Take a look at what four call center professionals have to say about getting IVR right, in this CMI article, “Characteristics of a Customer-Focused IVR System.”
call center management
Archive for the ‘Customer Service’ Category
CMI: Characteristics of a Customer-Focused IVR System
Posted by Ted Hopton on February 5, 2008
Posted in Call Center Management, Call Centers, Customer Sat, Customer Service, ICMI, ICMI Publications, ICMI's CMI, Technology | Tagged: Call Center Management, Call Centers, customer-focused, IVR | Leave a Comment »
CMI: Tactics of Truly Customer-Centric Centers
Posted by Ted Hopton on February 5, 2008
Great article by Greg Levin in ICMI’s Customer Management Insight (CMI), Tactics of Truly Customer-Centric Centers.” I recommend reading it. Here’s a taste:
If I had a dollar for every contact center that claims to be highly customer-centric, I’d be able to purchase a condo in Aspen. If I had a dollar for every contact center that truly embodies customer-centricity, I’d be able to purchase a lift ticket in Aspen — maybe.
To get you started, here are the seven (7) “critical tactics of the most customer-centric contact centers” that Greg identifies: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Call Center Management, Call Centers, Customer Sat, Customer Service, ICMI, ICMI's CMI, Technology | Tagged: Call Center Management, customer satisfaction, Customer Service, customer-centric, Technology | Leave a Comment »
Who Wins When Service Stinks? Follow the Money
Posted by Ted Hopton on February 1, 2008
I just had an insight. Maybe it’s so obvious that I should have seen it sooner, but it just dawned on me tonight as I was reading yet another gloomy posting on The 1to1 Blog (seems to be a pattern with them of highlighting the lowlights when it comes to call centers and inviting people to pile on by sharing their sad stories) — if customer service stinks and all that call centers are doing now is not good enough, then the answer must be: NEW TECHNOLOGY!
That’s it! We’d better buy the latest techno-wizgadget (see my earlier post on automated callbacks, “Just Answer the Phone Quicker!”) so we can finally provide good customer service!
What led me to this epiphany? I followed the money, of course. The 1to1 Blog cited an amusing video produced and uploaded to YouTube about a man who so dreads contacting a call center that he would rather clean his house, give the dog a bath, do his taxes, and so on, instead.
Ha, ha, cute, we get the point. Yes, it’s an *original* point: customer service stinks. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Call Centers, Customer Sat, Customer Service, Human Interest, Media, Research, Statistics | Tagged: Call Centers, customer satisfaction, Customer Service, Media, Research | Leave a Comment »
Customer Advice
Posted by Ted Hopton on February 1, 2008
Thought-provoking post from John Quelch on HBR’s blog site, titled “How To Be a Customer.” Here are the five behaviors he cites (read his post for the explanations for each):
- Be demanding
- Be respectful
- Be reliable
- Be surprising
- Be engaging
Take a look — it’s good advice!
Posted in Customer Sat, Customer Service, Human Interest | Tagged: customer | Leave a Comment »
Is Your Company on Measured Up?
Posted by Ted Hopton on January 31, 2008
Check this website out if you want to see what your customers think of your customer service: http://www.measuredup.com/ They’re making a business out of letting consumers easily rate their customer service experiences, and by consolidating these responses they have the potential to have more influence than isolated complaints (and those already have potency in blogs, YouTube and “I_Hate_Your_Company” websites).Posted in Customer Sat, Customer Service, Web 2.0 | Tagged: customer satisfaction, Customer Service, Web 2.0 | Leave a Comment »
More Call Center Bashing
Posted by Ted Hopton on January 28, 2008
Wired Magazine piles on with a pithy little piece *cleverly* titled, “Why Things Suck: Customer Service.” Terribly original, isn’t it? Looks like they spent at least 5 minutes researching their facts on the Internet (probably relied on Wikipedia) and marshalling their robust logical arguments, too. Good thing they’re not entering a high school debate, or they might get their clocks cleaned.
Nonetheless, it’s another black eye from the media. It will get picked up and spread all around, until the dubious “facts” it cites are taken for granted. Sure feels good to be sucker-punched again, doesn’t it?
call center management
Posted in Call Center Management, Call Centers, Customer Service, Media | Tagged: Call Centers, Media | 1 Comment »
Just Answer the Phone Quicker!
Posted by Ted Hopton on January 16, 2008
I’ve started hearing more people talking about automated callback technology in glowing terms. That’s when an announcement plays while you are waiting for your call to be answered, offering to have the call center call you back instead of making you wait in the queue. Even my mother likes it (she always tells me what she likes and doesn’t like about call centers she has called, every time we get together). But I admit I have never been that fond of the practice of postponing calls to be handled later, and I further confess that my bias was heavily influenced by a discussion years ago with Jay Minnucci, ICMI’s Vice President of Consulting Services.
So I emailed Jay recently to see if he’s been won over to the automated callback approach. In a word, “no,” but his response is more fun to read than that: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Call Center Management, Call Centers, Customer Sat, Customer Service, ICMI, ICMI Consulting, Technology | Tagged: call center, Customer Sat, Customer Service, ICMI, ICMI Consulting, Jay Minnucci, Management, Technology | 5 Comments »
Customer, Serve Us
Posted by Ted Hopton on January 27, 2007
Fast Company is a fun magazine to read, and always thought-provoking. Their blog entries are worth checking out, too, as you might expect. Here’s an entry that’s pertinent to all of us in the customer service space: Customer, Serve Us
Even though one of the links in the blog goes back to an article from 2001, in many ways the content is timeless, and I recommend you read it (that one is long, I warn you, but worth the time).
There is a huge challenge ahead of us to overcome the negative perceptions of call centers that are rampant in the popular press. Unfortunately, this is not just a public relations issue. There are real problems that need to be addressed, and until the pickings get slimmer, call centers will continue to be ripe for bad press coverage, year after year.
call center management
Posted in Call Center Management, Call Centers, Customer Sat, Customer Service, Media | Tagged: call center, Customer Sat, Customer Service, Media | Leave a Comment »
CEOs Listening to Customer Calls
Posted by Ted Hopton on January 23, 2007
There was a nice series of postings about CEOs taking enough interest in customers to listen to calls in Gary Lemke’s CRMAdvocate column, “Our Take.” Lemke’s take on this is that it’s critical for the person at the very top to take the time to truly listen to the customer, and he invited readers to share their thoughts and what happens at their companies. The ensuing insights make good reading for any call center professional.
Posted in Blogs, Customer Service | Tagged: call center, Customer Sat, Customer Service | Leave a Comment »
Press Praise for Call Center Excellence
Posted by Ted Hopton on January 3, 2007
It’s hard to find good news in the press about call centers. But I did read a glowing report in the New York Times about a call center providing terrific service. It’s Crutchfield, catalog and online sellers of audio and video gear, and the coverage was in David Pogue’s newsletter/blog on technology.
Pogue’s account lines up perfectly with what we all should know by now: when you provide great customer service, people spread the word and more business flows to you. No less than 25 people wrote in to Pogue to suggest Crutchfield as the place to turn for a car stereo. And when he took their suggestion, he was blown away by the customer service experience they provided, too. Since he happens to be a NYT columnist, Crutchfield just reaped a wonderful public relations windfall.
Except it’s not really a “windfall,” because they earned their just rewards by providing consistently outstanding customer service year after year. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Call Center Management, Call Centers, Customer Sat, Customer Service, ICMI, ICMI Membership, Media, Nostalgia | Tagged: call center, Customer Sat, Customer Service, ICMI | Leave a Comment »
