Only hours after I posted the blog below, I received an email from Derek Flores, a member of Zappos' Customer Loyalty Team. As you can see, I asked his permission to post the exchange we had here... - Brad
________________________________________
From: Derek Flores
To: Brad Cleveland
Sent: Fri Jun 12 15:46:43 2009
Subject: Re: Your most recent blog positn.
Brad,
You are more than welcome to share what I wrote. I would have posted it directly but I felt this would be more personal. I'm glad you appreciated the comment.
Let me know when it is up and I will share with everyone here!
Thanks so much!
Derek
Brad Cleveland wrote:
Hi Derek,
You're welcome... and with your permission I'd like to post part or all of your email. Reason: Keeping an eye on the blog world (good, bad and otherwise) is so important and something we're encouraging companies to do systematically. You just provided a great example! Ok with you?
Brad
________________________________________
From: Derek Flores
To: Brad Cleveland
Sent: Fri Jun 12 14:33:12 2009
Subject: Your most recent blog positn.
Hello Brad,
I just read your most recent blog about "History's Most Powerful Consumer Movement", and I wanted to let you know that what you said about Zappos is great. It is great to see people recognizing us for the service we provide our customers. Zappos has always been about the very best customer service and customer experience as well as our focus on company culture! Our unique company culture allows for our Customer Loyalty Team to be happy at work and deliver that great customer service we focus so much on! An unhappy employee would never be able to deliver that kind of service!
I have shared your blog with some of my colleagues and we look forward to more Brad! Thanks again and have a great weekend!
Derek Flores
Tony's Team
Zappos.com
http://www.zappos.com
Take a look inside Zappos!
http://blogs.zappos.com/blogs
Follow Tony on Twitter!
http://twitter.com/zappos
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Friday, June 12, 2009
History's Most Powerful Consumer Movement?
Some believe we are seeing the emergence of the greatest consumer movement in history. I agree. Studies suggest that the vast majority of consumers now use search engines and sites such as the http://www.consumerist.com/ to review the comments of other customers before making brand or product decisions. And bad customer experiences – even if they are one in many thousands of interactions from an internal perspective – end up on blogs, twitter, YouTube and sometimes even the morning news. (This is not just a business-to-consumer phenomenon; the trend towards providing and searching out customer feedback, albeit with somewhat better etiquette as a rule, is similar in B2B environments.)
All of this is just fine with Zappos.com, the online shoe retailer that’s getting oodles of positive press for their great customer service. Sales have grown from $1.6 million in 2000 to about $1 billion in 2008. In an interview with Success magazine (Success, November 2008), CEO Tony Hsieh, referring to their “customer loyalty team” (the 24x7 call center), says, “Most call centers have this concept of average handling time, which is all about how many customers a day each agent can talk to – and the more the better. But that ends up translating into, ‘how quickly can we get the customer off the phone?’ which we don’t think is great customer service.” On company culture, Hsieh says every person – accountants, lawyers, everybody – goes through the same training that call center representatives get. “If we want our brand to be about customer service, then customer service needs to be the whole company, not just a department.”
Some business execs believe these kinds of customer-first strategies apply only to… well, entrepreneurial startups like Zappos.com. But tell that to USAA, FedEx or even American Express (who is putting the customer experience at the center of their strategy). The call center can and should be a powerful loyalizing tool – these are not new principles. They are being “rediscovered” by companies in virtually every sector who know they’ve got to get service right. For those in call center management who really “get it” this is a powerful window of opportunity to make a difference.
Brad Cleveland
Senior Advisor and Former President & CEO
ICMI
Monday, May 11, 2009
The Power of Good Questions
By Brad Cleveland
Are we headed in the right direction? Do our priorities make sense? What would you do if you were in our shoes?
At ICMI, we are often asked these and related questions (they usually come up in the context of working on specific projects or issues with clients). They are good. They are important.
Questions establish context, and the best questions compel decisions and solutions that have far-reaching, positive impact. When it comes to strategy and direction, there’s never been a more important time to ask good questions.
Here are some of the most important questions I believe those leading customer contact services should be asking now:
Do we have a comprehensive and up-to-date customer access strategy that includes all forms of customer access, including new social media channels?
Does our mission reflect the call center’s role not only in efficiently meeting customer demands, but also in contributing intelligence (captured during contacts) to other business units?
How do others across the organization perceive the value of customer contact services, and how can that continually be improved?
Do we have appropriate performance standards for individuals and the call center, and do they align with the organization’s direction and changing customer expectations?
Have we applied disciplined planning and management methodologies to all types of activities, e.g., does our process encompass all contact types and channels, as well as all other types of work related to operations?
