April 19, 2023

How Slang.ai's Virtual Concierge Software Can Improve Customer Service and Boost Sales

We’ve all been there—it’s busy, probably a Friday or Saturday night; maybe it’s the holidays, or there’s a special event going on, or it’s a combination of all three of these things. It’s the type of situation where its all hands on deck, and the chaos of continuous customers is barely being held in check.

You’re proud of your team, and it’s impressive the way that everyone is handling themselves and the never-ending parade of guests.

There’s just one problem.

The phone is ringing off the hook, and even though you know your staff is doing the best they can, without a doubt that there are calls getting dropped, and there are customers who are not getting the attention they deserve.

The scenario you just read, and I’m sure you’ve personally experienced, is just one of many times virtual concierge software could step in and help pick up the slack.

In this post, I’ll show you how Slang.ai’s virtual concierge software can help your business improve customer service and increase overall sales.

Hundreds of hospitality companies all over the country are already using this exact software and are seeing amazing results—from independent QSR operators to 80+ multi-unit full-service restaurants.

Let’s dive in.

What Is Virtual Concierge Software

Virtual concierge software is artificial intelligence driven technology used in place of a real person working at a physical location to interact and assist guests with common tasks and inquiries.

By using natural language processing (NLP), guests can talk with an AI chatbot just as they would an actual person. The technology can then respond with personalized information and assistance for whatever the guest needs.

At any point, should a customer need to talk with a real person, their call is quickly routed to a worker.

Virtual concierge software can help customers with a variety of tasks, such as:

Reservations
Account help
Order tracking
FAQs
Business hours and location
Pickup/delivery ordering
Directions
Routing

Slang.ai’s virtual concierge software is highly customizable and easily adapts to your business’s current processes and infrastructure. Set-up is easy and can be completed in as little as 30 minutes.

Once set up, Slang.ai’s AI voice will be trained to understand industry-specific language and terminologies.

The chatbot’s ability to learn using NLP means the more it interacts with customers, the better its able to analyze questions, identify the user’s intent, and adjust its answers to better fit the context of the query.

With each customer interaction, the virtual concierge becomes more effective and efficient.

The Problem With Traditional Concierges

While having a human being pick up each and every time the phone rings is ideal, it comes with a host of challenges and limitations, including:

Limited availability: an employee is only available during a set window of time every day. This is inconvenient for customers and detrimental to your business since it’s a missed opportunity to gain another guest, leaving money on the table.
Inconsistency: the level of customer service a patron receives is limited only by the person who is giving it. You might have a rockstar worker during the day, but on night shift could be a green kid just finding his voice—the difference in service will be dramatic.
Limited capacity: traditional concierges can only assist a limited number of customers at a time, which leads to long wait times, a less personalized experience, and frustrated customers.
High cost: paying someone a living wage to answer the phone is not cheap—especially in a post-pandemic world where the costs of operating are continuously rising.
Limited scalability: as your business grows, so will the volume of phone calls requiring you to hire additional staff to expand your service.

The challenges of traditional concierges can go on for a while—lack of customer privacy, staff bais and preferences, language barriers, and limited employee expertise, to name a few more.

Fortunately, the creators of Slang.ai have taken all of these challenges head-on, working hard to provide solutions to each of these limitations.

Let’s take a look at how Slang.ai’s digital concierge software can help your business avoid these pitfalls and give you more satisfied customers.

How Slang.ai Creates Happy Customers

We live in the future.

In a world where nearly anything can be delivered to your home with a few taps of a screen, it’s easy to understand that customers have an expectation of a seamless customer service experience.

Fortunately, Slang.ai is here to deliver that perfect customer journey so guests leave glowing reviews and tell their friends you’re THE place to go for their hospitality needs.

For example, a QSR operator with 10 locations in the Atlanta area received a phone call at one location asking about a massive catering order. Typically, because the order was so large, the staff at the counter would have told them they couldn’t do it.

But, since Slang.ai handled the call, the customer was pushed through to the Director of Catering, who was able to coordinate the use of 3 locations to source the large catering order.

The company was able to generate a significant amount of money from one order, and the customer walked away with a great customer experience.

Here are a few other things customers might say when using Slang.ai.

It’s convenient.

Slang.ai is available 24/7, which means customers can receive assistance even outside of regular business hours. When guests learn they can get help around the clock, they remember how easy their previous visit was.

Service like that creates repeat customers.

There’s zero wait time.

No one likes to be on hold, and customers usually have quick, easy questions. Being asked to wait when the answer could literally take seconds to answer is aggravating.

Because Slang.ai can handle any volume of calls, no customers are ever left waiting on hold.

It’s self-service.

Customers like it when they can find answers on their own. It’s quick, easy, and doesn’t involve relying on another person for the task. A computer is the most reliable way to quickly and accurately respond to a customer's query.

Super easy to use.

Using a virtual concierge is as easy as talking with another person. The experience is intuitive, so customers aren’t left guessing as to what happens next. The voice concierge will guide and prompt guests through the entire journey.

Customers also don’t have to sit through the monologue of a phone tree, they can straight out ask their question and receive an answer. They also don’t have to roll the dice by leaving a voicemail. More often than not, voicemails have incredibly slow response times, or they aren’t answered at all.

Multichannel communication (they can send information any way you want).

Everyone groans internally when they encounter an automated voicemail. The one that goes, “Press 1 for menu, press 2 for….” Nobody likes that voice, and when it starts rattling off information, you’re never ready with pen and paper.

A virtual concierge can be asked to repeat questions, and when giving information, it can simply text, email, or send customers what they need on any channel they choose.

For example, the number one reason customers call full-service restaurants is to set a reservation.

