Although I resisted it for months, I recently immersed myself in a Young Adult book, a romance, no less: Ditched: A Love Story, by Robin Mellom. I poured over it with can’t-put-it-down abandon. I read it in two days. When I finished reading it, the next thing I did was read it again. I enjoyed […]
APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur-How to Publish a Book By Guy Kawasaki and Shawn Welch (reviewed by Peter DeHaan) There are many good (and a few not so good) resources that cover self-publishing. Some are in the form of books, others as podcasts, and more as blog posts. By far the best I’ve seen is the […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD If you work on the frontlines at your call center, you already know what I’m about to say: The Affordable Care Act (ACA) – more commonly referred to as Obamacare – has people upset. As a result, the number of frustrated, angry, and even hostile people you talk to every […]
I’m a movie buff, enjoying most genres and all eras, including silent movies and especially Buster Keaton films. One of them, Our Hospitality, set in 1830 Appalachia is a classic tale of boy meets girl, who only finds out too late that her family is set on killing his. Will love prevail or will their […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD For years, some answering service owners have pursued remote operator stations, while others have avoided them with staunch opposition. For the TAS, the benefits of remote operators are many, including running multiple offices from one system, tapping into new labor markets, and hiring qualified but homebound staff. For employees, the […]
When I first entered the workforce, I asked an older, wiser friend to review my resume. She chastised me for using the word telephony, laughing at my “made-up word.” Even though I used it correctly and my prospective employers would (likely) understand it, my friend’s mirth and Master’s degree intimidated me, so I removed telephony […]
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E-Books Gain Traction
Yesterday I listened to a nationwide radio program, where the host interviewed an author with a soon-to-be-released e-book. This wasn’t a print book and an e-book; it was just an e-book. Usually, the media only considers traditionally published, printed works, while dismissing e-books as irrelevant. Though I’m sure it’s happened before, this is the first […]
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What I Learned at Call Center Week
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD In mid-June, I enjoyed attending Call Center Week, the premier call center conference, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada. I talked with attendees and heard about the latest innovations from vendors. In addition to the other coverage of Call Center Week in this issue, here are some of the […]
Last week we considered four aspects of a writer’s voice. Today, we’ll discuss how to find our voice. This isn’t mysterious or evasive; there’s no multistep process—and it isn’t hard to understand. Seriously. Here are four thoughts on our writing voice. We Already Have a Voice: We need to recognize that if we write, we […]
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3 Customer Service Lessons
A Saga of Shoe Shopping By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD When my daughter visits, we enjoy certain father-daughter activities. One of them is going for walks. Unfortunately, I’ve lately been skipping this, not due to a lack of interest, but because blisters would be the painful result. When my daughter was in college and on […]