By Jess Heald on Tue 28 April 2015 in Topical
Yesterday it was announced that the UK’s biggest household energy supplier, British Gas, will be investing a huge £50million in training and new systems over the next 3 years in order to improve customer service.
This substantial injection of money comes after figures showed that British Gas had lost 368,000 customers in 2014 ending the year with 14.8 million residential accounts, according to The Guardian. Centrica, British Gas’s parent, stated that the additional investment aims to “reduce call times, give out better information and make it easier to use its website”, indicating a focus towards improving their existing systems and processes to make them more efficient and customer-friendly.
What does this mean for you?
British Gas’s news just highlights the reality of customer behaviour and loyalty – it’s evident that British Gas have lost these customers due to the poor quality of their systems and subsequently poor customer service. Not only this, but their customers have found it easy to move to their competitors proving that customer satisfaction is more important than ever. With this in mind there are 2 important areas to consider when trying to improve your level of service:
- The information your employees need To provide a high level of customer service your employees need access to key business and customer information. By making this information available in a central location you can also start reducing the amount of time spent on admin and error-prone tasks leaving more time for revenue-generating and customer facing tasks, and let’s be honest these are the ones that deserve their attention.
- The information your customers want It’s safe to say that they are essential to your business, so it’s really important to never lose sight of your customer’s wants and needs. Being able to offer account information such as purchase history, credit limits, contract dates and even product information such as stock levels on and offline will only enhance the service they receive from you. With the right systems and processes in place, you can offer your customers real-time account information and tailor their experience to reduce movement to your competitors.
With the right systems in place all of this can be achieved. Opting for an integrated solution is really the only way. Bringing your key business and customer information into one central location will mean both your employees and customers can access real-time information on and offline. ProspectSoft CRM and eCommerce offer unparalleled integration to Access Dimensions, Exchequer, Pegasus Opera and Sage 50, why not contact one of our consultants today to find out how we can help your business?