Elevation Connect News

Is Outsourcing Right For Your Business?

Fri, 05 Jan 2024 08:35:48 GMT

Outsourcing was first identified as a mainstream business strategy in 1989 thanks to Eastman Kodak’s well-publicized deal with IBM. In just over 30 years (a relatively short period in the context of business history), the industry has experienced significant growth and evolution. In fact, the global Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO) industry currently exceeds $290 billion and is expected to approach $500 billion by 2030.

Once looked at as simply a cost reduction strategy related to routine back-office functions, the evolution of the industry is now allowing companies to become more efficient and effective by tapping into highly complex and innovative technologies and services provided by BPOs.

This industry evolution prompted the highly respected Deloitte to comment:

“Organizations are recognizing that disruptive solutions can revolutionize the way they do business, and that buying capabilities in the marketplace is generally faster and more scalable than developing capabilities internally. Outsourcing is about collaborating with partners in the marketplace to integrate services an organization cannot quickly build on its own to innovate, transform, propel its growth, and unnerve its competitors.”

In recent years, we have seen outsourcing adoption by new industries and company types. While outsourcing was most commonly associated with much larger global companies, we’re now seeing companies of all sizes realize the many benefits it provides. At Elevation Connect, we service start-up organizations to Fortune 500 companies handling in/outbound calls, email, chat, text and more.

If you’re like many other companies that have thought about outsourcing customer service,

sales, social media, back-office services, and related disciplines but have yet to take the leap,

here are some key benefits you can expect for your business:

Cost Savings Without a Reduction in Quality: Setting up or maintaining an in-house customer support team involves significant expenses, including salaries, benefits, infrastructure, and training. You should expect reductions in both fixed and variable costs, most notably IT and labor. Carefully scrutinizing potential BPOs will ensure that these cost savings don’t come at the expense of customer satisfaction.

24/7 Support: The right BPO will have strategic locations throughout the globe allowing for around-the-clock customer service, which can be challenging for in-house teams to manage. This ensures that your customers receive assistance at any time, enhancing overall customer satisfaction.

Access To Specialized Skills: The right BPO will have “walked in your shoes.” In other words, they’ll bring years of experience within your industry to the table. Instead of a drawn-out learning curve, they’ll offer advice and solutions based on that experience…right out of the gate.

Focus on Core Competencies: While you’ll still maintain control over outsourced functions to ensure that they align with your strategic objectives, you’ll be able to continue doing what made you successful in the first place…focus on your core business.

If you’re considering adding outsourcing as a core business strategy, we would love to talk. In the meantime, we’ll leave you with a final thought from Deloitte about outsourcing:

“History has shown that it is difficult to catch up if you ignore or delay acting on such disruptions. Those who see this as an opportunity to execute real change, even when it may cost more in the short term, will be far better positioned to gain competitive advantage in the long run. For those who don’t, they risk getting left behind their more nimble competitors.”

If you’re ready to be the company that wants to improve your CX, increase sales, improve attrition, and work force morale, all while your competitors fear being left behind you, we’d love to chat. In the meantime, you can learn more about us at www.elevationconnect.com or reach out to us at service@elevationconnect.com.

Many Americans Prefer Cleaning a Bathroom Over Calling Customer Service? Let’s Change That!

Fri, 17 Nov 2023 00:05:59 GMT

A recent Interactions survey of over 1,000 U.S. consumers yielded results that may be humorous on the surface but are nothing short of disturbing at the core.

The survey, which looked at consumers’ satisfaction with the customer service they receive from brands, revealed that more than a third of Americans would choose the following unenviable tasks over having to call a customer service line:

Cleaning a bathroom.
Have a cavity filled.
Take the SATs again.

As someone who has spent a good portion of my career working in the customer service and contact center industry, this is something I take personally. However, more than anything else, it is a reminder of why I—and my colleagues at Elevation Connect—work tirelessly every day to provide the best customer experience possible on behalf of our clients.

So just what got the industry to this point? In my opinion, it is an unintended result of the race towards automation using AI self-service tools in customer contact centers. While these tools have provided a level of convenience to certain customer segments and have provided brands with increased efficiencies, far too many have over-automated to the detriment of the customer experience. In turn, consumers have sent back a clear message: customer service has lost too much of the human element.

In fact, noted CX industry expert and Forbes Magazine Contributor Shep Hyken has long feared that too many companies will lose sight of the human element and continue to “over-automate and over-digitize” to the detriment of creating real relationships with customers. He has gone on to say that “smart companies will recognize the balance needed between the digital world and the human-to-human world.

It’s a narrative that’s even made its way into the mainstream media, with Newsweek commenting:

“If it seems brands don’t really want you to talk to their customer service reps, it’s because they don’t.”

This comes at a time when consumer expectations are at an all-time high, with Hiver reporting that 80% expect better customer service than they’ve received in years past. And now more than ever, they are willing to move on to a new brand if they are dissatisfied.

So how can brands keep the human element intact while still controlling costs and increasing efficiency?

