From May 7^th-10^th, SalesPortal will be exhibiting at the ICMI ACCE Conference and Expo in Seattle, Washington. Produced by ICMI, the Annual Call Center Exhibition (ACCE) is the premier global gathering for the contact center industry. SalesPortal’s exhibit will be in booth 519.

Our CEO, Saurabh Khetrapal, says “We are very excited to be exhibiting at ICMI ACCE. Enterprise contact centers make customer experience and customer engagement their top priorities. Our technology seamlessly enables this, while generating significant revenues and profits. Our cross-pitching platform is ground-breaking and enterprises have never really seen anything quite like it. So, we are excited about this unique opportunity to listen to enterprises and also to ideate together on how we can enhance their customer engagement and profits.”

SalesPortal’s unique cross-pitching™ system enables enterprise contact centers to augment the customer experience by engaging callers with relevant offers from branded advertisers at the end of sales and service calls. Not only does this enhance customer engagement, it also provides companies with the opportunity to develop a revenue generation program that eliminates the pain-points of traditional cross-selling and upselling. The patented technology is easy to implement and contact centers are able to instantly connect with a complete ecosystem of pre-approved, branded and relevant advertisers that bid against each other for customer referrals via end-of-call transfers.

It’s fairly common business knowledge that it costs a lot of money to find, target and entice new customers. When you think of how many marketing pitches your audience is bombarded with day in and day out, it makes sense that the average consumer has learned to tune out many of those of messages, making it that much harder to capture their attention. So what is a brand to do?

Many companies invest in various lead qualification programs, where a 3^rd party is responsible for finding and cultivating targeted leads, and then passing off interested customers to the advertiser’s sales representatives. However, these traditional lead aggregation and lead generation channels can become expensive quickly, with mixed ROI results. With these programs, there is often a fixed (and usually high) price on each lead generated; and because the lead originator (i.e. the publisher or the aggregator) is the one responsible for the advertising costs, the price is determined by the lead originator. In order for their business to be successful, the lead originator marks up their own lead procurement costs and sells each lead to the advertiser at a non-negotiable price point. Arguably, these leads should be well worth the price, since the originator has taken the time to qualify each customer before handing them off to the advertiser; but the ROI on these leads is often found to be lackluster due to either the high price of the leads or the poor quality or oftentimes both.

That’s where SalesPortal’s proprietary customer acquisition program steps in and breaks the mold.

Unlike traditional lead generation channels, where the lead originator sets the “sell” price of each lead, the SalesPortal program allows for advertiser’s to set their own “buy” price. Our unique pay per call ad network gives advertisers the ability to bid for live phone lead transfers from branded enterprises with contact centers. These contact centers have existing, “organic” phone traffic for their own products and are willing to present a complementary product offer at the end of their customer calls. We call this process “cross-pitching”, and it solves the pain points of traditional cross-selling and up-selling in contact centers. After the agent presents the cross-pitch offer, interested and qualified customers are live transferred to the most relevant and highest bidding advertiser’s sales center. Advertisers determine their own campaign parameters, including the pay per call lead price, lead qualification criteria, and daily budget. All campaign details can be customized for each of the enterprise contact centers that advertisers are interested in receiving customer referrals/lead transfers from.

One of the best things about SalesPortal’s customer acquisition program is that advertisers are responsible for paying only for a live phone lead if that customer remains connected for a minimum threshold of pre-determined time. Unlike online pay per click advertising, where advertisers are charged for every click regardless of how long that visitor stays on their site, our customer acquisition program helps protect advertisers and their budgets by making sure only qualified and interested leads are being billed and paid for. This ensures a robust ROI and takes the risk out of SalesPortal’s customer acquisition campaigns.

Interested in learning more about SalesPortal? Contact us today to see a short presentation and to take a peek under the hood of our patented technology that has been designed with your advertising needs (and ROI) in mind.

From April 22-25, SalesPortal will be exhibiting at and attending the SOCAP Symposium at the Renaissance Harborplace in Baltimore, Maryland. This year’s Symposium will offer three days of networking and idea-sharing on critical business issues facing the customer care profession including industry communities like Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG), Retail, Travel & Hospitality, and Healthcare.  Attendees will be able to connect with SalesPortal at booth # 104.

In addition, on April 23rd at 1:45 PM, SalesPortal will be featured in the SOCAP Business Partner Showcase in the Guilford presentation room. This no-pressure environment is the perfect opportunity to get an in-depth look at SalesPortal’s patented technology.

SalesPortal’s unique cross-pitching™ system enables contact centers to improve customer satisfaction by engaging callers with relevant offers from branded advertisers at the end of sales and service calls. Not only does this enhance the customer experience, it also provides companies with the opportunity to turn contact centers into revenue generators. Unlike traditional cross-selling programs, SalesPortal’s cross-pitching technology is easy to implement and does not require agent training or other disruptive processes. Enterprise contact centers are able to connect with a complete ecosystem of pre-approved, branded and relevant advertisers that bid against each other for their end-of-call transfers.

Our CEO, Saurabh Khetrapal, says “Businesses are always searching for ways to build on their customer engagement as this is an integral component of long term success. SalesPortal’s cross-pitching system gives contact centers the ability to connect callers with unique product offers from relevant and pre-approved advertisers, which really enhances their brand loyalty and customer experience. ”

When a customer phones in to your contact center, the entire customer experience boils down one yes or no question—did you solve their issue? If the reason for the customer call isn’t resolved quickly and completely, then everything else your representative does to improve the customer experience is pointless. However, if your representative does resolve your customer’s issue or concern, then the positive customer experience can be amplified by a variety of factors including: how quickly the issue was resolved, if the caller was transferred to multiple agents, if the caller had to repeat their information, and so forth. A great call center customer interaction entails addressing and resolving the customer’s issue quickly and completely – because a happy customer is incredibly valuable to your company.

