When you start talking about Customers - which part of your company has the most contact with customers? Its time they come into their own: Contact Centers
If you've been around children, you'll know the story about the ugly duckling who came of age and found he was a swan. That's a lot like call centers. In the next year, you're going to see a shift in call centers as businesses recognize that the longtime ugly ducks are emerging as beautiful swans.
As the April 2005 edition of The McKinseyQuarterly put it, call centers are strategic assets, "among the most underused of all corporate assets."
...... click on this blog post title for the rest of the story
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Customer Service and Customer Health: Is the Customer Always Right?
Happy New Year!
Lately I have been thinking about this question posed to me by a senior Customer Relationship executive at a major Asian bank.
"What do you do when a customer's complaint is unreasonable, I mean really unreasonable? You can't always say, the customer is always right."
Funnily enough, I found the way to resolve this dilemma is to inquire
What is the bank in business for?
Beyond just making money of course.
Because that doesn't get you that far, you make money by taking it from customers.
And they give it to you because they value something you are offering them in exchange. What is it that banks offer that is most valuable to their customers?
In the realm of services that banks provide, the most valuable to customers are those that support their financial well-being.
If we say that banks are in business to support the financial well-being of their customers : individual households or businesses, then service excellence can be measured in terms of how well banking services support customer's financial health.
So when complaints come, they can be resolved by the principle of financial health:
Does the service improve financial health or not?
When new services are considered they can be guided by this principle as well, so that customers don't feel that banks are only working to the bank's own interest.
The principle of financial health of customers provides a common goal for both customers and their banks.
And offers banks a great way to position their services to their customers through the various stages of development of their businesses and households.
Thought for 2006: The year for Servicing Customer Well-being
Lately I have been thinking about this question posed to me by a senior Customer Relationship executive at a major Asian bank.
"What do you do when a customer's complaint is unreasonable, I mean really unreasonable? You can't always say, the customer is always right."
Funnily enough, I found the way to resolve this dilemma is to inquire
What is the bank in business for?
Beyond just making money of course.
Because that doesn't get you that far, you make money by taking it from customers.
And they give it to you because they value something you are offering them in exchange. What is it that banks offer that is most valuable to their customers?
In the realm of services that banks provide, the most valuable to customers are those that support their financial well-being.
If we say that banks are in business to support the financial well-being of their customers : individual households or businesses, then service excellence can be measured in terms of how well banking services support customer's financial health.
So when complaints come, they can be resolved by the principle of financial health:
Does the service improve financial health or not?
When new services are considered they can be guided by this principle as well, so that customers don't feel that banks are only working to the bank's own interest.
The principle of financial health of customers provides a common goal for both customers and their banks.
And offers banks a great way to position their services to their customers through the various stages of development of their businesses and households.
Thought for 2006: The year for Servicing Customer Well-being
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