While there has been some news of the economy beginning to stabilize, macroeconomic trends are still helping to shape how contact center practice leaders must proceed. Here at the first day of CRM Evolution 2009 at the Marriott Marquis Times Square in the heart of Manhattan, Art Hall, manager of customer relations at Alvarez and Marsal explained to attendees how recessionary conditions are influencing contact center strategy.

“Today’s economy is focusing on performance improvement, which means that most companies are not in the green, are not healthy,” Hall said. “Most are sliding are into the yellow, orange, or red categories. Organizations in the yellow and orange — in the revenue slide, are mostly in denial.”

Bearing this in mind, Hall points out three strategies being employed today by companies owning and operating contact center operations:

• rationalizing contact centers, forcing companies to optimize overhead costs as a way to preserve cash that results in an increased demand in outsourcing;
• rethinking technology investments, which Hall says is leading many contact center practitioners to think about software-as-a-service (SaaS)/hosted solutions, unified communications, and social media; and
• improvement in government service levels, as government agencies are expected to provide the same level of service as private sector counterparts.

Speaking specifically about technology investments, Hall stated this may be the last resort for contact center managers trying to get through to c-suite executives who may not necessarily understand the day-to-day challenges they face. “If you’ve squeezed everything from process improvement and making agents more efficient … it’s time to rethink the technology,” he said.

This also means thinking about adding on other channels including social media. If contact centers do go this route, Hall stressed that it must be integrated into the overall multichannel strategy, otherwise it is all for naught. “We should never lose sight of importance of customer and social responsibility of organizations delivering on their value propositions,” he said. “A judicious use of contact center technology, along with a customer-driven approach to training and live-agent empowerment, should result in effective and efficient operations balanced with high customer satisfaction.”

For the contact center managers and supervisors out there, are you finding these same trends affecting your particular centers? If so, how are you trying to tactically address these trends while at the same time continue to — and improve upon — the experience you deliver to end-customers?

Last week, I attended SAP and the Americas’ SAP User Group’s (ASUG) user conference, SAPPHIRE, in the friendly and extremely hot confines of Orlando, Fla. While I blogged, live tweeted, and wrote for the Web site about some of the key takeaways from the conference, there was a not-so-subtle lesson about customer service that I personally learned.

If you look up Type-A personality in the dictionary or, in my case, Wikipedia, you’ll probably find a picture of me. If not, you should. I like being early, having things done, and I can’t function without a to-do list nearby. I called a shuttle service the day before I was to fly back to CRM magazine’s world headquarters in Manhattan in order to arrange a pick-up from the Orange County Convention Center to Orlando International Airport.

Mind you, when I spoke to the customer service representative (CSR) at the time, she told me to be at a very specific location at a very specific time  — outside the North entrance between the two escalators at 3:50 p.m. OK. I also obtained a confirmation number, which turned out to be a lifesaver.

Fast forward to Wednesday afternoon at 3:40 p.m. Of course, I am outside in my designated location 10 minutes early on the off chance that the shuttle arrive early. I have the slip of paper with the confirmation number in my right hand, and in my left hand I have my mobile phone at the ready in case the shuttle doesn’t show up.

At 3:55 p.m. I see the shuttle coming around to my location. A small smile of relief took away the epic frustration I had for the shuttle being five minutes late. (Type-A? Me? Never …)

That smile was quickly turned upside down — again — as the shuttle slowed down slightly but didn’t bother to stop. The shuttle drove away, much to my chagrin and despite my waving frantically and yelling, “Right here!”

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I don’t pretend to know all of the ins and outs of the financial industry. That said, I do feel that I know enough to get by — I can make a deposit, withdrawal, and check up on things online. I can even tell you what a CD is without complaining about the rise of the MP3. You know, those pesky certificates of deposit.

That said, when I made a deposit at a Wachovia branch Tuesday morning close to CRM magazine’s world headquarters in Manhattan, the receipt I got from the half-awake bank teller at 8 a.m. said “Deposit Date: 3/17/09″ and, this is important, “Deposit Effective Date: 3/17/09″.

