Contact Centres: The Brand & Customer Lifetime Value

What role should contact centres play in your business?

In this episode – the final part of our recent contact centre series – Bob & Jeremy look at how contact centres are evolving from cost centres into drivers of customer experience, sales and retention. 

As AI and automation handle more routine enquiries, the value of human interaction is shifting towards higher-quality, more complex conversations.

They explore how brands can improve customer lifetime value, move beyond cost-per-call thinking, and use contact centres to build stronger, longer-lasting customer relationships. 

There’s also a look at hybrid teams, global talent, and why companies that connect the full customer journey are better placed to compete.

For more info, free resources,  useful content & our blog posts, please visit realitytraining.com.

Reality Training - Selling Certainty 

Transcript

Setting The Stage: Industry Shift

Jeremy Blake 0:27

Welcome, and if you've listened to the first two parts on Contact Centers, then I know you are ready for the final triptych, the final part of the triple bill. So Bobby's been down the research route, and this final episode in this trilogy is contact centers.

Market Size And AI’s Real Impact

Bob Morrell 0:46

We're now going to talk about the owners, the companies, what they should be doing and focusing on, how they're changing. And I think this would be useful if you're a company that's thinking of using a contact center, then this might be a good thing to think about in terms of who you choose. But also, I think if you work in contact centers or if your career's in contact centers, think about: is my company doing this sort of thing? Is my company focused on this area? If so, this is probably quite a good organization. So we talked in the previous episodes about the operator and the agent and how they change the way that they're working as the technology changes too. Let's think a little bit about the broader contact center industry. It is in the middle of big transformation, but I can't remember a time in the last 20 years when it hasn't been in a period of great transformation. So that's a fact. Of course, AI is changing it, digital channels are changing it, and changing customer expectations are changing it all the time. So that's that's really important. But the market is still growing, even though 50% of calls virtually are now being farmed out to AI systems. The demand is still growing for this uh this level of service. So that's really, really important.

Jeremy Blake 2:15

Um Do you think that's because we make the effort to go to a physical place at times to sort something, we just don't return to that place. That geography's changed, and then we switch to the channel of contact center. I I wonder if I wonder if it's even increased post-COVID.

Bob Morrell 2:31

I think in many cases you have no choice. Um could would you like to estimate how many billion dollars the global contact center market is worth? That includes in-house and outsource centres. Yes, I will.

Jeremy Blake 2:50

I think it's worth $75 billion.

Bob Morrell 2:54

It's worth between $350 and $450 billion.

Jeremy Blake 3:00

Okay, I was quite out.

Bob Morrell 3:01

Yeah, so nearly half a trillion.

Jeremy Blake 3:02

I thought I thought I was going high enough.

Bob Morrell 3:04

No, absolutely. That's a huge, huge market.

Jeremy Blake 3:07

Okay, so nearly half a trillion.

Bob Morrell 3:08

And just to reit reiterate, AI, far from eliminating contact centres, it is simply changing the work mix. So fewer simple calls, more complex, empathy-heavy, and high-value interactions.

Jeremy Blake 3:25

So these interactions going through it, you're saying that stat is the income generated through this channel is nearly Did you say going for half a trillion?

Bob Morrell 3:34

Getting on for half a trillion. Uh that includes in-house or outsource, depending on on what you're running.

Jeremy Blake 3:40

Well, I don't think they're gonna close them all tomorrow, do you?

Competing On Experience Not Price

Bob Morrell 3:43

Now let's think about it from a uh a company's point of view. So of course we have this shift in channels. So we talked in the previous episodes about frontline agents and their managers and how they must uh manage that shift from technology to conversation and improve the level of conversations at different stages. From a company's point of view, if you're running these organizations, then let's think a bit about that. What you can differentiate is the experience. You can improve that experience all the time for the contacts that you have, whether it be through email, web chat, or the telephone. And what that should mean is that you don't differentiate so much on price. You know, if the experience is really good, and we know this simple sales training, if it's a great customer experience, you have to negotiate less. You know, simple fact. So that's a really good thing to think about as an overall strategy. Um, then of course, you've got other things like apps and uh proactive notifications and uh personalized offers to people, your marketing takes on a different perspective as well because you're improving uh all of that experience.