Because Slang.ai can connect with some reservation management platforms, the voice concierge can assist customers through the entire reservation process—from bookings to modifications and cancellations

If Slang.ai doesn’t connect with your reservation system, it can still inform the guest on how to complete a reservation, then send them a text with a link to the reservation page to set and edit the date and time they’d like to come in.

Once the reservation is complete, customers will receive a confirmation text with the option to modify or cancel reservations as needed.

Slang.ai is beneficial to both customers and the business using it, but let’s dig into all the ways virtual concierge software can save your company time and money.

How You’ll Make And Save Money With Our Virtual Concierge Software

Most of the ways that Slang.ai can make and save your business money is simply the other side of what’s already helping your customers.

For example, using Slang.ai’s digital concierge software means your customers have zero wait time when trying to receive assistance. At the same time, your employees don’t have to answer the phone, so they can instead focus on customers in the building.

Both parties are getting the attention they deserve, and no one gets left out.

Everybody wins!

Here are other ways Slang.ai can make and save you money.

Reduce labor costs.

In a review of 50 restaurant operators, Slang.ai saves each 141+ hours on average per month.That’s 141 hours your employees could be doing something else to further grow your business.

Let’s break that down real quick.

Since every state and industry has different wages, we’ll use the federal minimum wage to establish the cost per hour.

That wage is $7.75 per hour.

Most companies probably pay more than this, but for the sake of math, we’ll use this number.

Here’s what that math looks like:

$7.75 per hour X 141 hours per month = $1,092.75 save.

‍Over the course of a year, that’s $13,113 saved.

Using Slang.ai can save you a lot of money, and if you own multiple locations, it translates into even more savings.

Create upsell opportunities.

You can train Slang.ai to promote specials or additional services that guests might find interesting.

For example, let’s say a guest had previously purchased a spa package; the virtual concierge could then suggest similar services that they might find interesting, like a massage or facial.

Slang.ai can also suggest deals and promotions.

For example, if a customer calls to ask about hours, the call can begin or end with, “We are open 7 days a week, 11 AM to 10 PM. P.S. Join us for happy hour daily from 3 PM-5 PM for half-priced drinks.”

The customer is given the hours, but by slipping in the daily happy hour information, it motivates the would-be guest to come in today or very soon.

Another way Slang.ai creates upselling opportunities is with text messaging.

For example, if a customer is calling to ask for a restaurant's location, they’ll generally want that information texted to their phone. From there, it’s an easy jump to their cells navigation app, but Slang.ai helps restaurants take advantage of this situation by adding a promotion at the end of the message.

Something simple, like, “Mondays are $1 oysters.”

These subtle bits of information can significantly impact revenue because customers don’t feel like they’re being “sold to.” People appreciate the straightforward exchange of information.

Every call gets picked up.

You have no idea who’s on the other line when somebody calls, and every missed call is a missed opportunity.

It could be a 20-person party trying to find a place to eat or someone inquiring about an event they have and needing a massive catering order to feed everyone.

The point is every call should be taken seriously and never allowed to go unanswered.

A customer calling is a first impression, and no one picking up the phone creates a negative first impression of your business. If you’re lucky, they’ll call back, but the damage is done. It will take time and a significant amount of amazing customer service to repair that first impression.

When every call is picked up, it shows guests that you’re professional, value the customer, and are committed to providing excellent customer service.

People talk, and having a reputation as a company that cares will give you a keen edge over your competitors, gaining you more customers and revenue.

Collects data and insights.

Slang.ai’s digital concierge software gives you data reporting on what customers are asking, how often it’s asked, and when they are asking it.

This information can help you craft more effective prompts with the chatbots and help you make informed decisions on marketing and sales strategies.

For example, if your restaurant held a special or a promotion for a limited time, but people are still asking if it’s available, you’ll know to run the special again or bring it back for a longer time period.

Using the reporting to create better responses for customers will help you to better connect with your target audience. It will confirm for them that they are in the right place and doing business with the best in the area.

Increased efficiency

After everything we’ve covered, it’s easy to see how Slang.ai’s virtual concierge helps with efficiency.

The software’s ability to simultaneously handle multiple calls means customer questions are handled as quickly as they can call your business.

On average, 50%+ of the calls managed by Slang.ai don’t need assistance from a team member.

The calls that do filter through can be labeled as urgent since the virtual concierge can screen any FAQs, handle reservations, take orders, and fulfill any of the other tasks assigned to the chatbot.

If an employee hears a phone ring, they know it’s important.

Because Slang.ai’s digital concierge software is picking up all the quick and easy phone calls, employees in-house can focus on customers in the building, helping with a quicker turnover and more satisfactory customer service.

For example, if a server has to keep stepping away from their tables to answer the phone, guests will start to wonder why their server keeps disappearing. Later on, when discussing their visit with friends, they might say something like, “the food was great, but the service was just ok.”

Also, because the server kept stepping away, their food order wasn’t put to the kitchen very quickly, the dishes sat in the window too long to get picked up and ran, and when it came time for the check, the server was nowhere in sight.

These longer table times mean fewer table turnovers, resulting in lower sales for the day.

Using Slang.ai’s virtual concierge software ensures that servers stay focused on their tables, helping to get guests out the door more quickly and new guests in seats for higher-quality daily sales.

Before we hang up.

Don’t leave money on the table by neglecting your ringing telephone—you never know who or what opportunities might be on the other line.

There’s a lot of money to be made by tidying up this corner of your business, and I bet you’ll be surprised at how affordable it can be to implement cutting-edge technology in your companies day to day operations.

Are you curious how Slang.ai’s virtual concierge software can improve your business and customer relationships?

Reach out, and we can set up a demo so you can see how effective and beneficial it can be.

It’s super easy.

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Authors

Alex Sambvani

Patrick Calder

How Slang.ai's Virtual Concierge Software Can Improve Customer Service and Boost Sales

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