Handling VIPs and Priority Situations
Let’s face it. Businesses are born on ideas but built on relationships. It is the car dealer that people will return to every few years to buy from not because of the car, but because of their experience and building of a relationship with the dealer. It is the insurance company that is not just interested in renewing a policy but providing compassion and calm after an emergency. How a customer is treated and how they feel at the end of an interaction builds what is called stickiness.
What can businesses do to help increase the stickiness of their customers?
Empower Customer Representatives
When an interaction occurs and the customer experiences exceptional service, they are likely to provide repeat business. Customer representatives have the opportunity to establish and build the relationship. If the customer provides positive feedback in the form of a post-call survey or other satisfaction follow-up touchpoint, the business with the proper tools can implement a sticky agent. By setting this option, future calls to the business can be connected to the same representative, helping to grow the relationship and provide familiarity.
Customers expect accurate, efficient solutions to their problems. Providing a more personalized experience can build long-term relationships and stickiness.
Invest in Automation
When response time is crucial, getting connected to the right person becomes critical. Perhaps it is a CxO about to miss their flight or an asymptomatic patient who needs confirmation of a medical visit. Quickly routing to the appropriate person or skillset can impact future business or even cause damage to the reputation of the business if handled poorly.
With modern contact centers, specialized routing rules can be implemented to recognize the identity of the customer and connect them to an assigned skillset which can resolve the problem the fastest. This could be as simple as identifying a special phone number to call. It could be with priority routing based on data collected via API. Or even text to speech (TTS) options in an IVR can direct a person to a specialized skill.
Underestimating the impact of these kinds of interactions can have a long-lasting impact on businesses. And creating an exceptional customer experience will require building a relationship. Focusing on efficient and rapid response for VIPs and priority customers can foster long lasting relationships and create the stickiness all businesses need to grow.