Do we have an effective process for training and cultivating upcoming managers and leaders (an important key to success in coming months)?
Do we have a supporting culture that is candid, consistent in values, and establishes the right objectives and opportunities for people to grow and contribute?
Have we envisioned where customer expectations are heading, how we will meet them and what we need to do now to prepare?
Many of the answers to these questions will be interrelated, and some assume (necessitate) the involvement of the broader organization (e.g., marketing, finance, operations, etc.). Effective answers require leadership, persistence and collaboration. But, given the fundamental changes taking place in our economy and the growing importance of customer contact services, asking good questions – then building solid answers – has never been more important.
Brad Cleveland
Senior Advisor and Former President & CEO
ICMI
bradc@icmi.com
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Call Center Supervisors Not Getting Adequate Training, According to Study
Though much of the ‘90s, many industry pundits were predicting that supervisors would become less needed in call centers, and that their numbers would begin to drop proportionally. The conventional rationale – usually couched in discussions of flattened hierarchies and team-oriented structures – was that agents and teams were becoming more empowered, and the need for a layer between management and the front line would decline.
Just the opposite is happening, and in fact supervisor ratios of 10:1 to 12:1 ratios are fairly common today, whereas 15:1 or higher was more typical a decade ago. (Note, significant differences by type of call center remain; e.g., technical support centers may have as few as four or five staff per supervisor, while some order taking environments do fine with 20:1.)
The predictions were wrong primarily and perhaps predictably due to the growing complexity of customer contact workloads. But there are other reasons – e.g., call center supervisors are more involved in process improvement projects, liaison roles, and planning activities. In one sense, agents are increasingly enabled to do what supervisors used to do, and supervisors are spending more of their time in what used to be the realm of management.
It’s surprising, then, that according to ICMI’s recently released Contact Center Operations Report, nearly two in three centers (63.7%) do not provide any formal training for new supervisors before they assume their responsibilities. More than half of respondents feel that new supervisors do not receive enough training in their contact center, and more than two thirds feel that existing supervisors do not receive enough ongoing training.
This is an opportunity for improvement! Supervisors are more critical than ever to running successful operations. Giving them the skills and knowledge they need to face an increasingly challenging set of responsibilities just makes sense.
Brad Cleveland
Senior Advisor and Former President & CEO,
ICMI
bcleveland@think-services.com
Just the opposite is happening, and in fact supervisor ratios of 10:1 to 12:1 ratios are fairly common today, whereas 15:1 or higher was more typical a decade ago. (Note, significant differences by type of call center remain; e.g., technical support centers may have as few as four or five staff per supervisor, while some order taking environments do fine with 20:1.)
The predictions were wrong primarily and perhaps predictably due to the growing complexity of customer contact workloads. But there are other reasons – e.g., call center supervisors are more involved in process improvement projects, liaison roles, and planning activities. In one sense, agents are increasingly enabled to do what supervisors used to do, and supervisors are spending more of their time in what used to be the realm of management.
It’s surprising, then, that according to ICMI’s recently released Contact Center Operations Report, nearly two in three centers (63.7%) do not provide any formal training for new supervisors before they assume their responsibilities. More than half of respondents feel that new supervisors do not receive enough training in their contact center, and more than two thirds feel that existing supervisors do not receive enough ongoing training.
This is an opportunity for improvement! Supervisors are more critical than ever to running successful operations. Giving them the skills and knowledge they need to face an increasingly challenging set of responsibilities just makes sense.
Brad Cleveland
Senior Advisor and Former President & CEO,
ICMI
bcleveland@think-services.com
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Call Centers Missing Opportunities to Boost Business
There’s far more to handling customer contacts than improving the satisfaction and loyalty of those customers – as important as that is. As a primary customer touchpoint, the call center has significant potential to provide other business units with invaluable intelligence and support – e.g., it can help operations pinpoint quality problems, marketing develop more focused campaigns, IT design better systems, and serve as an early warning of competitive developments.
Unfortunately, far too many organizations seem to be missing this opportunity. In its recently released landmark benchmarking study, the Contact Center Operations Report, ICMI found that only 54.8% of call centers are sharing key customer data and feedback gleaned from monitoring with other departments and upper management. “This results in many missed opportunities to improve products and services, marketing, interdepartmental relationships and executive support,” says ICMI’s Greg Levin, one of the report’s authors.
While monitoring is not the only way to capture customer input, it’s a primary source, and when it is missing, that’s usually an indication that other means aren’t optimized either. With the right approach, any organization can better leverage this input to improve performance – which is especially important when the economy is so difficult.