Jeremy Blake 5:02

Well, generating more inbound on the type of calls you want to.

Bob Morrell 5:07

But the big, big thing, which is great news for them and for us, but incidentally, is that the big note for companies when it comes to um the channels and the experience is that clearly the aim should be to turn the contact center into a sales and retention engine, not just support. Lovely. Sales and retention engine.

Jeremy Blake 5:28

Don't you and I agree with that? Yeah, I mean So that that's that into I mean, all we did for a few years was retention. Yeah, I remember we did a two and a half years. Companies said, look, we've we're struggling, yeah, we're struggling with keeping clients.

Bob Morrell 5:41

It's it's massive. Can you help us keep so if you think about that, that means that the support of a contact center becomes largely an AI uh thing, but that sales and retention, you can become brilliant at that. And I and I think that's a really good thing to have in mind.

Jeremy Blake 6:00

Which is which is fascinating, which I know you're saying this episode is about the brands, the people, but the episodes all connect because the outsourcing, if it doesn't retain, then it's not a great business model.

Bob Morrell 6:13

Now it says here that one should be uh when it comes onto the world of AI and how you deploy that, as a company, of course, you should invest in it where those volumes are highest and where the processes are standard. So anything which is a simple, repeatable demand conversation, AI should be picking that up really quickly. But rather than sit there and count your winnings because you haven't got to pay quite so many people, you should be using those savings to reinvest in better training, better tools, and all the other stuff we've talked about, negotiation skills, retention skills, etc. That's what you should be doing with that saving. Now that brings us on to um Should we should we should we can we just lift that?

Jeremy Blake 7:00

That that's what we need.

Contact Centres As Sales And Retention

Bob Morrell 7:01

It it is. It is. Um then we move on to this whole world of uh higher skills for the individuals. Okay, so we talked about the fact that part of your job as a manager is to make sure your people are really good at all this negotiation and relationship skills and complex tools. But we're now saying the brands need to take the brands, yeah, um, you know, you can have uh some really good customer insight from your from your contact centers that will allow you to then go to your product and your marketing and your uh your overall brands and go, look, this is what we are being told about the demands from our from your customers, from our customers. And there's a really good little note here, which I think is brilliant. For a long time, companies would focus on the cost per call. So we take X number of calls and each call costs us 30 quid or whatever it may be. Whereas if you switch that and you've got things like the lifetime value of a customer, how long they're retained for, what you've upsold them, then your new metric is the value per customer. So if you start measuring that, the value you delivered per customer, the AI will, the AI calls that are administrative calls will give you that data in seconds. That human's interaction with that customer is going to give you a much higher potentially value per customer than a simple cost per call. I think that's a really, really good metric.

Jeremy Blake 8:37

If I was to go into one organization that I think is struggling the most in this entire changing world, I would say it's cars.

Bob Morrell 8:47

Yeah. Yeah.

Jeremy Blake 8:48

So I read something yesterday. I don't know if it's now time to share it or you're on a train of thought. But um, for example, if you buy your car physically in a showroom, you become a customer of that brand. And I'm thinking of myself with the car brand that I connected to, but I read this other story yesterday of another car brand without naming them and slagging them off because I think they're all struggling. You buy the car in a dealership, you then might ring the dealership over the years, you might ring the brand, you might get help with tech, sat nav servicing, and so on. Um, I don't think, based on what you've said, that the brands realize those little touch points through the contact center over 20, 30 years. I don't think they compute that into the value of the customer. I think they say the dealership must sell another car. I don't think they have realized yet that the entire value and touch points of the customer through all the different people in the business and the brand is what keeps me wanting another one of those manufacturers' cards.

Bob Morrell 9:47

Well, it doesn't look like they have to date. That's for sure. Um but that will change because as we know, well, the reason it the reason it changes is because most of us now are completely disloyal when it comes to brands. And we will switch whenever we like, and I'm afraid to say the majority of us now don't buy cars. We lease them, and that's the way that the market is going. But they can still earn money in the chain through that. Sure, but it still again comes back to that point of not connecting up those different channels. Exactly.

