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Simple to set up. Easy to use. Powerful integrations.
Get free accessSales and customer support leaders have a lot on their plate. From endless meetings to shoestring budgets, heightened customer expectations, and an increase in competition, there’s a lot to navigate.
But what if we told you Aircall could make your life easier? We pride ourselves on being a true partner to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). To continue to bring this partnership to life, we’re excited to share The Voice of SMBs 2024, a brand-new report that explores what keeps the SMB engine—one that powers 95% of companies worldwide and 70% of the planet’s population—running, according to the OECD.
The four key insights in the report will help you increase team productivity, leverage new technologies, unlock sustainable growth tactics, and connect with customers and prospects on a deeper level. After all, business success isn’t all about the biggest budgets, the highest headcounts, or the slickest brands. It’s about making incremental changes that add up to meaningful wins for your employees and customers.
This report shares actionable insights from 1,400 customer-facing team leaders globally—and acts as your playbook for the year ahead.
In addition to our global report, you can benefit from dedicated Sales- and Customer Support–specific regional reports for Australia, France, Germany, New Zealand, North America, Spain, and the United Kingdom
Let’s break down some of the highlights from The Voice of SMBs in 2024.
4 Highlights from The Voice of SMBs in 2024
1. Growth Beyond the Numbers
Long gone are the days of growth for the sake of growth. Now it’s all about growing sustainably. It’s key for sales and support leaders to focus on specific growth levers like customer experience, stability, and agility, with 61% of survey respondents focusing on improving customer experiences.
In The Voice of SMBs report, we take a closer look at brands approaching growth holistically, how customers can lead you in the right direction, and how to embed growth in your company culture.
2. AI as Your Sidekick
Now is the time to invest in technology that will make your sales and customer support teams’ lives easier, and AI tools are ready to step up to the challenge. Our research shows that 48% of businesses say AI-supported tools will help drive customer satisfaction in the year ahead—rising to 69% in the Software/IT sector.
Our report breaks down how to implement AI, overcome AI challenges, and how to use it to drive employee performance.
3. The Art of Human Connection
When it comes to customer retention and acquisition, personalization goes a long way. It can also turn an average call with a prospect or customer into a great one.
“If you start the call with an introduction like, ‘My name is Dan Tyre, and in our briefing meeting this morning, I learned X, Y, and Z. Is that still accurate?’ the prospect is impressed that you had a briefing meeting about them and that you showed you are prepared,” says Dan Tyre, Sales Director, trainer, coach, and founding member at HubSpot.
In this report, you’ll find new strategies for improving customer satisfaction, retention, and more!
4. A Focus on Coaching
In the long run, sales and customer support teams that invest in their employees win big. When it comes to honing employee skills, reducing turnover, and ensuring they have the right talent at hand, coaching is often an untapped resource.
In fact, 35% of the organizations we surveyed either have no training, coaching, or development program or they have one that needs significant further investment, showing that this is a major opportunity for 2024.
“I’m looking forward to the next step in AI when there will be coaching, sentiment analysis, and keyword tracking, so whether there’s a good sentiment or a bad sentiment, I can coach our team on how to address it,” says Kirk Chester, Risk Manager at Grit Insurance Group.
In our report, gain a deeper understanding of how to approach employee retention, assess your team’s skills, and develop your coaching practice over time.
Aircall: Your Partner in Running a Stress-Free Sales and Customer Support Team
When it comes to how to run your sales and support team in 2024, the road is lined with opportunities to grow—from embracing new technologies and investing in talent to prioritizing the customer experience and implementing sustainable growth tactics.
Aircall, the phone and communication platform designed for sales and customer support teams, is here to help. An entirely cloud-based voice solution, Aircall is easy to use, reliable, and integrated with critical business and conversational tools like Salesforce, HubSpot, Intercom, Slack, Gong, and more.
Take the stress out of 2024 planning — read the report today
Published on January 25, 2024.
