The Contact Center Blog

The "PEOPLE" Only a Piece of the Puzzle

For my first contribution to this Blog, I wanted to share my opinion on one of the strengths of the contact center outsourcing industry - the PEOPLE. Many call center outsourcers refer to their “people” as their agents when marketing/selling their services. They’re portrayed as friendly down to earth people who build relationships with customers. You’ll notice this just by visiting some outsourcers’ websites, like Hamilton, Global Response, AnswerConnect, and even 24-7 INtouch.

I came across an older blog entry talking about automated answering attendants and the real value of people. I agree that there’s a common focus on training call center agents, allowing them to be knowledgeable, friendly and helpful. As much as this is true, it doesn’t guarantee service being delivered the way it’s intended to be.

The “people” can be great, but they still need the tools and support to deliver. I think this can be sometimes overlooked. Call centers need to further support their agents by providing them with the right technology or system that’s user friendly, giving them quick access to the information they need. In addition to that there are many other things, such as a solid procedure and process of routing calls to appropriate agents, proper staffing, and workforce management, just to name a few. All of these factors affect the “people” and what they can really do.

Overall, the “people” are important but not the only thing customers should look out for. It’s the other things that support and work together with the people that distinguishes call centers from each other. Like a Ford Mustang, the power of it’s engine is impressive, but it needs many other functions working in sync to operate at maximum level. For call centers, the people also need other things working with them to deliver true quality service.

- JU

NCOF 08 - An Exhibitor's Perspective

The 24-7 INtouch team just got back from NCOF 2008 in Orlando last week and overall I think the show was pretty successful. We can never really define success from an ROI perspective until our sales team has the time to follow up on the leads generated from the show. But overall, here is my critique for the main elements we look for in a tradeshow (out of 5 star rating):

1) General Traffic -  2.5/5

The traffic in the exhibit hall was very low this year, which was surprising to us and also many of the other exhibitors. We definitely expected to see more people at the show which was a little disappointing. The attendee to exhibitor ratio seemed very low. There were several reasons that could explain the slow traffic, one being the American Airlines flight cancellations. AA canceled 3,300 flights over 5 days last week effecting travel for over a quarter million people. I guarantee some of those where destined to Orlando for the show. But a few things that could be controlled by the show management was the amount of breaks in the hall. There were very few traffic drivers into the hall (the "Food Factor" discussed in a previous posting) and also they closed the hall for 3 hours in the middle of the day! Last, the Exhibit hall was pretty far (downstairs) from the attendee tracks which made it easy for attendees to miss the hall.

2) Show Location - 4/5

The Gaylord Palms Resort was a very nice venue and since it was a little secluded it ensured many of the attendees would stay at the resort. This allowed for additional meetings with clients and also no one was in a rush to leave.

3) Attendees - 3.5/5

Out of the people we did speak to, many of them were very receptive of our services. They seemed interested and many were decision makers. Again, we have to wait for 6 months to see how interested they really were but, overall we were satisfied with who we were speaking to.

Those are my overall thoughts. I think I would give it a 3/5 using other shows we attend as a benchmark. We are attending next year again, so I still believe in the value of NCOF. If anyone would like to share their experience at the show I would love to hear from you! All comments welcome! Most of our competitors at the show were pretty forthcoming on how they thought the show was going, which is nice to see. There is nothing like a little friendly competition!

- MK

How Do You Maximize Existing Customer Revenue Potential?

One of the most valuable ways to increase your bottom line is by expanding the services of existing customers.  In the call center industry there are a number of ways to accomplish this via technology enhancements, quality assurance improvements, up sell marketing offers, chat, email utilization, fulfillment and IVR. 

At my company we utilize a wide network of partner experts to provide non-core call center services to enhance value, grow the customer and deepen the relationship.  On example is in the area of servicing  fulfillment.  Through strategic relationships we are able to service our customers enhanced needs with one contact person and one contract.  In addition we are able to offer preferred pricing that the customer would not be able to find on their own. 

What best practices has your company used to maintain an operational focus and still have a focus on program enhancements for customers once they are on service?

