Proctor Financial, Inc. Contact Center Achieves Its Third Certification as a BenchmarkPortal Center of Excellence

BenchmarkPortal recognizes the exceptional efficiency and effectiveness of the Proctor Financial, Inc. Contact Center by awarding it Certification as a Center of Excellence for the third year in a row. The granting of certification is based on a company’s operational metrics, customer satisfaction and agent satisfaction.

The Proctor Financial, Inc. customer contact center has been certified as a Center of Excellence by BenchmarkPortal, a leading contact center research and consulting organization. “The achievement of the Center of Excellence represents a contact center’s commitment to delivering customer service that is both effective and efficient,” said BenchmarkPortal CEO Bruce Belfiore. “It is the culmination of important initiatives that were undertaken to achieve sustainable service excellence.”

Click here to read more about their certification!  

Call Center Campus Week 2013

"Benchmark Portal's Call Center Symposium is an excellent event! The content shared covers tried-and-true as well as tried-and-failed solution discussion opportunities for problems unique to the contact center industry. The forum allows participants to network, share ideas, and walk away with immediately applicable actions they can take back to their teams to begin making positive impacts. It's always a pleasure to attend this event and meet with other contact center professionals who really "get" it!" -- Mindy Lamb Director, Call Operating Effectiveness Cigna

Quality Assurance & Coaching for Success - CallTalk Caramels: Sweet Snippets from BenchmarkPortal’s Best CallTalk Episodes

Quality monitoring programs often become fixated on QA forms; however, there are other necessary components that will assure you are getting the greatest value from your QA program, which is agent feedback and coaching. The coaching that happens in a call center is really what makes your Quality program effective. To create a truly effective Quality program, consider implementing some of the following ideas:

1. Forms are fundamental, but coaching is critical.  Both must be done really well.
2. Prepare coaching sessions so that they encourage two-way communication.  You need to allow agents to tell their side of the story and point to things they are proud of in their performance - - and identify areas they need to improve;
3. Be sure your coaches are really well trained in their function.  Consistency in the coaching function pays dividends.

Read ideas 4 -9 by visiting our website. Click the following link: http://www.benchmarkportal.com/call-center-newsresources/news-articles/2013/10/quality-assurance-coaching-success-calltalk-caramels

BenchmarkPortal 2014 Top 100 Call Centers Contest Ends on January 31, 2014

BenchmarkPortal ranks the top call center operations in North America based on operational and financial metrics. Deadline to enter contest is January 31, 2014.

BenchmarkPortal a leading call center consulting services group, announces the 2014 Top 100 Call Center Contest entry deadline is January 31, 2014. Participants submit performance data on key operating metrics, using BenchmarkPortal’s 16-KPI call center benchmarking survey.

Completion of the survey not only grants entry in the contest but also provides a baseline from which to improve your operation and save your company money. Once the survey is completed and submitted, BenchmarkPortal will schedule a “readout with one of their certified experts, who will review the data and organize it in a personalized webcast. During the readout, the expert will explain how the report works and review performance gaps compared with others in the industry.” This unique benchmarking process allows managers to see how they compare to others in their industry sector. The key performance indicators “KPI’s” that will be collected are metrics such as abandonment rate, hold time and average call time.

This BenchmarkPortal contest can be a valuable tool for your organization. Benchmarking will provide companies with best practice standards and provide an opportunity for managers to show off all the hard work they’ve put into their call centers --, they can find out more on where they can improve the process.

Contestants must complete the survey by January 31, 2014. Winners will be broken down into three subdivisions for small (100 agents and under), medium (101-249 agents) and large call centers (250+ agents). The winners in each category will have the highest statistical values for efficiency and effectiveness. To pay for success celebrations for the winners, nine cash awards, ranging from $500 to $2000, will be given to the highest-ranking entrants in three categories of call centers. BenchmarkPortal will release the results of the contest by March 31, 2014.

Follow this link to read the rest of this news release:  http://www.benchmarkportal.com/call-center-newsresources/press-release/2013/12/benchmarkportal-2014-top-100-call-centers-contest-en

LCEC Contact Center Achieves Certification as a BenchmarkPortal Center of Excellence

BenchmarkPortal recognizes the exceptional efficiency and effectiveness of the LCEC Contact Center by awarding it Certification as a Center of Excellence. The granting of certification is based on a company’s operational metrics, customer satisfaction and agent satisfaction.

