John Ortiz at MiaRec explores six ways AI Insights can help make your contact centre a revenue-generating powerhouse.
Are you under a lot of pressure recently to increase revenue? Do you feel like you have to do more with less? As a former contact centre manager, I have walked in your shoes and know firsthand what it is like.
Not only do you have to run a super-tight ship with dozens of KPIs breathing down your neck, but you also have to keep finding new ways to boost revenue. It’s a lot-and since you are reading this, you’re likely searching for solutions to ease some of that pressure.
One innovative but very high-impact way to use AI to increase revenue from your sales contact centre is to use AI Insights to extract data points from your customer interactions automatically.
Understanding AI Insights for Revenue Growth
What Are AI Insights?
Simply put, AI Insights are the nuggets of information extracted from your recorded customer calls using generative AI. Think of it as a supercharged assistant that analyses your call transcripts and captures every detail you wish to know about your calls.
In a sales contact centre, you could ask it to keep track of the products, pricing packages, or competitors discussed in the calls.
It can pick up on customer pain points, preferences, and missed opportunities. The possibilities are endless. As long as it has been discussed on a call and you ask the AI to extract it, the options are almost limitless.
How Does It Work?
Your contact centre is already a goldmine of information and data points, but until now, it’s been almost impossible to tap into this data in a scalable way. However, with generative AI, you can now automatically extract the data you need from every call.
Essentially, you define which AI Insights you would like to extract. Then, you define the prompt and give the AI the background information it needs to provide a relevant answer.
For example, if you would like the AI to analyse calls for a win/loss reason, you can either ask it to provide a reason with a short explanation or give it a list of possible reasons to choose from.
Both approaches have their pros and cons. Once you set up an AI Insight, you can ask the AI to automatically extract it across all or a predefined segment of calls.
After a customer interaction is completed, the AI will analyse the transcript and, within a few minutes, provide you with all the AI Insights you have requested. They will then neatly show up in the AI Insights tab of your contact record.
6 Ways AI Insights Can Boost Revenue
1. Spotting Customer Pain Points to Identify Revenue Opportunities
Your customers drop hints all the time. They might say, “I wish your product could do X,” or “We’re struggling with Y.” These are opportunities to introduce other products or premium services.
AI can help pick up on these cues during calls, giving your reps a heads-up so they can offer targeted solutions that directly meet customer needs.
Example: A customer calls in and mentions that they wish the current software had better integration features with a specific platform.
AI identifies this as a pain point and flags it for the rep, who can then introduce an upgraded software version that offers seamless integration, thereby solving the customer’s problem and boosting the chances of a sale.
2. Identifying and Recovering Missed Opportunities
Is there anything more frustrating than listening to call recordings and realizing that we missed an opportunity to position a product that would have solved the customer’s need? Yeah, I know…I could have pulled my hair out every time.
Well, thankfully, AI does this for you (and it doesn’t have hair to pull out, so it’s a win-win). It can analyze past interactions and flag moments where reps didn’t offer relevant products or services, allowing for timely follow-up.
This way, those opportunities don’t stay missed – they get recovered, boosting your potential revenue. In addition, these moments serve as coaching opportunities so that your agents don’t miss them in the future.
Example: During a call, a customer mentions a feature that a competitor offers, but the sales rep doesn’t address it. AI picks up on this and raises it as a missed opportunity, prompting your agent to follow up with a targeted email highlighting how your product offers a comparable or better feature, potentially recovering the lost opportunity.
3. Streamline Sales Follow-Ups to Shorten Sales Cycles
Follow-up is crucial in a sales contact centre. Not only does a relevant follow-up delight the customer as it makes them feel heard and cared for, but it also keeps the momentum going after the conversation has ended. And we all know that time kills all deals, making the ability to gain momentum a key closing factor.
AI Insights can help with follow-up by using its contextual understanding of the sales conversation and the information you provide it with to determine the next best actions.
These could also be pushed into the CRM automatically (together with the AI-generated call summary), saving the agent not only 3-4 minutes of precious post-call admin work, but also streamlining follow-ups and, therefore, shortening the sales cycle.
Example: A customer calls your sales contact centre inquiring about investing options. They are especially interested in building an emergency fund and better managing their debt so they can start building capital. After the conversation, AI Insights suggested different options for the agent to follow up.
