Your weekly dose of innovation, inspiration, and insights.

Welcome to This Week’s coreWEEKLY!

As the holiday season ramps up, this week’s coreWEEKLY is all about tackling communication challenges and maximizing your end-of-year success. We’re kicking things off with our featured blog, Overwhelmed Communication Channels and Missed Opportunities, where we highlight how coreILLA’s AI-powered features can help firearms retailers stay ahead, streamline communications, and turn challenges into opportunities.

To complement the blog, we’re sharing two Help Desk articles: coreILLA AI Conversation Bot: Automated Customer Engagement and coreILLA Voice AI Agent. These guides will help you better understand how to use coreILLA’s tools to engage customers more efficiently and effectively.

Next, we’re inviting you to revisit some classic Compliance COREner videos to brush up on key compliance topics. Whether you’ve missed an episode or need a refresher, these videos are packed with insights for firearms retailers.

Don’t miss our latest webinar, End the Year Strong: coreILLA's Tips for Festive Marketing Success. Be sure to watch it with Webby, your smart webinar companion, open alongside you. Webby’s real-time support will help you get the most out of the session as we share strategies to wrap up the year on a high note.

We’re also providing fresh fraud prevention tips to keep your business and customers safe as we count down to Christmas—just two weeks away!

As always, we’re excited to share one of our 5-Star Google Reviews this week. These reviews inspire us to keep innovating and improving, and we couldn’t be more grateful for our amazing customers.

Lastly, don’t forget to revisit past editions of coreWEEKLY in our coreARCHIVE. Just like fine wine, these editions get better with time and are packed with valuable tips and tools for your business.

Here’s wishing everyone a safe, successful, and joyous shopping season!

Cheers,

The Coreware Team

Latest From The Blog

Overwhelmed Communication Channels and Missed Opportunities

As a business owner, managing an overwhelming influx of customer inquiries from SMS, email, social media, website chats, and phone calls can feel impossible. Without a clear system, important messages slip through the cracks, leaving frustrated customers and missed opportunities in their wake. During high-demand periods, like holidays or seasonal spikes, these inefficiencies can escalate into a major threat to your revenue, customer relationships, and brand reputation.

The Solution: coreILLA’s Conversation AI and Voice AI

CoreILLA offers a game-changing solution to these challenges with its exclusive Conversation AI and Voice AI tools. These tools streamline communication across all channels, automate repetitive tasks, and ensure every customer interaction is efficient and meaningful.

From The Help Desk

coreILLA AI Conversation Bot: Automated Customer Engagement

Customer interactions are a cornerstone of any successful business. With coreILLA’s AI Conversation Bot, you can automate these interactions while maintaining a personalized and responsive experience. Whether it’s answering FAQs, booking appointments, or providing tailored support, the AI-powered bot is here to enhance your communication strategies.

Key Features of coreILLA's AI Conversation Bot:

Operational Modes:

• Off Mode: The bot remains inactive, allowing for training and testing without live deployment.

• Suggestive Mode: Provides response suggestions within the message composer for user review and modification before sending.

• Auto-Pilot Mode: Automatically engages with contacts on behalf of the business, ensuring prompt responses.

Supported Communication Channels:

• SMS

• Facebook

• Instagram

• Web Chat (SMS Chat)

• Live Chat

• Google Business Profile

Configure channel preferences by navigating to Settings > Conversation AI and selecting desired channels from the "Supported Channels" dropdown.

coreILLA Voice AI Agent

Imagine never missing an important customer call again. With coreILLA’s Voice AI Agent, your business gets a tireless AI-powered receptionist capable of handling calls, capturing crucial details, and delivering exceptional customer service—all without ever taking a day off.

This groundbreaking feature redefines voicemail, turning missed calls into opportunities by ensuring that key information is collected and acted upon. It’s like having a full-time employee who’s always ready to work for you.

What Is the coreILLA Voice AI Agent?

The coreILLA Voice AI Agent is an advanced, automated voice assistant designed to interact with customers in a natural and professional manner. It serves as an AI receptionist that answers calls, captures customer details, and seamlessly hands over leads or inquiries to your team.

Whether it’s during business hours or after hours, the Voice AI Agent ensures your business stays responsive and reliable.

