Voice of the Customer: in the Contact Centre (customer Feedback)

<h1>Voice of the Customer: in the Contact Centre (customer Feedback)</h1>Author: <a title="Marketing Team" href="http://www.articlesbase.com/authors/marketing-team/10805.htm">Marketing Team</a> Voice of the Customer (VOC) is a term use in business to express the process of capturing a customer's requirements. Specifically, the Voice of the Customer is a market research technique that produces a detailed set of customer wants and needs, organized into a hierarchical structure, and then prioritized in terms of relative importance and satisfaction with current alternatives. Voice of the Customer studies characteristically consist of both qualitative and quantitative research steps. 
 
A good Voice of the Customer study provides: 
 
1) A detailed understanding of the customer’s requirements 
 
2) A common language for the team going forward 
 
3) Key input for the setting of appropriate design specifications for the new product or service 
 
4) A highly useful springboard for product innovation. 
 
When you visit customers to listen to their voice, you should be listening and not talking. Human beings cannot do both of this at the same time. When you are visiting customers to listen to them, your role is that of an explorer. You have to keep your eyes and ears open. Customers do not always tell you the whole story, not because they are withholding information, but in many cases sometimes they themselves do not recognize the pain points they have. It is up to you as an explorer, to ask the right questions and to get the customer to tell you their real problems that if solved would create a product differentiation for your product. 
 
Benefits of the WHYs 
 
While getting customer response the one word which help a lot is answer of WHY. “Why", you can peel away the layers of symptoms which can lead to the root cause of a problem. Very often the ostensible reason for a problem will lead you to another question. 
 
• Help identify the root cause of a problem. 
 
• Determine the relationship between different root causes of a problem. 
 
• One of the simplest tools easy to complete without statistical analysis. 
 
Write down the specific problem. Writing the issue helps you formalize the problem and describe it completely. It also helps a team focus on the same problem. Ask why the problem happens and write the answer down below the problem. If the answer you just provided doesn't identify the root cause of the problem that you wrote down in steps. 
 
To make users feel at ease, do the following things at the start of the conversation: - 
 
1) Tell them that you are not a sales person and that you are not trying to sell them anything. You are trying to get their honest feedback about your products so that you can make it work better for them. 
 
2) Tell them that you want to hear both the good and the bad news about the product. Hence, tell the customer not to sugar coat anything. You are not here to defend anything about your product but to make sure that you get honest feedback from them about your product. 
 
3) Make sure that if the customer blames your company for some issue that is not under your control, do not ratify (you are hearing only one side of the issue), but acknowledge that you have noted down the issue and you will make sure it is brought to the attention of the right people in your company who can resolve the issue to the customer’s satisfaction. 
 
4) Once the stage is set, start with some softball questions. Not everyone likes to talk especially about your product. So ask them to talk about what they know best - their business and their products. This prevents them from starting the discussion with a laundry list of enhancements, but at a much higher level. After all they are ONLY using their product to get better at their business. Hence this helps you to understand their business processes, how your product fits into their processes and then allows you to slowly move the conversation towards pain points, unmet needs and then gradually bringing the focus to your products. 
 
So many companies used this technique and found that it works very well to build the rapport with the customer and as well as with the Organization. By using this technique you may find that you will need to ask the question fewer or more times than before you find the issue related to a problem. 
 
Contact Us	: Call Centers India 
Email	 	: <a href="mailto:sales@callcentersindia.com">sales@callcentersindia.com</a> 
Phone		: 206.384.4669 
About the Author: About CCI 
 
<a href="http://www.callcentersindia.com">Call Centers India </a>is known as CCI and has set up good building relationship in BPO industry and helping others to growth in industry, Call Centers India in consultancy since 5 years and in 2005 launched own delivery center by name of <a href="http://www.vcarecallcenter.com"> Vcare Call Center India </a> (P) Ltd. and delivering many offshore projects successfully.Article Source: <a href="http://www.articlesbase.com/">ArticlesBase.com</a> - <a href="http://www.articlesbase.com/outsourcing-articles/voice-of-the-customer-in-the-contact-centre-customer-feedback-172818.html" title="Voice of the Customer: in the Contact Centre (customer Feedback)">Voice of the Customer: in the Contact Centre (customer Feedback)</a>

Voice of the Customer (VOC) is a term use in business to express the process of capturing a customer's requirements. Specifically, the Voice of the Customer is a market research technique that produces a detailed set of customer wants and needs, organized into a hierarchical structure, and then prioritized in terms of relative importance and satisfaction with current alternatives. Voice of the Customer studies characteristically consist of both qualitative and quantitative research steps.

