Offers Key Insights for the Call Center and Contact Center Industry Running a call center is challenging, but it can also be rewarding. In his latest book Call Center Connections, call center veteran and publisher of Connections Magazine, Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD, provides practical insights and tips to help call center professionals excel in their […]
Technology Provides More Communication Channels to Serve Patients Better By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD The label of call center referencing outward-facing communications is an historically accurate term. At one time it handled calls from a central location. Hence, we formed a descriptively accurate name of call center. But many call centers have moved beyond calls […]
Turning a Telephone Answering Service into a Call Center Industry Research Now Available WARNING: this book is a PhD dissertation (2000) and contains academic research. It’s made available primarily to aid others who are conducting their own industry research. If this is what you seek, here’s an overview: The telephone answering service industry is maturing […]
The Call Center Should Be the First to Know, Not the Last By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD Too many call center agents learn about the launch of their healthcare organization’s product, incentive, or promotion from callers, not management. I hope your operation is different, but I fear you, too, have found yourself in this unenviable […]
Serve Patients Better and Produce Superior Outcomes By Peter Lyle DeHaan, Ph.D. Some healthcare call centers only handle telephone calls by design and others do it because that’s what they’ve always done. But most have embraced a contact center mindset, where they’re handling more than telephone calls. Channel Options This can include email, text messaging, […]
Article Repository Consolidates Industry Resources By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD I published my first article in 1982. It was about pagers. Remember them? It was also the hardest piece I’ve ever written, but it set me on a journey for a lifetime of writing. Over the years I authored a couple thousand articles, some of […]
Use a Quality Assurance Program to Improve Your Call Center By Peter Lyle DeHaan, Ph.D. In the last issue, we talked about improving your call center by providing ongoing skills training. Now we’ll continue the discussion by addressing a quality assurance (QA) program. In the call center industry, everyone’s talking about providing quality transactions. Quality […]
Take Key Steps to Reduce Burnout and Increase Retention By Peter Lyle DeHaan, Ph.D. We hear a lot about work-life balance. This is extra challenging in the healthcare industry, as well as with call center work. The combination of these two areas in the medical call center results in a need to strive to achieve […]
Don’t Focus on the Angry Masses but Grab onto a Good Call Whenever Possible By Peter Lyle DeHaan, Ph.D. Working in a call center is challenging. Although it’s been a long time since I answered calls in one, I’m still aware of how hard it is. That’s because I’m now on the other end of […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, Ph.D. Though I no longer work in a call center, I remember those days well. There was always something demanding my attention, some urgent matter to attend to. I’d often spend an entire day, sometimes all week, just putting out fires. Charles Hummel called this the “tyranny of the urgent,” where […]