If you’ve ever had to set a goal, it’s likely you’ve come across the SMART framework.* A SMART Goal is a goal that is Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic, and Time-related.

What are the most dreaded customer service calls to make? Do customers enjoy making small talk with support agents, or prefer to get straight to the point? We polled more than 1,200 consumers across the United States to get a pulse on how they are feeling today, when it comes to interacting with customer support teams. We discovered that, in the fast-paced world of today, customer expectations are not being met, frustrations are high, and patience is wearing thin.

From booking rep appointments to even boosting your ecommerce conversion rate, sales calls can massively impact the success of your business, which is why it’s so important to know how to measure sales productivity by the success of your calls. When the discussion of sales calls comes up, many people instantly think of cold calling (phoning prospective customers before they express any kind of interest in your product or service).

Training new hires on the fly isn’t easy and yet it’s quite common. When a support team is missing hands, chances are that new support agents will be hitting the tickets with precious little preparation. Needless to say, this can quickly lead to problems with customers. When a customer chats in with a new or particularly green support agent, the team member might provide wrong information or generally make some mistakes.

It can feel like there’s little more to say about remote working. We know about the pressures on businesses, the adjustment to makeshift bedroom offices, and the way some workers have gradually gravitated to hoping they never see a return to traditional office structures.

Whether it’s Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets, most businesses use spreadsheet tools. In fact, if you're a small to medium sized business (SME), it’s likely that spreadsheets are your main way of tracking sales performance. However, there is one huge downside to both Excel and Google Sheets – data visualization. When it comes to visualizing your KPIs, spreadsheets are not a great tool for helping people quickly and easily understand what’s going on.

Customer support software is a gamechanger for ambitious consulting firms. If you’re trying to scale your consulting business but lack the systems to support your growth, you should explore the potential of customer support software. This will enable you to successfully provide all of your clients with consistent and exceptional support. Let’s explore this further.