Mitch Lieberman

The Contact Center of the Future

by Mitch Lieberman, on December 16, 2011, in Thought Leadership, about , , , .

* The future of customer service is agility; the ability to adapt to the changing needs of your customers
* The future of service excellence is differentiation, the ability to create personalized and engaging service experience
* The future of service process is contextual optimization; the capability to coordinate and/or collaborate, internally, while staying focused on supporting customer jobs
* The future of the service desktop is an intuitively designed, content rich, positive user experience
* In the future (now actually) your team needs to provide a faster, superior, efficient service experience every day, to every customer on every channel

A responsive organization is an integrated organization. The simple recipe here is 2 parts people 2 parts process and 1 part technology, all very important ingredients (after all what would fish be without the chips?). I am not convinced that an integrated organization equates to a social organization; but they are kissing cousins and my social business peers might be able to convince me if they believe it to be required. An integrated and coordinated organization are table stakes in order to service the ever more sophisticated, demanding and complex customer. Again, this might equate to be the social customer, that is TBD – but I do not want to get stuck on social this and that. For better or worse, each customer has the expectations of a preferred premium experience.

I started this post with the thought that I was to write a bit of a prediction post for 2012. Thus, it seemed natural to write about the Contact Center of the Future. But, I have two major struggles with the task at hand:

  1. In the Future, there will not be a ‘center’ there will be sets of roles logically aligned and systems physically connected; the people will be everywhere, the data here and there.
  2. The future will obviously include 2012, but it also includes 2013, 2014, etc.,… The point is that 2012 will be part of the journey, but not the endpoint (we are only scratching the surface).

A well-structured, modern contact center allows for the emphasis to be properly placed on helping and engaging with customers; past, present and future. With each type listed, your organization needs to show value and establish trust. The contact center of the future will allow agents to more easily add that human element to each interaction, fostering relationships, and pushing the needle in the right direction. No matter what needle you look at!

A Scenario

As I am writing this, at least in part, on Cyber Monday, I am of course influenced by the latest and greatest of tech toys. I am not yet a fan of 3D viewing in my home, but I suppose all it will take is one grand experience at a friends house and then I will be sold. That of course got me thinking about how video will make its way into the contact center -err, communications hub, or customer service area. There will be a dedicated team for certain industries, where video will begin to make a big impact. Think business to business for auto-manufacturers or heavy equipment. As devices and technology get more complex, it will take better visualization techniques than we have currently to make things work.

Multi-channel and Cross-channel complexities go well beyond simply the scope of customer service, the contact center or marketing – these are company wide issues.

  • Fact: Customers expect to be able to make a purchase using a mobile device
  • Fact: Amazon allows anyone to scan a bar code in a physical store to compare a price
  • Fact: Displaying something in a store is more expensive than storing it in a warehouse
  • Fact: If you are planning to compete on price alone, you will lose

Here is the scenario

Customer A does some research on Google for a new television (the new 3D version I was talking about above). The customer notices that is available at the local Best Buy, around the corner. Since the new 3D glasses are involved, there is some hesitation to simply ‘pull the trigger’ online, as the glasses need the ‘will my wife actually wear these things’ question answered. Customer goes to the store, looks at the unit, tries the glasses on and begins to wander the store to ‘think things though’. Remembering the scanner application he downloaded last week, the customer scans the bar code sees that it is available at Amazon and also reads the reviews. The dilemma: The TV is available on Amazon for $200 less and it can be at the door in 2 days….

Amazon might be cheaper, but do they also have geek squad? Is Customer A confident that when he gets home he is able to mount the television on the wall, connect the wires to new fancy Dolby surround sound and internet devices. What will Amazon do when Customer A sends an email, rings the phone, looks for a forum or post the question on Twitter? Truth be told, I am not sure of those answers, but I do know that Best Buy has all of the these things as well as a contact center. I am not saying Amazon does not, I am just less familiar.

