Let's Grow Leaders

JUNE 27, 2013

I felt my energy drain as I drove toward the call center. The center’s results were stagnant– it was time to dig deeper. I was there to help, but also to deliver some tough messages. Necessary, not fun. “Joe,” one of the managers, ran enthusiastically across the parking lot.

Energy 444

Energy Call Center Leadership Stress 444

Chart Your Course

FEBRUARY 19, 2018

Customer Service is Important to Call Centers. In particular, when it comes to improving the customer service experience and streamlining operations, today’s call center agents now have a wide array of tech solutions to resolve these matters. Cost savings are integral to the business model of most call centers.

Call Center 100

Call Center Operations Software Cost 100

Let's Grow Leaders

JUNE 23, 2014

Shelly (not her real name) was completely frustrated with her team’s call center results. Sure the out-of-the gate progress feels great at beginning, but if you don’t take time to create genuine connections and build relationships, somewhere down the line you’re going to derail. Shelly’s Story.

Call Center 459

Call Center Incentives Energy Class 459

Let's Grow Leaders

MARCH 12, 2014

One of the most frequently uttered phrases in call centers is to instruct reps to “leave their home burdens at home, they won’t help you serve our customers.” ” I get it, but I refuse to say it. The truth is, I don’t believe life works that way.

Call Center 431

Call Center Motivation Team 431

Let's Grow Leaders

JULY 10, 2018

I just got off the phone with a frustrated CEO, who was fired up after a half day of observation in one of his call centers. “Karin, Why don’t these managers GET IT? I just left a visit to one of our […]. The post The Power of Observation: 6 Ways to Show Up Helpful appeared first on Let's Grow Leaders.

Call Center 313

Call Center Power CEO Management 313

Let's Grow Leaders

OCTOBER 10, 2012

This is not the norm in the call center space, but one guy raised his hand. I was attending a breakout session on social media strategy at the International Customer Service Association conference, when the presenter asked, “who allows their reps to have Facebook on their work computers?”

Call Center 304

Call Center Conference Media Strategy 304

Let's Grow Leaders

AUGUST 25, 2012

I met a fantastic woman at a call center recognition event. My day began well. She shared this great story… which I humbly share with you. Everyone kept telling me that I needed to be more confident, to be the expert for our customers. But the problem was I just wasn’t feeling confident. And…I didn’t [.]

Call Center 287

Call Center Mentor 287

Let's Grow Leaders

SEPTEMBER 22, 2014

call center directors, team leaders). Here’s what such an informal competency could look like in the call center director world. The debate and prioritization are worth the time, even if you never do much more with the model. Of course, the further you take it, the more impactful the exercise becomes. An Example.

Team 466

Team Call Center Participative Wilde 466

Lead Change Blog

APRIL 8, 2014

She has a diverse background of executive leadership experience in sales, customer service, call centers, human resources, merger integration, training and leadership development-- the last 20 years of which have been with Verizon.

Wireless 295

Wireless Wiseman Call Center Outsourcing 295

Let's Grow Leaders

MAY 14, 2014

The other day, I heard a customer service VP on stage talking to a team of call center reps trying to inspire great customer service. Out of Touch -A close cousin to #2, leaders lose credibility when they can’t relate to the personal circumstances of their teams.

Long-term 504

Long-term Call Center Energy Commitment 504

Lead Change Blog

MAY 29, 2014

She has a diverse background of executive leadership experience in sales, customer service, call centers, human resources, merger integration, training and leadership development-- the last 20 years of which have been with Verizon.

Micromanagement 294

Micromanagement Wireless Wiseman Call Center 294

Terry Starbucker

JUNE 19, 2011

A lot of it surrounded improvements to call centers, and this was where the dilemma came to the surface. The implication was clear – improve the call center “service level” (the percentage of calls answered within 30 seconds), or suffer the slings and arrows of impatient customers. But that costs money.

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Call Center Metrics Bottom-up Cost 264

Let's Grow Leaders

FEBRUARY 25, 2015

For My LGL Call Center Peeps. I know many of you work in a call center world. I’ve been doing a good bit of work and writing recently for call centers that I thought would be useful to share. 5 Myths Hurting Your Call Center Strategy. What Every Great Call Center Needs.

