What is Point of Contact- Importance, Examples & How to Improve
Businesses are never one-man’s nation, they need teamwork, collaborative efforts & efficient reward sharing to keep the drive intact & leave your passion asking for more! Amidst these, you can easily realize the substantial value of contacts & networks that turn into potential clients or effective investors for your business models.
But what is the significance of Point of Contacts (POCs) or Single Point of Contacts (SPOCs)? And what does it mean in the business lingo? Let’s clear out some of your queries just like an “Informative point of contact”!
What is the Point of Contact?
Does it mean touching someone for building a mark of contact? Definitely NOT! A Point of contact (POC), or a single point of contact, is usually an individual or a department that manages all the conversations between an organization & its customers.
The POC act as a representative for the organization or brand.
The major role of POCs is to help organizations or brands maintain good relations with their potential and existing customers. POC also aids in manifesting brand awareness and product visibility in the market.
Basically, POCs are behind the curtain ambassadors who spread awareness & solve customer queries to enhance the positive image of the brand amongst its customers or the peer organizations.
Examples of Point of Contact
Single point of contact (SPOCs) can be an individual or a department that handles all the requests related to organization, service, location, project, business events, or functions. For better understanding, some of the illustrative examples of points of contact are:
Customer Service Department:
The customer service department is an eCommerce department that provides diverse query-solving channels via telephone, website, email, or video calls.
Nowadays, you can reach out to almost all kinds of solutions through customer service. They handle all the complaints and inquiries for the organizations or brand with utmost expertise.
Salespeople:
Despite their little annoying character, salespeople are one of the first points of contact who deals with the new leads every day on behalf of their brands or organizations.
IT Service Desk:
This is one of the most typical examples of POCs, where IT companies offer service desks facilities to other firms. In such a way the firms can easily interact with their active customers. IT service Desk also aids in resolving the problems or queries customers face while using the service or product.
Project Manager:
Any project manager is the in-charge of all the representation required as a POC, to respond to any project queries or issues without any time lag.
Business Functions:
The auditor or other managing individuals/departments of any business provide their contact channels to hear out questionable practices related to the business for smooth functioning of the work.
Events:
All the registration or event-related queries that are part of the event management process are handled by the single point of contact (SPOC) who makes sure you enlist at the event without any hurdle or technical problems.
Public Services:
Major public services provided by the state completely cater to the care & support of the customers. They handle any emergency health-related issues, usually through a telephone channel as a point of contact on behalf of the state providers.
Importance of Single Point of Contact for Businesses
Point of contact (POC) is the main element for managing a positive image of any company or brand. Obviously, any large firm can’t interact with its sole customers directly.
Yet, they require a channel through which they can deliver all kinds of information or handle any infringements with a wiser approach. At this moment our heroes arrive- who provide us the point of contact information with utmost care & creativity. Their significance can be categorized as follows:
1. Eliminate the risk of miscommunication
Large firms indicate mass customers. But who would handle such a large amount of agitated customers? The point of contact department makes sure the inquiries of all the customers are solved efficiently with a large topping of patience.
It also grants centralized management of all the queries that avoid any miscommunication between the brand and its customer/clientele.
It comes as no surprise that language skills might prove indispensable in this line of work, and no effort should be spared to train employees’ ability to communicate with customers, no matter where they come from.
For example, in the United States, it might be crucial for each member in the POC department to know at least a little bit of Spanish. Of course, the training doesn’t have to be monotonous, and it might be beneficial to introduce some facts about the Spanish language first to awaken employees’ curiosity.
2. Time-Consumption
Obviously, if you have to hover over phone chains just to solve a simple query you might not consider such product or brand as a helpful entity. It has been seen that around 67% of customer churn is preventable if the companies resolve issues on their firm point of contact.
Hence SPOCs are the best way to deal with the issues in a time-efficient manner & save up your customer’s churning.
3. Enhancing Brand Image
As already discussed, you’d enjoy a brand that solves your issues in the least amount of time or acquire approachable customer support. But, the customer executive reaction & conversation also lays a strong impact on the customer’s mind.
According to surveys, 68% of clients believe a polite customer service representative is the best way to leave an impressive brand image. Therefore, a POC always maintains friendly and professional behavior with their clients, to keep your brand image consistently impressive.
