Call Center Blog | OnBrand24

Front Line Report from IRCE, Chicago

Written by Mark Fichera | Jun 17, 2013 11:38:00 PM
This year’s Internet Retailer Conference & Expo (IRCE) in Chicago demonstrated once again that IRCE is a great trade show both for exhibitors and attendees seeking new retailing and e-commerce strategies. 

The OnBrand24 booth, located within a quadrant of the show floor for exhibitors focused on operations, fulfillment and customer service, enjoyed a steady stream of visitors inquiring about the full array of our call center services: customer service outsourcing, order processing / order taking service and other inbound call center services; and on the outbound side: B2B lead generation, appointment setting, database scrubbing, customer surveys, customer win-back and other outbound call center services.

The other three quadrants of the show floor at the McCormick Center were devoted to marketing/loyalty, merchandising and design, and e-commerce platforms.  They all generated tremendous buzz as tech vendors showed off new capabilities.

In fact, we talked with several attendees who are in the throes of selecting and implementing a new e-commerce back-end.  And because we work with a wide variety of companies, we were able to provide guidance on e-commerce technology based on our experience with different platforms.  This is part of our value proposition: our exposure, through our varied clientele, to new retailing and e-commerce technology.

But even as the tech sections of the IRCE floor created a lot of excitement the customer service section was busy too.  That’s because good companies recognize the eternal value of providing their customers not only with excellent tech-based support but also high-level human interaction.

There’s no substitute for a friendly, knowledgeable and helpful customer service call center services specialist at the other end of the phone line answering customers’ product questions and providing order updates.

Lesson learned again: Tech-based solutions only take you so far.  The human factor, in the form of personalized service, takes you the extra mile.

Mark Fichera, CEO
OnBrand24
Call Center Services
Beverly, Massachusetts