Recession as an Opportunity - Oct 2009

Increasing the Value of the Call Centre

Recession as Opportunity: Increasing the Value of the Call Centre

The recession and the word-of-mouth power of social media are making customer service more critical than ever.  But how can companies ramp up the value of their call centres when budgets are being cut? Eric Guilloteau, CEO, Corizon, thinks the recession can actually provide opportunities for transformation.

In a tough economy, companies must work harder than ever to keep customers loyal. In many cases, even customers who have not been affected by the downturn are tightening their belts ‘just in case’. Customer inertia doesn’t apply in a recession: many will gladly shift suppliers to get a better deal.

Companies that can’t afford to compete on price must work doubly hard to deliver value; not just in terms of their product or service but also in the way they treat customers. Poor service has always been a quick route to losing business, but it’s a risk that has increased exponentially thanks to social media.

One disgruntled customer can quickly turn into many when bad experiences are shared on forums, blogs and microblogging sites like Twitter. Twitter poses a particular risk because a negative experience can spread like wildfire within minutes of being posted.  Major names from Amazon to Habitat have learned how quickly customers can turn on them once they’ve been damned with the dreaded word: ‘FAIL’.

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