Omnichannel and personalization have become the two major factors that determine B2B (“business to business” or business-to-business) sales, according to the report “The Global Pulse of B2B Business” by the consulting firm McKinsey& Company. Added to this scenario is the trend that has been consolidated in recent years in B2B relationships and sales: data-driven decision making.

The study dictates that these businesses are in full transformation and customers are changing the way they interact, placing greater importance on flexibility through channel adoption and finding more personalized and seamless buying experiences. “They are better positioned to meet their customers’ expectations, improve business performance and achieve a step change in their growth,” notes McKinsey. This goes hand in hand with a survey by Forrester that revealed that 41% of shoppers believe analog channels have become less important than digital. It should be noted that the pandemic has also caused this process to accelerate.

This means that, today, companies that do not provide their teams with the necessary tools to work more efficiently and productively, such as access to new technology platforms or improved data access, have a clear problem. With respect to omni-channeling, it is worth noting that 72% of B2B companies that sell through seven or more channels increased their market share. This new omni-channel standard translates into the use of ten by more channels in three interaction models.

The Value of Data in B2B Sales

The rise of virtual selling has meant that B2B sales-focused organizations are increasingly willing to use the latest technologies to support their strategic decisions on data.

According to a Gartner study, by 2026, 65% of B2B sales organizations will move from the traditional model of intuition-based decision making to a data-driven plan. The goal is to leverage technologies that are able to bridge workflow, data and analytics. In addition, due to the modernization of virtual sales strategy they will be able to create a support designed to improve customer engagement, support salesperson actions thanks to data and simplify salesperson workflows.

Given the importance of data, Gartner experts recommend that organizations evaluate two types of B2B transactions:

– One based on volume and velocity, in which sales cycles are shorter (less than three months), are related to smaller deals (less than $25,000), with a small buying committee, consisting of fewer than six stakeholders, and generally for products of less complexity.

– Another model of larger businesses running for longer periods, six months or more, with larger deals, which can be over $125,000, have a purchasing committee of between eight and 11 stakeholders, and are typically for complex products.

Simplify workflows

Automating routine tasks that consume a lot of salespeople’s time is essential. This will allow them to focus on more important tasks and thus improve their performance, leaving the more mechanical tasks aside.

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Spending time with each customer is essential to offer a good service and to go deeper into their needs and solve their queries. However, we can find ourselves in the case of calls that are too long and do not solve the customer’s problems.

When we talk about average talk time, we are referring to the amount of time an agent spends talking to customers. In any case, this time should not be confused with the average interaction time, which corresponds to the total time an agent spends completing a call from start to finish.

In general, conversation time alone does not tell much when analyzed on its own. What is important is the percentage of speaking time, as a share of interaction time. Ideally, the majority of interaction time should be spent talking to the customer, not the person waiting or the agent doing back-office tasks.

Average contact center talk time

For example, high interaction time and low speaking time indicates inadequate staff training or inadequate call routing. We cannot keep customers waiting to be served or transferring them from one department to another to resolve their questions or queries.

In addition, a low interaction time and a low talk time indicates that calls are not being handled correctly because the times are too short.

On the other hand, a high interaction time and low talk time could mean that agents are trained but call center technology is not adequate and systems are limited.

How to optimize the average talk time?

The first thing to consider is to decrease the interaction time. This reduction will allow us to handle more calls with the same number of agents. In this case, the most difficult thing is to find the balance between agent productivity and efficiency.

– Call audits to drive improvements

By analyzing all conversations and comparing which ones have the longest talk times and the most frequent problems that arise, essential information can be generated to improve the average talk time.

– Simplifying agent effort with technology

Agents are only as fast as their knowledge allows them to be. It is important that when agents are not proficient in product features or specific problems, there is a knowledge base to guide their responses.

Other metrics in the contact center

Talk time is an interesting metric for trying to find problems in contact center call handling. However, as with any other metric, the goal should not be to have the highest or lowest talk time, but to understand what it means for the customer experience.

It can also be useful to compare interaction time and talk time with competitors. These types of mystery calls allow you to see where a company stands against its competitors and compare key metrics to recognize trends, correct mistakes and uncover opportunities to improve the customer experience.

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Brand loyalty is becoming increasingly complicated because it is driven by more than just the product or service it sells. It is a relationship of reciprocity in which the consumer seeks preferential treatment and to feel included in the community to which they want to belong. And the pandemic is largely to blame in this aspect, since it was in the context of confinement that the significant impact on the brand-customer relationship began.

The lack of face-to-face contact meant that many consumers were forced to become less personal and moved from face-to-face to embrace the digital format. But now customers have returned to engaging with brands in a more holistic way and are looking to return to that close contact they missed so much.

Many reports reveal that 53% of Generation Z consumers have started using a company’s services or products specifically because of the diversity of its customer service. Meanwhile, 46% of Gen Z consumers would stop buying from a company because of its corporate stance on social issues, well above the 35% of general consumers.

The contact center as key to the experience

The study results shed light on the challenges faced by companies when trying to engage customers from different demographics and cultures. To show empathy and establish a better relationship, brands not only have to meet the expectations of these different cohorts from a customer experience perspective, but also demonstrate that they are aligned with their environmental and social values.

This is where the role of the contact center comes in, as agents are charged with playing an increasingly important role in promoting a brand’s ethics. And they do so in defense of their brand’s values.

Thus, the contact center has managed to transcend basic customer support and agents have turned their role from answering calls to becoming the trusted advisors who guide customers through their customer journey. In fact, younger consumers are the ones who have become more aware of companies’ policies and actions within a broader social context. In addition, issues such as sustainability are among the top priorities for these younger consumers.

Agents have also become a new concept of brand ambassador. The people in charge of this position will need to understand and proactively respond to consumer needs. And while contact center agents are increasingly important in driving business growth, agent burnout remains a challenge for contact centers.

Faced with this reality, many companies have begun to take steps to better engage and retain agents as their strategic importance to business performance increases. And to keep them, they are investing in new technologies, with 78% of professionals saying that investing in digital tools is a priority for the organization.

Better agent conditions equal better customer experience.

These types of strategies are also done with the goal of boosting the company’s potential and seeing the company’s revenue grow. And it’s not subjective – more than 67% of organizations say their contact center is transforming or has already transformed into a profit center as a result of creating and maintaining more holistic strategies. This paradigm shift will require greater investment and new strategies. But today, the values associated with diversity, equity, sustainability and inclusion are crucial parts of a business strategy that can drive business performance as well as inspire customer loyalty. So creating a culture of transparency and mutual support that nurtures employees and facilitates innovation is one of the best ways to engage your workforce and, in the process, ensure that teams strive to deliver the best possible customer experience, as well as improve their image of your company.

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