Archive for March, 2011

Losing track of your customers?

by Brian Moore on March 31, 2011 in 2011, Banks/Finance, Brian Moore with No comments
Endless Labyrinth

Stop throwing their phone numbers away!

When the economy sours, creditors see the impact in a variety of ways. Delinquency and bad debt goes up; average payment size and frequency goes down. And when things get really bad, as they have for the past three years, customers go in to hiding.

Our clients tell us that throughout the recession and the current slow recovery, they have seen significantly higher numbers of “skip” accounts. This does not necessarily mean these customers have skipped town (hence the term), just that they can no longer be reached at the phone numbers they provided on their original credit application. In some cases, their home phone gets disconnected for non-payment; in others they change it to a non-published listing. Given the high unemployment rate, it’s also more likely they have Continue reading →

Keeping Pace with Changing Expectations – The Ingredient for a Positive Customer Experience

by Mary Cook on March 17, 2011 in 2011, Call Centers, Consumer Svcs, Mary Cook with No comments
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Providing a positive experience for customers while also managing costs is one of the most vital, yet biggest challenges for any company. However, driving positive customer interactions and reducing costs do not have to be mutually exclusive goals. It just means communicating with consumers the right way at the right time. By creating a customer experience strategy that leverages consumer preferences, multi-channel communications and automation technologies, you can keep costs down while delivering results to your customers – the ultimate ingredient for a better ROI. Continue reading →

Is Your Call Center Damaging Your Brand?

by Mary Cook on March 16, 2011 in 2011, Call Centers, Mary Cook with No comments
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Show me the numbers! Those are words every contact center manager lives by. The challenge of effective customer communication has never been more difficult—or critical. But even in the best of times, it’s all about optimization.  Continue reading →

Welcome Calls are Effective Relationship Building Tool

by Brian Moore on March 15, 2011 in Airlines, Banks/Finance, Brian Moore, Call Centers, Consumer Svcs, Retail, Utilities, Wireless/Telcom with No comments

Welcome calls are a great way for a company to begin a relationship with a new customer. Beyond delivering a heartfelt "thank you" for their business, welcome calls effectively bridge the gap from the point of sale to the point of service. This is especially important when the relationship is established through an indirect channel such as Continue reading →

Poor Communication Paints Loan Modification Process

by Brian Moore on March 9, 2011 in 2011, Banks/Finance, Brian Moore, Mortgage with No comments

“You’re going to need a bigger boat.”

It's perhaps the best line from the best movie in the past 50 years – Sheriff Brody (Roy Scheider) to Captain Quint (Robert Shaw) in Jaws, after Brody has a close encounter with the title character, and correctly foresees that the little fishing trawler they are setting out in is not up to the task at hand.

If only those that police the mortgage servicing industry had the same sort of vision when they set up the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). Expected to be a lifeline to the millions of borrowers facing imminent default on their mortgages, instead relatively few have actually been helped through loan modifications. Continue reading →

The ROI Behind Automation

by Mary Cook on March 1, 2011 in 2011, Airlines, Banks/Finance, Consumer Svcs, Mary Cook, Retail, Utilities, Wireless/Telcom with No comments

Call centers have their challenges like any other operating unit. These challenges have not changed over the last 20 years, but what has changed is the ways we can address these challenges with new processes and technologies. I view the top three ever-lasting top call center challenges as: Continue reading →