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Archive for March, 2006

If You Can’t Laugh At Yourself

Posted by Ted Hopton on March 16, 2006

Even if the joke is on us (again!), I think most of you will agree that this essay by Evan Eisenberg on the Slate website is very funny: Our Options Have Changed . . . It’s a parody of a really bad IVR script for technical support.

There were a number of places that made me laugh out loud, but here’s one of my favorite parts:

“Please key in the model and serial number of the product you are calling about. The model number is the series of 12 letters and digits that is visible when you push the unit away from the wall, work your head into the gap using a crowbar and No. 10 machine oil, and train a beam of ultraviolet light on the lower three centimeters of the right-hand rear surface of the appliance. If the model number is obscured by dust or cockroach detritus, wipe it with a soft, lint-free cloth soaked in a solution of ordinary rubbing alcohol, Kirschwasser, and formaldehyde. The serial number is the 37-digit number inscribed by means of laser nanotechnology on the underside of the unit and is not visible to the naked eye. When you have entered both numbers, press the pound key.”

Enough said!

Posted in Call Center Management, Call Centers, Customer Service, Humor | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

Bad Service Stories Spread Widely

Posted by Ted Hopton on March 9, 2006

You’ve heard it before, I’m sure: customers who have a bad experience tell others about it, so the damage spreads. I found a study quantifying this phenomenon, and you can read about it in “Beware of Dissatisfied Consumers: They Like to Blab” on the Wharton business school’s website.

The study looked at retail customers’ shopping experiences in stores — no call center mentions at all — but it’s pretty easy to see how the findings would apply to callers’ experience with call center customer service. Unhappy customers are unhappy customers, no matter where or how they become unhappy.

Some of the key points that caught my attention: Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Call Center Management, Call Centers, Customer Sat, Customer Service, Research | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

Outsourcing Opinions & Call Center Image

Posted by Ted Hopton on March 8, 2006

There’s a column in Business 2.0 titled, “A Penny Saved, A Customer Spurned” dated Feb. 24, 2006. It’s an opinion piece about the perils of call center outsourcing, and it makes the case that outsourcing frontline customer service is not a good idea. Agree or disagree, but the controversy isn’t going away.

The debate about outsourcing pros and cons has been covered widely (and not always accurately) by the media for a long time now. It’s good fodder, since it has emotion-laden elements, and it’s long-running because it’s complex, without a clear and simple conclusion to be drawn.

But underlying the outsourcing debate is the same perception that we face frequently in the popular press: that most customer service delivered by call centers is not what customers want it to be. Although that’s a “perception issue” and none of us can control “the media,” it really does came back to each of us, who in our own little ways have a say in this. Every little bit adds up. What each one of us does to drive positive and improved customer experiences with the call centers we work with counts. Customers out there are keeping score, and right now we’re losing, but there’s still time to mount a comeback, one caller at a time.

Posted in Call Center Management, Call Centers, Customer Sat, Customer Service, Economics, Media | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Award-Winning Call Centers

Posted by Ted Hopton on March 7, 2006

I have had the privilege to participate in the ICMI Membership’s Global Call Center of the Year Award selection process for a number of years now. As applications for the 2006 award start to come in, I find myself thinking about what it takes to win the award.

What makes these call centers winners? At the risk of oversimplifying, there are several qualities that each award-winner has had. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Awards, Call Center Management, Call Centers, Customer Sat, Customer Service, ICMI, ICMI Membership | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

 
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