THE SALES POTENTIAL OF CALL CENTERS

The strong growth of online sales in the luxury watch sector, driven by the Covid pandemic, raised the question of whether the leading luxury watch brands were ready to use this sales channel to the best of their ability, and whether they were doing enough to deliver the experiences that their discerning clients expect.

Our mission is to help brands drive sales, including telephone and online sales. We share with you some ideas for improvement that luxury watch brands could benefit from, based on a recent comprehensive study we conducted on 15 luxury watch brands.

1. Most e-com sales of luxury watches are concluded after a telephone discussion between the client and the brand.

So, the first thing that comes to mind is to make sure that brands receive phone calls from their clients. So, the first thing to do is to provide the right phone number on your website… Yes, we’ve had unreachable numbers.

Secondly, managing client waiting time on the phone seems to be a priority. It was rare to have to wait more than 3 minutes but when we did, we always heard the same message, thanking us for our patience, with no solution or alternative; we suggested a call back option for example, or an informative message about the brand that could increase its desirability. While waiting to speak to someone, we were getting, most of the time, the same level of service as when we call your local post office or insurance company… This is not a good start to make you want to buy, or to get you in the mood. These messages are, most of the time, not really up to the standard of a luxury client experience.

2. Do you speak watchmaking?

The conversations we had, and the questions we were asked, when we called the brands’ call centres were mainly focused on finding the watch we were interested in; they were purely transactional discussions to find out if the watch we wanted was available, and to confirm some questions about potential deliveries and returns. The phone ambassadors you talk to ask about the size… 43mm? 41mm? The reference? The Black Magic? The Verde? The XL?  Waterproof to 5 bars? I do drink wine sometimes, but I don’t go to bars very often; I am not sure I understand …

If you don’t speak watchmaking, it’s hard to understand what the phone ambassador is talking about. So, for these brands, that we love, we invite them to try to speak a language that their clients would understand. Not everyone is fluent in the language of watchmaking. The same recommendation could apply in your boutiques, of course.

Common sense is not common practice, so we recommend revisiting this topic.

3. From Call Centres to Virtual Boutiques

The key questions, we ask the brands we work with, are simple: Are you offering a product experience or a client experience? Is it a real conversation or a one-way transmission of information? Are you creating desirability and reinforcing your brand in the eyes of your client or are you leaving your client with a bittersweet feeling after those phone conversations? Do you get to know your clients better after these discussions? Do you offer boutique appointments to build and develop this relationship?

For us, just because you use the phone doesn’t mean you are not in a sales conversation. You are. So, why don’t phone ambassadors act as real sales advisors? Why do they just provide information, without finding out what your needs are, or what your motivations are?  Out of the 100 calls we made, the phone ambassadors asked us a total of 8 questions. You have to admit that’s not a lot….At the end of our phone calls, our callers knew nothing about us, not our name, not the reason for our call, not for what occasion, not for whom the watch was for, when we needed the watch chosen? Not much empathy to make us want to visit a boutique or make a purchase. This is a pity, as this phone call could very well be the first contact with the brand and should create a strong desirability to go further…. We felt like mere callers, treated like numbers. We were only asked for our contact details 4 times out of those 100 calls….

Today, these call centres are not designed to boost sales, nor to build client relationships, but designed as information centres to reassure clients in their choice. They exist, for most brands, which is a good start.

Instead of being cost centres, they could become profit centres in the future, but to do this they would need different sales advisors and transform from call centres to virtual boutiques, with better trained sales advisors focused on clients’ conversation and on offering empathy; they would need to offer much better experiences to clients, creating more inclusive experiences for clients, using video for example, and not just experiences focused on products or logistic details. The call centre could also drive appointments and visits to physical boutiques and therefore act as a stimulus to clients’ desirability.

There is no magic pill for this transformation, but there are magic processes. We coach sales advisors on these specific processes with proven results. The sales potential is clearly untapped and under-exploited by brands. There is clearly room for improvement, and a massive potential. So, this is both exciting and challenging. Watch this space!