Learning to Speak Contact Center-ese

While getting familiar with the contact center industry, one of the most challenging things is familiarizing yourself with all the terminology and acronyms. In hunting around I found a call center “dictionary” of sorts which you can find here. I thought it might also be useful to briefly summarize some of the key terms which you might encounter and explain how they could impact you if you were selecting an outsourcer.

Talk Time – This includes the total time spent on a call when an agent is talking to a contact. It’s the time from when the phone is answered and the agent says “hello” right to when the caller hangs up.

Wrap Time – This is the time at the conclusion of the call when the agent is still working on something to assist the contact, however the actual call itself is over. This might include data entry, etc.

HT – This is an acronym for “Handle Time”. Basically this includes the entire length of time required for dealing with one customer contact. The HT includes the talk time of the call plus the wrap time.

AHT - You might also hear AHT which stands for “Average Handle Time”. You can get this by taking the total of all the HT’s for a particular group of calls divided by the number of calls in that group to get the average.

When shopping for an outsource contact center AHT can have a strong influence on the price. Most outsourcers charge a price per agent minute or per agent hour. While a potential service provider that offers a cheaper rate per minute might seem like the obvious choice, shaving a few seconds off the AHT – for example a shorter wrap time – can result in significant savings when multiplied times your total number of calls.

When you’re shopping around, ask what techniques each center has for reducing the AHT.  If they don’t know what an AHT is, refer them to this blog (and choose a different provider).

What Are You Good At?

In life and business those that do everything generally do nothing really well, is this reality or myth?  Hard to say for sure but one thing that does hold true is that by doing everything you are bound to get lost and not stand out in the crowd.  In my professional life I am tasked with aligning companies together that might best complement each other and add value to each other and the end customer.  When a company makes a decision to focus on a core service offering and leave the external services to experts it is very important to ensure that you are aligned with partners that have a targeted approach in their market niche; this will ensure the value ad offered is a true differentiator and stands out from the competition.  Aligning with a customer that believes they are experts in everything is a recipe for a mediocre value ad service for your customer.

Is 50,000 feet to high for a first call?

Over the last number of months I have had the good fortune to meet and discuss outsourcing relationships with a number of direct and indirect contact center related companies.  These include fulfillment houses, software companies, training consultants and of course contact centers.  When meeting potential business partners I am always amazed at the variety of ways companies communicate there “ pitch”.  Some are from as high as 50,000 feet and others as low as 15,000.  Regardless of the message the introductions that have the biggest impact for me are the companies that have the confidence to communicate early on what they can and cannot deliver.  While some may feel that it is unnecessary to disclose strengths and weaknesses on a first call I am always motivated to work with a company that knows who they are and what they can deliver.  In my view the purpose of developing external relationships is to add value to the overall service offering.  The only way this can occur is if both parties are honest when identifying what they are good at and where they need help.

The next time you are developing a new business relationship try a lower altitude on a first call and dive into strengths and weaknesses; you may be surprised to quickly learn how much value can be added from both parties, which is the staple for any long lasting partnership.

-MC

Love is in the Air...and online!

Happy Valentines Day!

February 14th represents a big sales day for many online retailers, and not just flowers and jewelry sites. Email marketing leading up to today has increased with retailers in all industries using Feb 14th to promote their gift sales. The National Jeweler Network polled more than 600 small business owners between Dec 31st and Jan 9th and the survey showed that 68 percent of small business owners are planning special promotions for the holiday, compared with 53 percent last year. Also, according to those polled, 46 percent expect consumers to shop the week of Valentine's Day, and 11 percent expect consumers will wait until the final day to pick up gifts.

Online retailers must be ready to deal with this influx of calls and visitors to their website. In a recent article  InternetRetailer.com describes a potentially disastrous situation for Vermont Teddy Bear, a multi-channel retailer of stuffed animals and other gifts, whose land line phone service went out last February in the area of their contact center, during on of the busiest times of their sales year. Fortunately the retailer was prepared and had contracts with multiple outsources to handle customer calls and e-mails during this time. One of their outsourced partners was able to get the agents taking calls in less than 45 minutes.

Want to learn more about trends online during one of the busiest gift giving days outside Christmas? One Up Web published a great white paper last year. One Up Web President and Founder Lisa Wehr comments, "Valentine’s Day is such a short sales season—different from Christmas where purchases may be made months in advance—that I expected paid search to play the larger role. For many of our clients, Valentine’s is second in revenue to Christmas and bigger than Mother’s Day. Clearly the data shows that e-commerce companies that don’t optimize will miss out on a huge part of the market.”

