Looking for feedback on covering more accounts without adding additional headcount. Has anyone used AI? Outsourced to another organization? The challenge is we have certain non-strategic products that need touch points and looking for a scalable solution.
Sort by:
A couple ideas:
You can use contact center software to deploy a bot that is smart enough to look up accounts, shipping, new features, appointments and support. That is "inbound." Notice, a "smart bot" you have to train it with a lot of information and a way for passing that inquiry to a real person at a certain point.
For "outbound" there are services that will take a list of accounts and follow-up. They do a good job at this. The key is training. They have to feel and understand the business, so don't skimp on the product and process knowledge. They usually come with their own sales knowledge. When choosing, ask yourself do you want them to represent you, to the customer, they are now you. If you can, listen to some calls. Do a trial for 60 days. Keep in the back of your mind when evaluating them "How you sell, is a free sample of how you will serve the customer."
A third way, hire as contractors some retired sellers, who want to work 20 hours a week make it a 6 month contract, and evaluate. Talent-ready and not looking for a career, they already have benefits from Medicare. They will do a great job, and the customers will love them. Make sure they have high speed internet first *smile.
Can you define products? We use lots of open source and SLM’s in various aspects of our client support.
We’ve leveraged AI for automation (reconciliations, monitoring) and outsourced select low-risk accounts. A hybrid model works well—AI for scale, outsourcing for flexibility. Key is balancing efficiency with oversight. Happy to discuss what’s worked and what hasn’t!