Happy customers are more likely to become repeat customers and their customer experience in your contact center greatly impacts the likelihood of them becoming your brand ambassadors. But that isn’t the only reason a happy customer is valuable; they can positively impact your bottom line: happy customers are the perfect targets for cross pitching^TM.

Cross pitching^TM is a patented and proprietary methodology pioneered by SalesPortal, a Silicon Valley-based technology company. The process involves your call center agent reading a scripted offer for a highly relevant product to your customers at the end of  sales and service calls. These product offers are from vetted and pre-approved branded advertisers. Customers interested in hearing more about a product offer are transferred to the advertiser’s call center and your company is paid for the customer referral – i.e. the live transfer lead! It’s a simple way to monetize your contact center and increase your company’s revenue, while engaging your customers with product offers that they want and appreciate.

But how does customer experience factor into your contact center’s revenue enhancement program?

A recent study found that 80+% of customers who were happy with the customer service representative’s performance would be willing to listen to an additional offer, whereas only 53% of unsatisfied customers were open to this. This means that happy customers are more likely to be open to buying more products and services. So in order to maximize the incremental revenue potential via cross pitching, it is paramount that contact centers focus on delivering top-notch customer service during the “primary” portion of the customer engagement.

A positive customer experience not only impacts your customers’ opinion of your brand, it also greatly enhances the incremental revenue opportunities available to your contact center via cross pitching. The happier your customers are with the customer experience you deliver, the more likely they are to become valuable referrals and live call transfers to your cross pitching partners, and the more money your contact center lead transfer campaign will generate!

SalesPortal has been included in a new AMR International research paper, entitled “Opportunities in Lead generation: What Every Publisher and Investor Should Know.” The company’s unique lead generation portal is listed as an example of innovative lead generation technology.

AMR states industry growth will be led by a new generation of business models, or pioneers, much like SalesPortal, that will “blend superior execution, content, brand and digital technology to offer attractive returns for media companies and investors alike.”

Highlights of AMR International’s new paper include:

• defining the lead generation industry
• illustrating how lead generators create value
• highlighting the risks as well as the growth opportunities
• identifying the critical success factors

Interested in reading the full report? Download a PDF version here!

The relationship between a company and its customers has always been important, but it seems like delivering top-notch customer experience is getting more critical in today’s market. Interactions between brands and their consumers are becoming increasingly more customer-driven thanks to the power of social media, and companies are no longer the only ones influencing their brand perception. What your customers say about you and your products is just as important (arguably even more important) than what you say about yourself. Technology has enabled today’s customers to have tremendous clout. Through the power and virality of Facebook, Twitter and online review sites, customers can influence a company’s brand value in a positive or a negative direction. And what your customers have to say about your brand is directly related to the experience they have when interacting with your company. Much of that interaction will stem from your company’s contact center.

According to recent customer experience studies, 73% of customers say friendly employees and customer service representatives (your frontline employees) are what made them fall in love with your brand. The same study found that 86% of consumers would be willing to pay 25% MORE for a better customer experience. A better customer experience could actually provide your company with more revenue! Having a great product is important, but your customer relationships have strategic criticality.

Even little positive customer experiences can have a dramatic impact on your customer retention and customer acquisition rates. Say a customer has a question about your return policy. If they can get in touch with a member of your contact center staff quickly and have their questions answered, you would have created a positive customer experience – leaving them feeling good about doing business with your brand. Happy customers are much more likely to become repeat customers and brand advocates, taking to popular social networks like Facebook and Twitter to share what your company did for them. Happy customers will typically tell 4 to 6 other people about their positive customer experiences with your brand, which introduces your brand to more potential customers.. In today’s market, peer reviews are an increasingly important component of a customer’s buying cycle, and having that word-of-mouth working in your favor is essential. A reputation of giving great customer service can actually aid in your customer acquisition efforts!

On the flip side, customers that have a negative experience with your brand are more likely (89% of customers surveyed admitted to this) to turn to a competitor for their next purchase. According to the White House Office of Consumer Affairs, a dis-satisfied consumer will tell between 9 and 15 people about their experience, which in turn diminishes your overall brand value within the market as a whole. Can your company afford to lose customers and turn off potential customers because of poor customer experience and bad customer service?

If you want to keep your current customers happy, as well as encourage new customers to buy from your company, you have to take the customer experience to heart and make it a core component of your company’s strategic priorities.

Rick Petry, a direct marketing industry leader and past chairman of the Electronic Retailing Association, recently wrote an article for Direct Connect about SalesPortal’s revolutionary revenue enhancement program, cross-pitching™. SalesPortal’s patented technology generates significant incremental income that helps offset the costs of companies’ marketing campaigns as well as contact center operations.

With cross-pitching^TM, enterprise contact centers – in-house or outsourced – partner with advertisers that have their own relevant products. At the end of sales and customer service calls, agents at contact centers offer customers the opportunity to hear a second complementary product offer from one of these advertisers, and interested customers are immediately transferred to the most relevant advertiser.

Rick writes about contact centers benefiting from SalesPortal’s customer engagement model and revenue enhancement program: “…As the old adage goes, ’you are known by the company you keep’; therefore, aligning your offers with well-known brands and companies can also help fortify your reputation at the same time you generate critical revenue — revenue that can be the difference between success and failure.”

There are many benefits to SalesPortal’s unique pay per call ad network, and Rick spells them out clearly in his article for Direct Connect. Read the full article at http://www.directavenue.com/PAGES/newsletter_page1.html.