Like most companies competing in the modern marketplace, the financial industry is subject to spikes in call volume due to seasonality. Despite the increased offering of digital channels for handling customer service requests, surges in call center activity for financial institutions are a regular occurrence. The reason for these surges varies: They may be the result of unexpected crises (such as a data breach) or more predictable events like annual mortgage renewals or tax season. Added to this are the challenges brought forth by the digital era, which have the financial sector rushing to adapt to meet the increased demands of contemporary customers.
As banks close their physical branches, with more services being offered through their digital channels, customers take to the phones to have their questions answered. 30% of customers calling in are doing so with “moment of truth encounters” that “have higher emotional stakes for the customers.” These become key interactions in maintaining – or losing – customer loyalty. When call volumes spike, the stakes are even higher as customers deal with frustratingly long hold times.
Following widespread industry deregulation, the energy and utilities sector has become increasingly competitive. With more and more choices available to customers, providing quality customer service is more critical than ever. Customer loyalty is no longer guaranteed, with negative experiences driving ratepayers to the competition: 43% of utility customers who have a negative experience are still members after a year, compared to 74% of those who’ve had a positive experience. It’s a perfect storm of high consumer expectations, a host of new challenger brands, and online price comparison sites.
Retail is transforming at an increasing rate, and more than ever. Advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) are changing interactions between customers and brands and are allowing many of these processes to become automated. However, despite these rapid changes, many customers still prefer interacting with an actual person, whether it’s in store with a floor representative, or on the phone with a call center agent.
As Harry Truman famously stated, “Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.” Wise words. Although this is true, how do customer service leaders strategically read to a) learn how to turn themselves into optimal leaders; and b) transform their teams into the high-performing customer service engines they aspire to be?
It seems like, every month, Apple is coming out with a new product or service for its customers to take advantage of, a gadget or a gizmo to “improve” their lives. A steady stream of people visit Apple stores to view, purchase, or try out some of its convenient gadgets hands-on. If you’ve ever walked through a mall where an Apple Store is present, you’ve seen the phenomenon: A mass of people congregating within its glass walls, standing at the product kiosks, handling items with interests and speaking with customer service professionals about the latest and greatest in Apple technology. When you have hundreds of people walking through the doors at any time, one can only imagine the demand on its customer service professionals.
Call center executives are constantly under pressure to find cost-savings. Yet, according to the 
One of our goals with the Fonolo blog is to expose our readers to a broad range of voices on a broad range of topics. We share a lot of diverse content, including lists of 
While on a call with a customer, the language used is incredibly important. Call center agents are likely to have many, many conversations over the course of a work day, so it’s easy to forget the importance of each and every interaction you have with a customer on the line.