Now, to me, “deposit effective” means that the deposit is in fact now available for use. Later in the day, I needed to check my Wachovia account online because this was a situation in which I needed the money rather quickly, so I wanted to make sure that it was actually in my account.

Well, it wasn’t.

Being that I’ve had some really nice interactions with Wachovia’s customer service in the past, I was looking forward to having the problem rectified — or at least let me know why the deposit hasn’t shown up on my online account yet.

Well, that wasn’t to be the case. I tried to navigate the online banking’s (different from the general customer service telephone number) hellish speech recognition system, and then I was finally prompted after three minutes of options to say “representative” to speak with a live agent. They couldn’t have just offered that up front? I digress.

Finally, I get a woman who simply says that “deposit effective” means the bank will process the deposit that day — but it won’t be available for use until the next day. I quickly asked her if she thought it was misleading. “Deposit effective,” at first glance, means the deposit is good to go … to me, anyway.

Her response? “Well, it is misleading if you don’t understand what ‘deposit effective’ means.”

Uh, no kidding. By the tone of my voice she could tell that I was not satisfied with her reply, and asked if I wanted to be transferred to customer service. I agreed, and was transferred quickly.

I got another agent, and I explained my situation again. She affirmed the last agent’s response that the deposit would show up the next day. I asked again, “Don’t you think that is misleading for someone who is not attuned to the nuances of financial services?”

Her response, while said in a softer tone, was not any better. “Well, maybe with the Wells Fargo acquisition there will be a change in procedure.”

What? Why pass the buck to Wells Fargo?  Also, it’s not even a procedural issue. I have a very easy fix. On the receipt, instead of saying “deposit effective”, how about “deposit available” and then the date?

What bothered me more than the inability of Wachovia to see my point was the fact that, unless it ends up in a tagged recording somewhere, I don’t have confidence that the problem — or my suggestion — will be registered. There is no vocal suggestion box I can not-so-anonymously drop my feedback into. There wasn’t a post-call survey offered to me, either.

Essentially, I understood early on that I wouldn’t be able to use the money I deposited until the next day. What bothered me was that no one took my concern seriously. I just feel like my problem was discarded without any serious thought.

Have you run into the same problem as customers calling into contact centers? Or, on the other side, how do the customer service representatives and supervisors out there deal with calls like this? Do you have a feedback management plan in place so that calls like mine are not made in vain?

All work and no play at CRM magazine’s world headquarters in Midtown Manhattan make me a dull customer service/contact center reporter. A couple of nights ago, I went out to Max Brenner in Union Square for a much-needed catch-up dinner with a good friend of mine.

For the uninitiated, when you go to Max Brenner it is largely for the creative iterations of chocolate desserts. While that was super important to us, we both had long days in the office and wanted some real food before chowing down on desserts.

Everything seemed normal at first. She ordered salad, and I chose the grilled chicken panini with a side order of waffle fries. The restaurant was not filled to capacity, so we both figured we’d get our food fairly quickly.

About a half-hour went by, and we hadn’t received our food. It was mildly annoying, considering our waitress also hadn’t been around to let us know what was going on. It had all the ingredients for a poor customer experience, and given the fact that I’m a journalist and she is a publicist, neither of us have a problem voicing our opinions rather bluntly.

Suddenly, a manager came to our table and apologized for the long wait. “The food was burned, but we will get your meals out right away,” he said quickly before patting me on the back and scurrying away.

As soon as he left, I turned to my friend and asked if she thought the burning food gambit was a lie. While that may highlight the cynic in me, I find it very difficult to burn salad. It’s probably slightly less difficult to burn my panini, but when the waitress came back over and asked us what the manager said we knew that in all likelihood our order had just fallen through the cracks. We started to ponder what else could have happened to our order, but about two minutes later the manager returned with our meals.

