It s now 9:00 am. Yes, you are a consumer relations professional and this is a typical day.

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1 You have just thanked Mrs. Smith for her call and hung up the phone. Before that, you helped a dozen other consumers and agents by listening to their situations, resolving problems, finding answers and making recommendations. It s now 9:00 am. Yes, you are a consumer relations professional and this is a typical day.

2 Great customer service requires understanding, knowledge, flexibility and attentiveness. It s all about creating the best possible experience. According to an Accenture global customer satisfaction report, the leading cause of customer churn is subpar service, not price. Even in a call center where every agent excels, a smart CRM system can mean the difference between good consumer experiences and wow-worthy experiences that truly build brand loyalty and trust. Your CRM system should do more than collect data, it should help you build relationships.

3 How well does your current CRM help you empathize with your consumer? A true understanding of the customer s point of view is the key to a better conversation and a lasting connection. When talking to someone you know well, you have the history and context to be able to frame up the conversation. When the person you are interacting with is a stranger, this is more of a challenge. All CRM systems will allow for the capture of information as an agent interacts with a consumer. While we, as consumers, are all used to this type of grilling at the beginning of an interaction with customer support, it can get quite irritating if this is your second or third call. A smart CRM will be able to immediately start connecting the dots from past interactions, creating a consolidated view of the consumer. More than half of consumers have to engage with companies on more than one channel to get a customer servicerelated issue resolved, according to a new survey conducted by management consulting firm The Northridge Group 1. The ability to provide agents visibility to interactions across all channels is quickly becoming a requirement rather than a nice-to-have. The best CRMs can do this even in the absence of a unique identifier such as a loyalty number. In addition to past interactions, smart CRMs can integrate with your other business systems to ensure a complete consumer profile for the agent, allowing for more effective upsell and crosssell opportunities. The benefits of understanding who you are communicating with are priceless. They allow you to provide a personalized experience, which in turn increases both customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. Both of which are key indicators of brand success. Providing your agents with visibility into interactions across all channels is no longer a nice-to-have, it is a requirement.

4 Does your CRM empower your agents to confidently interact with consumers? According to consumers, customer service agents failed to answer their questions 50% of the time. 2 Whether you have one product or hundreds, managing all the data can be daunting. Those products have potentially thousands of details. Even if your brand only has a fraction of those, agents can t be expected to memorize and keep updated on all the facts. be saved automatically as part of the case for future reference without the agent doing any additional typing. Most CRMs have some way to capture product and company information through a static FAQ. Apart from that, agents are asked to search online product brochures, training manuals, and other company resources to dig out information while their consumers wait. An integrated knowledgebase can help protect your brand from inaccurate, outdated or inconsistent information. A smart CRM will provide agents with an integrated knowledgebase that provides immediate, relevant, accurate information. Ideally, access to this information will not require agents to switch screens. To go even one step further, information that was searched for and the answers found should Empowering your agents gives them confidence, which ultimately leads to reduced turnover. In addition to the cost savings, an integrated knowledgebase can help protect your brand from inaccurate, outdated or inconsistent information.

5 Is your CRM flexible enough to handle varied and unexpected scenarios? Customers reach out to brands for a number of different reasons. Tim s about a limited time product to find out how long it will be available. Jerry is calling about a product he bought that has since been recalled. A smart CRM will help your agents tailor the conversation by presenting the right response for the situation. CRM systems can be customized to suit the needs of the business in which they are being implemented. Generally speaking, this is a costly and time consuming process. So, if a new situation arises, such as a recall, a company may lose valuable reaction time as they wait for their CRM to be modified to handle the situation. A smart CRM can be configured to listen to the interaction and change on the fly as the interaction is happening. For example, if a recall happens, the configuration can be quickly tweaked to allow for a new set of required fields. This takes the responsibility away from the agent to memorize all of the different scenarios and what is required and when. The system can guide them, based on reason code or location or any number of other factors as to what information is important and what is required.

6 Does your CRM allow your agents to keep their focus on the consumer, not the technology? With the best of intentions, most CRMs include functionality that will pop up random messages for agents to help them along. There are multiple problems with this approach. For new agents, having to click out of these messages to get back to their case management screen is distracting. Also, there is a good chance once they click out of that popup, they will forget what it said before they are ready to use the information. For experienced agents, it could be that they don t need the reminder in the first place. In both cases, these helpful messages can become an annoyance to the agents or worse, a disruption to the interaction with the consumer. A smart CRM provides in-context information in a manner that informs the agent without interrupting the natural flow of the conversation with the consumer. With rich, relevant information at their fingertips, and without the need to flip flop between applications to get answers, they can build trust and confidence with the consumer and provide a much cleaner, smoother communication. The ability to answer questions in the moment is important to increasing conversion rates. In fact, research shows that customer experience quality could result in a swing of $184 million for a large retailer

7 epowercenter The world s smartest CRM. Astute s epowercenter has smart features that help you take your call center to the next level. Consumer View Our unique consumer profile functionality first connects past interactions, then pulls information from key business systems to put a single view of the consumer at your agents fingertips. Advanced Knowledgebase Agent Assist, our built-in knowledgebase, leverages patented Natural Language Processing technology resulting in accuracy rates of over 97%. Moreover, the machinebased learner function makes creating and maintaining the knowledgebase a snap. Make It Your Own Our highly configurable system will ensure that you can handle any situation with ease, and without the need for expensive customizations. The Power of ESP epowercenter s unique agent toolbar, ESP, provides in-context information, suggested responses and valuable consumer insights that will arm your agents to turn your cost center into a strategic asset to the company. It s time to help your team be more understanding, knowledgeable, flexible and attentive. It s time to meet the world s smartest CRM. Visit astutesolutions.com and request a FREE demo of epowercenter CRM. astutesolutions.com