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Viva Air Group Partners with Boxever to Take Its Customer Experience to the Next Level

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Viva Air Group Partners with Boxever to Take Its Customer Experience to the Next Level

Latin American low-cost airline chooses Boxever as its personalisation partner

Boxever, the market-leading personalisation platform, announces its partnership with Viva Air, Latin America’s leading low-cost airline will use Boxever’s Customer Data Platform and next-generation decisioning engine to help centralise its data and drive personalised experiences for its customers.

The partnership comes at a time of growth and expansion for Viva Air. The airline has been in business for six years, transporting more than 16.8 Million customers across Colombia and Peru. Recently the low-cost carrier opened the first innovation laboratory in the aviation and tourism sector in Latin America – Viva Air Labs which is dedicated to advancing aviation technology through partnerships with universities, government entities and local tech companies.

Read More: SalesTech Interview With Scott Anschuetz, CEO, Visualize

Off the back of this growth and innovation focus, Viva Air has selected Boxever to help keep the customer at the heart of its business. Boxever’s market-leading technology will help the airline to create deeper, more meaningful relationships with its customers and transform the customer experience throughout the passenger journey, driving more revenues.

“We are very excited to work with Boxever as it is in line with our brand transformation where we are working on improving our clients’ experience from start to finish. This platform will help us transform the way we interact with our current customers and it will help us to bring more in the future “, commented Aurelius Noell, Commercial Vice President of Viva Air.

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Dave O’Flanagan, CEO of Boxever, said: “We’re really excited about working with Viva Air Group to transform how it engages its customers. We are proud to work with an airline so committed to customer experience, and look forward to seeing the value our market-leading personalisation technology – powered by data and AI – will bring to Viva Air customers.”

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TVH Uses Voice of the Customer to Elevate the B2B Customer Experience

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TVH Uses Voice of the Customer to Elevate the B2B Customer Experience

Global materials handling giant selects Confirmit for three-year CX deal

TVH, the global supplier of parts and accessories for material handling and industrial equipment, has selected Confirmit to support the implementation of its new worldwide Voice of the Customer (VoC) program.

The program, which focuses on the TVH Parts business, underpins TVH’s corporate mission to drive excellence in customer relationships. It will be delivered as part of a three-year deal with Confirmit.

Silke Verfaillie, Business Project Manager at TVH, explained: “Our decision to create a global VoC program is the result of our corporate initiative to improve the customer experience (CX). TVH is committed to better managing our customer practices and matching our performance with changing customer demands.

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“We have already worked hard to identify customer-facing processes and analyze how effective they are in terms of the quality of customer interaction we deliver. The VoC program will take this to the next level. We will use the insight we gather to take action that puts the customer at the center of all our business activities.”

TVH’s dedicated CX Team will manage the program, using it to gain a robust and detailed understanding of the customer experience. This will drive the business to become more customer-centric across every process.

Read More: SalesTech Interview With Scott Anschuetz, CEO, Visualize

Tim Hannington, Chief Revenue Officer at Confirmit, said: “TVH has a clear understanding of the value that customer insight delivers and the importance of sharing it across the organization. We’re delighted to be working with a company that is dedicated to putting CX at the heart of their business. Our VoC expertise and our robust technology solutions are a great fit for TVH, and we look forward to working together to deliver their clear customer goals.”

Confirmit will provide TVH with its proven combination of VoC consultancy and the Confirmit Horizons platform. The platform will enable rapid deployment of multi-channel, multi-lingual feedback surveys to TVH’s customers across the U.S. and European markets. It will provide TVH with tools including text analytics, drill-down dashboard reporting, alerting and closed-loop capabilities. It will also enable integration with sales and CRM databases.

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Verfaillie concluded: “We are a B2B organization and we need to bring our customer experience in line with expectations seen in the B2C world. The combination of Confirmit’s consultants and technology will ensure we achieve this. We will be able to deliver the operational excellence we strive for through continuous, measured improvements and innovative business practices.”

