Did You Know Contact Centers are the Secret Weapon for Small Business Success?

You might think of contact centers as something only big corporations use—or even need. But the truth is, they’re for everyone, especially small businesses like yours. But before we prove it, let's quickly review what a contact center is.

A contact center is a centralized, often online, hub where most (if not all) of your customer interactions happen – from phone calls to emails. Some contact centers handle calls, while others are all-in-one powerhouses that handle calls, emails, chats, and social media messages. Not to be biased, but we prefer the powerhouse.

No matter which one you're familiar with, here are five reasons you should look into deploying a contact center ASAP.

Reason 1: A Contact Center Gives You a Professional Image Without Sacrificing that Personal Touch

Many small businesses believe using a contact center will distance them from their customers, destroying the personal touch they’ve worked so hard to establish. After all, who wants to call Bob’s Auto Repair and talk to an automated menu for ten minutes?

Thankfully, contact center solutions like ours exist that let you have the best of both worlds. Our contact center allows you to customize greetings, prompts, and responses with your own voice! 

 Take a clothing boutique, for example. When they install their contact center, they take the time to plan out how they’re going to answer calls and record all the prompts they need. They even update the recordings each month to reflect sales, holidays, and more! 

The result? All callers are greeted by a warm, recognizable voice that embodies the brand. This human touch to an automated system reassures customers while keeping the boutique’s calls answered and monitored.

Reason 2: A Contact Center Helps You Create Customer Support Processes that Grow with You

When you’re just starting out, your support process is basic: answer the phones when they ring and provide the support you can. But this kind of approach won’t work as you grow. You’ll have:

• More customers coming into your store

• More calls are coming in that you’ll need to direct to the right person

• More staff and departments to take those calls

Without a proper system in place, it can quickly become chaotic. You’ll find yourself overwhelmed with calls, customers waiting too long for assistance, and staff members struggling to keep up.

But if you adopt a contact center platform early on, you can proactively prepare for growth! You’ll be able to:

• Set up skills-based routing so incoming calls can be sent to the right expert immediately

• Integrate with other tools, so your staff has all the information they need at their fingertips

• Add new lines, users, and departments as soon as you need them

Think of it like laying a solid foundation for your present – and future – customers.

Reason 3: A Contact Center Makes it Easier to Handle More Calls

Let's be honest—we all expect prompt responses from companies, even during peak hours. We’re far more likely to stay loyal to a company that's quick to respond and answer our questions, but providing that service can be difficult, especially if you’ve only got so many staff members. With a contact center from Electromedia, however, your team can easily manage multiple calls, and we’ll show you how.

Imagine a local restaurant experiencing a surge in takeout orders during the lunch rush. With a contact center platform in place, they can:

• Use an automatic attendant to direct callers to the takeout desk instead of the hostess stand

• Play customized hold music and messages for guests to keep them occupied and entertained

• Automatically organize the calls by time so each is served in order, and they know their place in line

This relieves the burden on the in-person staff and ensures every caller gets the help they need, reducing wait times and increasing their satisfaction with your business.

Reason 4: A Contact Center Improves the Quality – and quantity – of the Data You Collect 

Remember scribbling down customer information on sticky notes? Or wading through hundreds of CRM records to find the notes you wrote a few months ago? Well, contact centers like ours make data collection (and management) far easier than before.

How? Through plug-and-play integrations with CRMs, email clients, social media platforms, and more! This means all your customer information will be available right from your Electromedia contact center, allowing you to personalize your service with ease.

Wondering if the caller cashed in on your fall special? You can pull up all their marketing data in a snap. Need a status update on a complaint? In a click or two, you'll have the customer’s entire service record right in front of you. Your customers will never feel like a number again.

Plus, most of these integrations will also update your data automatically, kicking out duplicates and reducing the risk of human error.

Reason 5: A Contact Center Reduces Employee Burnout

Small businesses usually don’t have a dedicated support team, which means everyone’s a member of the support team. They’re responsible for handling calls on top of stocking shelves, helping customers in-store, running events, and more. Juggling all these responsibilities can be overwhelming and quickly lead to burnout.

But ElectroMedia’s contact center platform can lighten the load a bit with features like:

• Customizable Business Hours: Set specific times for calls to be forwarded to voicemail, providing uninterrupted time for staff to focus on other things or have lunch.

• Call Routing: Our platform lets you automatically direct incoming calls to the right people so one staff member isn’t stuck answering the phones all day.

• Analytics Dashboards: Track call volumes so you can anticipate busy periods and assign your staff accordingly.

All these features (and more) help you manage your phones well, so your employees spend less time on the phones and more time doing what they joined you to do. This leads to less burnout, higher satisfaction rates, and—by extension—happier customers. 

Plus, contact centers make it easier than ever to work from home! If a daycare closes or unexpected home maintenance occurs, your employees can continue answering calls and fielding questions from the comfort of their homes.

Want Your Own Secret Weapon? Electromedia’s Got You Covered!

If you’re interested in harnessing the power of contact centers early, contact us at Electromedia! Our cloud phone system comes with a contact center suite chock-full of helpful features that will keep your staff sane and your customers happy and help you grow at your own pace. Reach out today to experience the difference yourself with a free demonstration!