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Ed Miceli
AVP Customer Engagement
Church Pension Group
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1. What tools and strategies are you employing to empower your agents to deliver unique and quality experiences with customers?
We’ve introduced scripting, which will drive accuracy and consistency among the representatives; we monitor calls for quality and accuracy and provide that feedback to our agents. We are also building a blended new hire and training curriculum with extensive e-learning.
2. What are some common challenges that occur in your centers? How do you overcome them?
One of the major challenges we face is being in NYC and finding quality people due to what the market pays for the position. We are currently looking at other markets and a work at home strategy.
3. Please describe your funniest call center experience.
I would have to say my funniest call center experience was related to one of my employees who called me on a Friday morning informing me she won the lottery for $28 million dollars. Well, I didn’t believe her and asked why she was going to be out. There was dead silence and then she said very forceful “Ed, I won $28 million dollars Friday evening and I will not be back”. That’s when I know this person was telling the truth. And yes she did win $28 million dollars!
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David Belew
Service Center Director
American Bar Association
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1. What makes your call center unique?
Two things make our center a little different from some others I have observed. First, all of our reps are full service reps. They are trained in all areas of service, including system modules for Membership, Publications, Subscriptions, and Meetings. We do not use the skillset routing available in our ACD system since all of our reps can handle any issue. Secondly, we are unique in that our retention rate is at 90% for the past year and a half. Only one rep has left the company, and one supervisor has left the organization.
2. What are you most proud of in your call center?
Since things were not good with employee morale when I started, I am most proud of the attitude and work ethic of my team I’ve seen grow over the last 18 months. Everyone on the staff has a “can-do” attitude, and they do a fantastic job of taking care of our members. They are constantly looking for ways to improve processes and improve service delivery, and working together to share information and deliver top notch customer service.
3. What are the top points you are hoping to portray to the audience at Call Center Week?
I hope to shed some light on ways to motivate and energize employees without spending a lot of money; how to encourage employees through positive reinforcement; and how to assist employees develop a career track for personal motivation and goal setting.
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David A. Travers
Senior Vice President Service Operations
Farmers Insurance Company
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1. Please tell me about your contact centers.
The primary mission of our contact centers is to service and support to the agency force who sell our products and services. We provide underwriting, transaction, and billing support through 6 centers located around the country. Our newest flagship centers are in Olathe, Kansas; Austin, Texas; and Hillsboro, Oregon.
2. How do you build a people-focused organization through incentives and motivation?
If I could tell you in three sentences I’d be on the book circuit… It’s a cultural norm you have to establish through a million little moves – and you can’t flinch under expense or workload pressure.
3. Please describe your funniest call center experience.
Years ago when I was a rep on the phones, I rolled my chair back while talking with a customer. It caught on the coat I had hung over the back of the chair and flipped over. Needless to say it was pretty funny – and loud – and the customer heard both the noise and the laughter. In the end they liked the idea that they were doing business in a place that didn’t take itself too seriously. It was a good call in the end.
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