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ServiceSource Announces CEO Transition

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ServiceSource Announces CEO Transition

Christopher M. Carrington Steps Down, Gary B. Moore Named CEO

ServiceSource, a global leader in outsourced inside sales, customer success and recurring revenue growth and retention solutions, today announced that Christopher M. Carrington has stepped down from his role as CEO. Effective, Gary B. Moore, a member of the Company’s Board of Directors since November 2016 has been appointed CEO. Both Carrington and Moore will remain on the Company’s Board of Directors following the change.

“Chris has been a transformational leader for ServiceSource during his four years at the helm,” said Bruce Dunlevie, ServiceSource’s lead independent director. “Under his watch, the Company enhanced its value proposition, broadened its solution suite, diversified its end market mix and client base and strengthened its financial profile. We are thankful for his many contributions during his tenure and are appreciative for his ongoing involvement on the Board.”

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“We have been fortunate to benefit from Gary’s leadership, guidance and oversight at the Board for the past two years,” continued Dunlevie. “In addition to his extensive professional experience and domain expertise, Gary has an intimate understanding of ServiceSource’s business model and market opportunity and is highly qualified to step in as CEO. On behalf of the Board and the ServiceSource team globally, we welcome Gary to this role as he leads the Company forward in its strategic transformation and positioning for the future.”

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“I am enthusiastic and optimistic about ServiceSource’s strategy and the team we have in place to execute the Company’s ongoing transformation initiatives,” said Moore. “ServiceSource is uniquely able to address a clear and compelling market need as companies reimagine their B2B customer journey experiences in a digital era. I am honored to lead our talented employees and to have the opportunity to work with the entire senior leadership team, including our three newest leaders—CFO Rich Walker, COO Debbie Dunnam, and Chief Marketing and Growth Officer Denzil Samuels—as we ensure the Company is best-positioned to serve our clients.”

“I am proud of the progress our people have made to transform and reposition the Company in recent years,” said Carrington. “Through my ongoing involvement on the Board, I look forward to supporting Gary, the leaders on his team and the more than 3,700 ServiceSource employees who support our global clients’ transformation of their B2B customer engagement models.”

Mr. Carrington’s departure is not related to any disagreements regarding strategy, financial disclosures, accounting or legal matters.

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Most Traditional Energy Retail Utilities Lag Disruptor Brands in Delivering Customer Experience, Accenture Research Finds

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Most Traditional Energy Retail Utilities Lag Disruptor Brands in Delivering Customer Experience, Accenture Research Finds

Improving customer relevance and adopting new customer-centric capabilities is key to securing a competitive advantage 

Most traditional energy retail utilities lag behind disruptor brands — new energy-market entrants and service providers from other industries — when it comes to delivering an engaging customer experience, according to a new study from Accenture. In the face of disruption, these companies should invest to deliver a more satisfying customer experience and exceed liquid customer expectations.

As part of its New Energy Consumer research program, Accenture surveyed approximately 70,000 consumers across 36 energy retail utilities and six disruptor brands in multiple markets worldwide. The study, conducted by Accenture Research in partnership with Fjord, the design and innovation unit of Accenture Interactive, intended to identify how customers feel about their experience with these companies and measure their affinity for the brand across physical and digital interactions. Disruptor brands included firms in the retail banking, telecommunications home services, retail insurance and energy retail industries.

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Respondents were asked to rate one of nine key moments of interaction with their utility, ranging from initiating their service and adding new services to terminating their service and receiving disruption notifications. The customer experience for each moment was scored on a 10-point scale, representing the aggregated scores from across six experience dimensions:

  • Authentic – Conveys distinct personality and stays true to self
  • Fun – Holds people’s attention in an entertaining way
  • Relevant – Creates relevant consumer touchpoints
  • Engaging – Identifies with individual needs and wants
  • Social – Connects people with each other
  • Helpful – Is intuitive, clear and easy to understand

Individual customer scores were aggregated to derive overall brand affinity scores for every moment, brand or region. The brand affinity scores indicate overall how connected customers feel to energy retail utilities and service providers from other industries.

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The study found that traditional energy retail utilities’ score of 6.3, aggregated across all key moments, lags disruptor brands’ score of 6.8. For each key moment evaluated, the customer experience scores for disruptors were higher than the scores for traditional energy players, with the largest gap for receiving communications from their provider. With customer experience at the heart of value creation for these utilities, this is a cause for concern but also presents opportunities.