4. Identifying Cross-Selling and Upselling Opportunities
Customers frequently mention future needs when making a purchase decision because they want to be sure that this solution will also work for them as they grow or evolve in the future. However, subtle cues in what the customer says often go unnoticed during calls. AI, when prompted, can pick up on these signals.
When a customer hints that they might need more advanced features or mentions growth plans, AI flags this as an upselling opportunity. Imagine revisiting that conversation and seamlessly offering the exact upgrade they’re ready for.
Example: A customer mentions during a call that their business is expanding and they may need additional support. AI flags this as a potential upsell opportunity, prompting the rep to suggest a more advanced package or additional licenses that can support their growing needs.
5. Prioritising Sales Leads with AI-Driven Call Classification
Not all leads are created equal. For example, studies have shown that the more engaged a buyer is with the educational content you provide them with, the higher the likelihood to close is.
But there are also indications during a sales conversation that give you clues on how far along the buyer is in their purchase decision process and how likely they are to buy in the near future.
Rather than trying to serve all buyers equally, you can use AI Insights to determine which leads should be targeted first.
For example, you can create an AI Insight for “Likelihood to Close” that will categorize calls into one of four categories based on the context of the conversation: “Low,” “Medium,” “High,” and “Closed.”
Your sales agents can then create personalized follow-up plans for these leads based on their likelihood to close, starting with high-likelihood-to-close leads and working their way down.
Example: A customer calls your sales contact centre seeking financial advice after winning a lump sum at a state lottery. They have an immediate high-stake problem they need to solve. The call goes well and trust is established, so the likelihood to close is high.
6. Identify High-Risk Customers To Reduce Customer Churn
It’s not enough to know who your high-value customers are. You also need to know if they are satisfied. AI can analyse your customer interactions and identify whether these customers are at risk of leaving.
With this information, you can implement tailored retention programs – like exclusive offers – to make them feel valued and encourage loyalty.
Example: AI detects frustration in a conversation an agent has with a high-value customer regarding a billing issue.
The system raises this with the agent, who can address the problem and offer a goodwill gesture, such as a discount on the next billing cycle, as a follow-up after the call. This targeted action can turn a potential churn risk into a loyal customer who appreciates the personalized care.
How To Get Started With AI Insights
I hope the six ways you can use AI Insights to boost your revenue have inspired you to consider how to do the same in your organizations.
If I have done my job right and given you only a glimpse of my excitement about how this could transform how we run sales contact centres, you probably already have ideas swirling around your head, and you are asking yourself: How do I get started?
Run a Proof-of-Concept (PoC)
Well, my first advice would be to run a small-scale trial with your data in your environment. Seeing your own customer conversations transformed into actionable insights is a game-changer. It makes AI’s potential real and tangible, and you will see exactly where it fits into your contact center’s goals.
Start Small for Quick Wins
Secondly, pick some low-hanging fruit to go after first. Once you experience the power of AI Insights, you will want to transform your operations. But you don’t have to do everything at once.
Pick one or two areas that can provide quick wins – like identifying missed opportunities or automating call categorization. Seeing results quickly will boost confidence and motivate your team to keep exploring.
Iterate and Expand
Once you’ve gained momentum, expand into more areas. AI is an incredible tool, but its real power comes from iterative use – the more data it has, the more effective it becomes. Start small, learn, and grow.
Conclusion
AI can transform your contact centre from a cost centre into a profit-driving powerhouse. By spotting opportunities, recovering lost chances, and helping you better understand and serve your customers, AI gives your team the tools to hit and exceed their targets.
If you are ready to see what AI can do for your contact centre, consider booking a personalized demo, and I will walk you through it step by step. Let’s turn those insights into action and make your contact centre the revenue-generating powerhouse it has the potential to be.
This blog post has been re-published by kind permission of MiaRec – View the Original Article
For more information about MiaRec - visit the MiaRec Website
About MiaRec
MiaRec is a global provider of Conversation Intelligence and Auto QA solutions, helping contact centers save time and cost through AI-based automation and customer-driven business intelligence. Find out more about MiaRec
Call Centre Helper is not responsible for the content of these guest blog posts. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of Call Centre Helper.
Author: MiaRec
Reviewed by: Jo Robinson
Published On: 16th Dec 2024
Read more about - Guest Blogs, John Ortiz, MiaRec
