Where are you setting the bar for your telephony?

Setting the bar for telephony CX…

Even before I got into working with contact centres and their CX, I had a lot of experience calling them. Of course I did… and as a customer yourself, so do you. So as a customer, when you encounter a system with dead ends, endless layers of IVR, several different in-house voices, complicated options, and 3 minutes of announcements before you even make a choice… what are you thinking? I’m betting that what you’re not thinking is… this is good, this is acceptable, this is an organisation that has set the bar for CX.

And further, as that customer, at some level you’re thinking: Somebody inside this organisation has created this system, looked at it, considered it and said… “yeah… this is fine for our callers to experience”. Your impression of that organisation is that they’ve decided that this labyrinthine nightmare, with all the teeth-grinding frustration and difficulty that it causes, is fit for purpose.

Now… working within the contact centre space, I know that this customer opinion is not always on the money. There are plenty of organisations who are out to actively improve. Over the years, at Premier CX, we’ve helped many such organisations tackle a lot of what I referred to in the opening paragraph. We’ve worked closely alongside contact centre professionals who have real passion and energy to take their current experience and make it better. I’m making this point, because otherwise I could be about to come across all judgemental, as I sit here in what may appear to be my very own, specially made, ivory, consultancy tower.

That said, here’s the slightly awkward bit: It’s just possible, and I’m not saying it’s you… but it’s just possible that some organisations are sitting back, looking at their current experience and feeling rather ‘okay’ about it. They might not think it’s the greatest in the world, they might just think it’s ‘doing the job’. They might be exceedingly busy and ‘not able’ to think about it. I would argue that this is not the way to stand out in the world of CX. This is the crux of it and why this blog is about where we set the bar.

Another fair-minded musing from me at this point: I understand that there are all sorts of real-world constraints on contact centres. Budgets, resources, technical and technology limitations, training and knowledge… the list goes on. So before we press on, understand that what I’m pushing for here is to get the maximum benefit possible, by getting everyone to look at what they’ve got and ask ‘can it be improved?’ If we’re not asking that question then we are, I suggest, setting the CX bar far too low.

Here's some excellent news… if you aren’t asking it, you can start asking it today. Pick up the phone, dial your own organisation’s number and encounter what your customers and callers encounter. It’s fundamental, which is why, especially if you read some of our other excellent CX blogs, you’ll see it gets mentioned a lot. When going through that call, you’ll discover that a good place to start is that opening paragraph of this very article. If some of those things are cropping up, then possible improvements will immediately present themselves.

But say you are indeed asking this question, that you’re looking to improve, but not sure where to start or what even to look for? Alternatively, maybe you know what you want to do, but there just isn’t the time. Straight up, here’s a big plug for Premier CX: This is absolutely where we can help. The team and I would simply love to talk to you about all the excellent things we could do for you and the extra resource and expertise that we could offer to your contact centre. We excel at finding the wins, small or large that can impact your CX. Even better: bring us your specific challenges, your targets and your pain points and we can tackle them together.

If you would like to read more, check out our 'Music to your ears' article or many other great reads in The Good CX Guide or give us a call at Premier CX.