The study found that the 25 percent of customers in competitive markets with the highest customer-experience ratings (6.8 or higher) are 20 percent more likely to stay with their current brand, 37 percent more likely to recommend their energy retail utility and 22 percent more satisfied than other customers surveyed.

The need to improve customer experience is particularly important for utilities in competitive markets, which are under increasing threat from disruptor brands. Among traditional energy retail utilities, competitive brands were less loved than non-competitive ones across all but one key moment: receiving proactive communications from their provider. The largest gaps were noticed during moments of sign up, including initiating basic energy services or adding a new product or service.

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“In the new energy ecosystem, energy retail utilities must invest in the customer to create a connected energy experience,” said Tony Masella, a managing director at Accenture who leads its Energy Retail and Customer Services practice. “This need is increasingly urgent, as new market entrants, energy industry convergence and even consumers themselves are disrupting the status quo. The risks of not improving customer experience are substantial, but the value in doing so is equally significant. To improve customer relevance, energy retail utilities must become ‘Living Businesses,’ continuously evaluating and adopting new customer-centric capabilities such as automated customer service and personalized and targeted digital messaging.”

Three transformational levers could enable mastery of customer experience

The study notes that while identifying the interactions that are most or least loved is important, the real value of the research lies in identifying the moments that matter — i.e., those that drive clear business outcomes. Based on an evaluation of customer satisfaction, likelihood to remain a customer, and likelihood to recommend a company to others, the study identified three key moments that matter the most across all energy retail utilities surveyed: service initiation, billing, and providing help with specific queries. It is here, the study notes, that these utilities should prioritize improvement.

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The study also suggests three transformational levers that companies can use to deliver more satisfying, effortless and unique customer experiences, particularly in the moments that matter most:

  • Use artificial intelligence (AI) to enable intelligent service. AI can help improve customer satisfaction while reducing operational cost via the shift to digital. As consumers increasingly accept AI, energy retail utilities should use it to provide relevant and contextualized digital support.
  • Personalize with hyper-relevance. Energy retail utilities can execute a hyper-relevant experience through a variety of tools and techniques, including proactive alerts and auto adjustments of in-home technologies that take things off consumers’ “thinking list,” and personalized subscription services, for example.
  • Target for value, target for growth. Identifying further value in existing products and services is key, as is pursuing untapped value in new ones. Energy retail utilities must pivot wisely by recalibrating business portfolios to specifically target new customer preferences and opportunities.

“Focusing on these areas can set energy retail utilities on a course to sustainable growth and competitive advantage,” Masella said. “Activating a new energy experience requires more than just meeting customer expectations — it calls for exceeding customer demands by a significant margin. Leading utilities create hyper-relevant customer experiences where every customer interaction is an opportunity to deliver a connected energy experience that goes beyond the commodity. Those that focus on experience can become trusted providers and true partners in delivering what a customer wants.”

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Research methodology

Accenture surveyed 69,685 consumers globally across 36 energy retail utilities and six disruptor brands to identify how they feel about their utilities across nine key moments of interaction: initiating their service; adding new services; moving their service to a different residence; reviewing their bill; getting help with queries; terminating their service; receiving communications; receiving irregular billing/activity notifications; and receiving disruption notifications. Survey respondents were selected based on screening questions to ensure sufficient recent experience corresponding to a specific experience moment for a specific brand. The online survey was conducted between February and April 2018.

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ECi Announces Integration between Spruce® ERP Software and Microsoft® Dynamics® 365

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ECi Announces Integration between Spruce® ERP Software and Microsoft® Dynamics® 365

CRM tool gives Spruce users transparent access to customer communications, helping facilitate informed decisions

ECi Software Solutions, a leader in cloud-based business management solutions, announced an integration between its Spruce® ERP software for lumber and building materials businesses and Microsoft®Dynamics® 365, a web-based customer relationship management (CRM) tool. This integration will help Spruce users manage their business relationships and make better-informed decisions, which will ultimately help drive bottom-line results.