Jeremy Blake 10:20

I think that the bean counters still, instead of just cost per call, where was the customer? What at where did we acquire this customer from? Which channel was this acquisition in? We put the money into that pot. We're still not good. And you've mentioned it in other episodes. We still don't say, well, look, the customer might ring, go to another dealership, they're on holiday, look at a brand, look at a video, go online. They don't compute. No. I think it's still seen in accounting terms of is this channel profitable? They don't see it holistically.

Invest AI Savings In Human Skills

Bob Morrell 10:52

So then we come on to this idea of the remote and hybrid workforce. And of course, many companies are a bit nervous about all this. But of course, the more you do that, you reduce your infrastructure costs hugely by allowing that for starters. Um now, the other thing that people forget sometimes is if you have a regional, national, international pool of talent that you are going after, you can have more flexible working, so more part-time workers, uh people working uh in different hours in different locations, so it gives you a chance to broaden your level of service. Um, you can attract all different types of people to work for you, and that gives you a lar a longer business continuity. But the other thing which people forget, if you're a company, and we all know this, there are peaks. There are busy times and less busy times and sales and what have you. If you've got a massive broad talent pool, you can upscale at various points by utilising those different people in different places. And I think that's a really appealing strategy to have.

Jeremy Blake 12:04

Well, you were talking interesting. You were talking about, I don't know if we can you want to talk about this or not, but you were talking about the charity that you support to me yesterday, and you were saying that the might it's hard to get people to take calls at a certain time in the night or in the early morning. Yeah. If that if that company and all other companies looked at, well, who doesn't mind being on the phone at that time because it isn't the middle of the night? But that's the next switch, isn't it, to see the work, the world as a global workforce that's connected. Well that and recruiting through without vote.

From Cost Per Call To Value

Bob Morrell 12:35

Well, that's the final thing, really, which is as a as a company, um, if you think about this switch in talent, because that's what's been the running theme through these three episodes. The talent of the operator moves from a transactional conversation to a more in-depth conversation. The talent of the manager is to take the team through that process as well. The idea for the company is that what you have is a talent pipeline. And that allows you to bring through great performers, people who've shown that switch, understood the way the customers want to interact and how to interact with them. That then gives you the chance to promote those people up through the organization in different levels and in different ways. And I think that's a really uh great thing to come out of all of this. And lastly, if you're really good at this, if you understand where that marketplace is going, and we talked earlier about the size of the market and the trends that are taking place within it, if you know that, then you become an employer of choice for people in this industry who don't just see it as, well, I work there for a couple of years until I get a job I really want to move on. They'll see it as a route upwards. You can uh if by keeping those people for longer and investing in their talent, you cut your recruitment costs hugely because they're staying with you. And of course, you're you're training people who are already converted to this way of thinking. So all of that, I think, makes makes the future look quite rosy if you understand that that is the long-term future where you're going with your organization.

Jeremy Blake 14:17

I think people need partners to do this. I think when you are the brand, you're often so close to it you struggle to see some of these things. So it's it's often still needs to be collaborative with bringing in experts to help you make these changes because often you're so close to it you can't see the problem.

Bob Morrell 14:34

Yes, and um I think some organizations that we talk to absolutely get this. Okay, I don't doubt that for a moment. I think others are so used to working in a way where each project has a beginning and a middle and an end. Okay, so this is where we are, this is where we need to get to. If we can get to there, it'll be an achievement. Off we go, and we achieve it. But of course, one must understand that by the time you get to that point, everything's moved on 20% more in various facets already. So the the smart owner, the smart company is gonna say, okay, there is no endpoint to this. This isn't gonna end. So we now need to have a moving strategy which follows the trends. At each level, the operators, team leaders, and the managers, and the company as a whole need to have a unified approach to where this is going. That gives us great, great opportunities.