Call Center 180

Call Center Team Covey Discount 180

Let's Grow Leaders

FEBRUARY 16, 2015

I’d been giving out recognition awards on my massive “road trip,” a 27 states in 45 days kind of tour of motivational kick off meetings in Verizon Wireless’ outsourced call centers. Communication Began begin building confidence call centers coaching confidence effective call centers Mentoring'

Call Center 180

Call Center Wireless Outsourcing Mentor 180

Terry Starbucker

APRIL 13, 2011

The best example of “trap avoidance&# working in the real world, for me, was when I was talking to a call center agent about the “policy&# of doing everything in her power to avoid a costly truck roll to a customer’s house.

Call Center 278

Call Center Policies Guidelines Letter 278

Let's Grow Leaders

SEPTEMBER 6, 2021

He was my technical expert— he knew everything about the network and call center operations. Back in my Verizon days, one of my favorite peers, Dan, and I were always advocating for one another—but for completely different things. And I was his HR and team development sounding board.

How To 551

How To Learning-by-Doing Course Call Center 551

Let's Grow Leaders

JULY 28, 2014

When I was a call center Director, I worked for a Senior VP who was strong, tough and introverted. But, she was a good leader who deeply understood the value and made it a point to spend quality time in the centers. Listen well, take great notes, follow-up with the person who shared their idea. A MBWA Secret Weapon.

Long-term 439

Long-term Call Center Execution Learning-by-Doing 439

Eric Jacobson

AUGUST 5, 2014

Did the employee fumble when transferring the call if making a transfer was necessary? Was there distracting background noise on the employee''s end during the call? Call Centers Customer Service Eric Jacobson on Leadership and Management Paul R.

Call Center 62

Call Center Reference Efficiency Information 62

Leading Blog

MARCH 1, 2020

Cops chase robbers, doctors treat patients with chronic illnesses, and call-center reps address customer complaints. We stay downstream, handling one problem after another, but we never make our way upstream to fix the systems that caused the problems. But many crimes, chronic illnesses, and customer complaints are preventable.

Books 403

Books Handbook Leadership Tactics 403

Management Excellence

MAY 4, 2011

Note from Art: this is a rave. I was on the receiving end of one too many miserable support experiences recently, and this is my, “I’m Madder than Hell…” response. To the Executives and CEOs who believe it is a good idea to make your customer's lives miserable, get a clue.

Call Center 78

Call Center Outsourcing CEO Execution 78

Strategy Driven

JULY 3, 2019

If you’re managing a call center, customer care is the name of the game. You’ll undoubtedly have all kinds of targets to meet, and it’s in your interests to make every call a customer care success. Here are four ideas on how to improve customer care in your call center. How can you make this a reality?

Call Center 51

Call Center Tools Training Environment 51

Terry Starbucker

DECEMBER 8, 2013

The key here is to focus on only 3-4 targets per cascade level that have specific relevance to that level – for example, in my cable company our 3 company-wide numbers were total customers, Net Promoter Score, and our Customer Fault Rate, while at the call center level, they were Service Level, Abandonment Rate, and First Call Resolution.

Leadership 339

Leadership Metrics Short-term Drucker 339

Leading Blog

NOVEMBER 5, 2018

Users connect with you through call centers, emails, searches, your website, and networking events. “When companies cannot seem to figure out why they have stalled, customers’ pain points and headaches are often great places to start.” This is true for churches too. What questions are people asking that you aren’t answering?

Innovation 313

Innovation Simon Case Study Storytelling 313

Terry Starbucker

APRIL 1, 2012

2) We made significant process improvements that saved thousands of “truck rolls” 3) We stopped spending money on things we THOUGHT were important to the customer (especially in our Call Center). The savings came from all three key elements: 1) We improved retention by 25%.

ROI 294

ROI Call Center Operations Cost 294

Let's Grow Leaders

OCTOBER 21, 2015

For example, when I am positioning myself for change management work in the call center space, I do believe I have a cocktail that is unique. I’m uniquely positioned to help a call center turn their results around. and I’m about to publish a book for AMACOM based on that experience. Namaste, Karin.

