Hello one and all and welcome to an event we’ve all been waiting for; it’s Telephone Tennis. This is all about avoiding as many missed opportunities as possible. It’s going to take a lot of hustle to come out on top of the customer service scoreboard.
The Challenge
Because 51% of customers expect the right person on their 1st call, the importance of avoiding missed opportunities has never been more paramount. The key skill here is to eliminate the back and forth attempts at getting the right contact. Fail to return the first serve and elimination is on the cards.
Winning Tactics
It takes a wide array of skills to be crowned champion, but we’ve locked it down to two main components:
1) Agility: A champion needs to always be in the right place to answer back no matter where or when the customer might strike. There are some veteran professionals out on the court today who seem to be struggling to keep up with the volume of calls in their court. It looks like they are using out-dated technology that simply doesn’t allow them to be mobile and handle calls at the same time. Contrast that with the younger cloud-based competitor, who has the tools at their disposal to respond from absolutely any position on any court around the world.
2) Shot selection: It’s obvious several competitors have the ability to respond swiftly, but that’s only half the battle. What separates the victors is their ability to always rally the call straight to the right person without any unnecessary to and fro. Even when fully occupied due to intense service pressure, winners ensure incoming calls are automatically rerouted to suitable teammates who are best placed to deal with them.
The Outcome
It was hard fought at first and whilst some challengers were dedicated to returning as many calls as possible, a lack of call handling ability under pressure and a rigidity in their style meant their responses were just too sluggish.
The cloud-based competitor really seems to have redefined how to compete in this sport. They used mobile technology to respond from absolutely any position and created handling rules to ensure customers were never frustrated by multiple attempts at making the right contact. Game, set and match.
Originally published Aug 01, 2016, updated Apr 18, 2021
