With travel budgets on the decline, and a health threat further restricting travel, a survey by Plantronics shows that sales representatives get more intimate with their customers when using a headset for telephone calls.
Plantronics, Inc. (NYSE: PLT) today unveiled the company’s latest market
research identifying how headsets shape the experience shared between
sales representatives and their customers. With the economic downturn
and trimming of travel budgets, companies are becoming increasingly
dependent on their salesforces’ ability to foster and maintain valuable
customer relationships over the phone.
With the pressure mounting, Plantronics has discovered that throughout
the UK and Europe, it’s clear that for sales and customer, using a
headset is the key to creating a comfortable and compelling customer
experience.
Conducted by research specialist Opinion Matters/Tickbox.net,
Plantronics’ online survey polled thousands of sales representatives
(not contact centre workers) and customers from the UK, France, Germany,
the Netherlands and Spain. In each region, both groups reported a vast
preference for the use of a headset during sales/customer calls and
expressed the importance of headsets in shaping a positive customer
experience.
According to the survey, an overwhelming majority of sales respondents
from all regions reported feeling better able, in general, to solve
customer/client problems and issues and work more efficiently when using
a headset as compared to talking over the telephone with only a handset.
In addition, the sales representatives questioned felt that using a
headset leads to more satisfactory outcomes for their customers, and
even rated headsets as a more vital business tool/accessory than a
Blackberry.
Similarly, the majority of customers polled throughout the UK and Europe
said they believe that professionals using headsets boosts their
experience as a customer, and that they actually feel closer to a
salesperson when he/she is using a headset. Furthermore, the same
customers said they find sales peoples’ communication skills more
effective when they are using a headset rather than a telephone handset.
“As one of the first in our field, the value in using a headset to
communicate more efficiently and effectively is a concept we
passoniately believe in at Plantronics,” said Philip Vanhoutte, Managing
Director at Plantronics EMEA. “We were stunned with the survey results
and feel that sales organizations throughout the UK and EMEA could
benefit greatly from using headsets to improve their overall customer
experience, especially as their travel budgets continue to suffer in
today’s rough economic climate.”
Other key findings from the survey include:
- Top two reasons for using a headset are to work more
efficiently/smarter and to enable quicker access to customer data/info.
- Other key influencers for headset use include its ability to bring the
sales/customer rep closer to the customer as well as appear more natural
on the call.
- Almost all respondents felt that their jobs would become more
difficult and/or the level of service they provide would suffer if the
headset were no longer available
- Headsets were rated the third most important business tool vital to
performing their job successfully, just under mobile phones and software
tools.
- Sales/customer service representatives feel more effective at
communicating with their clients and feel the rapport they build with
clients / customers when talking to them is stronger when using a
headset.
Opinion Matters / Tickbox.net is a leading market research organisation,
carrying out consumer, corporate and niche market surveys online amongst
a 50,000+ member panel. The Plantronics and Opinion Matters /
Tickbox.net survey was conducted online between 03.02.09 and 12.02.09
amongst a nationally representative sample of adults throughout the UK,
France, Germany, Holland and Spain aged 16+. None of the people surveyed
were working in a contact centre, where the usage of headsets is the
norm . Opinion Matters / Tickbox.net follow the codes of the MRS (Market
Research Society) and are fully registered and compliant with the Data
Protection Registrar.