Call Center 180

Call Center Outsourcing Reference Education 180

Eric Jacobson

FEBRUARY 25, 2014

Did the employee fumble when transferring the call if making a transfer was necessary? Was there distracting background noise on the employee''s end during the call? Call Centers Customer Service Customers Eric Jacobson on Leadership and Management Telephone Skills'

Call Center 50

Call Center Quality Reference Efficiency 50

Terry Starbucker

APRIL 3, 2011

Or knowing that a call center agent puts on a headset at 8AM, and aside from breaks and lunch, the calls NEVER stop. It’s one after the other. Not a lot of time to regroup from an angry customer, or a complicated problem.

Course 288

Course Leadership Call Center Process 288

Lead Change Blog

OCTOBER 15, 2014

Zappos founder and CEO Tony Hsieh spends several hours of most weeks in the call center taking calls from customers. At the core of being a leader is the ability to always connect one’s voice with one’s touch.”. A Leader’s Touch.

Leadership 300

Leadership Rogers Airlines Open-book 300

Terry Starbucker

AUGUST 27, 2017

The best example of “trap avoidance” working in the real world, for me, was during my cable TV career when I was talking to a call center agent about the “ policy ” of doing everything in her power to avoid a costly truck roll to a customer’s house. I rolled the truck, and I don’t care about the consequences”.

Call Center 192

Call Center Letter Policies Guidelines 192

Chart Your Course

SEPTEMBER 23, 2014

The Harvard Business Review published the results of a study that followed employees of a Chinese call center called Ctrip. Half of the workers telecommuted for nine months while the rest remained in the call center. These are the businesses that will be left behind and lose good employees in the process.

Call Center 207

Call Center Human Resources How To Cooper 207

Let's Grow Leaders

APRIL 15, 2016

Sure I had done a lot of speaking before, but only to internal Verizon crowds or to my outsourced call centers where I was “the client. And for my call Center Peeps, see my ICMI video interview How to Be a Better Contact Center Manager. Now he’s a friend. Shep smiled: Great job.

Call Center 180

Call Center Conference Outsourcing Advice 180

Strategy Driven

JULY 23, 2021

There Is a Difference Between a Call Center and Answering Service. Many business owners make no distinction between an answering service and a call center. A call center is a network of telephone agents that both receive and make calls primarily for marketing companies.

Call Center 131

Call Center Industry Definition Globalization 131

Rapid BI

MARCH 16, 2016

We have all been there, on a phone call to a call centre and trying to make sure that the spelling of a name or address etc is correct. the the person in the call centre starts saying things like "a for apple" or "T for tree". The post NATO Phonetic Alphabet – SIA & Call Center Training appeared first on RapidBi.

Call Center 34

Call Center Training Management 34

Let's Grow Leaders

DECEMBER 22, 2016

Police, firefighters, military, call centers, convenience stores. In our family we also have concerns that weigh heavy. Stopping can sometimes be too quiet. I am also so grateful to all who cannot stop this holiday. There are many people “going” to empower our stopping.

Power 180

Power Film Call Center Workshop 180

Let's Grow Leaders

MARCH 14, 2019

How do you build a high-performing, cohesive team when people are working on different schedules? Clarity is even more important as you get everyone working toward the same goals and it takes extra effort to build relationships with little face-time. Here are […].

Team 497

Team How To Goal Call Center 497

In the CEO Afterlife

SEPTEMBER 24, 2012

If you don’t have a factory, work in the store or the call center or the warehouse or. Sometimes I had to stay late on a Friday to make five telephone calls. Our factory workers loved the fact that I was willing to “get dirty with them.” I didn’t realize it at the time, but this humanized me. Handle Consumer Complaints.

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CEO Chief Executive Officer Business Model Competitive Advantage 207

Lead Change Blog

MARCH 1, 2018

For instance, if you hire a call center and have received several customers commenting on their great interaction with a certain representative, let her manager know. A simple note or email can make a world of difference.

Team 216

Team Conference Outsourcing Call Center 216