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Prior to this integration, CRM data – such as communication history with contractors – was separate from the Spruce system’s transactional information, making it harder for dealers to access up-to-date customer profiles and requiring them to input information more than once. Now, Spruce users will have the ability to access complete customer profiles any time from one central location without having to toggle between two systems. By leveraging the key capabilities of both Spruce and Microsoft Dynamics 365, businesses will be able to eliminate redundancies and increase value by delivering more effective, personalized sales, service and customer communications.

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“Leveraging a CRM solution has become an essential component of customer retention and sales growth in the lumber and building materials industry,” said John Maiuri, President, LBM and Hardlines Group, Building & Construction Division at ECi. “The integration with Microsoft Dynamics allows Spruce users to access details of customer interactions within the Spruce system, enabling them to take actions that better serve their customers. Better service, of course, translates into greater profitability, as well as customer satisfaction and loyalty.”

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Cinedigm Announces matchpoint™, a Next-Generation OTT and Content Distribution Platform

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Cinedigm Announces matchpoint™, a Next-Generation OTT and Content Distribution Platform

The matchpoint managed-service greatly reduces CapEx and OpEx costs with innovative modules to handle app deployments, content distribution, analytics and reporting, customer management, and more

Cinedigm announced plans to launch matchpoint™, an innovative managed-service technology platform that enables content distributors, OTT service operators, web publishers, and OEMs to efficiently and cost-effectively create compelling OTT and media subscription services. matchpoint will be offered at competitive pricing to suit the unique needs of potential customers, and will be available for preview at the upcoming CES conference in Las Vegas at The Mirage Hotel from 08 January 2019.

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Key features of the platform include:

  • Modern, intuitive OTT applications – recently redesigned for clean aesthetics and high usability, the matchpoint Blueprint™ app development platform provides rapid development and cost-efficient cross-platform applications with robust consumer features including integrated billing, configurable on-boarding, custom watch lists, in-app notifications and alerts, machine learning-based recommendations, single sign-on (SSO), DRM, and more. For examples of consumer-facing applications, visit Cinedigm’s digital-first channel CONtv on the web, on iOS, and/or on Android.
  • Support for mixed-media content types – Consumers demand enhanced value from their OTT services, and matchpoint takes this to the next level with robust support for non-video media, including music, streaming audio, linear video channels, podcasts, audiobooks, eBooks, digital comics, magazines, and more. Cinedigm plans to announce category partners in the near future, enabling operators to quickly curate and add content from a variety of digital media partners.
  • Support for third-party distribution – Today, most OTT platforms focus solely on direct-to-consumer distribution via apps. However, the fastest growing segment of the business is distributing channels into third-party ecosystems like Amazon Channels and virtual MVPDs. The matchpoint™ Dispatch distribution platform enables content owners to distribute their content quickly and easily through a cloud-based order management system, with planned support for more than 80 distribution outlets. This feature dramatically streamlines workflows while simultaneously reducing third-party distribution costs by up to 80 percent.
  • World-class systems analytics – the matchpoint Insights™ platform provides robust, world-class analytics and monitoring services at a device level including:°  Content consumption and content performance analysis
    °  Subscriber growth management along with churn prediction & cohort analysis
    °  Marketing performance & attribution management
    °  User engagement & user retention tracking
    °  Territorial & device penetration analysis
    °  Ad fill rates & ad performance monitoring
    °  Customer service & ticket management
    °  Quality of Service (QoS) monitoring, including error handling, stream buffering, playback error tracking, and more
  • Modular, customizable platform – With a modern, open API-based architecture, the matchpoint system is designed to work seamlessly with a variety of technology vendors and partners, enabling customers to integrate with their existing enterprise systems or best-of-breed eco-system vendors. Cinedigm will be announcing key partners for our preferred vendor program in the near future.

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In development for over four years, matchpoint currently serves as the platform for the management and operation of Cinedigm’s growing portfolio of OTT channels. Additionally, the company recently utilized the matchpoint Dispatch™ distribution module to automate the delivery of over 5,000 hours of digital programming to third-party partners, including the launch of Dove Channel on Comcast’s Xfinity X1 platform, which resulted in a 93 percent cost savings and completion of delivery in less than a third of the time it would have taken with third-party vendors.

