We’re all familiar with surveying, one of the most common methods of gathering customer data, and a useful, cost-effective tool for the vast majority of questions we might want to ask our customers.

But anyone familiar with administering customer surveys is likely to be equally familiar with their limitations. Indeed, even the best-designed customer survey often fails to capture the “why” behind an action that a customer takes.

Gathering these additional details—the “why” behind the “what”—calls for a more qualitative methodology; and none, perhaps, is more common than the focus group. While marketing has traditionally been the business unit to leverage focus groups, customer service organizations looking for a deeper understanding of their customers might find this methodology to be an attractive option. In fact, we’ve been hearing from an increasing number of members who are interested in learning more about focus groups, citing the potential difficulties of capturing the entirety of today’s multichannel experiences using traditional quantitative methods.

So what’s the catch? Read More »

If you own a smartphone, tablet, or laptop computer (okay, that should cover just about everybody), then you’re likely familiar with the slick video-recording capabilities that now come standard on these gadgets. And if you’re like me, you’ve been wowed at the ability of face-to-face video conferencing to bridge physical limitations, seemingly bringing people much closer together, even if only in a ‘virtual’ sense.

With technology enabling the world to better capture, store, and share video content, we’ve certainly seen a rise in the number of organizations wondering how they can use video to serve their customers—we’ve even blogged previously about the idea of using self-service ‘how-to’ videos and customer-generated content.

Indeed, the recent and rapid rise of services like Apple’s FaceTime, Google Hangouts, and Skype naturally leads us to think about the potential for service organizations to leverage this technology, and while it’s certainly too early to say for sure, here’s my take on the future of video calling for service:

Employee-to-Employee
Companies looking to at least experiment with the benefits (and limitations) of video calling are likely to first pilot the service internally, using their employees to prove (or disprove) the value in offering video calling to customers. This pilot phase needn’t be restricted to just the call center, though; in fact, the biggest benefits may be found in enabling better communication and collaboration between service and other areas of the organization.  For example, we have heard from a few financial services organizations considering video capabilities between branch employees and call center staff.  In addition, video conferencing often comes up in the context of coaching and engaging with remote reps. Read More »

Among the most valuable resources at CCC are our Discussions forums, which provide an easy opportunity for members to ask and answer a wide range of questions of one another. Many times these questions are at a tactical level, and the answers that members provide help their peers to make quick, informed decisions about day-to-day operations.

Not surprisingly, one topic that remains popular in our Talent Management forum is training, and though we’ve done extensive research into contact center training at CCC, questions abound when it comes to the best way to train staff as organizations test new methods and leverage technology to assist in training sessions.

Below we’ve highlighted some of the recent trends and insights shared by our members via Discussions on the topic of training:

Training Environments

As technology enables organizations to experiment with new training programs and methods, questions arise about the best environment to maximize training effectiveness.

Though it may seem beneficial to train staff in a live production environment, when polled our members overwhelmingly preferred a separate environment used solely for training. Many cited concerns about privacy and confidentiality as their rationale for holding separating training sessions that are removed from the contact center floor. With today’s technology, they found that it is easier than ever before to create separate training environments that replicate real working scenarios that staff can be expected to handle in the course of their jobs. Read More »

It’s been a great 2011 at CCC as we teamed up with our members to help them address a year’s worth of challenges. We’ve already looked forward and shared our predictions for what 2012 will hold for service organizations, so here is a look back at our best research published in the past year. We’re hoping this list will help you refocus your priorities for the New Year and aid in your planning for a successful 2012!

• The Next Frontier of Rep Performance—when we heard from our members that rep performance was stalling despite continued investments in talent, we decided to take a closer look at what drives performance in the service organization today. What did we find? While traditional skill sets are still important, most reps were missing a crucial piece of the rep performance puzzle—one that has more than twice the impact on performance as any other factor. We call this set of skills and behaviors the Control Quotient (CQ), which quantifies a rep’s ability to exercise ownership over their day-to-day work, as well as to remain in control over themselves in stressful situations. In today’s quality-driven world, CQ is the number one lever that companies can pull to boost performance in their frontline. Read More »

CCC has partnered with Iconoculture to bring you the latest in global consumer trends.  Below is our bi-weekly update featuring the latest Iconoculture insights available now on the CCC site.

Consumer review websites like Yelp and TripAdvisor have made their names by providing a place for everyday consumers to play the role of the critic, and people seem to have few qualms when it comes to sharing their opinions about a recent vacation or night out on the town. But until recently, most of this peer-generated feedback has existed on third-party websites—with the reviews of a company’s products and services far removed from its corporate website.

