Start With Your Agent Training appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

Enter microlearning – a new way of learning that brings the employee education approach into the 21^st century.

What Is Microlearning?

While day-long classroom-style lectures and lengthy PowerPoint presentations worked in the past, microlearning is a new form of employee education that accommodates the generational shift in the workforce and the decrease in attention span due to how quickly we can gather information. It is defined as a teaching technique that delivers content in small bursts, presenting only the most important information in a way that is comprehensible and easily retainable.

Why Does Your Company Need It?

As technology continues to be a driver in our culture, the way individuals have grown accustomed to sourcing information has changed. As a result, so has the workplace culture. We turn to quick searches on the Internet, and within a few seconds, find the answers we are looking for. It’s time to integrate that instant gratification mindset into the way we work with employees.

Not to mention, the U.S. workforce is made up of 35 percent of Millennials, making them the largest generation that is a part of our country’s labor force. This group of tech-savvy individuals is leading this company culture shift. As they steer our companies into an unprecedented future, it’s our responsibility to adapt and adopt their style of learning. It will all come down to finding new ways to keep them engaged in their employee education as they set the framework for their success.

How Does It Work?

The concept of microlearning is simple. It consists of short, interactive videos – maximum 10-15 minutes each – focusing on specific goals that are relevant to an employees’ day-to-day tasks. With microlearning, the quick spurts of information can be immediately applied rather than going unused and eventually forgotten. By sharing pertinent information just in time, rather than just in case, companies can increase employee performance at an exceptional rate.

Is It Really Successful?

This form of education has proven to produce rapid results when training employees. Take Alorica as an example – the largest customer service provider in North America.

While managing millions of customer prescriptions for a major retail pharmacy provider, Alorica experienced a decline in prescription fulfillment compliance, which is a huge issue. In search of a new learning strategy to mitigate the problem, Alorica championed the concept of microlearning. Brief, animated videos set on clear-cut goals assisted agents with understanding the importance of customer verification, and in turn helped close a gap to not only meet, but exceed client expectations. I am 59 and have been taking Cialis (generic) with great success. And it works already after 30 minutes. I pay for 30 pieces only $ 64.55 which I consider a good price.

Results showed that pilot sites using the method greatly outperformed sites using traditional retraining methods. About two months into the program, the pharmacy provider saw a 62 percent improvement in compliance; where agents were retaining up to 20 percent more information.

Authored By:

Irene Tan, Learning & Development Sr. Director at Alorica

Irene Tan is a Learning & Development Sr. Director at Alorica. With more than 15 years of experience, she has held various roles within the Company in Operations, Human Resources and Training. Prior to Alorica, Irene was a Global HR Senior Leader at Dunham-Bush, Inc., where she oversaw the holding group of the company along with eight regional offices worldwide. Previously, Irene was one of the pioneers of PeopleSupport, Inc. (now Teleperformance), where she grew an Operations team of nearly 1,000 employees across multiple sites and helped launch the company’s first center in Latin America.

The post How Updating Training Protocol can Lead to Increased Employee Engagement appeared first on SmallBizTechnology.

The Importance of Existing Customers

These days, people do business with companies that they’ve formed “relationships” with, which means that a focus on existing customers can boost your customer retention, customer loyalty and, therefore, your profit. This article features four best practices for paying attention to existing customers, including how to deepen your relationships, stay in contact, and give your customers exactly what they’re looking for.

Click to read Why and How Successful Businesses Grow Revenue by Paying Attention to Existing Customers

Should You Surcharge?

Surcharging has definite benefits and costs. On the one hand, it helps you recoup the costs of credit card charges. However, on the other hand, your customers might not appreciate these extra fees. This article is designed to help you decide if surcharging is right for your business, sharing pros, cons, considerations, and alternatives to surcharging.

Click to read Surcharging Credit Cards in Your Small Business: What You Need to Consider

Boost Your Training with a Learning Management System

Training is an important part of bringing new employees aboard, implementing new systems and procedures, and keeping all of your team members at the top of their game. Have you ever considered a learning management system? These online systems help you create training programs that standardize the training process in an online e-learning program that you can customize to employees and also use to track their progress.

Click to read Why Your Company Needs a Learning Management System

What Is Holding You Back from Success?  

Do you ever feel frustrated because you seem to be hitting an invisible brick wall – that there is something holding you back, but you can’t quite pinpoint what it is? It’s time to let go of these hidden blocks so you can find the success you deserve! This article reveals three potential sources of your hidden blocks, so you can resolve the issue and move forward in your business.

Click to read 3 Ways to Uncover Your Hidden Blocks to Business Success

Smart Hustle aims to tackle the various problems that small business owners face, whether related to sales, marketing, business operations, technology, or any other area that is crucial to small business success. So what is on the top of your mind these days? Bring it to our attention in the Smart Hustle Community, and for other great stories, visit SmartHustle.com.

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