The LCEC customer contact center has been certified as a Center of Excellence by BenchmarkPortal, a leading contact center research and consulting organization. “Only the top 10 percent of those benchmarked annually achieve this distinction,” said BenchmarkPortal CEO Bruce Belfiore. “Achieving Center of Excellence certification is an acknowledgement of strong management and leadership in the call center industry.”   

Click Here to Continue Reading This Announcement: http://www.benchmarkportal.com/call-center-newsresources/press-release/2013/12/lcec-contact-center-achieves-certification-benchmark

Canon U.S.A. Achieves Its Fifth Certification as a BenchmarkPortal Center of Excellence

BenchmarkPortal recognizes the exceptional efficiency and effectiveness of the Canon U.S.A. Customer Support Center by awarding it Certification as a Center of Excellence for the fifth year in a row. The granting of certification is based on a company’s operational metrics, customer satisfaction and agent satisfaction.

Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, has been certified as a Center of Excellence by BenchmarkPortal, a leading contact center research and consulting organization for their technical support center. “The achievement of the Center of Excellence represents a contact center’s commitment to delivering customer service that is both effective and efficient,” said BenchmarkPortal CEO Bruce Belfiore. “It is the culmination of important initiatives that were undertaken to achieve sustainable service excellence.”   

Continue Reading Here: http://www.benchmarkportal.com/call-center-newsresources/press-release/2013/12/canon-usa-achieves-its-fifth-certification-benchmark

WFM Analytics Demystified Session 2 of 2 - CallTalk Caramels: Sweet Snippets from BenchmarkPortal’s Best CallTalk Episodes

CallTalk is a monthly internet radio program featuring the most innovative managers and thought leaders in the customer contact field, interviewed by BenchmarkPortal CEO Bruce Belfiore.  “Caramels” distils “Aha!” moments from these interviews into practical, bite-sized nuggets to inform and assist you as a contact center professional. 
 

Recent developments on the customer side are focusing contact center management on multi-channel Workforce Optimization. While Boomers talk, Gen X/Millennial customers text.  The Millennial milieu is fast overwhelming the marketplace and thus our workplace as well.  The tough love message to contact center managers is that you need to be part of the social media effort in your company, and must be prepared to staff up to respond well to evolving customer needs.  Studies show that Millennial distrust institutions and corporations and trust each other, i.e. other individuals who provide information and opinions (and complaints!) via social media.  This is a major challenge for companies, since the communications and complaints are outside their control and open to the world.

Leading centers can meet these changing demands by (1) understanding the growing impact of social media upon business and how social media operates, (2) establish a presence on social media sites and encourage feedback about the company, its products, and services, (3) invest in speech and text analytics technologies that can scan social media sites, emails, and text messages to the company, to collect business intelligence (BI), evaluate and report on red-flag issues that can be followed-up by people, and (4), adjust labor management to meet the needs of fluctuating queues, not just shifts.
Voice and non-voice channel management and Workforce Optimization need to be integrated with the other processes of the center; this allows for proper forecasting and planning.

Finally, acquire technologies that not only surface problems, but surface solutions as well. Better WFM technologies can treat multiple centers as one virtual global entity and also give you drill down BI capacity for each individual center.

This CallTalk Caramel was compiled and edited by Bruce Belfiore and Kamal Webb.  It was drawn from a CallTalk episode with industry expert Bill Durr entitled “Workforce Management Optimization Analytics Demystified, Part II."  To listen to the entire episode click on this link: http://www.benchmarkportal.com/call-center-newsresources/calltalk-online-radio-show/calltalk-archive/workforce-optimization-analytics-2.  We welcome your questions and comments at BruceBelfiore@BenchmarkPortal.com.

Mr. Bruce Belfiore, CEO of BenchmarkPortal, Harvard Alumni, Keynotes on Customer Engagement at the 5th Global Contact March 11th and 12th, 2014

Mr. Belfiore will share significant research, company data and metrics that highlight and outline the relationships between customer engagement and profits, to help business leaders make rational and effective decisions. Mr. Belfiore's talk will focus on the hard evidence and processes required to increase Customer Engagement effectiveness and improve Customer Experience and Loyalty. 

