Acquiring and Retaining Customers
The 2009 Microsoft Small and Mid-sized Business (SMB) Insight Report reveals that 43% of the 620 small business owners surveyed listed customer acquisition and retention as the key challenge they faced, irrespective of the current economic climate. (more…)
Small Business, the heart of the economy
The U.S Small Business Administration (SBA) Advocacy office calls small businesses the “heart of the American economy”. Small businesses in the U.S provide employment to a large number of people and in many sectors where services would not otherwise be available. (more…)
Delight Customers Efficiently
Smart Query Technology helps business with three key objectives:
The CSR team that keeps growing
Mostly, businesses find that as they grow, the number of queries increases exponentially. This means that they have to keep adding customer service representatives. That obviously costs money! Soon enough, the business realizes that there is no end to this. Or, is there? (more…)
Small business is everywhere!
Did you know that small businesses employing a few people start up at the rate of over 500,000 a year? That’s a half million new businesses coming up every year. Half a Million! That is approximately 1369 new businesses being started up every day! (more…)
An Inverse Proportion
Research has shown that customer satisfaction is inversely proportional to the waiting time for them to be served. In simple terms, the longer the waiting time, lower the satisfaction levels. (more…)
Monotonous and High Cost: The Worst Combination
Businesses often find that the majority of questions from customers revolve around the same issues. Some estimates say this may be as high as 60 to 70% of questions. Companies spend time answering these questions again and again, while employees get tired of fielding the same issues. This is as bad as it gets! (more…)
The Outcome that Everyone wants
At an overall level, what smart query technology has going for it is simply that customers are delighted at the end of the process. Lower waiting times and effective answers ensure that customers don’t find the process tedious. (more…)
Faster Deadlines, Shorter Fuses
Corporate buyers are even more discerning when it comes to customer service. The buyer faces tremendous pressure internally to get the right product, at the right time and price and to get all issues with the buying process resolved smoothly. Getting this right is key to their reputation. A vendor with poor customer service makes them look bad internally.
When a Standard Customer Support System doesn’t work
Let’s look at the shortcomings of standard customer support systems with an example. On a Thursday, Ms. Williams send in a query using the company website to the manufacturers of the new kitchen tiles that she has purchased. She is planning to install them over the weekend when she has time off from work. But, rarely do companies respond effectively within this short window! (more…)
