By Peter Lyle DeHaan, Ph.D. For as long as call centers have been answering calls for doctors, there have been requests to handle appointments, be it to set, cancel, or change an appointment. Although the doctors were serious about these requests and the call centers anxious to assist, the result was, at best, less than […]
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A $175 Oil Change
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, Ph.D. A few years ago I bought a new car. Although it wasn’t my practice to take my cars to their respective dealers for maintenance, a new car changed that habit. After all, there was warranty work to be considered and their coupons for low cost oil changes were enticing. It […]
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The Art of Delegation
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD Two decades ago, as a first-time manager, I was green and had much to learn. Management had looked easy when viewed from the outside. Many times had I assured myself that, given the opportunity to lead, I would never make the same seemingly dim-witted, hasty, or unwise blunders that I […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, Ph.D. Voice logging, that is the recording of calls in a call center, was once viewed by many as an optional product that was relegated to the annual budget “wish” list, but never important enough to become a “must have” technology and make the approved version of the budget. The original […]
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Remote Agent Stations
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, Ph.D. There are many benefits to having remote agents as part of your call center. Remote agents can either reside in a secondary, but connected call center, or work out of their home. Among the many benefits of using remote agents, according to Tom Curtin, president of Amtelco, are reducing or […]
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Perfection
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD Hello, my name is Peter and I’m…a perfectionist. Yes, I can now openly admit it, I am a perfectionist. I have amassed decades of experience fine-tuning my craft and learning more about it. Perfection, has many advantages but it has a dark side, too. Over the years, I have learned […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, Ph.D. “You need a hobby,” my wife exclaimed in exasperation. I don’t recall the circumstances, but it is safe to assume that I was doing something she deemed a nuisance. Regardless of the cause of her frustration, her impromptu advice gave me pause. Yes, a pastime, a relaxing diversion, would be […]
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Learning from History
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD One of the assignments I enjoyed most in college was analyzing case studies. I was, and continue to be, fascinated with learning what founders and their companies have done – both right and wrong. While the success stories are the more exciting and inspirational, it is the failures and missteps […]
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Predicting the Future
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, Ph.D. It seems that seldom a week goes by when I don’t receive a call from someone wanting to interview me. Over time, I realized that the tenor of these interview requests falls into three categories. The first group is those who are trying to better comprehend call centers. The second […]
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I Predict…
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD It seems that seldom a week goes by when I don’t receive a call from someone wanting to interview me. Sometimes it is a local newspaper, other times a specialty magazine. I was quite unnerved at my first interview request. I envisioned it being a hard-hitting, muckraking interrogation, intent on […]