The 5th Global Contact Forum: The event is going into its 5th year as the #1 Latin American conference for customer engagement thought leaders. Attendees come from around to network, educate, inform, advocate and gain knowledge and experiences from other industry professionals. The ongoing focus is service, support, technology and customer and employee engagement. The theme for 2014 is the New Culture of Customer Engagement - Technology Enabling People & Connection. Last year's event attracted over 1840 attendees.

Management Certification in Downtown Scottsdale, AZ. Hosted by McKesson Specialty Health January 21-23, 2014

BenchmarkPortal's World Class Professional Certification courses are among the industry's highest rated programs for call center management and employees. Our courses have increased effectiveness and efficiency while at the same time reducing cost at organizations such as Verizon, Mercedes-Benz, Motorola, Hewlett Packard and GE.

The Management Certification workshop is composed of ten information-rich modules that include lecture, discussion and learning activity case studies that focus on practical problem solving and current best practices.

Our program is led by the industry's top-rated instructors, with over 150 years' combined experience. Be part of a true high-intensity learning experience which will bring out the best in you and your fellow attendees. You will return to your center with new best practice ideas...and the skills to turn them into reality!

Discover More  »

"The training was more than I expected. It was applicable to any call center, whether you have 4 people or 400. It brought home real life examples and experiences which definitely are designed to help support supervisory and management decisions. The training provided more than a cursory glance at topics like customer satisfaction, quality assurance, human resource management to name a few. The value of detail I got from the data analysis and reporting module opened my eyes to how to effectively utilize data generated from the center. Overall this experience provides you with an arsenal of information to guide you to be a better manager and challenges your creative process as you go through the normal paces of work. This was an eye opener, a true "WOW" learning experience. i am glad I was a part of this experience."  -- Inger Hainsley-Bennett, Customer Service Manager, Companies Office of Jamaica - July 2013

Bright Horizons Achieves Certification as a Call Center of Excellence

BenchmarkPortal recognizes the exceptional efficiency and effectiveness of the Bright Horizons Contact Center by awarding it Certification as a Center of Excellence. The granting of certification is based on a company’s operational metrics, customer satisfaction and agent satisfaction.

The customer contact center of Bright Horizons Family Solutions® has been certified as a Center of Excellence by BenchmarkPortal, a leading contact center research and consulting organization. “The achievement of the Center of Excellence represents a contact center’s commitment to delivering customer service that is both effective and efficient,” said BenchmarkPortal CEO Bruce Belfiore. “A contact center that seeks and achieves the Center of Excellence Certification from BenchmarkPortal demonstrates a noteworthy commitment to service excellence. The obvious beneficiaries of this commitment are the center’s employees and customers.”   

Click here to continue reading this news release: http://www.benchmarkportal.com/call-center-newsresources/press-release/2013/12/bright-horizons-achieves-certification-call-center-e

Kick-Start 2014 With Certification Workshops

2014 Winter/Spring Call Center Training Schedule
Management Certification
Workshop Agenda: Organizational Leadership Human Resources Quality Monitoring & Coaching Customer Satisfaction WFM Forecasting & Scheduling Call Center Technologies Tech-Enabled Processes Knowledge Management Benchmarking Self-Service Analytics Discover More »	Management Certification Dates and Locations: Jan. 21-23, 2014 Mckesson Specialty Health Scottsdale, AZ - Downtown   Feb. 18-20, 2014 Hotel Palomar San Diego, CA - Downtown, Gaslamp   Mar. 18-20, 2014 Lincoln Financial Group Greensboro, NC - Downtown   Apr. 15-17, 2014 AutoTrader Atlanta, GA
Quality Assurance Certification
Workshop Agenda: Creating a Quality Assurance Strategy Positive Culture, Behaviors and Definitions Quality Assessment Forms Service vs. Compliance Call Monitoring Process Evaluation Frequency Art of Coaching Time Management Reward & Recognition Methods Technology Discover More »	QA Certification Dates and Locations Jan. 29-31, 2014 Live Online   Mar. 12-14, 2014 Live Online
Workforce Management Certification
Workshop Agenda: Gathering Information - The foundation to all workforce management practices Forecasting - Setting the framework for contact center success Planning - Matching supply to demand Optimizing Performance - Real-time adjustments to the plan, forecast and data Analysis - Reviewing the outcomes to determine improvements to the next forecast and plan Change Management - Preparing leaders to lead workforce management change Discover More »	WFM Certification Dates and Locations: Feb. 26-28, 2014 Live Online July 23-25, 2014 Live Online
Coaching For Performance
Workshop Agenda: Review the role, responsibilities, and characteristics of an “ideal” coach. Match management expectations of using call center metrics and the impact on performance. Perform a gap analysis to identify what you have versus what you want in terms of performance. Examine successful verbal communication techniques. Compare and contrast the needs of new stars, rising stars, super stars, and falling stars. Create a strategic plan for all levels of performers to include team building, retention, and motivation. Practice and Application: Review the performance for five agents. Practice and Application: Create a coaching plan to sustain and/or improve performance. Discover More »	CFP Dates and Locations: Feb. 5-7, 2014 Live Online   May 21-23, 2014 Live Online
Supervisor Certification
Workshop Agenda: Defining & Performing the Supervisor's Job Communication Development Process Feedback Improvement Action Plans Coaching Course Formats: On-Site Personalized Training Discover More »
Agent Certification
Workshop Agenda: Complaint Handling Basics Active Listening Anger Diffusion Objection Handling Mediation Negotiations Course Formats: On-Site Personalized Training Discover More »