- MK

Who is Clicking on Your Expensive Online Advertising?

I am sure almost everyone reading this blog has an online presence of some sort, and I assume most are also marketing themselves online. A study released today entitled “Natural Born Clickers” by Starcom USA, Tacoda, and comScore states a relatively small group of people are responsible for a large percentage of the click through rates in the United States.

This is scary stuff as I assume most of us thought we were getting our marketing message out to a larger and broader Internet user demographic.

Making Sales in a Turbulent U.S. Economy

As we all know, the US economy is currently in a certain amount of turmoil. Personally, 95% of my sales are to American based businesses, so naturally this is of great concern to me. (FYI- I am the Senior Sales Executive at 24-7 INtouch Contact Center).

I came across this article from renowned sales guru Jeffrey Gitomer that I wanted to share with everyone. Although it discusses general sales during these challenging economic times, it reminds all of us in the contact center industry that helping our customers, and being a competent partner and advisor is always the best type of relationship to have with our clients.

I hope everyone finds this article useful; I look forward to any feedback- especially from other senior sales professionals.

Yahoo Says NO to Microsoft

To follow up from my previous post regarding the Yahoo/MSN Merger, Yahoo has rejected Microsoft's offer and find it "inadequate" and "undervalues the company". With a price of $31 offered, pundits are reporting Yahoo will not take anything lower than $40.

The Industry Standard reported, "Yahoo said that its management team, along with financial and legal advisors, believe the offer doesn't reflect cash flow, earnings potential, or recent investments in its advertising platform."

- MK

Can Microsoft Aquire Yahoo?

The Industry Standard reports The New York Times announced last week Microsoft's unsolicited bid to acquire Yahoo for $44.6 Billion. The companies have discussed mergers and partnerships over the last couple years. Although not a surprise, will  Yahoo accept? The Industry Standard predicts Yahoo will accept the bid by February 8th.

This acquisition will no doubt effect all of us as online consumers and business professionals.  Although MSN has a strong brand and with recent acquisitions strengthening its presence in the online advertising world; partnering with Yahoo will have its advantages. The Washington Post names Yahoo as one of the most powerful online media brands in the world with over 500 million users in numerous countries. Not to mention Yahoo's brand name is recognizable to billions of people. With MS and Yahoo teamed up, Google will finally have a run for their money.

But can MSN make it happen this time around...let's see what happens this week.

- MK

Calling all Catalog, Online, and Multi-channel Retailers

Registration is now open for NCOF 2008. The Operations & Fulfillment Conference will take place through April 7-10, 2008 at the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center, in Orlando FL. To register visit www.ncof.com.

New this year - Zappos.com Keynote. Benchmark Results on: Fulfillment, Returns, Contact Center, DC Trends. Session Tracks: Distribution Mgmt, Customer Experience; People Mgmt, Material Handling.

Call centers attending the show as exhibitors include 24-7 INtouch , Cyber City Teleservices, Global Response, Midco Call Center, The Connection, and USA 800.

I personally will be at the show so please feel free to stop by Booth #608 to discuss how you can contribute to the Contact Center Blog, or just to say hello!

- MK

2008 MCM Awards for Catalogers

Multichannel Merchant has announced entries for The 2008 MCM Awards asking online retailers to submit their website and/or catalog by Jan.25th. This is a great award which represent the industry’s top honors for b-to-b and b-to-c multichannel marketers. Finalists will be announced in April, and presentation ceremonies will be held during their 2008 Annual Conference for Catalog, Internet and Multichannel Merchants (ACCM) . This year the conference will be held in Orlando, Florida in May.  Winners are also featured in Multichannel Merchant Magazine's Annual Awards issue in September 2008.

The awards are based on various criteria such as cover page, copy, design, merchandise, customer service and ordering, and navigation of website. Winners last year included Black Box Corp, Crutchfield Corp,  L.L. Bean, Harry & David, and more. Check out a full list of last year's winners.

The online entry form can be found here - multichannelmerchant.com/toolbox/awards/.

- MK