A good Voice of the Customer study provides:

1) A detailed understanding of the customer’s requirements

2) A common language for the team going forward

3) Key input for the setting of appropriate design specifications for the new product or service

4) A highly useful springboard for product innovation.

When you visit customers to listen to their voice, you should be listening and not talking. Human beings cannot do both of this at the same time. When you are visiting customers to listen to them, your role is that of an explorer. You have to keep your eyes and ears open. Customers do not always tell you the whole story, not because they are withholding information, but in many cases sometimes they themselves do not recognize the pain points they have. It is up to you as an explorer, to ask the right questions and to get the customer to tell you their real problems that if solved would create a product differentiation for your product.

Benefits of the WHYs

While getting customer response the one word which help a lot is answer of WHY. “Why", you can peel away the layers of symptoms which can lead to the root cause of a problem. Very often the ostensible reason for a problem will lead you to another question.

• Help identify the root cause of a problem.

• Determine the relationship between different root causes of a problem.

• One of the simplest tools easy to complete without statistical analysis.

Write down the specific problem. Writing the issue helps you formalize the problem and describe it completely. It also helps a team focus on the same problem. Ask why the problem happens and write the answer down below the problem. If the answer you just provided doesn't identify the root cause of the problem that you wrote down in steps.

To make users feel at ease, do the following things at the start of the conversation: -

1) Tell them that you are not a sales person and that you are not trying to sell them anything. You are trying to get their honest feedback about your products so that you can make it work better for them.

2) Tell them that you want to hear both the good and the bad news about the product. Hence, tell the customer not to sugar coat anything. You are not here to defend anything about your product but to make sure that you get honest feedback from them about your product.

3) Make sure that if the customer blames your company for some issue that is not under your control, do not ratify (you are hearing only one side of the issue), but acknowledge that you have noted down the issue and you will make sure it is brought to the attention of the right people in your company who can resolve the issue to the customer’s satisfaction.

4) Once the stage is set, start with some softball questions. Not everyone likes to talk especially about your product. So ask them to talk about what they know best - their business and their products. This prevents them from starting the discussion with a laundry list of enhancements, but at a much higher level. After all they are ONLY using their product to get better at their business. Hence this helps you to understand their business processes, how your product fits into their processes and then allows you to slowly move the conversation towards pain points, unmet needs and then gradually bringing the focus to your products.

So many companies used this technique and found that it works very well to build the rapport with the customer and as well as with the Organization. By using this technique you may find that you will need to ask the question fewer or more times than before you find the issue related to a problem.

Contact Us : Call Centers India
Email : sales@callcentersindia.com
Phone : 206.384.4669

About CCI

Call Centers India is known as CCI and has set up good building relationship in BPO industry and helping others to growth in industry, Call Centers India in consultancy since 5 years and in 2005 launched own delivery center by name of Vcare Call Center India (P) Ltd. and delivering many offshore projects successfully.

Rate this Article:

0 / 5 stars - 0 vote(s)

Re-Publish

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/outsourcing-articles/voice-of-the-customer-in-the-contact-centre-customer-feedback-172818.html

Related Articles
Related Q&A

Latest Outsourcing Articles
More from Marketing Team

Lead Generation Through Call Centers

By: Randy J Harmat | 28/11/2009
In business, all leads hold great significance and no sensible businessperson would ever like to forego even one single lead. When it comes to making lead generation, call centers can be really useful.

Offshore Development: Affordable, Professional, Cost Effective

By: Amalendu Hajraa | 28/11/2009
The article discusses about offshore development in India and the benefits of their services. The article further highlights about the striking features of offshore development in India.

How to Avoid Indifferent Customers Services

By: Randy J Harmat | 28/11/2009
If you wish to run a successful business, it is vital to be expert in handling indifferent or demanding customers. Customer support is one of the imperative areas to be given noticed when it comes to functioning of the business smoothly.