MAXIMUS New York Medicaid Programs Achieves Its Fourth Certification as a Call Center of Excellence

The New York Enrollment Broker Services customer contact center operated by MAXIMUS has been certified as a Center of Excellence by BenchmarkPortal, a leading contact center research and consulting organization. “Only the top 10 percent of those benchmarked annually achieve this distinction,” said BenchmarkPortal CEO Bruce Belfiore. “A contact center that seeks and achieves the Center of Excellence Certification from BenchmarkPortal demonstrates a noteworthy commitment to service excellence. The obvious beneficiaries of this commitment are the center’s customers, employees, and shareholders.”   

Click here to continue reading this article.

Prince Charles and AHT - Contact Center Economics 101

“If you chuck away too many things, you end up discovering there was value in them.”  This quote from a Time Magazine article on Prince Charles (11/4/2013) is a warning to our sector.  The customer contact industry is prone to vogues just like any other.  Several years ago it was fashionable to be obsessed with average handle time (AHT), while these days increasing numbers of managers dismiss AHT as irrelevant, or even harmful.  I recently participated in an industry panel in which some felt that it is definitely time to chuck AHT.

My feeling is that would be a mistake; there are solid economic and quality reasons to keep AHT as a key performance metric, at both the center and the agent levels.

We should recognize how much may be gained from benchmarking and thoughtfully analyzing the components of AHT, which are: Average Talk Time, Average Hold Time, and Average After Call Work Time.

Average Talk Time
Average Hold Time
After-Call Work Time

Click this link to read the rest of this article

  “Contact Center Economics 101” articles are written by Bruce Belfiore (Harvard MBA), Senior Research Executive and CEO of BenchmarkPortal to spotlight practical opportunities for financial improvement of contact center operations.

Lincoln Financial Group’s Individual Annuity Operations Customer Contact Center Achieves Its First Certification as a BenchmarkPortal Center of Excellence

Lincoln Financial Group’s Individual Annuity Operations Customer Contact Center has been certified as a Center of Excellence by BenchmarkPortal, a leading contact center research and consulting organization. “Only the top 10 percent of those benchmarked annually achieve this distinction,” said BenchmarkPortal CEO Bruce Belfiore. “Achieving Center of Excellence certification is an acknowledgement of strong management and leadership in the call center industry. Contact centers that achieve certification are remarkable in their ability to balance a commitment to service excellence with cost effective service strategies.”

“The achievement of the Center of Excellence represents a contact center’s commitment to delivering customer service that is both effective and efficient,” said Belfiore. “ It is the culmination of important initiatives that were undertaken to achieve sustainable service excellence. Lincoln Financial Group has shown its ability to achieve that balance through its objective performance metrics. We have validated its metrics and have certified that Lincoln Financial Group is, indeed, among the best in its industry. I congratulate Lincoln Financial Group on a job well done.”

