Consumer behaviors have changed in many ways coming out of the recession and in today’s time of economic uncertainty.  Some say consumers are more price sensitive and less loyal to brands – others talk about customers who demand more for less.

In the healthcare industry, recent data found an alarming new trend among U.S. consumers taking risks to avoid healthcare costs:

-There’s been a 10% increase since 2010 in the number of Americans who have done without or postponed healthcare-related expenses, including medical treatments, exams, tests, and prescriptions.

-Not only that, but Consumer Reports found that almost 50% of Americans who are on prescriptions actually delayed a doctor’s visit, declined tests, or bought their drugs outside the country.

-Plus, 25% of folks with prescriptions also scrimp on their prescriptions – skipping doses, not refilling, and taking expired medication.

All of this is to save on healthcare costs and avoid doctor visits.

While it is certainly a risky personal choice to view healthcare as a discretionary expense and hold off in the hope that one will stay healthy (and that’s a whole different topic that our friends at Iconoculture cover), today I want to focus on the additional potential impact to the company – especially the service organization. Read More »

A few weeks ago we sent out our annual agenda poll for 2012 – and over 900 of you answered the call to help direct next year’s CCC research agenda (thank you!).  As we start to parse through all the data, a few interesting things struck me that I wanted to share with you.

One: Despite a current environment of economic uncertainty and continued financial austerity, customer service’s organizational focus has not swung to cost containment at the expense of the customer experience.

And, two: In 2008/9, many of your peers looked at ways to reduce cost per contact as their key driver of cost reduction.  In 2012, more service organizations will find ways to reduce contact volume altogether – mainly through expanding self-service channels.

Let’s expand on both of these findings a bit.

Summer, for most of us, is a time to recharge our batteries, to relax, to enjoy some calm before the demands of life pick up again.  Unfortunately, investors have made that a good deal harder recently as they collectively removed over a trillion dollars in value from financial markets over the course of a few days.

Why the sudden volatility?  Consumers haven’t suddenly changed spending behaviors, nor have business customers. And suppliers look healthier than in some time, beating earnings estimates and sitting on plenty of cash. Credit availability has drastically improved. Inflation is hardly threatening.

The answer seems to lie in the health of developed economies. While many appeared to be on the mend for the past year (albeit slowly), it’s become clear the recovery is far more fragile than was thought, especially in the US.  We’re not in a recession, but we’re also not in a recovery that is self-sustaining. Read More »

I’m excited to announce the CCC has partnered with the Corporate Executive Board’s (our parent company) newest offering for B2C marketers – Iconoculture to bring our members exclusive new insights.  Iconoculture uses consumer trends and cultural observations from around the world to inform business decisions and help you keep pace with ever-evolving consumers and their needs.

The best part is that while this data was originally intended for marketers, their insights cover a wide-ranging set of topics also relevant to customer service executives and their teams.  Everything from why Spain is laying down the law on improving customer service to how the airline industry is currently embracing customer service to information on what today’s retiring generation expects from companies – all to help you better understand today’s consumer and what they want.

I’m also happy to report that Iconoculture often reports on data and trends from global markets, gathering data from around the world to better understand regional or cultural impacts.

Every two weeks, CCC will offer a complimentary sampling of the latest and most relevant Iconoculture insights.  We’ll be blogging about some of them, and always visit CCC’s new Iconoculture page for the latest insights.

For example, Read More »

This is a guest post by Andrew Kent, who researches and writes for our sister program the Sales Executive Council.  This post was originally published to the Sales Challenger blog.

The utilities business faces a looming crisis—if not today, then in the decade or two to come.  Simply put, the industry’s current business model is set up such that smarter use of its product threatens its profits, and this tension between supplier and customer can’t go on forever.

But utilities companies need not view this as a threat.  On the contrary, leading utilities are already capitalizing on one of the biggest megatrends in Sales today: the need to make more money by selling less stuff.

The root of utilities’ problem is this: their ability to grow depends on selling more kilowatt-hours each year, but consumers and society have an urgent need to use less—and are waking up to the fact that they actually can.  Read More »

As economic recovery remains elusive for certain countries and industries, and companies work to return to growth and profitability, many companies report they still are focused on improving the efficiency of the business.

In fact, a Q1 2011 survey of business executives reports that 66.4% of executives believe cost pressure will be higher in 2011 than it was in 2010.

This focus on efficiency is nothing new for service and support—we have seen a strong focus on cost containment and reduction over the past four years.  Yet because many organizations already have taken advantage of “low-hanging fruit” cost-reduction opportunities, we now are seeing a focus on initiatives that require more effort.

In fact, we find that many service and support organizations are now rethinking their global footprints, and  renewing emphasis on site consolidation, whether due to cost savings or merger and acquisition activity.

Read More »

By Corey Stout

There is plenty of buzz around the upcoming 65^th birthday for our beloved Baby Boomers. And it’s not just that stores need to start stocking up on cake mix and candles – companies need to start preparing themselves to anticipate more employees retiring.

Kirsten has been blogging on hiring retirees to fill the gaps left by retirees (no that is not a typo!).

Read More »

By Corey Stout

As CCC’s Spanish-Speaking Customer Support Guidelines illustrates, contact centers are increasingly faced with the challenge of providing a high-quality service to the growing Spanish-speaking contingent.

Not only is Spanish the primary language spoken at home by more than 35.5 million people aged 5 or older in the US, but the population of Spanish speakers in the U.S. is rising – and fast. It is predicted that the U.S. Spanish-speaking population, which currently constitutes 15.8% of the total U.S. population, or 48.5 million people, will triple by 2050.

In addition, there are currently 2.2 million Latin Americans in Europe and that number is expected to rise.

And there’s more. Spanish speakers are emerging as a key consumer segment. Read More »

I’ve enjoyed reading through last month’s New Year’s Resolution Series, including:

• Brad’s take on cost savings,
• Lauren’s look at customer surveys,
• Corey’s twist on rep engagement techniques, and
• Brad’s analysis of 2011 customer experience initiatives

The range of topics and ideas reminds me all of the different ways CCC partners with member companies.  Since it is the start to a fresh new year, I thought it would be great to re-fresh ourselves on specific ways CCC can help out in 2011: Read More »

If you haven’t ordered a copy of the Corporate Executive Board’s Executive Guidance for 2011: Achieving Intelligent Growth, take my advice and do it now.  Since launching the order site for Executive Guidance, more than 6,500 copies of the book have been ordered by your peers and more than 1,000 executives have signed up for one of the upcoming Webinars in December.  Copies of the book are free, as are the Webinars. 

As you may know, our parent company, the Corporate Executive Board (CEB), provides research and advisory services to several dozen corporate functions—from CFOs to General Counsel to CMOs, CIOs, heads of HR, etc.  Executive Guidance, a deliverable authored by our Chairman and CEO, Tom Monahan, is essentially our synthesized “point of view” for corporate leaders for the year.  For lack of a better description, it’s our elevator pitch to CEOs and their leadership teams—and it’s a good read. 

Our advice to managers for 2011 is couched in a framework we call “intelligent growth,” or the idea of “creating a long-term pattern of above-industry performance in both revenue growth and efficiency.”   Read More »