Customer Service - Brad Cleveland

Focus on What Really Matters

Aug 3, 2016 | Call Center, Contact Center, Customer Service, Leadership

In recent years, there has been a lot of attention on contact center “optimization.” To many, optimization is synonymous with driving costs out of the business — moving contacts to lower-cost channels (self- service, etc.), reducing human contact with the...

Perspective on First-Contact Resolution

Jul 28, 2016 | Call Center, Contact Center, Customer Experience, Customer Relationships, Customer Service, Leadership

First-contact resolution (FCR) is a popular performance measure in customer contact centers. And that’s a good thing: Unresolved contacts are a common source of customer dissatisfaction, and the organization tends to incur many additional expenses (repeat...

7 Rules of the Road for Recruiting and Hiring

Jul 21, 2016 | Call Center, Contact Center, Customer Service, Organization and Culture, Quality Management, Videos

Educate and Engage: Strong Relationships Matter

Jul 19, 2016 | Call Center, Contact Center, Customer Service, Leadership, Organization and Culture

Gina Szabo once relayed this story to me and gave permission for it to be published in Call Center Management on Fast Forward. Although certainly not a recommendation, it is a good reminder that communication is a key first step to contact center success. As a new...

Secrets to Better Scheduling Results

Jul 14, 2016 | Call Center, Contact Center, Customer Service, Workforce Management

The very forces that are making scheduling difficult — more complex products and services, additional contact channels, faster pace of change, and the need for diverse agent skills — are creating an environment in which accurate scheduling is absolutely essential....