Do you know the secret to the long-term success of a business? It is building better relationships with your customers. E-mails and chatbots can help you do that. But nothing compares to the personal touch of a phone call.
For customer service companies, the phone is often the primary touchpoint with clients. Data shows that 93% of customers are more likely to make purchases repeatedly if a company’s customer service is excellent. This figure suggests that poor customer service will harm your business.
Investing in the right business phone system is crucial to ensuring exceptional service. A robust phone system can significantly enhance customer interactions, streamline operations, and improve overall efficiency. Choosing such a business phone system for your customer service company can be challenging, but worry not; we’ll help you with this task.
Here, we’ll discuss some features your business phone system must have so that you can deliver exceptional service.
#1 Interactive Voice Response
The first thing to look for in a business phone system is interactive voice response. IVR, or interactive voice response, is an automated phone system that allows incoming callers to communicate through voice or menu inputs.
This system is powered by pre-recorded message or text-to-speech technology. Customers can navigate a menu and access information or services without speaking to a live agent. Your customers will be redirected to the right customer care agent.
To help you understand how an IVR works, here is an example. Let’s say you’ve created an IVR script. Here, your customers receive product information by pressing 1 and are connected to the billing department if they press 2. They can also speak with a customer service representative by pressing 3.
One of your customers calls and selects 1 to get product information. The IVR system will provide them with detailed information about the product, such as features and pricing, all through pre-recorded messages. If they, however, have a more complex query, it can seamlessly transfer the call to a live agent with the relevant expertise.
Opting for this feature will be beneficial for your company because it automates routine inquiries. Your human agents will be freed from mundane yet essential tasks and focus more on complex ones.
#2 Virtual Voicemail
Your customer service might be open 24/7, yet there could be missed calls. This is more of a possibility if all your agents are busy attending other calls. You will lose out on many of your current and prospective customers if you don’t get in touch with them as soon as possible. A business phone system with a voicemail feature is a must-have for your business.
When your agents are busy, voicemail will allow your customers to leave a voice message. Your representatives can retrieve and respond to it later. This will ensure that all customers are heard and their queries are addressed promptly.
However, make sure you choose a business phone system that offers virtual voicemail. Virtual voicemail is a modern system that stores messages in a digital format, accessible from various devices, including smartphones, computers, and tablets. Where traditional voicemail is tied to a specific phone, virtual voicemail offers flexibility and advanced features to enhance message management.
Virtual voicemails, WOW! Business explains, are kept in the cloud. That, it further elaborates, offers significant benefits. Your team members can access them from anywhere—just an internet connection is required. Many systems also integrate with e-mail, sending voicemail messages as audio files or transcriptions to your inbox. For added convenience, go for the systems that offer transcription features and integrate with e-mail.
#3 Predictive Dialing
Whether you have an in-house sales management team, an outbound sales team, or run an outbound call center, predictive dialing is a vital feature in your business phone system.
Predictive dialing maximizes agent productivity by dialing multiple numbers simultaneously and connecting answered calls to available agents. Instead of human agents, a predictive dialer finds and dials numbers using pre-configured algorithms. This saves agents a lot of time since agents don’t have to dial numbers manually.
Moreover, the predictive dialer uses pre-configured algorithms, so the chances of failed call attempts are low.
#4 Call Recording
Not all business phone systems can record calls. Those that are equipped with call recording features save the captured conversations on the cloud. You can access and review those recordings, making sure your agents are adhering to company standards and protocols.
You can also use those to train new employees, helping them understand how to respond to customers’ complaints in the best possible way. Besides increasing your team’s productivity, it will lead to customer satisfaction—either way, it’s a win-win for you.
To wrap things up, selecting a business phone system that is integrated with all the essential features your customer service company needs is important. It will not only help you maintain a competitive edge, but it will also allow you to deliver exceptional service.
These features—IVR, virtual voicemail, predictive dialing, and call recording—are necessary for your business phone system. When you invest in a phone system that incorporates these capabilities, you will be able to streamline your business call management processes. At the same time, you can support your staff with advanced tools and provide a seamless and professional customer experience.