MAXIMUS Indiana Enrollment Broker Operations Achieve Certification as a Call Center of Excellence

The Indiana Enrollment Broker Services customer contact center operated by MAXIMUS has been certified as a Center of Excellence by BenchmarkPortal, a leading contact center research and consulting organization. “Only the top 10 percent of those benchmarked annually achieve this distinction,” said BenchmarkPortal CEO Bruce Belfiore. “Achieving Center of Excellence certification is an acknowledgement of strong management and leadership in the call center industry. Contact centers that achieve certification are remarkable in their ability to balance a commitment to service excellence with cost effective service strategies”   

http://www.benchmarkportal.com/call-center-newsresources/press-release/2013/10/maximus-indiana-enrollment-broker-operations-achieve

Edmentum Customer Support Achieves Its Third Certification as a BenchmarkPortal Center of Excellence

The Edmentum customer contact center has been certified as a Center of Excellence by BenchmarkPortal, a leading contact center research and consulting organization. “Only the top 10 percent of those benchmarked annually achieve this distinction,” said BenchmarkPortal CEO Bruce Belfiore. “Achieving Center of Excellence certification is an acknowledgement of strong management and leadership in the call center industry.”   

Edmentum is a leading provider of online learning solutions. The company’s support center is responsible for providing a broad spectrum of knowledge across the full range of Edmentum learning solutions, which nearly 1 million students use every day to enhance their learning experiences.

About Edmentum
Edmentum Inc. is a leading provider of online learning solutions designed to drive learner achievement for academic and career success. With more than 50 years of experience driving significant advances in the industry, Edmentum offers a wide variety of innovative solutions spanning a multitude of program areas to empower 21st century teaching and learning. For more information, visit http://www.edmentum.com.

http://www.benchmarkportal.com/call-center-newsresources/press-release/2013/10/edmentum-customer-support-achieves-its-third-certifi

Workforce Management Analytics Demystified - Employee Focus (Session 1 of 2)

If you have been approaching Workforce Management (WFM) the same way for the last few years, you may be missing important advances.  WFM is no longer just about the labor force (agents) and putting butts in seats; its evolution is now about changing floor leadership (managers and supervisors) from ‘baby sitters’ into business people involved in the larger process of guiding the growth of the center in its role in fulfilling corporate goals. This is accomplished through the following practices:

Click here to continue reading this article on our website: http://www.benchmarkportal.com/call-center-newsresources/calltalk-online-radio-show/calltalk-archive/workforce-optimization-analyti

OMG Text To Collect LOL!!!

Mobile is seen as a big challenge by most of the contact center industry - - and rightly so. However, it also offers some wonderful opportunities, one of which is aimed squarely at your collections function. 

Traditionally, a right party connect has required debtors to be sitting near landlines at their homes or in their offices. Bazillions of outbound dials are made annually to phones that don’t pick up, because the debtors are out of the house.
 
Mobile device strategies allow you to reach the debtors where they are at the moment, and to reach them via text, which many people (particularly younger ones) greatly prefer. Research indicates that virtually all text messages are opened, with four out of five being opened within minutes of being received. You can send a message to the debtors and provide them with an opportunity to pay all or a portion of their debt by return text. You offer them the possibility of using their usual source of payment (bank account or card) for an automated payment, or allow them to indicate that they wish to provide a different source of cash. In the latter case, you can also switch them over to an alternate channel, e.g. a live agent or Web, to get the details on the additional source of payment. Customizing your processes, including training your agents to provide seamless service in these situations, are initiatives that will be well rewarded.

Click here to continue reading: http://www.benchmarkportal.com/call-center-newsresources/news-articles/2013/09/omg-text-collect-lol

The Northern Virginia Community College Call Center Achieves Its Third Certification as a BenchmarkPortal Center of Excellence

The Northern Virginia Community College Call Center has been certified as a Center of Excellence by BenchmarkPortal, a leading contact center research and consulting organization. “Only the top 10 percent of those benchmarked annually achieve this distinction,” said BenchmarkPortal CEO Bruce Belfiore. “Achieving Center of Excellence certification is an acknowledgement of strong management and leadership in the call center industry. Contact centers that achieve certification are remarkable in their ability to balance a commitment to service excellence with cost effective service strategies.”   

Linda Barthelus, director of the College Call Center, said achieving the designation of Center of Excellence for the third time was both rewarding and a motivator for her staff. “Most gratifying was the acknowledgement that 91 percent of our customers indicated that they were very satisfied or satisfied with the services they had received from the Call Center.”