Key Features and Capabilities

1. Smart Call Handling

When a customer calls, the Voice AI Agent steps in with a warm, professional greeting. For example:

“This call will be recorded for quality purposes.

Thank you for calling [Your Business Name]. How can I help you today?”

From there, it’s ready to:

Gather names and contact details.

Understand customer needs or specific inquiries (e.g., pricing, appointment scheduling).

Provide clear, accurate responses based on your business setup.

Compliance COREner

Compliance COREner: Your Go-To Guide for Staying Ahead in Firearms Compliance

Stay Compliant with Ease!

We’ve covered a wide range of critical compliance topics in our 14-episode series of Compliance COREner, designed to help FFL dealers and firearms retailers navigate the ever-changing landscape of industry regulations. From understanding ATF workflows to mastering the 4473 form, each episode is packed with actionable insights and expert guidance.

Whether you’re new to compliance or a seasoned pro, this playlist is your ultimate resource for ensuring accuracy, avoiding pitfalls, and staying informed.

Watch The Full Compliance Corner Playlist Now

🎄 End 2024 Strong: Your Holiday Marketing SOS!

The holiday rush is here—are your campaigns ready to shine? Watch the replay of our latest webinar, "End the Year Strong: coreILLA's Tips for Festive Marketing Success,". In the webinar we shared smart strategies to boost engagement, save time with automation, and close 2024 on a high note.

Webinar Recaps:
Watch with Webby by Your Side!

Missed our latest webinar? No worries! Now you can watch the recap whenever it fits your schedule. But here’s the game-changer—meet Webby, your perfect webinar companion. As you watch, Webby is right there with you, ready to answer any questions or provide extra insights on the spot. It’s like having an expert by your side the entire time. Ready to dive in with Webby? Click below to start watching and chatting!

Here are 4 fresh tips to help you protect against fraud this holiday shopping season:

1. Stay Focused at Checkout

With only two weekends left in the holiday shopping season, stores will be bustling, and fraudsters may take advantage of the rush. Distraction tactics like excessive chatting or creating confusion are common.

How to Counter This:

Focus on the transaction: Train employees to maintain concentration on each sale, even amid distractions.

Pause when necessary: Encourage staff to politely pause conversations if something feels off or if they need to double-check details.

Avoid rushing: Remind employees not to rush transactions, even when lines are long. Accuracy is key.

Maintaining a calm, focused checkout process can help deter fraudsters looking for quick and careless mistakes.

2. Monitor Return Patterns Closely

As holiday returns ramp up, fraudsters might try to take advantage by returning stolen items or using fake receipts to get refunds.

How to Stay Ahead:

Track return activity: Log returns by customer or receipt number to spot excessive patterns.

Verify receipts: Require receipts for all returns and use a tracking system to match returns with inventory records.

Consider final sale policies: For high-value items, enforce a "final sale" policy during the holiday promotions to prevent fraudulent returns.

By staying vigilant with returns, you can prevent costly refund fraud during this busy season.

3. Keep a Suspicious Transaction Log

The holiday rush is prime time for unusual transactions. Having a system in place to document anything odd can help your team stay one step ahead.

What to Watch For:

Customers who appear overly nervous or evasive during transactions.

Orders with mismatched billing and shipping addresses.

Purchases involving unusually large quantities of high-value items.

Encourage employees to log these incidents, even if the transactions were completed successfully. Regularly reviewing the log can help identify patterns and possible fraud attempts.

4. Build Trust with Customers

With time running out for holiday shopping, creating a friendly and engaging atmosphere can help protect your business. Fraudsters are less likely to act when they feel noticed.

How to Foster Trust:

Be attentive: Friendly interactions can discourage fraudsters and build customer loyalty.

Ask questions: Simple inquiries like, "How are you planning to use this product?" can help staff gauge whether an interaction feels legitimate.

By connecting with customers, you not only enhance their experience but also create an environment where fraudsters feel unwelcome.

Stay Vigilant: Two Weekends to Go!

With only two shopping weekends left, fraudsters will be looking to exploit the holiday rush. By implementing these strategies now, you can protect your business and keep transactions secure during this critical time. Even small adjustments can make a big difference in deterring fraud and ensuring a smooth shopping season.