In the years since COVID-19, contact centers have experienced a tremendous increase in volume, triggering a fundamental shift in their role. While contact centers traditionally received and mitigated customer concerns, they are now taking on a more strategic role, geared towards driving sales and generating revenue. Sales leaders across industries – from healthcare and telecom to financial services – now need to rethink how they support their teams.
To better understand these seismic shifts and how they are affecting customer service and sales teams across industries, Cresta fielded a survey of 300 sales and service-to-sales leaders who run high-velocity sales / revenue-generating contact centers at large enterprises. Through the survey, we wanted to understand the strategies that forward-looking companies are deploying, how this differs across industries, and how these leaders are preparing for the future.
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Download the full report: Sales Effectiveness in Revenue-Generating Contact Centers |
Here is a sneak peek at just three of the findings from our new report:
The top challenges leaders are facing are universal
Regardless of the industry these leaders are in, from Telecom to Financial Services to Health Insurance and beyond, they are facing similar challenges across the board. 52% cited that employee turnover is their number one concern, with attrition and the war for hiring talent at an all-time high.
Close behind was 51% reporting that business optimization, or doing more with less, is the biggest challenge they face. Throughout the report, we identify the main obstacles to overcoming these challenges – as well as how certain industries are leading the pack in tackling them.
Bigger companies may be slower to innovate
One insight from the survey that surprised us was the finding that the larger the company, the less mature their use of metrics to measure sales efficiency and effectiveness is, as compared with respondents from companies with less than 1000 employees or annual revenues of less than $1 billion.
While larger organizations may be well-positioned and -resourced to be early adopters of emerging technologies, it’s also possible that change management at such scale may end up being more of a hindrance to nimble adaptation.
Implementation of real-time intelligence is low
Despite the fast-paced nature of a contact center and the high expectations from customers, fewer than half (44%) of the organizations surveyed currently monitor their conversations in real time and then use that data to prompt agents with hints and tips.
It became very clear from our research that there is a true disconnect between the actions that organizations acknowledge they must take – and actually taking those concrete steps towards more efficient and effective operations.
To learn more about how sales leaders across industries are pivoting contact center operations towards revenue generation, and preparing for the future with generative AI-enabled technology, download our new report today.
And join us on April 26th, when we will host a webinar featuring Sid Kumaran, Senior Director of Sales & GTM Strategy and Brittany Bell, Customer Success Leader, as they dig further into the insights from the report and reflect on what this means for the evolving contact center landscape. Don’t forget to book your seat today!
