The Snapshotz Online Update December 2011

In this festive issue, we tackle 2 important topics that perennially accost us and will serve us well as we dwell on the year ahead. Darlene Richard has us dwelling upon leadership: reflection and resolution and includes an amazing thought proving clip that is guaranteed to change your views on change. Colin Taylor tackles a subject that we cannot seem to keep the lid on over the last 20 years! staff and agent retention. Two must reads as you emerge into the New Year!

Get well soon Don, Don Hales the doyen of customer Service in the UK and a Snapshotz contributor took ill recently, we wish him speedy recovery and a restful season ahead.

A note to those of you who wish to have Snapshotz Download delivered to another email address other than the one you currently receive this monthly ‘download’ please click here to include another address

Several international publications on carry articles from the Snapshotz monthly download over 5 last month, see link to the Call Center Times article.
________________________________________
Is It Time for your Call Center Check Up? Colin Taylor
Clients frequently ask me what is the single most important activity they should undertake to ensure that their center is operating and performing at an optimal level. Like all of us they are looking for the magical, simple solution to their issues and challenges; just one thing; the magic pill, silver bullet, panacea that makes their jobs as center managers easier and more productive. Unfortunately there is no ‘Silver Bullet’.
What I tell these call center operators is that to be effective they need to know their center…at this point I get a look of indignation…”of course I know my center., what are your suggesting?”. They are thinking and assuming that this consultant has finally lost touch with reality. But what I mean is that to be effective you must really, really know and understand your operation.
There is a Zen dialogue where a student asks the teacher what the secret to meditation is. The teacher tells the student the secret is Attention, “what is attention”, the student asks and the answer from the teacher is “Attention means Attention”, We must pay attention to each and every activity in the center, every day.
While this sounds simple or at least simplistic, this can be a huge challenge. Most managers manage from point to point in a sequential process, “OK, today I will focus on the new cross selling initiative and tomorrow on agent occupancy and then Thursday on the forecast revision that we need to do based upon the new marketing materials we are using next quarter. This sound perfectly reasonable and it is, but it reflects our linear and sequential management approach…first this, then that and later the next thing. This approach is great for knocking tasks off a “To Do’ list, but by its’ very nature it ignores all of the other aspects and activities that are not on the “To Do List”.
Fire Fighting or Fire Prevention?
We know that there are literally thousands of activities that take place in a call center. Each call may involve tens or hundreds of discrete activities, knowledge points, applications, processes, clicks and keystrokes. It is these activities that are the ‘meat and potatoes’ of a call center operation. It is also these activities that receive very little attention until something goes wrong.
Once there is a problem then the specific activity in question is a candidate for inclusion on the “To Do List”. For many organizations the “To Do List”, devolves into little more than ‘firefighting; dealing with crises rather than proactively improving the call centers’ operation, fire prevention. But given the vast scope of potential customer interaction activities in the call center what other options are there for staying on top of the ‘thousands of moving pieces’ that are occurring in real time every minute of every day?
How do we effectively manage these interconnected processes and systems; the ‘thousands of moving parts’ that make up every call center? Contact us to find out more
________________________________________
Closing the revolving door Part 1 and 2 – Colin Taylor (Taylor Reach Group)
Staff and agent retention is an issue that has plagued centres for over 20 years and still does. Learn why this is still a current issue and how to start closing that revolving door! Read Colin’s article

Leadership: Reflection and Resolution – Darlene Richard
Find out what the key distinguishing qualities of a leader are and what inspirational leaders focus upon as a legacy.Read Darlene’s article.
Wish to provide feedback or comment? We welcome comments on Darlene’s article and all other information presented in the Download. Place feedback…

May this holiday season be blessed and restful.
Wishes for a family filled Christmas and to a great 2011.
All the best from the Team @
WWW.CustomerServicesAudit.com
Other news you may have missed…
Snapshotz approach delivers savings. read how using the simple but structured Snapshotz approach, this team was able to drive a seamless customer experience, reduce costs to serve, gain greater agent engagement and increased interdepartmental cooperation. Read how the team achieved savings…
2011 TRENDS to watch for in customer Service and IT Support
Times they are a changing – China comes calling. Read more in our news and events section.
New Partners join the Snapshotz Online brigade Feb 2011 Snapshotz Download Newsletter.

Developed in NZ but gaining ground around the world, Snapshotz is the cheapest tool to keep track of the entirety of the customer experience. Check out the website http://customerservicesaudit.com/ See sample reports generated as well as other links such as customers experiences Customer Experiences
Snapshotz Online has multiple applications – audit, planning, training, comparison of teams and performance, review and reporting.
If you wish to find out more contact us or our certified partners and we will be happy to discuss any questions you may have. Contact information: Email: [email protected]
Customer Services Audit Ltd, TeleConsultants House, 31 MacKelvie Street, Grey Lynn,
Auckland1144, New Zealand. Phone: 0064 9 376 2806 .
To unsubscribe from future mailings please respond to this mail with “Unsubscribe” in the subject header

________________________________________