We devoured our dinners and ordered dessert, not thinking much about the incident. While waiting for dessert, we both agreed that we should get some type of discount on our bill to atone for the restaurant’s mistake, but we weren’t going to bring it up. However, when our first dessert order — chocolate banana bread — came out, the waitress told us that our entire dessert order (we had another dish including waffles, ice cream, chocolate malt balls, chocolate syrup, and whipped cream coming to us) was on the house.

Mind you, this was perfect timing. I’m sure this is part of some policy Max Brenner has when things like this happen, to comp you for a portion of the meal, but no one told us until after we ordered our dessert. This way, there was no guilt or hesitation over ordering multiple dishes and wondering if we were taking advantage of the restaurant’s generosity.

The manager and waitress turned what would have been a poor customer experience into a great one. So much so it had me talking to several friends and co-workers about the experience. Talk about finishing strong.

Beyond the great customer experience, it did leave me with a lingering question: If a company ultimately solves your customer service-related issue, does it matter if an agent gives you the exact reason for the screw-up in the first place? I’ll be honest, the manager could have told me they forgot our order, dropped my fries, or lost the ticket … as long as they brought my food out to me quickly afterward, the reason wouldn’t have mattered.

Do you feel the same way I do? Obviously, most of us have ingrained in us from birth that “honesty is the best policy,” but in your customer service experiences — whether working as a contact center agent or being the consumer in question –  if the problem is resolved does the reason matter that much?

First, Happy Halloween!

OK, that’s out of the way. To me, the best part about Halloween is that it marks the unofficial beginning of the holiday shopping season. At Macy’s in Herald Square, just a quick jaunt around the corner from CRM magazine’s office in Midtown Manhattan, you can already see Christmas lights being strewn up in preparation.

Not only are people getting a head start on hanging lights to spread holiday cheer, but they are also shopping earlier. With an economy that make many say “no, no, no” instead of “ho, ho, ho,” consumers are looking for the best prices as early as possible as their budgets for discretionary purchases continue to shrink.

With less than two months left until floors are littered with torn wrapping paper with images of sleighs, Charlie Brown, snowmen, and other images of holiday yore, many small businesses looking to cash in during this usually prime shopping season seem to be increasingly focused on shoring up the customer experience it provides to those poring through their shelves — or online catalogs. As my fellow CRMer Lauren McKay points out in an earlier blog post, the stakes are even higher this year for businesses because of the economic downturn.

A study conducted by RatePoint, a Needham, Mass.-based customer feedback solution provider for small-to-midsize businesses (SMB) finds companies are getting the message loud and clear:

• more than 80 percent said business reputation and solid customer support impacts their ability to attract and retain consumers;
• forty percent report they are hiring up to five new employees for customer support over the holidays to help manage inquiries, orders, and returns; and
• most will spend an average of 10 hours monitoring their reputation to safeguard against any possible early warning signs of customer issues.

To Richard Turcott, chief marketing officer or RatePoint, this shows him many in the SMB segment are realizing the importance of forging quality customer relationships, as he says this is directly correlated with company reputation. He was particularly shocked by the second survey nugget, the fact that almost half of SMB owners say they’re hiring up to five new employees despite the economic environment.

While he admits the new hires may not all be full time, it is the principle that matters most. “The SMBs are sticking their necks out, providing exemplary support, and demonstrating they are customer-centric businesses,” he says. “These [new additions] are primarily part-time employees, but [nonetheless] provide a great view in which the small business community sees feedback and service as an important driver to helping them stay strong through this tough economic climate. These [organizations] are building equity rather than short-term hits.”

In a time when Web 2.0 technology is the soapbox du jour for many consumers sounding off about a company’s products or services, having a strategy to proactively cull and act upon customer feedback is even more important. “The prevalence of social media perpetuates the ease in which competitors and disgruntled employees can say negative things about a business,” Turcott says. “For small businesses, it’s more a necessity than a luxury to actively manage its online reputation. If they don’t know it now, they will very soon.”

For the SMBs — and also larger enterprises — out there gearing up for the holiday season, what strategies are you using to manage customer feedback and consequently improve the experience your shoppers have?