“From the rise of third-party distribution to the evolving needs of consumers, the OTT space looks very different than it did three years ago,” said Erick Opeka, President of Cinedigm Networks. “However, most vendors have not been able to keep pace with these innovative developments. We created the matchpoint platform to address the key challenge facing the OTT space—creating a product that is cost effective and at the same time efficient in delivering great content experiences globally on any platform—be it an app, virtual vMVPD, or third-party ecosystem.”

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“With the introduction of matchpoint, we are now able to more effectively and easily meet the growing demands of the OTT business,” Opeka continued. “Additionally, we have significantly decreased our time-to-market output, while reducing the many challenges that arise with the digital distribution of multiple types of media through automation—providing fast deployment and extensive support for a wide variety of media and mediums.”

Cinedigm Business Impact
matchpoint™ will be commercially available to customers beginning in fiscal calendar Q1, 2019. The company expects to generate revenues from app development and recurring SaaS fees upon signing of customers and deployment of their services, beginning in second quarter of calendar 2019. The company also expects to realize substantial OpEx savings from the utilization of the matchpoint distribution capabilities in other areas of Cinedigm’s distribution business.

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Elara Caring Appoints Caroline Henderson as Chief Sales Officer

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Elara Caring Appoints Caroline Henderson as Chief Sales Officer

Industry veteran brings outstanding sales background to growing company

Elara Caring, a newly formed company that brought together Great Lakes Caring, Jordan Health Services, and National Home Health Care, announced the appointment of Caroline Henderson as the company’s new Chief Sales Officer, effective immediately. Henderson brings a strong background in marketing, business development, and sales management in the home health care industry to Elara Caring.

“We are very excited that Caroline has agreed to join Elara Caring as we continue to grow our position in the home health care industry,” said G. Scott Herman, Elara Caring CEO. “Her experience in our industry will be invaluable as we continue our mission of providing patients with the Right Care, at the Right Time, and in the Right Place.”

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Henderson will report directly to Herman and will be responsible for driving organic sales growth across Elara Caring’s four lines of service: behavioral health, home health (skilled care), hospice and personal care.

Henderson has spent the majority of her career at Amedisys, Inc., a national provider of home health, hospice and personal care, in a variety of roles. Most recently, she was the Senior Vice President of Business Development and Marketing. She was responsible for all sales training, marketing strategy, sales tools, CRM utilization, acquisition integration, and creation of all marketing campaigns and collateral for home health. Henderson also has consulting experience for a variety of health care companies.

“I’m thrilled to be joining Elara Caring at this critical point in their integration into one of the country’s largest providers of home care,” said Henderson. “I am excited to partner with this talented executive team and believe that we are primed for sustained growth, while providing outstanding quality care.”

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Wipro, Alfresco Expand Partnership to Offer Open Source Based Digital Transformation Capabilities

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Wipro, Alfresco Expand Partnership to Offer Open Source Based Digital Transformation Capabilities

Wipro Digital, the digital business unit of Wipro Limited, a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company, and Alfresco, a leading enterprise open source provider of process automation, content management and information governance software, announced an expanded global partnership to create, build and run open source based digital transformation programs for its clients, across the globe.

The partnership will bring together Wipro’s expertise in digital transformation and Alfresco’s Digital Business Platform. As a part of this alliance, the two companies will launch a series of go-to-market (GTM) initiatives, that includes a joint Predictive Service Automation solution using Artificial Intelligence, Machine learning and a microservices based framework, that will transform the future of asset maintenance.

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Chandra Surbhat, Vice President and Global Head, Digital Experience, Wipro Limited said, “It has been our endeavour to make our clients win in their digital transformation journey. Through this partnership, we aim to accelerate our open source transformation programs to deliver cost effective and robust business outcomes to our clients, globally.”Bernadette Nixon, CEO, Alfresco said, “Adding Wipro’s predictive service automation solution into the Alfresco Digital Business Platform allows us to offer a reduction in operating and capital costs, longer asset life and improved uptime to our clients. I am very excited that we are partnering with Wipro, a recognized market leader in digital transformation, to design and deliver this new solution that will bring enhanced value to our clients.”