One final thought, the phone is part of the contact center of the future – just sayin’

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Liz Erk

Theory is Great, Solving Real Problems Rocks!

by Liz Erk, on June 24, 2011, in Thought Leadership, about , , , , .

Earlier this week we announced Sword Ciboodle’s new relationship with Nicor National. We put out a press release (which was “old school,” according to Mitch Lieberman), but as Sword Ciboodle’s new Public Relations team, we at The Jaxson Group decided to dive a little deeper into Nicor National’s perspective on what made them select us (and we say “us” because despite being an “outside agency,” we’re an extension of the Sword Ciboodle family) as their CRM solution provider.

Why are we doing this? Well, let’s face it- press releases have their place, but we thought we could get a little more insight on what Nicor’s choice really means to them and their customers. After we issued the “official release,” we sat down with Barbara Porter, Vice President of Customer Service and Business Development of Nicor National to have a candid Q&A. We asked Mitch to weigh in as well. Enjoy!

Q: Before deciding to engage with Sword Ciboodle, how did you manage your customer relationships?
Barbara Porter: We had multiple systems, about 10 or 11. It was just becoming far too complex to manage our interactions with our customers.

Mitch’s POV: In talking with customers and doing industry research, companies are lumping these two problems together, when they can be separated. Nicor was able to separate the issues and think about the ‘many systems’ problem and separately, the ‘user experience’ problem. I have also found that many companies are deciding that the transactional and data parts of their core systems are just fine, it is just that the user experience that is becoming harder and harder to manage.

Q: What was the moment that really signaled it was time for Nicor National to change?
Barbara Porter: Our processes just weren’t customer friendly anymore. It was difficult for both our reps and customers and once that became very apparent, we knew we needed to explore other options.

Mitch’s POV: Putting the customer’s needs at the center of an infrastructure change can be an uphill battle. The ROI can be difficult to measure – possible, but not easy. Doing right by the customer always makes sense – period.

Q: What made you decide to select Sword Ciboodle?
Barbara Porter: We actually met Sword Ciboodle at a conference. We realized quickly that the team had great experience in our industry and truly understood our business at ahigh level. That’s just as important to us as the technology.

Mitch’s POV: It is refreshing to hear a comment like this – for one, that the world of Marketing cannot simply be solved only using “Inbound” approaches. Business still takes place between people, in person, where you can shake hands and discuss business over lunch.

Q: Are you exploring other methods of engaging customers such as through social media channels?
Barbara Porter: Yes! Our customers have been indicating they want this more and more, particularly to communicate with us in general, pay bills, check their status and other areas that help maintain their relationship with us. We currently use a system called Allegiance to create customer surveys, as well as receive direct feedback from customers. We are hearing more and more from them that they want social functionality.
Mitch’s POV: This is fun to hear and interesting at the same time. Those of you who know me, well ‘commentary’ will simply not cut it. I will try to schedule more time with Ms. Porter and dig in a bit more on this one.

Q: Anything else you think people should know?
Barbara Porter: All along our focus has been to create a positive experience for both our staff and customers. The two go hand-in-hand. We know Sword Ciboodle is going to help us deliver on that commitment. Once the program is entirely rolled out and themultiple systems are gone, it’s going to be fabulous!

Mitch’s POV: Serving Nicor National and its customers is especially going to be fun and interesting because this is an industry where it can often be tricky to deliver truly personalized customer service. We are looking forward to following their success…

…And the Jaxson Group team is, too! We love any opportunity to brag about our clients’ customer successes- particularly when it pertains making consumers’ lives easier. We hear customer service “horror stories” everyday, so it’s a pleasant change of pace when we get to examine companies who are “doing it right.”

-Liz Erk, Owner/ Principal Partner of The Jaxson Group

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Marketing Team

Build customer service around your customer – and it could be Amazon-azing…

by Marketing Team, on March 28, 2011, in Company Voice, about , , , .

