Archive for the 'Customer Service' Category
Posted by Ted Hopton on November 11, 2008
A former colleague, Keith Dawson, was the editor at Call Center Magazine for years. Sadly, Call Center Magazine fell victim to digital fever and died, but I still remember the phrase Keith coined: Super Empowered Angry Customers.
Super Empowered Angry Customers describes the shift in power that has taken place with the popularity of blogs, video sites such as YouTube, and websites such as “______CompanySucks.com” Companies have always claimed to listen to customers, but in practice many companies have routinely ignored many customers — and when this happened customers had little option beyond taking their business elsewhere.
Now they can take their business elsewhere AND cause a public relations disaster for the company that disappointed them. This has completely changed the dynamic between customers and companies, shifting the balance of power toward the customer to a never-before-seen degree.
So how shall we use our power, people? Will we use it for good or for evil? Every customer is not always right, and not every complaint is justified. It can be a very good thing to have more power, yet history is full of lessons about power being abused. Let’s try to use our power for good.
Posted in Blogs, Customer Sat, Customer Service, Social Media, Web 2.0 | Tagged: call center magazine, keith dawson, super empowered angry customers | No Comments »
Posted by Ted Hopton on June 18, 2008
Sorry I have been away from this blog for a while. I just moved, and the fun still has not stopped. Boxes are piled everywhere, the kitchen is not unpacked at all, and heck if I know where the towels and washclothes are. I’ll be back after I dig out.
But, I should comment on Comcast, both the good news and the bad. First, the bad news: even though I told the customer service rep when I called to tell them I was moving that every time in the past when I have moved Comcast has screwed things up, and even though he assured me he had taken care of everything for me this time . . . you guessed it, it got screwed up. I waited two hours when I had far better things to do, and Comcast never showed up to set up my service.
So, I called, navigated my way through their annoying and illogical IVR Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Call Centers, Customer Sat, Customer Service, Human Interest | No Comments »
Posted by Ted Hopton on June 10, 2008
Seth Godin hits the nail on the head, again, in this blog post.
Let’s say the person in charge of your retail operations does the following every single day:
- Puts up a sign indicating which of five doors customers should use.
- Locks that door.
- Randomly unlocks another door.
- When someone figures out which door to use, he runs out and kicks them in the groin, then locks the door.
read more | digg story
Posted in Call Center Management, Call Centers, Customer Sat, Customer Service | No Comments »
Posted by Ted Hopton on May 29, 2008
How did I miss posting about these great articles by Jay Minnucci? I went to link to them from the post I just wrote about Dr. Jodie Monger’s article on survey malpractice and that’s when I discovered I never wrote about them. They were both published in ICMI’s Customer Management Insight (CMI): Getting a Real Measure on Satisfaction (Part I) and Getting a Real Measure on Satisfaction (Part II).
Well, now I am! I loved this two-part series Jay did so much that I asked him to do a presentation on this topic at ICMI’s Dallas Call Center Demo and Conference last week. I think the live session was even better than the articles, because of the audience participation and the dialogue that took place, and just because Jay’s a fun and professional speaker.
These articles make an excellent companion to Jodie Monger’s article that I just wrote about, Are You Guilty of Survey Malpractice? She delves into the details of survey practices and Jay uncovers a whole lot of other factors that you’ve likely never considered.
Surveys alone do not reflect true customer satisfaction levels. Behavioral metrics hold the key to managing dissatisfaction.
I love the way Jay pussy-foots around touchy issues so delicately, as he does here: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Call Center Management, Call Centers, Customer Sat, Customer Service, ICMI, ICMI Conferences, ICMI's CMI | No Comments »
Posted by Ted Hopton on May 26, 2008
Nothing new at all in this NYT article, “Far From Always Being Right, the Customer Is on Hold.” It’s designed for popular consumption and it rehashes points made better elsewhere, with this author’s distinction being a decidedly whiny tone. But it’s the kind of article my mother notices and points out to me, knowing I work with call centers for a living. Thanks, Mom, I found it . . .
The bottom line, as I have said many times before (see, for example, Just Answer the Phone Quicker!) and will say many times again, is that those of us in the call center industry have the power to change the negative perception the public has of us. It’s going to take resolve and determination, and recognition that customer service is important enough to do right that spending money on it is a wise investment.
Posted in Call Center Management, Call Centers, Customer Sat, Customer Service | No Comments »
Posted by Ted Hopton on April 29, 2008
Making a successful service-to-sales transition requires cultural and process changes — from hiring the right agents to providing effective training and offering motivating rewards.
read more | digg story
Posted in Call Center Management, Customer Service, Sales | No Comments »
Posted by Ted Hopton on April 19, 2008
Alaska Airlines introduces a surprisingly pleasant virtual assistant on its Web site.
read more | digg story
Posted in Call Centers, Customer Service, Technology | No Comments »
Posted by Ted Hopton on April 19, 2008
In the annals of customer service, 2007 will go down as the year fed-up consumers finally dropped the hammer. In August a 76-year-old retired nurse named Mona Shaw smashed up a keyboard and a telephone in a Manassas, Va., Comcast office after she says the cable operator failed to install her service properly.
read more | digg story
Posted in Call Centers, Customer Sat, Customer Service, Web 2.0 | No Comments »
Posted by Ted Hopton on April 19, 2008
Sprint dumped 1000 customers who were calling 40 to 50 times more than other customers, specifically about issues that could not be resolved (e.g., billing disputes). Did the company do the right thing?
read more | digg story
Posted in Call Centers, Customer Sat, Customer Service, Management, Media | No Comments »
Posted by Ted Hopton on April 19, 2008
Yes, it is the phone company. But Verizon is investing to actually have people who can read e-mails from customers and respond to their service requests.
read more | digg story
Posted in Call Center Management, Call Centers, Customer Service, Technology | No Comments »
A former colleague, Keith Dawson, was the editor at Call Center Magazine for years. Sadly, Call Center Magazine fell victim to digital fever and died, but I still remember the phrase Keith coined: Super Empowered Angry Customers.