Are you working through difficult discussions related to resources and budget? Just remember, contact centers must handle most customer-related work as it happens, so resource mismatches quickly result in big problems. It’s essential that those making decisions have a basic understanding of staff tradeoffs in a contact center (read: real time) environment. The following table is an example of how …
Establishing the right measures and objectives is one of the most important responsibilities in leading and managing a contact center successfully. But there’s a significant inherent challenge, which has only become more difficult with the introduction of new channels and social contacts – we produce mounds of data! And even so, many organizations are operating without information that is essential …
The number one key to sustaining great service is culture. The culture of doing the daily hard work to focus on what’s best for customers. What do organizations with the most engaged employees and customer-focused cultures have in common? Here is a Lynda.com video from the course Customer Service Leadership that describes seven principles that I’ve seen stand out. Cultivating …
Over the past decade, ICMI has studied, codified and periodically published a summary of the most important principles behind building strong, profitable customer relationships. Lately, I’ve been asked, are these principles less important? Have evolving customer expectations, social communities, new channels and other developments changed the fundamentals? Not at all! These 12 principles are as important as ever, in large …
A prerequisite to getting good support from senior management is that they have at least a basic understanding of what contact centers do. To fulfill their potential, customer contact centers need commitment and involvement from the top. And a prerequisite to getting necessary support is that senior level managers understand the unique contact center environment – what they do and …
One of the most important leadership priorities in today’s economy is to ensure that your customer contact center delivers maximum strategic value to your organization. That, in turn, is what will get you the support you need from colleagues across the organization. It’s what will secure adequate funding, and will facilitate the means to attract the talents required. And it …
For contact centers to deliver great service they need to get the right resources in the right places at the right times. This is no easy task. I recently created a course for Lynda.com on Managing a Customer Contact Center. In this succinct course, you’ll learn what makes contact centers so complex, how to implement a solid planning framework, and …
Many contact centers have been through consolidations or restructurings that are really just cleanup efforts for lack of having or using an effective customer access strategy. For example, I recall helping an insurance company with agent group “consolidation.” Their sales team would sell an account to a major client and, if pressed by the prospect, would agree to provide a …