We all have customer service from hell stories, which frequently come out in the pub and get increasingly hyped up as time goes by.  There is nothing better than comparing battle scars and putting down those companies that dared cross you.  However, is there a converse to this?  Have you ever sat in a bar and waxed lyrical about a customer service experience from heaven? A study from the White House Office of Consumer Affairs showed that happy customers who get their issue resolved tell on average 4-6 people about their experience – sounds good in practice but does it happen in real life?  With so many examples of pitiful customer service standards across various industries it’s hard to believe, however I have witnessed the promised land and it was magical!

The story starts with me purchasing a kindle from www.amazon.com.  A bit of a book worm, I was so delighted with it I wanted to ensure it was kept out of harm’s way so I went the extra mile and purchased a quite lavish leather case to protect it.  All went well, until my kindle started randomly rebooting itself… Not cool, especially as it kept losing where I was up to in the book.  It’s at this point that usual feeling of dread overcame me, time to call customer services…..

But with Amazon, the whole experience is different, and was probably unparralled to any I’ve had before.  And as a result I’ve been turned into the kind of customer every business wants, one that not only regularly uses the company but will tell anyone who will listen about how awesome it and it’s customer service is.

Firstly, you put your number into a website and they phone you!! And no, they don’t phone you when they’ve got a mo, they phone you instantly. Nice.

Once on the call with an agent I was then prepared for what I thought would be a tricky strategic negotiation to get to the end goal of what I wanted, not what they wanted to give me.  I’d spent an hour on the forums diagnosing the problem and I’d discovered what other customers had got in resolution of the same issue.  The series of events couldn’t have been further from this.  The lovely gentleman I spoke to acknowledged the problem, confirmed it was a product defect, refunded my case and gave me a credit in order to purchase the higher value case and sent me on my merry way.  The whole issue was solved in less than 10 minutes – I was agog…. I didn’t even have to pull on any of my much sought after ‘Tait negotiation’ skills!

Since then, I’ve been amazon’s golden advocate customer.  Sad but true, I do speak about it in the pub. Also at work, on the train, on the phone to loved ones etc etc.  To this day, the thing which continues to amaze me is that none of the steps taken were particularly revolutionary.  They were just a great example of a company doing the simple things really well, and the fact I’m so impressed by it should in itself illustrate how rare this is:

  • They were familiar with my account from the number I entered to be called on – so there was no “what’s your name, eye color, DNA profile” grilling.
  • The agent was empowered to solve my issue – he didn’t have to speak to a manager to get permission or bounce me around the organization in order to resolve my problem
  • They apologized – the simplest thing a company can do, and it goes pretty far.
  • They made everything as easy for me as possible, even sending me a link post call so I could rate my experience and the specific agent I talked to.

It’s not rocket science, but it works and the results speak for themselves – customer satisfaction, loyalty, advocacy and positive word of mouth.  I’m living proof!

My great grandmother always used to say – without the lows, you wouldn’t have the highs.  So while I’m not saying gone are the days when we put an organization’s customer service to rights in the pub, I’m hopeful that if more organizations can realize the importance of creating a customer service built around the customer then maybe more often these sessions will be lightened up with the customer service highs.  And, for me at least, Amazon customer service is definitely a high.

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Marketing Team

The sound of silence

by Marketing Team, on November 10, 2010, in Company Voice, about , , , , , , .

The buzz around Social CRM and the related types of media has got me thinking about good old call centers again – in the vein that sometimes a disruptive technology can shed new light on an old one.  So, specifically I’ve been considering that while Social Media Monitoring tools helps you tune out the noise, are you listening to the silence in your call center? How much of your talk time is actually spent talking to customers?

Social Media Analytics is all about measuring the conversations out there; frequency, volume, sentiment, media, network of participants etc etc. There are many factors you can measure, and the most difficult part is probably tuning into the right signal and cutting out the noise. But what about the opposite, what about silence?

Continue reading…

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