Building Stronger Organizations

Every customer contact that we handle provides implicit or direct insight into processes, products, policies, services, customers and the external environment. We are capturing intelligence that can pinpoint manufacturing or operational quality problems, contribute to better marketing campaigns, help to design better information systems, and serve as an early warning system for potential publicity troubles or competitive challenges.

But for this information to be useful, our colleagues must accept and act on it. Will they? Yes—if we include three essential steps in these efforts. First, we must develop good working relationships with the individuals who run other areas of the organization. Second, our role is to serve, not to point out flaws—while that may be obvious to us, we need to emphasize it from the start. Third, the data that we share must be useful and usable, based on an ongoing commitment on our part to understand business requirements and how to turn mounds of call center data and “call center-esque” codes into actionable information.

We have an opportunity to play a central role in building a stronger organization with better services and products across the board—but it’s a role we must earn.

Brad Cleveland,
Senior Advisor; Former President/CEO ICMI
bcleveland@think-services.com.

Effective Budgeting… In Any Kind of Economy

If you're reevaluating projections and funding, you're not alone. Economic conditions are forcing many organizations to revisit and revise assumptions, and those leading call centers are assessing the impact of changing workloads, customers and resource requirements.

As we’ve watched the budgeting process play out in different organizations – and have observed how some seem to consistently get the funding they need – some important lessons have emerged:

Focus on results. Improved sales, higher levels of customer satisfaction and retention, streamlined costs, contributions to research and development – these are examples of results. Handling N calls, achieving 93% first call resolution or hitting service level targets are NOT results decision makers are looking for – they are important, sure, but are operational enablers.

Base your budgets on a clear strategy. By defining who your customers are, when and how they desire to reach you, the means by which you will identify, route, handle, and track those contacts, and how you will leverage the information that comes from them, your customer access strategy should be the principle blueprint for the budget. Without this foundation, budgetary decisions are likely to head off in many directions.

Ensure the budgeting process is open and candid. Be realistic about changes in the eternal environment, and completely transparent – in terms of the good, bad, and ugly – about how well the call center has been meeting its objectives in the recent past.

Leverage the resource planning you are already doing. In well-run call centers, forecasting, staffing, scheduling and cost-analysis are ongoing responsibilities. These activities should take much of the work out of the budget process, because the budget should ultimately be based on the same workload predictions.

View the budget as a process, not just a plan or document. I've seen managers spend many hours putting the detail together, only to have their priorities swept away or diluted in a matter of minutes in financial planning discussions. I've also seen powerful budgetary agreements happen over an informal lunch. It's the effectiveness of your case that matters most.

Sure, budgeting requires some number crunching and analysis… but spend at least as much time opening channels of communication and educating decision makers. That makes all the difference.

As former President/CEO of ICMI, Brad led the firm to international recognition and an eventual sale to Think Services. He now serves as a Senior Advisor to ICMI/Think Services and delivers keynotes and consulting around the world. Brad is author/editor of eight books, including Call Center Management on Fast Forward, which received an Amazon.com best-selling award. He can be reached at bcleveland@think-services.com.

Don’t get caught up in the reduction frenzy!

The following two passages are from an article on HarvardBusiness.org. It is titled: “The Secret of Success in a Failing Economy”. It is very timely, and I have written an article that will be in the January issue of Support World magazine addressing this same issue. My article will be titled: “Don’t Make Bad Decisions in a Bad Economy”. The points are the same; never stop investing in your people or the things that are important to your customers. I will let you read the excerpts. Let us know what you think?

“The more jarring message comes for companies and their leaders. We're still early into the downturn, but already big companies are reacting the way they always do. They are encouraging their highest-paid, most-experienced performers--that is, those with the most practice--to be the first to leave. Last year, in perhaps the most famous example of this brain-dead, knee-jerk policy , Circuit City, the giant electronics retailer, announced its so-called "wage management initiative." The plan: fire its most talented and experienced employees in favor of younger workers making less money. Of course, customers who visited the stores looking for advice got much less of it, which meant they took their business elsewhere. The result? Last month, Circuit City filed for bankruptcy.”