Emerging Trends
That trend, however, is changing as more and more companies are looking at customer feedback—both positive and negative—in a new light and realizing the value that consumers place on peer reviews.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts, for example, has eliminated the need for customers to visit third-party websites by incorporating guest reviews right on its own website. Read More »

Note: this is the first post in a two-part series on rep development. In this post, we’ll discuss the methods that leading organizations are using to upskill their reps; the next installment will address the key skills that drive performance in today’s service organizations.

With the holiday rush just around the corner and many organizations preparing to add seasonal staff, we’ve been hearing a lot from CCC members in recent weeks about a topic that’s familiar to just about everyone in the service organization: training.

Whether its finding the right hours to conduct training sessions or determining appropriate compensation for reps during onboarding training, creating an effective training program is important to be sure—but enhancing training effectiveness isn’t as easy as one might think. As service organizations prepare for the coming months and plan for 2012, we’re revisiting some of CCC’s best insights when it comes to training:

1)      Training Isn’t Good for Everything
While training can be used to quickly and effectively introduce staff to information related to new products, it’s not well suited for upskilling staff in most other areas—including call handling techniques, interpersonal skills, or knowledge management. In fact, training in these areas can actually have a negative impact on team performance. Read More »

With all of the changes that have taken place in the service organization in recent years (e.g., the rise of social media customer service, shifting trends in call center outsourcing, and initiatives to collect and make use of voice of the customer data, just to name a few), it’s comforting to know that one thing remains the same: customers still don’t like long waits. And while this doesn’t come as a surprise, it is interesting to stop and think about the number of things organizations do to combat hold times.

One option that promises to alleviate the frustration of customer holding is virtual hold. This technology allows customers to choose to receive a live callback when they reach the front of the queue, as opposed to waiting on hold to be connected to a representative. This added convenience has been met with open arms by most customers, who report lower-effort experiences as a result of using this option.

While the benefits of virtual hold are fairly straightforward, a recent question posed in CCC’s Discussions Forum highlighted an interesting debate when it comes to how companies measure customer experiences that include virtual hold. To paraphrase the issue at hand: should virtual hold time be counted as part of the traditional service level calculations (such as average speed of answer)—or should virtual hold time be excluded? Read More »

When I have a question about the best way to do something, more often than not my first step is to ask a peer for help. Not only are my peers the most likely people to know what I’m going through and have the right answer, but they’re also the most convenient, comfortable source of knowledge to which I have access.

Unlike me, though, the typical rep in today’s service organization doesn’t have too many opportunities to learn from his or her peers; in fact, given the time constraints and scheduled nature of the call center, peer-to-peer learning—when it happens at all—tends to occur in an informal, ad hoc fashion. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it highlights an opportunity to introduce some more structure to the peer support that’s already taking place. And with more structured support, we can not only help avoid some of the potentially negative effects of unstructured peer support (for example, reps unknowingly sharing bad information with one another), but also:

1)      Decrease the burden on supervisors, who reps most frequently turn to for support in the absence of a helpful, accessible peer.

2)      Tap into an existing need for reps to connect with and support their peers.

3)      Develop coaching skills in reps, preparing them to fill future supervisor, coach, and leadership positions.

In short—there are some BIG benefits to be realized by creating the right conditions for effective peer-to-peer support in today’s service organization. Read More »

CCC has partnered with Iconoculture to bring you the latest in global consumer trends.  Below is our bi-weekly update featuring the latest Iconoculture insights available now on the CCC site.

If you’re part of the growing number of consumers that own a smartphone, you can’t wait to make use of the latest and greatest features that these gadgets offer—everything from voice-activated commands to real-time GPS navigation and face-to-face video calling.

But despite an overwhelmingly positive response to most new mobile features, consumers have very divergent views when it comes to one feature in particular: location-based services. These services refer to mobile technology that makes use of the geographical position of the device and its user; and as the mobile space has grown more social and connected to immediate information like time, location, and context, features like these have also raised some major privacy concerns for consumers.

While a recent Iconoculture survey found that only 10% of consumers had prior experience with location-based services, it also found that 41% of participants expressed zero interest in using location-based services, with concerns over privacy violations universally cited as the reason. Read More »

Monday, October 3^rd, kicks off Customer Service Week 2011, an occasion for service organizations to celebrate the work they do and the people who serve and support customers.

Last year, we shared a few creative ideas on how companies can show their appreciation for staff during Customer Service Week—these include friendly contests, giveaways, off-site trips, and other group activities throughout the week. Most companies schedule one or two events each day throughout the week with a goal of boosting employee morale and reaffirming the important role that employees play in the success of the service and support organization.

But while the focus of Customer Service Week has traditionally been the service employees themselves, some companies view the celebration as an occasion to recognize customers, as well. And with many organizations facing increased budget pressure this year, a greater focus on the customer can be one way to create a fun, meaningful week of celebration—without breaking the bank. Read More »