Your competitive advantage is, of course, not just about the value or benefits of your product. In fact, from customer reviews to retention, your competitive advantage often lies in how you serve those trying to learn more about or communicate with your business.

According to Ovum, 52 percent of consumers use three to four channels (like chat, text, email, social media, voice/phone or fax) to seek customer care. This statistic highlights the fact that multichannel is here to stay, and it matters. It's crucial to your bottom line and your future success that your organization communicates with customers where customers desire to communicate.

How Multichannel Contact Center Solutions Affect Sales

One of the most important effects of implementing a multichannel contact center solution is the mere presence of choice.

"If you only give your customers one option for communication, to call on the phone, for example, you've already become the number two choice," says Jim Tynan, Twinstate's VP of sales. Telling your customers that they have to communicate with you the way you demand, instead of the way they desire, sets up an unfortunate dynamic, says Tynan.

"And that's not even considering your prospects or potential customers. Give everyone choices, and right off the bat you're providing a much more open, friendly user environment."

Tynan explains that the sales value of a multichannel contact center goes beyond the increase in your perceived value that comes along with the concept of choice and customization. An MCC allows you to reach more people in more media, and exponentially expands your ability to contact prospects. You have more access to those demographics who won't communicate via phone.

Says Tynan, "There are certain people who just won't communicate with you that way. We all have our own personal examples. A multichannel contact center provides you with the chance to get all of those sales."

Further, an MCC promotes retention and reduces churn. Gartner reports that a simple failure to respond via social channels can lead to up to a 15 percent increase in churn rate for existing customers. And retention, of course, is high priority when you're trying to improve sales.

Mitel's new suite of contact center, cloud and mobile solutions for mobile workers and consumers reflects the idea that the channels through which we interact with customers are key to building customer loyalty. By enabling a seamless environment for collaboration, communications and commerce through an innovative, mobile-first, cloud-enabled, millennial-focused approach, Mitel has taken customer communication to a new level.

And they know the value of doing so. According to Mitel, 73 percent of people have or would change suppliers based on a contact center experience, and 79 percent of customers will commit to a deeper product or service relationship with a brand after a satisfying experience. Customers know what they want, and if you provide it — and provide it well — your sales will necessarily increase.

Improving Process to Improve Sales

Implementing a multichannel contact center solution without putting effort toward process is inadvisable. Importantly, you can determine the process through careful measurement of your channels and responses, which a good solution will provide.

Consider that your solution may provide immediate plugins for social media and web chat. These might allow Twitter users to hop in your queue, or message you instantly. How will you know how to prioritize responses? How will you know who will respond?

If you can't measure, you can't manage. Completing a proof of concept to understand how you'll manage the content distributed and your human resource allocation (deciding which reps are best for which channels, providing enough resources for high-volume times) is vital to your successful sales initiative and business productivity.

You'll know your concept works (or not) if you can accurately measure results. Your customers should be having a positive experience, as judged by their feedback. The average wait time needs to meet your goals. And everyone should have a uniform brand experience regardless of their chosen communication channel, explains Tynan.

Getting There

Once you have a proof of concept complete, it's time to officially choose your manufacturer/provider. No one particular provider has a stranglehold, so you, just like your customers, have options. Your choice truly depends on where you are today and your upcoming needs.

Consider only choosing those options which provide closed-loop reporting, so you can see exactly how your reps are performing and whether or not you need to reprioritize. Avoid manufacturers who can't touch all the points end to end, Tynan stresses.

Another important consideration: how many factors you need to provide.

"Don't ever try to do every solution all at once," cautions Tynan. "It can be overwhelming to a staff whose communication system may already be split up in funky ways, and it doesn't allow you to make important incremental changes or additions based on data."

So choose those services you absolutely must provide, and begin considering vendors. Perhaps your current phone vendor doesn't provide a certain solution and you want to work with multiple vendors to gain the options you need. But if you choose ABC company for phone, DEF company for text, and GHI company for social, you won't be able to get the analytics you need to correctly prioritize.

Cost is also a major consideration. No increase in sales will matter if you're sinking too much into your contact center. That said, "You can't look at the per agent cost in a vacuum," says Tynan. "If you can be more efficient with your human resources and you don't need to add headcount, you're getting value. Consider it an investment, not an expense."

Most importantly, you need a provider who has pulled this off before — someone who's seen firsthand the pains of managing disparate systems and is ready to move quickly to get your organization in the communication channels it needs to be in.

With accurate measurement tools, detailed prioritization, a partner on your side and access to the right communication channels, your organization will be ready to start serving your customers better — and bringing home more sales.