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Enterprises using this solution can quickly start eliminating asset failure, through the intelligence module that enables action from decades of data. They can also leverage augmented reality and virtual reality technologies to speed up incident resolution and reduce training and recruitment costs. Third party partners can integrate their capabilities through APIs, which means that customers will enjoy faster time-to-value through microservices capabilities.

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SalesTech Predictions 2019: Interview With Micheal Cibelli, SVP of Sales, Zailab

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SalesTech Predictions 2019: Interview With Micheal Cibelli, SVP of Sales, Zailab
Tell us about your journey into Sales. What attracted you to join Zailab?

My journey into Sales has included both direct and indirect sales. I have always focused on high-tech as I love the fast pace and change it has brought over the years. I was attracted to Zailab for many reasons, such as:

  • The ability to build something in the US from the ground up with no encumbrances on us from product to process.
  • A highly differentiated product that allowed for disruption in the market.
  • The DNA of the company includes both skilled product development and humility to give back to the community.
How different is selling Marketing and Sales technology products compared to other technologies, for instance, IT SaaS and Cloud?

There are common disciplines to selling anything. In my opinion, you work backward from where you want to finish. You need to build out your pipeline to support your goals, including close rates, etc. I do believe in a mix of analytics and personality when it comes to sales, and using that analytics as well as a differentiated offer to enhance your ROI, value, etc. One of the strengths of selling cloud is the innate ability to have a CapEx vs. OpEx conversation.

If not in Sales, in which other roles would you have most likely excelled?

I have always loved Sales, particularly Channel Sales. I have never thought about doing something else. Interacting and relationship building is something I have always gravitated towards. So, it would have to be in a field where relationships are key.

Tell us how you achieve Marketing-Sales alignment for Customer Success at Zailab?

Our VP of Marketing and I are practically tied at the hip. She is a part of all of my team meetings and we continually share ideas and advise each other. There is not a day that goes by where we don’t talk to each other about our customers and partners.

How did your role at Oracle and BlueJeans prepare you better for the current role?

When I went to Oracle, I did so to get reacquainted with a direct role.

I was in the Channel for many years and was asked to jumpstart a team within the company. It confirmed my love for Channel Sales and I was actually headed back into the channel at Oracle before leaving for BlueJeans. There I needed to build a channel in what was a traditionally direct atmosphere. It necessitated a blending of the two sales forces and the ability to manage channel conflict, which can be challenging for many companies. When I approached Zailab with a 100% channel model, the team was on board with my rationale for not building a direct sales force. We went that route and I believe it will serve us well.

On a scale of 1-5, how would you rate your understanding of the current SalesTech landscape? How do you plan to contribute to the SalesTech ecosystem?

I would give myself a maximum of 3.

There is always more to learn in any field and I am open to that. My experience will allow me to contribute to the ecosystem by sharing ideas and answering questions to help others sidestep some of the mistakes I have made in my journey. While mistakes allow us to grow, avoiding them leads to a different type of growth.

What were the most challenging situations and instances in your career as a Sales leader? How did you deal with them and what lessons did you learn from them?

The greatest challenge is delivering tough news to anyone knowing it will affect them and the families that depend on them. I have and will always deal with facts and truth. You must deliver all news whether positive or negative, in a timely and respectful way.

Over the years, I have learned that delivering challenging news to anyone must be done with sensitivity and from a fact-based position. I can put my head on the pillow at night knowing that I did what I could in those instances from a business perspective, but also with compassion.

What is the “Customer Success culture” that you represent or follow? Why is it important to build a sales-focused culture for any business for better customer success?

I believe in making decisions with your customer in mind. Remember in some of my earlier comments I said work backward from where you want to end? I do the same with respect to building processes for our partners and customers.

I focus on the CX and how I like to be treated in sales and customer service scenarios. I work with the team to emulate that behavior and always try to get to “yes”.

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If you can’t get to “yes” you may win the argument, but you will lose the customer. I see that as the ultimate loss. Those experiences are shared with way too many people for you to be successful in the long run. I would much rather give up something for the good of the relationship and reap the rewards of a satisfied customer for years to come.

