There’s a reason why most brands are obsessed about speeding up their customer support processes: they don’t want to miss even just one call from their clients.

Unfortunately, there are cases when this is unavoidable, especially if you’re in the middle of a hectic period such as during holidays or when you’re going through a nightmarish public reputation crisis.
You might also not be able to handle all incoming transactions if you’re understaffed, or if your labor demand forecasts were inaccurate. In these situations, your call center agents may not be able to cope with transaction surges. Thus, they might resort to putting callers on hold or leaving live chat, email, and social media messages unanswered. Customers on the other end of the line would then grow frustrated and end up ditching the interaction altogether.
The thing is, when it comes to customer service, a missed call is a missed business opportunity. But have you ever wondered what you really lose when you fail to attend to a customer who’s trying to reach you?
Here are the five things you’re forfeiting if you fail to handle a support transaction.
 

1.     A prospective buyer

The secret of all successful businesses is that they treat every single consumer as a prospective buyer. Call centers must adopt this same principle when they deliver customer support.

Every person who gets introduced to a brand can potentially become a buyer, and gradually evolve into a brand advocate. When this happens, they contribute a lot of value to your brand, and not just in monetary terms. Beyond this, they can help you reach more people as they recommend your products and services to their social circles.

Missing a call from a prospective customer thus translates to huge losses that are difficult to quantify. Customer service providers have a crucial responsibility, and that’s to represent a brand in the best possible light whenever they interact with a consumer.

 

2.     Your stellar image

Customer experience leaders such as Starbucks, Zappos, and Amazon have built a stellar reputation, especially because they provide high-quality support to their clientele. These brands thus can’t afford to slack off when it comes to assisting their customers in whatever way they can. Otherwise, the reputation they’ve worked hard to build will be tarnished.

Whenever you miss a call or a message from your customers, your reputation will always be put on the line. Customers can grow disappointed, and thus, they might spread negative feedback about your brand. It can be hard to repair a tainted reputation, making it difficult for you to acquire new customers.

 

3.     A chance to delight customers

Every single customer service interaction gives you a chance to show customers what your brand is capable of. That’s why most call centers follow a set of guidelines on how to handle transactions across multiple channels. This way, they can make sure that their agents are adhering to the standards they’ve set.

On the other hand, ignoring a customer, even though you didn’t intend to, can create a negative impression. This is especially true if it’s a customer’s first time to reach out to your brand. You don’t want to have them instantly include your brand in the list of businesses they won’t be transacting with again. The thing is, this is exactly what would happen if you fail to take proper care of them when they reach out to you.

 

4.     Useful insights and feedback

Customer support calls aren’t just business opportunities. They’re also rich sources of useful insights and feedback, which you can use to create effective strategies.

A conversation with a customer gives you a glimpse of their wants and needs. Without these pieces of information, your organization will be flying blind, as you’ll surely not be able to capture people’s exact expectations.

 

5.     Customers’ trust

Meaningful customer relationships are built through performance consistency. Brands and their call centers must work hard to deliver consistently high-quality services to secure people’s trust. This means responding to their queries quickly, empowering them with relevant and updated information, and finding ways to upgrade the customer experience.

Missing a call and leaving messages unanswered on your live chat, email, and social media platforms are often signs of incompetence. So make sure that you’re always sufficiently staffed and that you have all the resources you need for an exemplary performance.