1. Design a Customer-Centric Experience: According to Gartner , customer-centricity is the ability to understand customers’ situations, perceptions, and expectations. Customer centricity demands that the customer is the focal point of all decisions related to delivering products, services, and experiences to create customer satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy.

Designing a customer experience program that does not sacrifice customer centricity for profitability will always win out in the long run. It requires the acknowledgment that AI tools are a key part of the customer journey that supports efficiency, but do not have the ability to understand each and every customer situation.

2. Let Customers Define Their Journey: A truly customer-centric approach is built on the understanding that each customer is different. Some prefer to deal with live agents, while others are comfortable with self-service tools, especially for more routine items. At Elevation Connect, we rely on our automated tools to manage these routine requests, but the option to speak to a human is always available. With 47% of consumers reporting frustration with being forced into one communication channel (according to “Execs in the Know”), it’s something we’ll never abandon.

3. Develop Systems that Make it Easy to Get to The Right Agent: In the same Hiver study, the number one complaint from consumers is “having to explain issues again and again.” We have all had the experience of having to provide our personal information or describe our inquiry repeatedly and through multiple communications channels.

Access to a live agent is only the starting point for addressing this concern. Ensuring that customers are routed to the right agent who can manage their inquiry and has the necessary information to do so is critical.

4. Treat Customers with Respect and Empathy: This may seem overly obvious, but research shows that among the top complaints from consumers is rude or untrained agents. Given that 90% of customers point to good customer service as a driving factor behind staying with a brand, we employ the most knowledgeable, friendly, and empathetic agents in the industry. Anything else would represent a disservice to our clients and their customers.

Ready to implement a truly customer centric CX strategy that will delight your customers? We would love to talk!

Virtual Or Brick And Mortar – We Have A Home For You!

Tue, 04 Jan 2022 21:08:36 GMT

Before there was a pandemic, Elevation Connect was one of the first organizations to have team members working virtually from their homes. While we now have people in 19 states, we still have traditional brick and mortar locations in the Colorado Springs area, Denver and Detroit.

One of those homes is The Bosworth House, a Victorian mansion built in 1889 and restored a few years ago. The historic mansion is located at 1400 Josephine Street in the city of Denver, Colorado. The house retains many of the original treatments, millwork, fireplaces, light switches, fixtures, and even some of the furnishings. The home has been renamed the “The Josephine Mansion” and is next door to the Josephine Event Center.

We are defined by many things: what we believe, what we do, and how we do it. Where we do the work also makes us highly unique, like this 130-year-old piece of Americana. We are American based and American made!

Contact Management Top 10 Best Practices

Thu, 27 Aug 2020 20:08:37 GMT

Let’s face it, connecting with prospects, customers, and people is the lifeline of every organization. We are in the people and communications business long before we make our first widget or provide a service.

Call Centers, agents, and how we communicate are changing dramatically. Those that adapt thrive and the others… well…, become extinct. The move to virtual at-home models was a race that began years ago and has now been turbocharged by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The current “Corona Culture” is creating a need for a different business model and it points to virtual home-based solutions.

Elevation Connect is a company that is poised for exponential success because it was prepared for the current situation years before it happened. For over 5 years now we have been running successful virtual call centers. The team has over 150 years of combined experience and has become an industry expert with hundreds of virtual operators at their disposal. This was a strategic choice and not a reaction to the current state. Please read why we are highly unique.

Elevation Connect’s Top 10 Best Practices.

1. Have a Purpose & Change People’s lives

We impact people’s lives before we sell a product or service. Without purpose, everything dies. Purpose breathes life into all we.

2. We use Virtual At-Home solutions in addition to our Brick and Mortar locations

With quality management systems in place scheduling, tracking, and monitoring a quality virtual contact network is easy.

3. Blazing VOIP Speeds

Top-quality technology and equipment allow for great communication experiences.

4. Special Workspaces.

We create distraction-free zones to improve the quality of every call.

5. Record the interaction

Interactions are recorded to provide continual improvement and transparency to our clients. Hear exactly what the customers are experiencing.

6. Great Training and Supervisor Escalation

We start with top-quality agents, provide the best-in-class training, and continue with additional supervisory support.

7. Keep everyone connected

Connecting is what we do. Our best practices keep all our agents connected to ensure optimal team performance.

8. We Provide a “Made in America” solution

We answer calls all across the United States, by Americans for American businesses without offshoring any calls. This provides s quality excellence.

9. Expanded talent pool

By using more than 24 virtual markets we retain a wide variety of talent including multilingual operators.

10. Continuity and Redundancy

Backups and redundancy mean that calls rarely if ever go down. If and when a problem does exist the system routes the call to another operator in the U.S.

We continually hear about the new normal and our need to deploy adaptive leadership principles. How we stay connected to our customers also needs to evolve. At-Home virtual call networks are providing customers with a better experience, reducing costs, and creating safe environments for the operators.

Elevation Connect is a company that can provide these solutions for you. If you are interested you can reach out to us by visiting our website at www.elevationconnect.com or by calling (877) 910-7110.