call center – McKee Consulting

Customer Experience is Not just a department, but a Philosophy!

My thoughts today: Customer Experience, Customer Care, and Customer Service is NOT just a department, but a PHILOSOPHY!

“It is a STAND YOU TAKE and you Take a STAND about the Stand you Take. YOU believe in the STAND You TAKE!” Werner Erhard said that in 1982. I still operate from this thought system. Taking a stand for the Stand You Take is so important. My stand is this: The Customers must never be made to feel wrong or stupid even if they are wrong and stupid. We do not get to make the judgement call. My STAND is THIS: We must use feelings, and no computer can do that yet. I hope they never will.

The Philosophy needs to lead the technology…not the other way around

How can we make it EASIER on the CUSTOMER to SAY YES without coercion or manipulation, but use Education and Good Offers?
What can we do to make the Customer Experience friendlier and kind and use our Technology to help?
What do the Customers WANT?
- They want to find answers themselves, even before they call the company (FORBES said this)
- If the company doesn’t respond personally and fast…
- They GOOGLE the information

So, Ask yourself these questions:

What am I NOT seeing about my customer that would make us more profitable and the customer happier with us?
What is ALSO true about our relationship with the customer that I have NOT thought of?
What does the customer want from […]

Customer Experience is Not just a department, but a Philosophy!webmaster2021-03-11T22:17:08+00:00

Quotas Never Work – Intention Does

Training in Contact Centers is all devoted to RESULTS based on Goals! HA! That’s funny…

To learn that words don’t teach is the hardest lesson that I know. The world’s management seems to think that the numbers they generate, and the words they use to express those numbers, work. Well, here is the bad news for them, but the good news for you. Words DO NOT TEACH…Only Experience, and Emotional Experience at that actually teaches.

Now, you understood that. So, how would the training department, the marketing department, the Supervisors, the Managers, the Coaches, and the Agents relate to that? I spent my life teaching agents to come from their experience and intention. It never fails to be successful because these words never rely on the STATS. I never have the Agents Set Goals. “First Intention Then Enlightenment.” I teach through experience of personal stories, relationships, and train the Agents to find the emotional need of the customer, the buyer, and even their own. This works because it’s the experience that teaches. When the Agent relates, they own it…they own it because it is theirs.

There is no substitute for Aliveness or the Experience of Agent Satisfaction. There is no substitute for Intention. What you call goals isn’t it! There is no substitute for The Experience of the Customer.

The Customer Experience is so big in all discussions today yet it appears that all the work is being done on the level of technology and not on the level of the HUMAN BEING EXPERIENCE. Doesn’t that […]

Quotas Never Work – Intention Doeswebmaster2021-03-11T22:17:08+00:00

Words Don’t Teach – And All That Jazz!

Words are only symbols of something else.

OMG…I am not a team player…now what do I do? Don’t I fit in? (NO…) Don’t I play well with others? (YES, I do!) Should I just say… “I am a team player!” Will I be more accepted then? Being a TEAM player is acknowledged by the best companies as The Way To Be. Often you hear, or see, great presentations about the word TEAM and what those letters stand for. Another one I’ve heard is “There is no I in T-E-A-M.” This is a very old paradigm. The word team teaches nothing…the Experience of Being on a team can teach you everything…I like to use the very ancient words from the HAGAKURI. “Learn one thing, learn a thousand.”

My favorite way to put a TEAM together would be to use the analogy of JAZZ. Each single person is an I AM or I WILL kind of person. A person who can hold his own, alone if necessary, yet allows others to play as well to the best of their ability. If you watched and heard a Jazz quintet play together, you would hear each musician do his or her own “thing.” It becomes a thing of beauty, and it’s called JAZZ. Each player can SOLO as well as join in the tune with accompaniment. It’s a joy to be in the presence of this type of TEAM. The Piano man, the percussionist, the base, the horn, and the guitar – WOW! Put […]

Words Don’t Teach – And All That Jazz!webmaster2021-03-11T22:17:08+00:00

Digitize Those Defining Moments! LAMAtize the chats, texts, and twitters!

It’s an idea whose time has come

Life Lessons in the Call Center are very real. Here is a quick story about how one company used their new Salesforce Program (NO I am not a Salesforce salesman) to save a very upset customer! (I am always looking for defining moments on a phone call, email, or chat.) THINK L-A-M-A, then call us.

Here is the story about how one call center discovered that a customer had contacted their company four different ways, in just one hour. And Salesforce did all the work. The CX manager was pinged with a customer issue, and when he put in the information, Salesforce created a list of all four contacts, and the text of those issues. (Could this happen to you?) Here is what happened.

The customer contacted the company by chat…and hung up after waiting. Unsure of where the agent had gone.
The customer tried chatting again – was still left on hold…hung up again!
The customer sent an e-mail, and received a terse, yet accurate return response.
The customer received a CX survey. They proceeded to send it back, blasting the company for terrible service but a great product.

The Coach/CX Manager gave the original Chat Agent a pass…she was handling so many chats at once, and he thought the customer could have been a little more patient. The Coach also gave the e-mail agent 100% for accurate information and a speedy response. Although the agent got good grades, the customer wasn’t happy. Are […]

Digitize Those Defining Moments! LAMAtize the chats, texts, and twitters!webmaster2021-03-11T22:17:08+00:00

Mystical? Magical? Vicious?

Are you caught in a Vicious Cycle that damages your self-esteem or the self-esteem of your Agents? The cycle can look like this.

This is a Vicious Cycle of Negativity

I hear something wrong on a call, I get Quality to Agree it is bad. I send out a graded form that tells the Agent what is wrong with the way she handled an issue or a person. I set up a feedback session disguised as a “coaching” session. In the meeting, I make sure the Agent sees the error of her ways. I tell her how to do it right, or how we did it in my day. I tell the Agent to fix this for their next evaluation. I hope they are repentant and willing to take the constructive criticism well and mend their ways. I watch and listen for improvement and wonder why I don’t hear or see much improvement. I am frustrated. (BTW so is the Agent and now lacking self-esteem)

This is a Vicious Cycle of Positivity

I hear the Agent make an error on a call. He said something that doesn’t please the Customer. I ‘think’ that Agent needs more confidence and maybe a lesson on Handling the Upset Customers. I am the COACH and I am responsible to help the Agent improve. AND, to give him acknowledgment and show my “confidence in him.” I set up a time to meet with the Agent for a coaching session. We listen to the recorded call. I mention that […]

Mystical? Magical? Vicious? webmaster2021-03-11T22:17:08+00:00

Would you rather read a romance novel or make love?

Do you not separate the menu from the meal? Do you know the difference between: What is right? and What Works? Understanding the difference between a gain and a loss can be vital to your training program.

Would you rather read a romance novel or make love?judy2021-03-11T22:17:08+00:00