How do you achieve this culture-balance at Zailab or elsewhere? What percentage of this is driven by the application of technology, reporting tools and coaching?

As with anything, there is a lot to garner through analytics and reporting. However, there is no substitute for human intervention and coaching. I would use the analytics to see patterns of behavior and use coaching where appropriate to change or enhance performance.

How do you leverage AI and Automation at Zailab?

The ability of our solution to become smarter through usage is an amazing tool to enhance CX. We leverage this to enable customers to make the best connections to agents in the quickest fashion. In doing this, we allow for improved customer service and first call resolution, for both sales and customer service scenarios.

Which SalesTech Automation platforms and tools do you use? How do they make your work easy?

We are currently evaluating cloud-based CRM tools to enhance our performance. We have outgrown what we have and will be implementing this month. The investment will handle CRM, Marketing, Partner Portal, etc.

We will combine this with a recent investment in DiscoverOrg to drive leads to our partners to further our proof of a 100% channel commitment. I love any automation tools that allow for my team, and to easily keep track of prior conversations, partner performance, customer buying patterns, and so on. I believe the more information you have equips you for better decision-making.

How do you promote sales coaching to empower your sales teams to deliver on the performance targets?

I measure the team through a series of Managed Business Objectives, (MBOs). I look for the critical activities necessary to reach our goals. Each team member knows what they must do to meet those MBOs. If there is a lack of activity to meet the necessary goals, I coach them on how to reach them. I also spend time in the field with the team and assess their performance in front of partners and customers and give honest feedback — both good and bad. I ask them to do the same of me as team feedback is as important as my own.

A 360-degree feedback, which includes our leaders, peers, teams, and partners, gives us the best view of ourselves.

What are the major pain points for sales-driven companies in leveraging programmatic technologies for their own benefits?

I think it is the inability to openly assess technologies that differ from their core beliefs. Sometimes people have the tendency to formulate the answer before being open-minded to all offers.

What are your predictions and observations on the “Role of Chatbots and AI Conversations” influencing sales journeys?

I find bots to be frustrating in certain scenarios. Maybe it is my own preference, but if I choose to participate in a chat it is because I want to chat with a human. When I get canned responses, my customer satisfaction goes down to zero. In many cases, I end the chat and my interaction with that company. I try to use this in my sales philosophy.

Read Also: “New Rules” For Customer Service Worth Paying For”, By Aspect Software

If you do not allow people to purchase in the way they wish, they will find a company who will. Therefore, I always keep my eyes open for partners that differ in their approach so that customers wanting to purchase Zailab’s solution can do so in any way they choose.

How do you prepare for an AI-centric world as a Sales leader?

Technology moves so fast that you can’t fully prepare for it before it changes again. I am excited to see what is in store for us as we progress because the notion of a solution learning and getting smarter over time opens up a lot of possibilities. Focusing on the future is key for us as leaders. Great leaders have the vision and being open to change is paramount. I will continue to prepare by being open-minded and continuously learning as I go.

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Which events and webinars do you most occasionally attend and why?

I attend anything related to Channels, CX and AI. It depends on my schedule, but I do my best to attend a variety of presentations to get a different perspective on what is happening in the industry.

Your advice to Salespeople in the Contact Center industry—

Listen to your customers!

I know we have all heard how we should listen more, but it is true. Continually educate yourself. The changes are coming fast and furious and you should understand what’s next.

Know your product well and that of your in the Contact Center market. You will be better for it personally and your customers will be better served by your understanding the differences and knowing how they benefit.

Tag a person whose answers to these questions would like to read from the industry?

Tiago Paiva, founder and CEO of Talkdesk.

About Zailab

Zailab is a cloud-based contact center platform that empowers sales, CX and marketing teams to have more rewarding conversations with customers. Our solution works for businesses of all sizes and is easy to set up and optimize.

With Zailab, you only pay for the features you use, as you use them, without the monthly costs.

About Michael

Michael Cibelli serves as SVP, Sales for Zailab. Having worked in the competitive channel landscape for more than twenty-five years, Michael has led various companies to channel success. He is passionate about technology and its applications for business development

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