By Chad Everaert

With the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic hitting us and the looming threat of lockdown, now is the time to revisit your call handling procedures.  Here are a few suggestions to maintain continuity of service and ensure customer retention.

 

  1. REASSURANCE: Let your customers know you are still there for them and that you are strongly committed to upholding their safety, while continuing to provide quality service to them. A positive action plan creates trust with your current client base.
  2. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF EVERY OPPORTUNITY: Remember: Every call is an opportunity, and every single sale matters right now. Don’t fail to capitalize on these because you were unable to communicate with your customers due to limited staff or operating procedures.
  3. AUTOMATION: There’s never been a better time to leverage automation technology than now.  Automatic answering systems, or Auto Attendant greetings are not susceptible to illness or burnout.  Let your limited staff focus on the shortest path to the sale or service.  Leave the call routing to the tech systems.
  4. INCREASED HOLD TIMES: For many businesses, hold times have lengthened significantly. Others that previously thought they “don’t put people on-hold” are living a very different reality now that is not likely to change, due to social distancing and illness stigmas.  Now is the time to leverage that hold time with valuable on-hold messaging content to maintain client relationships and convert more sales.
  5. POST-PANDEMIC PREPARATION: Believe it or not, there will come a day when things will change again. While we don’t know when, or even what that will look like, you can be sure that it will be sudden, and wrought with consumer confusion.  Developing a solid telecom communication strategy now will help prepare you to seamlessly deliver that information to your customers when that day arrives.  Timely, informative messaging is key.

 

Not sure where to start?  We’d be happy to help develop a call handling strategy fully tailored to your business.  CONTACT US to discuss.