CrankWheel Remote Control: Benefits to Customer Service & Inside Sales Teams
In January 2019, we were delighted to announce the launch of CrankWheel Remote Control. Now an integral part of every CrankWheel plan, including our free-for-life plan, anyone can give their viewer control over anything from a browser tab to the full screen.
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For inside sales and customer service teams, the ability to jump on an instant demo or screen share call is a powerful tool. Instead of trying to talk a customer or sales lead through a product or service, you can show them. Without them needing to download anything, you can interact with them and the product/service visually in real-time.
With Remote Control, we’ve taken this one step further. There are times when it is better for a viewer to try something for themselves. Instead of participating passively, your viewer - a customer or potential client - can test a software feature, or follow your instructions while you are walking them through a solution to a customer service problem.
How does CrankWheel Remote Control work?
Decide what you want to handover to your viewer. It could be the whole screen, or a browser tab that displays the product or service you want to share with the other person. Whatever you are sharing with them, they won’t have any control outside of the area of the screen that you choose.
When you are ready, switch Remote Control on from the control panel. When sharing full screen, you can drag and resize the remote controlled area according to what you or they need. During remote control, CrankWheel will show a blinking orange/red border demarcating the area that you’ve granted control over. Your viewer can take part using any browser on their desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone to perform remote control.
When you’ve finished with the remote control part of your demo/customer service call, use a keyboard shortcut, or click the Remote Control button in the CrankWheel control panel, or lock your screen (by using Win+L on a Windows machine) to end control.
Remote Control has many uses. Let’s consider a few ways this feature will benefit inside sales and customer service teams.
5 CrankWheel Remote Control use cases
#1: Product Demo
Every demo is a sales opportunity.
When you talk to a potential client over the phone, you can tell them about product features, ask questions and listen. There is no visual support, and without this it might be difficult to move them forward to encourage a purchase or to take up a trial. With an instant demo, you can show any prospect with screen sharing what they can do with the product and how specific features will benefit them.
Now with Remote Control, your inside sales teams can show them how the product works. Giving a sales prospect the chance to try something out for themselves. Experience the solution, see how easy it is to use, and therefore come away with a lasting impression of the features and benefits.
#2: Customer Account Query
Customer account queries aren’t always easy to resolve without visual support. Instead of talking a customer through what they need to do - especially when they need to login to an online account to take action - you can show them.
Assuming they’re using a computer or tablet, or talking to an agent directly through a Live Chat window, they can log in while talking to an agent. To stay compliant with GDPR or other relevant data protection laws, let them do that part themselves. Once you’ve done that, an agent can talk them through steps they need to take while they remote control the application.
Customers who want this level of support will be happy knowing a problem has been resolved while an agent was talking to them, instead of being given a list of steps to take after the call. This way, you are reducing the chances a customer will need to call back, thereby improving call handling KPIs and other success indicators.
#3: Product/Service Upgrade
Any time a customer wants to upgrade a product or service, it’s the perfect chance to renew a relationship and demonstrate why they’re making the right choice.
Take this time to showcase how easy it is for them to upgrade. If this is something they can do when they login to an account, you can walk them through an upgrade while also taking the time to show off over services and features. Giving the customer a great experience and creating other sales opportunities during the online call.
#4: Free Trial Setup
For software companies, getting a potential customer to commit to a free trial is a key moment in the sales pipeline. Knowing they’ve created a login doesn’t mean they’re going to use the software. Whereas, if you walk them through this process, you can start on-boarding at the same time. Showing them how the software works, answering questions and highlighting features that the customer is going to need. All of this increases the chance of a conversion after the free trial period.
#5: Complaints Handling
Customer complaints are always a tricky subject. Agents need to handle this smoothly, efficiently, with the customer satisfied that a problem has been dealt with.
If there is an aspect of a customer complaint that would be managed more smoothly with screen sharing and remote control, an agent should see if they can get them engaged with that process. Maybe they’ve not been shown a feature that would make the complaint go away. It could be an issue with the on-boarding/customer education process. A short remote control session could turn the situation around and ensure the customer stays with your brand instead of going to a competitor.
We’re sure you’ll find many more use cases that we haven’t thought of - we’d love to hear about them!
Enabling Remote Control
At present, Remote Control does have some feature limitations. Remote Control requires that presenters use Microsoft Windows. We may expand support to macOS and possibly Linux in the future, but unfortunately it is technically impossible to make it work on ChromeOS.
A separate helper download is required to enable Remote Control. This is a simple process that you are guided through the first time you enable the feature. Before presenters on your account can start using Remote Control, an administrator on the account needs to go into the account settings and enable the feature, as it is off by default for now. Feel free to contact our customer support team if you need assistance.
If you haven’t already signed up for CrankWheel, you can do so by clicking the button below. There’s a free-for-life plan for reasonable amounts of usage.