Brad Cleveland
Senior Advisor and Former President & CEO,
ICMI
bcleveland@think-services.com
Unfortunately, far too many organizations seem to be missing this opportunity. In its recently released landmark benchmarking study, the Contact Center Operations Report, ICMI found that only 54.8% of call centers are sharing key customer data and feedback gleaned from monitoring with other departments and upper management. “This results in many missed opportunities to improve products and services, marketing, interdepartmental relationships and executive support,” says ICMI’s Greg Levin, one of the report’s authors.
While monitoring is not the only way to capture customer input, it’s a primary source, and when it is missing, that’s usually an indication that other means aren’t optimized either. With the right approach, any organization can better leverage this input to improve performance – which is especially important when the economy is so difficult.
Brad Cleveland
Senior Advisor and Former President & CEO,
ICMI
bcleveland@think-services.com
Monday, March 2, 2009
Job Roles Are a Changin'
One of the recurring themes at the recent ICMI Call Center Demo conference in Miami (which, by the way, was terrific) is that job roles continue to evolve quickly. At the agent level, job requirements are becoming more generalized in most call centers. Agents must increasingly understand the access channels customers use, the interrelated nature of services the organization provides, and the breadth of needs and expectations that customers have. The growth of social media and the enormous capabilities consumers have to access and use information is accelerating this trend.
At the management level, many job roles are becoming increasingly specialized. For example, workforce management is seeing the emergence of forecasting, scheduling and real-time management expertise. Similarly, quality monitoring depends on monitoring and coaching, program design, calibration and data analysis. Technology can also lead to specialization; e.g., individuals specifically assigned to support speech, desktops, networks, quality monitoring systems or workforce management applications. If you manage or support a small call center, you may wear many of these hats—but they are more specialized hats, nonetheless.
The most successful organizations are cultivating development programs at all levels that deliver specific skills and knowledge while reinforcing the call center’s (and organization’s) most important overall objectives. And the best leaders are encouraging collaboration and an appreciation for the diverse responsibilities the call center requires—while keeping everyone focused on the business results that matter most.
Brad Cleveland
Senior Advisor and Former President & CEO,
ICMI
bcleveland@think-services.com
At the management level, many job roles are becoming increasingly specialized. For example, workforce management is seeing the emergence of forecasting, scheduling and real-time management expertise. Similarly, quality monitoring depends on monitoring and coaching, program design, calibration and data analysis. Technology can also lead to specialization; e.g., individuals specifically assigned to support speech, desktops, networks, quality monitoring systems or workforce management applications. If you manage or support a small call center, you may wear many of these hats—but they are more specialized hats, nonetheless.
The most successful organizations are cultivating development programs at all levels that deliver specific skills and knowledge while reinforcing the call center’s (and organization’s) most important overall objectives. And the best leaders are encouraging collaboration and an appreciation for the diverse responsibilities the call center requires—while keeping everyone focused on the business results that matter most.
Brad Cleveland
Senior Advisor and Former President & CEO,
ICMI
bcleveland@think-services.com
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
What Your CFO Needs to Know About Staffing Tradeoffs
It’s a pretty safe guess that you’re engaged in some soul-searching discussions – and making tough decisions – on resources and budgets. This is your (hopefully) helpful and timely reminder: be absolutely sure that those making key decisions have an understanding of staff tradeoffs in a call center (read: real-time) environment.
The table is an example of what you might want to create(using your own numbers) to illustrate key tradeoffs. In this example, 34 agents produce a “middle of the road” service level of just over 80 percent of calls being answered in 20 seconds, with an average speed of answer (ASA) of just over 12 seconds. If you have 30 agents, fewer than a quarter of all calls are answered in 20 seconds, and ASA is over 200 seconds. Occupancy is way high, at 97%. And the load on your telecom network has grown significantly (reason: your ACD has to put all of those queued calls somewhere – kind of like putting aircraft in a holding pattern over Chicago O’Hare).
The table is an example of what you might want to create(using your own numbers) to illustrate key tradeoffs. In this example, 34 agents produce a “middle of the road” service level of just over 80 percent of calls being answered in 20 seconds, with an average speed of answer (ASA) of just over 12 seconds. If you have 30 agents, fewer than a quarter of all calls are answered in 20 seconds, and ASA is over 200 seconds. Occupancy is way high, at 97%. And the load on your telecom network has grown significantly (reason: your ACD has to put all of those queued calls somewhere – kind of like putting aircraft in a holding pattern over Chicago O’Hare).
Your objective in budgeting – and in day-to-day management – should be to get just the right number of people in place at the right times, doing the right things for the business. No more, no fewer. That is fundamental in an environment that requires handling the work as it arrives.
Brad Cleveland
Senior Advisor and Former President & CEO,
ICMI
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
