Contact Center Geek
Guest post from Dr. Debra Bentson - We talk a lot in the Customer Experience space about how to deliver CX – I’m putting this topic on its head to share a few things about customer experience.
You know I love a good story – so here we go: I walked into one of those shops we all know to buy a cup of coffee – as simple or as froufrou as you like.
Read MoreGuest post from Andrew Gilliam - About six months ago, the survey that I've been working on for almost two years went live. It's the first step toward revitalizing our Voice of the Customer program. In the beginning, I recognized that capturing actionable data will be very challenging and essential to gain traction.
Read MoreWhat is culture? In my mind, it is the principle that will guide employees to behave in a certain way - the operative term being, guide, not force. Culture is also the sum of all behaviors of all employees. It is intangible. It cannot be seen, in and of itself. It can be encouraged, and enforced, by co-workers. It cannot be regulated by superiors but can be quickly destroyed by them. As a company grows, maintaining the culture can be challenging.
Read MoreOn episode 329 from July 17, 2018, “Be a Customer Experience Change Agent”, Jeannie spoke about how you can be a customer experience change agent in your company: Go big, find quick CX wins, and gather your champions.
The episode got me thinking about the early days of my career. How I longed to get promoted to a position where I could actually make a difference. And how I learned, thankfully early on, that I could make a difference no matter the position I held.
Read MoreBefore I begin, I want to tell you a love story. A story about how a man from Northern California fell in love with a chicken sandwich and those funny cows. Or at least, provide a little proof that it is not my intent to publicly shame the home of the best chicken sandwich in the nation.
Read MoreThroughout my contact center career, I have seen trends come and go. Some trends seem to last forever while some seem to stick around far longer than they should. These are the things left over from call center days gone by that just need to go, the relics of those that came before us. Yes, I know, that sounds dramatic, but I think it's time to make dramatic changes.
Read MoreHas working in customer service made a positive affect in your personal life? The short answer is: absolutely!
Read MoreThe wonderful thing about Contact Centers is that we get to measure everything that is important to our customers and team members. Such metrics as calls received, cost per inbound contact, and customer survey feedback are critical to analyzing and maintaining a well-functioning Contact Center.
Read MoreAs contact center leaders, we are always in search of the best way to effectively manage our operations, which can simply translate to how well are we managing costs. But our job is far more than just "managing costs". It is also our job to communicate how our teams impact the rest of the business and the bottom line. It is our job to fight for what is right for our team members, and to manage costs appropriately.
Read MoreContact centers of all shapes and sizes often have lots of similarities. One thing I have found to be true across most companies is this shocker: contact center team meetings suck! And another thing that is generally true is that your team members may not tell you they suck. Why? Because they crave the time off the phones!
Read MoreIn Episode #42 we welcome Matt Beckwith, Contact Center Director. We met Matt on the weekly #ICMIChat on Twitter and have loved his perspective on customer service, customer experience, and contact centers.
Read MoreHappy New Year! The new year often brings new candidates to the job market, so if you're taking advantage of that like I am, here are three tips to improve your contact center’s recruiting and hiring efforts. If you’re not doing them now, feel free to consider them New Year’s Resolutions.
This post originally appeared on ICMI.com.
Read MoreThe real punishment I put myself through however, is taking surveys. Although I’m not able to take one every day, I actively seek out opportunities to take them and have completed hundreds over the past several years. I have also worked for some companies where I have learned a great deal about customer feedback programs.
Read MoreDid you know there is an official Customer Service Week to highlight the work of customer service employees? Customer Service Week is not specifically only for contact centers but many across the country have adopted it is their own holiday.
Read MoreThroughout my career I've been part of many new technology implementations. An important element to nearly all of them has been successful user adoption.
Years ago, the customer service contact center at the bank where I worked implemented a new performance reporting application from Merced Systems
Read MoreContact center managers, you are still wrong about AHT (Average Handle Time, also known as Agents Hate This). Maybe not all of you are, but for sure, many of you are.
I know what you’re likely asking, how would you know if you’re wrong about AHT?
Read MoreHere's a bit of call center humor, in the spirit of Throwback Thursday. And buried in that humor is a lesson that continues to stay with me.
Let me answer your first obvious question. Yes, it is acceptable to do a "Throwback Thursday" post on LinkedIn.
Read MoreA fellow NorCal Contact Center Association steering committee member recently recommended the book "The Effortless Experience" by Matthew Dixon, Nick Toman and Rick DeLisi. I loved it. If you work in a call center, or provide service to customers, this is a must read.
The book comes from the Harvard Business Review article, "Stop Trying to Delight Your Customers".
Read MoreToday was day two of PesTech3.0, a three-day conference dedicated to connecting industry leaders to discuss technology trends in pest control. So far, we've heard from some great speakers on disruptive technology, how the "internet of things" impacts our industry, mobile marketing and using mobile technologies throughout sales and servicing. We've also learned about interesting and innovative ways that pest control operators can start to deploy wearable tech.
Read MoreEarly in my career I learned the art of saying "no". I have even had great success remembering to rephrase "no, I can't do that" to "what I can do is...". That's fine in many situations. It reminds me to focus on solving problems rather than simply answering questions.
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