“The ability to operate effectively is crucial for all businesses, especially in today’s economy and the College Call Center is proud that it continues to achieve that goal,” Barthelus added.

To achieve certification as a Center of Excellence, a company must undergo a rigorous benchmarking process, which compares the organization’s operational metrics to those of its peers, using the world's largest database of contact center metrics. During this process, BenchmarkPortal experts audit and verify key data from the contact center applying for certification.

Read the entire press release here: http://www.benchmarkportal.com/call-center-newsresources/press-release/2013/09/northern-virginia-community-college-call-center-achi

Voice of the Customer

Steve Ellis will share five key steps to designing an effective Voice of the Customer program that focuses on the customer experience and drives continuous improvement throughout the organization.

Steve Ellis is Sr Director of Customer Care for EyeMed Vision Care.  He has over 2 decades of leadership with a proven track record to deliver outstanding results at Sprint, Florida Power & Light, Comcast Cable and EyeMed.  Steve has experience in marketing, sales, customer service, call center, strategic planning and general management leadership.  Steve is a graduate from OH University and lives with his family in Cincinnati, OH.

Click here to listen to this show on-demand:  http://www.benchmarkportal.com/call-center-newsresources/calltalk-online-radio-show/4/13/voice-customer

Call Center Campus Early Bird Prices & Room Block Ends Soon

Register Before October 11th and Save! Lodging Included Ends October 11th!

• Room block cut-off date is October 11, 2013, or until the room block sells out. We encourage you to register early to ensure you get a room at the conference rate. Rooms are included in the registration price. Attendees are responsible for booking their own lodging at the going rate with the hotel after October 11th.

Early Bird Discounts End October 11th!

• $200 Off Certification Workshops. Promo Code: CCC2013
  10% Off Symposium. Promo Code: SYMP2013

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Preview of Our 2-Day Symposium Agenda
The Call Center Campus Symposium offers sessions that provide a hands-on learning environment. Attendees can obtain new skills, reflect critically on their work and learn from other individuals and organizations confronting dilemmas similar to their own. At the same time, call center leaders can learn how to raise their best practice skills to new levels, while sharing their best practices with peers.

• “High-Impact Call Center Training” - Presented by Susan McDonald Osborn, Learning Strategy Consultant, BenchmarkPortal

• “Customer Effort, Why Bother?” - Presented by Steve Ellis, Sr. Director, Customer Care, EyeMed Vision Care
   
• “Agile Customer Feedback: Developing a Dynamic Customer Feedback Program” - Presented by Peter Leppik, CEO, Vocalabs

• “Customer Effort, The Newest Metric” - Presented by Dayne Petersen, Senior Consultant, BenchmarkPortal
   
• “How We Are Driving Customer Loyalty & Satisfaction By Reducing Customer Effort” - Presented by Mindy Lamb, Call Operational Effectiveness Director, Service Operations, CIGNA

• “Multi-Channel Challenges Panel Discussion” - Moderated by Dayne Petersen, Senior Consultant, BenchmarkPortal
   
• “Improving Customer Experience & Satisfaction By Leveraging Multiple Avenues Of Customer” - Presented by Lorraine Robbins, Strategic Planning Manager, Panasonic Corporation of North America
   
• “Creating a CARE-ing Culture, Our Transformation From Customer Service To Customer Care” - Presented by Carolyn McGovern, Vice President, Life Insurance Customer Care Center, Lincoln Financial Group
   
• “Why AutoTrader.com Uses a Customer Satisfaction Tool To Improve Overall Customer Satisfaction & Provide Relevant Feedback To The CSR’s” - Presented by Erica Cockfield, Senior Manager, Autotrader.com
   
• “Managing Gen Y In The Contact Center” - Presented by Greg Van Zandt, Senior Consultant, BenchmarkPortal
   
• “Employee Engagement Panel Discussion” - Moderated by Dee Buell, Senior Consultant, BenchmarkPortal
   
• "Ask The Experts Session" - Presented by the BenchmarkPortal Team of Experts
   
• "Improving Your Customer's Self-Service Experience" - Presented by John Speicher, Business Development Manager, Cisco

EyeMed Vision Care Contact Center Achieves Its Fourth Certification as a BenchmarkPortal Center of Excellence

