by Jeff Nicholson, Portrait Software

Changing Fortunes for Call Centers
There was a time when in-house call centers were widely regarded as revenue drains.  Occasionally, a customer might call to upgrade a service, bringing in some new revenues. But generally, call centers were an accepted, unavoidable cost.

In the last several years, this has changed quite drastically. With direct marketing opt-out and do-not-call restrictions at all-time highs companies are trying to take advantage of every customer interaction they can – not only to service customers’ needs but to engage with them individually, build relationships and extend customer lifetime value through up sell and cross sell.

The result is that inbound call center interactions are quickly becoming organizations’ only remaining chances to sell to customers, and many organizations are now expecting the call center to pull in real profits. According to a new survey of large B2C organizations with in-house call centers, conducted by independent research group Loudhouse and commissioned by Portrait Software, 69% of respondents agreed that their business increasingly looks to the call center to deliver revenues.

No Surprise, Data is Key
As companies start to use call centers as an opportunity to pitch new offers and increase their up sell and cross sell capabilities, they need to ensure that offers are personalized, timely and relevant. People know when a product is being “pushed” on them, and organizations need to use customer insight more effectively if they are to successfully realize the call center transformation.

The key to this is better data integration between all departments and all channels.  This is not simple, but organizations are at least aware that changing this dynamic is necessary: the research showed that 60% of respondents plan on making ‘better integration of customer data from other parts of the organization’ a priority over the next 12 months.’

When call center employees have a 360 degree view of each individual customer’s interactions with every department they can consistently provide them with more relevant offers. This boosts customer satisfaction and loyalty, and creates more revenue opportunities for the organization. For example, a major U.S. investment management company more than doubled sales of new products through cross sell in the first week after implementing systems to improve data integration.

More Organizations are Answering the Call
The information needed to make more tailored offers is available within most organizations in the form of customer profiles that include preferences, details of past interactions, and products and services currently used.  In particular, better integration with online customer service needs to be a primary focus. The Internet has become the channel of choice for many consumers to interact with businesses at their own pace. Online customer service, as a result, holds much of the data that call centers need. It’s promising at least that 54% of respondents in the survey cited that as a priority for 2011.

We are all customers of one of these organizations and we stand to benefit greatly from their better understanding of our needs and preferences. More relevant and personalized interactions with the call center not only have the potential to make our experiences better, but when presented with more applicable and enticing offers, we are more likely to spend with that organization and remain a customer for longer.

With the newfound focus upon customer retention and customer experience, there is a fundamental shift in how B2C organizations plan on making their money and judging from this new research, the growing majority of businesses are now moving in the right direction to support this, and that in its own is a major step towards real improvement.