How to Choose Customer Interaction Management Solutions that Work
When it comes to customer interaction management (CIM), sometimes it can feel like every department has a seat at the table. Account management wants to know what support is saying, while sales is inquiring with both departments to see if there are any interactions that have upselling potential.
However, at the end of the day, it’s important to reduce this interdepartmental creep by selecting a CIM solution that provides visibility into your customers for all employees. Here are a few tips to select and implement a customer interaction management solution that works so all departments are “in the know”…
When evaluating, be accurate with your number of daily customer interactions – Too often, data isn’t shared directly between all relevant departments because there is no source of truth for the information. Sales may think support closes 500 tickets a day, while account management may think that number is twice as much. Selecting a CIM solution that tracks metrics like this accurately will help not only with internal communication but also for staffing the support team.
Choose a technology that provides great onboarding – Selecting a customer interaction management solution isn’t like buying a car. You don’t just pay for it and drive it off the lot, left to your own devices to figure out how it works. Instead, opt for a solution that provides extensive SaaS onboarding to maximize your potential so you can interact with customers better and more efficiently. A good onboarding team will not only work within the software to get you up and running quickly, but they will also take the time to meet with the leaders from different functional areas of your business to train them as well. Onboarding is more than teaching support employees, it’s about maximizing the usage of a CIM solution to benefit your entire organization.
Let support agents get “hands on” with CIM training – As people, we only learn so much by watching. Choose a CIM solution that has an easy process for adding new employees (even if they don’t specialize in support) and let them learn by working in the system to solve real customer problems. For example, adding a few licenses in the CIM system for your sales team can be a huge timer saver for assisting with upselling opportunities. Salespeople can go and investigate companies in the CIM to see how happy they’ve been with your business recently and then determine whether or not to reach out about a new feature or product. In addition, CIM systems will often integrate well with solutions such as Salesforce to truly provide a bidirectional link between the two systems. This way if a company name changes and is updated in Salesforce, it will automatically be updated in the CIM system.
Want more information on the relationship between TeamSupport and Salesforce? Click here to download our whitepaper on integrating the two systems!
Wrapping up, taking the time to choose and implement your customer interaction management solution the right way is well worth it to your business. It gets people on the same page with accurate information, and once properly trained can save time by reducing redundant internal conversations. Lastly, a powerful Customer Interaction Management solution with integrations to systems such as Salesforce provides information even more seamlessly to other departments including business development. CIM solutions are the backbone of customer correspondence, and using them the right way is essential for keeping customers happy.
