Healthcare call centers articles by Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, Ph.D. It was a lazy summer afternoon, a Friday. Things were a bit slow at the office and upper management had left to get an early jump on their weekend. I, being a front-line manager, did not have that luxury. Besides, I had work that I wanted to complete before the […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, Ph.D. I first heard about the ‘net in the early 80s from one of my college buddies. He landed a job with a computer mainframe manufacturer and was assigned to work at a university. He regaled me with tales of instantaneously sending text messages across the country and doing so at […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, Ph.D. Growing up, I heard a radio commercial with the tag line, “Service sold it.” Even as a young child I was able to grasp the concept that providing quality service was a great way to close more sales and gain new business. Over the years, I have heard this mantra […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, Ph.D. In retail, the term shrinkage is euphemistically used to reference stock which “disappears” before it can be sold. In essence, it is a product that the retailer bought, but can’t sell. To be direct, shrinkage is theft. While some of this is due to shoplifting, it also results from employees, […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, Ph.D. In the years between high school graduation and my first real job, I took on a variety of part-time work while being a full-time student. During one such vocational transition, the placement advisor at school knew of an immediate opening for an audio engineer at a TV station. I arrived […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, Ph.D. On a weekend trip a while ago, my wife and I found ourselves at the local McDonald’s for breakfast. “I’ll have a number 10,” I decisively informed the perky and personable teenage-looking girl at the counter. She acknowledged my request and smiled pleasantly. This encouraged me to make small talk […]
By Peter DeHaan, Ph.D. Voicemail systems have come a long way during their 25-year history. When first introduced in the early 1980s, these systems came in large floor to ceiling cabinets and did little more than match the functions of an answering machine. At that time, many call centers and teleservice companies feared that voicemail […]
By Peter DeHaan, Ph.D. Your call center may be an in-house operation or an outsourcer processing calls and contacts for other organizations. