SMBs
BY DAMON COVEY, GOTO
ILLUSTRATION PROVIDED BY ADOBE STOCK
JUMPING THE CX HURDLES HOW NEW TOOLS CAN GIVE A LIFT.
Running a small or medium-sized business( SMB) comes with no shortage of hurdles, especially when it comes to customer service. Competing with larger companies that have deeper pockets and bigger teams can feel like a constant struggle.
So how can SMBs compete? Let’ s look at the challenges and the opportunities to unlock new avenues for growth and profitability.
46 CONTACT CENTER PIPELINE
CHALLENGE: KEEPING PACE IN A TOUGH LANDSCAPE
In today’ s always-connected world, customer expectations are at an all-time high. They expect fast, seamless communication across the communication channels they prefer, along with personalized services that are tailored to their needs.
But meeting these demands can be tough for SMBs, especially when they’ re managing multiple tools, systems, and workflows with limited resources.
Consider a small retail business that handles customer inquiries through phone calls, emails, text, and social media. Without a unified system to track interactions, a customer might call in about a product: only for the team to follow up with an email addressing a completely different issue.
Unless the business is very small and / or specialized, where the owner and the few employees remember each customer and can easily track them, customers ' issues risk falling between the cracks.
Consequently, the customer may then reach out again on social media, leading to frustration due to inconsistent responses. This fragmented approach can result in delays, miscommunication, and missed opportunities to build lasting customer loyalty.
But many SMBs still operate in siloed environments where customer data is scattered across call logs, chat histories, and emails. Without a unified view of customer information, providing consistent service or responding efficiently becomes a challenge.