Most contact centers are not staffed with people who can sell, or who enjoy selling; and in many cases, asking the average contact center agent to sell can be counterproductive.
According to a recent Accenture survey, 74 percent of customers find it frustrating to have a service agent attempt to sell them something. The reason for this is these agents do not have enough information in order to offer the customer the right product or service – and due to the customers’ frustrations and reactions, the agents are much less willing and motivated to keep on selling.
This is why it is critical to give contact center agents the ability and time to gather and mine customer information. Over time, gathering intelligence on customers enables agents to predict and meet customer needs. Albeit, by offering products and services that are wanted, the customer experience is enhanced, not jeopardized.
To find out more and learn what other customer-capable companies are doing, we suggest you read From Contact Center to Opportunity Center by John Kealey which was recently published on DestinationCRM.com.
