By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD In recent months there has been a great deal to cogitate about. There was a media preoccupation with the U.S. presidential election, coupled with a focus on the credit crisis, which seemed to worsen every day, eventually turning into a financial crisis and threatening the global economy. Throughout it all, businesses […]
Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD False alarms and erroneous error messages: if you have technology in your call center, then you’ve likely been frustrated by these events. I was recently reminded of this as I searched for the source of an electronic alarm, warning me that something was awry in my home. Eventually, I found the […]
The DMA (Direct marketing Association) recently released their annual report on the catalog industry. The report indicated that in 2007, 36% of sales [for the catalog industry] were conducted online. What is shocking is that this statistic is a decrease from 2006, when it stood at 40%. In fact 2007’s percentage was lower than both […]
Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD With the fall elections in the United States approaching, call centers that make automated and/or political calls should consider: Remember, just because it’s legal doesn’t make it right.
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD Over the past few months I have been amassing call center anecdotes. Here is my compilation. First up is Netflix. Netflix is one of my favorite organizations, mailing me DVDs to watch on my TV and providing downloads to watch on my computer. In my January 2007 article, The Netflix […]
Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD The success rate of agents transferring calls is not good. In fact, based on my experience, successful call transfers actually occur less than half the time. The most common result is being disconnected. When a disconnected caller calls back, the happy caller has likely become irritated, the irritated caller has become […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD My bride and I recently watched the movie Get Smart. As a long-time fan of the 60s TV series, I was greatly anticipating this flick—and was not disappointed. There were a good number of subtle tie-ins and allusions to the show, but not so many as to be excessive or […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD I once received a flier for one of the most bizarre promotions I have ever seen. It was a “Back to School Special” — to have my septic tank pumped. I hope that it is obvious that I have never listed “pump septic tank” on my back-to-school to do list—and […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD I recently received a perplexing postcard. In exchange for taking a two-minute survey, they promised me some substantial rewards—free lodging and gas. Here is the front and back of the postcard: I called the number on the card and entered my twelve-digit code, as instructed, into their automated system. The system […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD For AnswerStat magazine, I have posted on directories of medical call centers (call centers that provide services to the medical community). This information has been compiled from information provided by the companies listed. As such, they made a choice to be listed; they want to be there—ostensibly to gain new clients […]