“How's this for a secret of success? You don't survive a downturn by encouraging your most experienced people to leave. Perhaps more business leaders can resist this wrong-headed practice--and hold on to those employees who have had the most practice in their careers.”

Makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it? I’m no Harvard grad; but this is a no brainer!

Rich Hand
Executive Director of Membership
ICMI

In Your Ear: The Top Censored Contact Center News Stories of 2008
By Greg Levin

It’s that time of year again – a time when I reflect back over the past 12 months in our industry and realize what a journalistic coward I have been. You see, all these months that I’ve been writing fluffy, feel-good feature articles and case studies, there have been duplicitous scandals, great injustices, vendor cage fighting occurring all over the contact center world.

Most of you never hear about such unsavory stories because few trade publications have the guts and spunk to go up against the powerful industry leaders and establishment. But trust me, plenty such stories exist. If only I had a dime for every time a top contact center consultant wrote his own “client” testimonials, or every time a leading Fortune 500 company’ center genetically cloned one of its top agents, well, I’d be rich enough to cover the fee that major vendors pay to win “Product of the Year” awards.

Just like every year around this time, I’ve become disgusted by my own cowardice and, as a result, present to you now the top two censored contact center news stories of the past year. If you often become squeamish at the sight of naked, objective truth, you may want to bypass the remainder of this blog/article (blogicle) and instead turn on Fox News.


Speech Analytics Solution Removed from Market for Taking Advantage of Callers Who Aren’t Right in the Head

The power of speech analytics has been highly touted for several years now, but one vendor recently tried to go too far with its latest offering, which has been banned in the U.S.

Where typical speech analytics tools are able to evaluate key words and phrases to shed light on caller preferences and satisfaction levels, CallAmity Inc.’s new product, VoiceVasion, is able to analyze vocal patterns to determine such things as customer sanity, loneliness levels, and likelihood that the customer might be really stupid. Using such information, the system can then help companies take advantage of such poor saps.

For instance, if VoiceVasion’s highly sensitive speech technology detects a crazy person or a numbskull on the line, screen pops instruct the agent to tell the caller that if he doesn’t buy the company’s product or service immediately, the world will end within the next day or two, or a week at the latest. Or if the technology determines that a suicidal person is on the line, agents are told to lie about how every new purchase comes with a two-year supply of Zoloft or a free ticket to Disney on Ice.

Harry Skink, CallAmity’s director of marketing, acknowledges that the product is a bit controversial, but explains that it stands to make a real difference in people’s lives. “The number of wackos and idiots in this country is ever-increasing, but they are often overlooked and ignored. We saw a real opportunity to recognize these people while at the same time vastly increasing the revenues of our clients.”


Top Contact Center Consultant Suspected of Stealing Most of His Insights from Wikipedia

Carl Jeffries’ meteoric rise to fame as a contact center consultant all started in 2004 when he helped a renowned Fortune 500 company implement a VoIP platform, with only three fatalities reported. He received much praise and recognition, and word soon spread of Jeffries’ skill, innovation and full head of hair – helping him land scores of additional consulting clients.

It was recently discovered, however, that up to 99 percent of Jeffries’ ideas, approaches and advice may have come directly from Wikipedia – the online encyclopedia that is written and edited by users who are smarter than Jeffries but who receive none of the $10,000-a-day consulting fees Jeffries charges clients.

Sarah Johnson, director of customer care for CitiChaseAmerica Bank, was the first person to expose Jeffries. A colleague of Johnson’s – who was considering hiring Jeffries to help her call center hypnotize customers into thinking they were loyal and satisfied –
asked Johnson to take a look at Jeffries proposal and give feedback. While perusing the proposal, Johnson realized that much of the information had been lifted directly from a Wikipedia entry on Customer Hypnosis that Johnson had written while drunk a few months earlier.
Dozens of other contact center professionals have since reported similar incidents, greatly discrediting the star consultant. It should be pointed out that it is not illegal to steal information from Wikipedia, thus Jeffries will face no prison time nor fines; however he will likely face years of declining business and having nobody sit by him during lunch at industry events.