5 Ways to Improve Your Single POC’s
There is an endless list of POC marketing tips on the internet that can traffic your mind in a flick, but there are some basic hacks with which anyone can improve their Single Point Of Contact as follows:
1. Application of Correct Tools
Once you know your brand, the correct automated tools required to gather data regarding the organization with fast accessibility while engaging with the customer can definitely nail your SPOCs. Such tools can also help you manage incoming customer requests and segregate the works/queries more efficiently.
2. Personalised Communication Channels
These days, even too much formal or robotic tone can push the customer away, hence a personalized approach to contact your customers where the first point of contact might involve addressing the client through their initial name or signing off the emails with a personal name can immensely intimidate the customers.
3. Positive Language
Whether the communication is handled in person or via other mediums, a positive tone always wins your customer’s heart. Such tone first indicates a confident approach in resolving your client’s problems. Whereas even a greater issue is prevented from being escalated through positive language.
4. Clear Solution Support
- A crisp & clear response to your client’s inquiries seals the entire conversation on a happy & successful note. In fact, closing the POCs with a euphoric touch is always a ‘Pro’ Remark that showcases:
- You care about the customer’s issues.
- You’re willing to stay until the query is resolved.
- You are nailing at Point of Contacts!
5. Time-Efficient Answering
Customer support must always keep in mind that there are tonnes of other customers waiting with an irritating issue they can’t solve. So don’t waste your time on irrelevant queries or chit-chats with your customers.
Avoid answering tons of aimless questions & keep the conversation always on point. Don’t forget to ask your customers directly if they need more assistance even after you thought the problem is resolved.
Benefits of Point of Contact for Businesses
1. No More Boring Explanations. Phew!
Just imagine Ambani explaining to every Reliance customer what they do & provide. How funny & boring it will be! Hence, seeking out the right person to solve your issues & receiving the POC marketing for your businesses churns out a lot of redundant frustrating activities.
2. No More Wastage of Time
We have all been there, waiting at the customer service’s long chains of phone calls and getting different answers from different people. This is a representation of bad SPOCs.
Hence, an efficient point of contact (POC) will not only spread a positive image of your brand but also saves up a lot of time excluding all those long chains of phone calls.
3. Increased Trust and Dependability
A successful POC marketing will build a strong relationship with your customers based on reliable customer support & efficient response. Hence always remember a single point of contact makes your experience with a PEO(professional employer organization) a positive and happy one.
Hope you received all the insights related to the importance of point of contact (POCs) for businesses. And the related lingos which seemed a little too much for you, now possess an easy exemplar graph to keep your point of contact information intact & efficient.
Point Of Contact FAQ’s:
1. What is the point of contact example?
Some of the easiest examples of points of contact (POCs) are:
-Customer service department
-IT Service Desk
-Public service supports
-Business events
2. What is a business point of contact?
Point of contact is the major sector of business that deals with the issues related to other forms of business. Basically, POC’s works revolve around resolving & catering support to other brands or firms who require efficient customer support assistance & aspire to build a positive brand image amongst their customers or clientele.
3. Why is it important to have a single point of contact?
Single points of contact are very crucial when it comes to handling a large number of customers or a firm with heavy direct customer engagement. The following features of POCs vividly display their importance:
1. POCs eliminate the risk of miscommunication between a brand & its customers
2. SPOCs remove time consumption & long waiting hours for the customers to solve any brand-related query.
3. POCs are the main factors that build a positive brand image when it comes to direct customer interactions.
4. What is a point of contact in email and why is it important?
A good copy or script of email is the first point of contact when it comes to email marketing. It is supremely essential when you are directly dealing with the customer through a single & engaging email conversation.
Point of contact through email is essential in the following ways:
-It builds a formal yet hard-hitting impact on customers’ minds.
-It delivers a copy of written stats & reliable data.
-It can be sent to a large audience in a small amount of time.
5. What is the first point of contact?
The first point of contact is the first impression of your business, which instigates a positive customer experience to boost customer’s confidence in your service and product offerings.
6. What is the role of a point person?
The major role of point of contacts(POCs) are:
-To build a positive brand image.
-To sustain & enhance a potential customer lead.
-To spread awareness & solve customer queries regarding the brand/organization in a limited amount of time.
7. What role does the primary contact for a company play?
Primary contact for a company plays a major in building a positive impression over the customer as well as builds a reliable customer relationship for longer transactions if the first POCs proceed efficiently.
