Building Brands, One Call at a Time

A brand isn’t a logo. It isn’t a corporate identity system, or a marketing campaign. It is the essence of what an organization vows to deliver to its customer. A company’s product offering is perhaps the most obvious reflection of its brand, but it is also the style and content of its marketing materials, the efficiency with which it fulfills orders – even the tone of voice it uses to answer a call, speaks volumes about the client brand experience.

If you are considering outsourcing your customer care or call center activities, it is crucial to entrust this to a partner who understands what’s really at stake – the integrity of your brand – and who can provide you a solution that will evolve as your company changes and grows.

Extending the cosmetics counter into the call center. Moving a customer experience into a new environment can be a daunting challenge, especially if its a legendary retail brand known for its high-touch, brick-and-mortar relationships. When an upscale fragrance and beauty products company with worldwide caché decided to make the leap to online sales, it needed a call center to help duplicate the luxury of the beauty counter experience over the phone. What the cosmetics company sought was a call center that provided a feature rich, cost-effective solution that ensured a seamless extension of the brand. Because a personalized consultative approach was needed, it was important that every call center representative complete the same certification programs as the company’s own employees to ensure that they were armed with the same in-depth product knowledge, upsell and cross-sell skills needed to boost sales in a brand-appropriate manner.

Handling every question with extra care. Every company is unique – and sometimes, even businesses within the same market niche can target dramatically different audiences. That’s why it is imperative to understand not only a merchant’s products, but also a clientele with a niche business. With that, it is important to empower each call center representative with techniques and training which help them actively listen and guide callers’ conversations effectively. The result: a service experience that reflects a brand image of intelligence and quality—with remarkably reduced call times by getting it right the first time.

Bringing a new brand to life.
Launching a new brand means creating a customer experience from scratch – including fielding questions about everything from what the products are to how to use them. By monitoring customer interactions, you can identify recurring issues and concerns and instantly implement tools and training that will enable your call center representatives to effectively describe the product and its operation and offer recommendations—all while building brand-customer relationships. After a successful launch, perform a customer survey to determine whether your company’s call center customer service was consistent throughout the entire process.

Increase your call volume to increase your order volume. When a business becomes overwhelmed with customer service and call volume challenges, outsourcing your call center activities may be the best solution. Outsourcing provides you the support you may need including new customer service techniques and technologies that can help transform your brand experience and increase your call volume. But choose your outsourcing partner carefully, as in today’s world, brand-appropriate customer service is so important. Also, it is just as important to work with an outsourcing partner that offers the right solutions from the start, and grows in sync with your business.

One size does not fit all. While many companies share the goal of enhancing a brand image, their actual needs can vary greatly, in terms of scope, pain points, and long-term business objectives. That’s why every brand initiative must be custom-designed to meet specific needs.

Cindy Almond is a vice president of client services for Plano, TX-based PFSweb, a business process outsourcing firm that develops and deploys integrated business infrastructure solutions and fulfillment services.