The EyeMed Vision Care customer contact center has been certified as a Center of Excellence by BenchmarkPortal, a leading contact center research and consulting organization. “Only the top 10 percent of those benchmarked annually achieve this distinction,” said BenchmarkPortal CEO Bruce Belfiore. “This certification attests to the fact that call center leaders have successfully balanced efficiency and effectiveness in their operations. By optimizing their cost components and their ability to satisfy customers, they exemplify best practices in a very important consumer products sector.”

http://www.benchmarkportal.com/call-center-newsresources/press-release/2013/09/eyemed-vision-care-contact-center-achieves-its-fourt  

Survey Underway on Call Center Employee Retention Rates and Strategies

BenchmarkPortal in partnership with Talent Chaser, the award-winning Software-as-a-Service provider, has developed this quick survey to measure Contact Center Employee Retention Rates.

Call centers have the opportunity to participate in a study about Call Center Employee Retention Rates and Strategies.

Participants will receive the summary results of this survey, and will also be invited to a webinar with in-depth research results on how to improve contact center employee retention, at no cost.

Employee retention is one of the main challenges of contact centers. BenchmarkPortal and Talent Chaser are looking at the factors that affect the industry and will analyze the results to establish industry benchmarks and develop call center employee retention best practices. Talent Chaser has a proven track record for improving employee retention and will utilize this data to offer Solutions to Staff Retention Issues.

Please complete this survey to find out how your center measures up in comparison to the industry and how to improve your contact center’s employee retention.

Online surveys conducted by BenchmarkPortal begin on September 11 and are available for anyone to complete at http://benchmarkportal.One-Minute-Survey-Employee-Turnover.sgizmo.com/s3/.

"Please complete the survey and forward the survey link to other appropriate contact centers. Participation in the survey will take no more than 5 minutes and is confidential,” said Crystal Robertson, BenchmarkPortal's marketing director. “Participants will receive the results of this survey via e-mail, at no cost, within 10 business days of the survey’s close and an invitation to the webinar explaining the results."

Click the following link to access the Survey.

Quality Assurance Agents Love - CallTalk™ Caramels: Sweet Snippets from BenchmarkPortal’s Best CallTalk Episodes

Quality Monitoring, traditionally seen by agents as the dreaded ‘Big Brother’ operation of a company, can be transformed into a process appreciated by agents, as well as helping achieve customer service objectives. Key points include:

• Work to get everyone to accept that quality monitoring is an essential aspect of call center management and must be done well for everyone’s good;
• During feedback sessions, avoid criticizing agents frontally where possible. Ask questions to get them to critique themselves, then offer ways to improve;
• In grading, expectations must be clearly defined to agents before they start their jobs – not after they are graded;
• Have a clear understanding of company objectives and strategies and match QA objectives to meet those needs;
• Hire people who can work within the strategies of the company (i.e. don’t hire a ‘Techie’ for a sales job, or a customer service type for a sales position, etc.);

Click here to continue reading this article: http://www.benchmarkportal.com/call-center-newsresources/news-articles/2013/06/quality-assurance-agents-love-calltalk%E2%84%A2-caramels-swe

Provide strategic organizational value by transitioning your center from a service to a sales culture

Click here to listen to this episode of CallTalk: http://www.benchmarkportal.com/call-center-newsresources/calltalk-online-radio-show/4/12/provide-strategic-organizational-value-tra

Discussion points:
1.  Developing a strategic road-map
2.  Key strategies to excite your organization for change and growth
3.  Importance of measuring results for success

Russell Rossi is the Corporate Vice President of Customer Experience and Strategic Planning for New York Life Tampa Operations.  Russell’s responsibilities include all customer touch points and technology of the Customer Experience Program comprising the internal Quality Teams, Learning and Development Team, After Call Survey, Speech Analytics, Voice of the Customer, and Voice of the Agent programs.  Additional responsibilities include oversight for all Strategic Planning and Project Management for key Member Services technologies, initiatives, and enhancements.

The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Achieves Certification as a Center of Excellence

The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis customer contact center has been certified as a Center of Excellence by BenchmarkPortal, a leading contact center research and consulting organization. “Only the top 10 percent of those benchmarked annually achieve this distinction,” said BenchmarkPortal CEO Bruce Belfiore. “Contact centers that achieve certification are remarkable in their ability to balance a commitment to service excellence with cost effective service strategies.