![\"CSR](\"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/csrxmas.jpg\")
\nThere\u2019s a reason for that: Retail sales hit a record of $6 trillion in 2018, according to the <\/span>U.S. Census<\/span><\/a>. That’s better than the pre-recession high of $4.4 trillion spent in 2007. It’s also a 50% increase from 2009’s record low of $4.06 trillion.<\/span><\/p>\n Department store sales rose by 1.2%. Department store sales were down 5.5% since last year. That’s due to strong competition from <\/span>online retailers<\/span><\/a>. Their sales were up 14.2% over last year.<\/span><\/p>\n These are just two examples – but with a strong economy putting more money in your customers\u2019 pockets, their propensity to buy, travel, or make other purchases during these peak periods is expected to grow.<\/span><\/p>\n Increasingly I\u2019m hearing the question, \u201cDo we need to be thinking differently in order to do this better next year?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Heightened pressure, heightened investment\u2026 mediocre results?<\/b><\/p>\n During these influxes in business, it\u2019s not uncommon for organizations to more than double their staff to handle volumes, sometimes requiring 5,000+ extra agents to help cover the seasonal bump\u2026 at a cost of over $15 million… just in training!<\/span><\/p>\n But despite these extra agents and the enormous investment \u2013 the crushing truth is that usually there is still a massive amount of friction… and not just for the customer.<\/span><\/p>\n Time and time again, organizations are losing customers to the black hole of wait times and inefficient processes during their seasonal bumps.<\/b><\/p>\n We all know that today\u2019s consumers often have an overwhelming choice, so even with the best forecasting and planning for your CX, change will inevitably happen. And when today\u2019s customers are unhappy they are much quicker to act, with <\/span>50% of customers<\/a> severing ties with a company immediately after a bad sales\/marketing experience.<\/span><\/p>\n Yet\u2026 is this how it has to be? It\u2019s time to do this differently.<\/b><\/p>\n Whether your peak volume period lasts a few weeks or several months, there is a multitude of ways you can smooth out the workload. And if you consider these changes in your planning for next year, you\u2019ll undoubtedly be in much better shape to handle peak season.<\/span><\/p>\n The following are a few approaches that have worked successfully for many of my clients:<\/span><\/p>\n Review\/revise your IVR<\/b><\/p>\n Human nature drives us to select the path of least resistance. If an interactive voice response (IVR) system is difficult to use, customers either hang up or zero out to an agent, raising inbound call volume and prolonging average handle time.<\/span><\/p>\n When IVR systems are programmed to communicate business hours, billing information, and even certain types of account information, CX can be significantly improved without sacrificing functionality.\u00a0 If a customer is calling for something as simple as paying their bill, they can avoid long hold times by selecting the \u201cpay my bill\u201d self-service option.<\/span><\/p>\n If you know the reason for the spike in call volumes – e.g., during the tax season – another proactive approach you can take is to add a message during the hold time that will most likely answer their question \u2013 such as that tax forms will be mailed on \u201cxx\u201d date.<\/span><\/p>\n Bottom line, take a look at your IVR flow, and how it is driving calls into different queues to optimize the user experience.<\/span><\/p>\n Proactive notifications<\/b><\/p>\n
![\"Peter](\"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Peter-Mullen.jpg\")
As a senior marketing & communications leader at