Jeremy Blake 15:38

I hear you. One of the challenges, if we think of the people we work with, is they might do the job for three years, the head the heads. So under their watch, they want to be the company that reduced X or grew X or shifted X. And so that's the measure for their tenure. Yeah. Um, which is why you need a somebody higher up the chain who who actually often leaves the contact centers to sort of function with the head of, they need to be more involved at a at a senior level to say the contact center evolves and keeps evolving. And I'm thinking of clients now that I can't name that have got absolute bottlenecks on some of the things they're they're hooked on or stuck on, which they are struggling to get out of.

Bob Morrell 16:20

I think that if you understand this marketplace, the leadership Well, you say your market, it's your marketplace.

Jeremy Blake 16:28

So if you it's automotive and automotive customers, it's not just automotive.

Automotive’s Loyalty Blind Spot

Bob Morrell 16:31

It's the contact center industry as a whole. Oh, and if you understand where if you understand where the contact center industry is going, then I actually don't think it matters who's in charge. Because those trends won't disappear. And either you'll get either either you'll get to them eventually or you'll understand it now and move with it. Okay, that's it. Okay. And I think that even if you come and go from a con a contact center organization and you're relatively successful or not, those trends are not going to change. So anyone coming in can say, okay, where are you now in this process? Because I know what the industry's like, I know where the industry is, I know what's capable, what's happening in other areas. I can now bring this level of knowledge to these.

Jeremy Blake 17:12

Well, it's it's what consumers want, what employees want, what brands want, what leaders want to do for their leadership role. It's making sure everybody's role is met in this modern world that we've become. And I still think some of the challenge is going to be the full collapse, if you like, of a structured building containing these things. That's that's the real head challenge because also we know remote management is difficult. Um, but I think you you'll have elite, elite organizations that somehow pick the right level of people who can do everything without being the wrong people.

Bob Morrell 17:52

Well, to close this um this series, I just want to remind you of a project we did some years ago now, where we were attempting to uh install a sales model in three US-based contact centers, an Indian-based contact center, um, a UK-based contact center, and then when we were in India, we were filmed, and though that material was sent to the Philippines as well. So if you think about that, that's a load of people being given a sales model so that you get consistency in behavior across a brand. Okay, now that's getting on for 13, 14 years ago now. Okay, so that's that's going back a long way. Now that requirement doesn't change. You still need consistency, you still need um great uh models and behavioral expectations and standards, which we've done uh an episode about recently, for people to focus on. What I think is m really interesting about contact centers, if you think about the last 15 years and where and where we we've come from, you can now, rather than have uh an office as we attended with lots of people sitting in there, you can have those individuals all over the world in your team. You happen to be sitting in London, but you're managing 15 people in various locations all over the world or at varied times. It is possible to have a multi-channel, effective team doing really well for you.

Jeremy Blake 19:24

So actually, what what we're really saying is the human that requires intensive management is no longer really the right employee for it, because we've seen that. So what we're really what we're really saying is you actually need to look at who you are and how you're running it and stop repeating a model that's kind of failing and breaking. You need to embrace the real world.

Bob Morrell 19:44

And if you're just employing people and sticking them on the phone and hoping that they can cope, uh you're doing them a huge display.

Jeremy Blake 19:51

They take an amount of call or quantity of calls, they are a buffer. But then you're measuring cost per cost. You're just measuring the cost. Yeah, that you're bound to be stuck in the wrong measures. Yeah. Yeah. Because you've said you think you've saved costs by not paying much for them. Whereas if you get an elite, yeah. So your environmental cost is your most extraordinary reduction of cost, isn't it?

Bob Morrell 20:10

Well, thank you for listening to our episodes on the world of contact centers, call centers. Um, it's been very interesting to do it to sort of delve into this area. We'll be back with more uh episodes soon. But in the meantime, thank you for listening to the reality of business.

Jeremy Blake 20:29

And thank you for sharing episodes with your friends and your colleagues. You know, you just press share, click on it, and why not chuck in someone's email or WhatsApp them an episode if you think it might help them sound more interesting when you're next with them. Thanks a lot. Bye for now.

Bob Morrell 20:47

This podcast comes from Reality Training. For the last 25 years, we've transformed the customer interactions of many leading UK businesses and developed thousands of managers to be better at what they do. To find out more about our work, to see what we could do to help your organization, go to realitytraining.com.