Offshoring Animation and Multimedia

By: Harsh Modi | 27/11/2009
The animation industry is the fastest growing industry at present day in outsourcing world, which also includes multimedia. Whose outsourcing net worth is in millions.

Which career path is better?

By: Abraham | 27/11/2009
Many seminars and discussions are available everywhere to have a clear picture about the various career options. One has to recognize his area of interest and skills to select a right career.

Shall I go for franchise

By: Adaya Francis | 27/11/2009
Incompetent employees can be more easily replaced than incompetent franchisees. Also incompetent franchisees can harm the reputation of the company.

Buying Trends and the Need for Spanish Call Centers

By: Darlene Friedman | 27/11/2009
Hispanic populations are significant in the United States and continuing to grow, making them viable customers for many goods and services. Businesses use Spanish call centers to professionally cater to their needs to attract and keep them as customers.

Accounting Outsourcing

By: savithar | 27/11/2009
Accounting helps to know the financial status of an individual or organization and thus enables to maximize profit and minimize losses. Many companies choose accounting software, which requires skilled person, therefore, companies outsource their accounting to other firms or even to other countries which minimizes the rising cost for the full fledged accounts department.

How to Keep your Employees Happy Without Paying Them More

By: Marketing Team | 20/12/2007 | Business
Throwing money at staffers isn't always the answer. Neither is throwing a party every few months. Having fun at work and creating a organized team is just one element. The most successful companies also realize flexibility, values, career development and providing meaningful experiences are also important elements to minimizing turnover. The interesting thing is that many of the companies that value having a good time usually incorporate those other elements too.

The Changing Customer Centric Approach of Customer Care

By: Marketing Team | 18/12/2007 | Customer Service
The customers are always looking for quick reply so it’s very important to give them the correct information on right time. Now the next question comes that Why is this important? Costs typically increase five-fold if the issue is not dealt with at the first call, staff become demotivated and disenchanted customers vote with their feet. All of these can now readily be addressed and the 'holy grail' of win-win achieved.

Customers Expectations are Very High From of Call Centers

By: Marketing Team | 17/12/2007 | Customer Service
Customers never expect to deal with poorly trained and ill-informed employees. Due to this mostly call centers are now hiring the well educated agents to give the support to their better educated consumers. It is becoming much more of a challenge to organizations. New developments are creating the need for a new breed of call center professional.

Do you Know Success of Call Center Depends on Agents “sound” Affects

By: Marketing Team | 13/12/2007 | Customer Service
The agents are the first person to make a contact with the customers. The sound or voice of agents has a direct result on the degree of satisfaction that customers rate your company. The success of call center the job satisfaction of agent staff and company’s customer image are dependent on the ability to attain VOCAL EMPOWERMENT for agents.

Call Center Night Shift: Effects on Health

By: Marketing Team | 07/12/2007 | Health
People who work nights are more prone to a dangerous heart condition - possibly because of the chronic stress caused by their work patterns. A research suggests that "employees who worked in day shifts are more safe then the night shift employees. The chances of heart attack are very high for the night shift employees few more reasons are lack of sleep, continue stressing etc, chronic stress is cited as the main reason."

Help Desk Services: in Demand Now

By: Marketing Team | 03/12/2007 | Customer Service
The priority of the business is always to cost-cutting and to improve their bottom lines methods. Help Desk Services are giving this favor to companies.Accuracy and on time delivery of the project is two major factor for other client and the organization to get the more projects in future. Help desk service is suitable for the companies and processes which is huge and the client wanted the delivery in less time. Help desk services provided by the offshore contact centers 24/7x365 days.

Few Important Ways to Protect Sensitive Data While Outsourcing

By: Marketing Team | 27/11/2007 | Customer Service
The data protection is the major concern for the companies who are giving their information to the outsourcing. Outsourcing companies are also putting their best effort to protect the data. It is important to know the safe guard methods of the outsourcing before hand over your information for outsourcing.

Be Careful Before Choosing a Bpo

By: Marketing Team | 26/11/2007 | Customer Service
Keep the following important point in mind, while choosing the BPO from any franchises or consultant for your business. Consultants are very smart in their business they will say anything just to impress you.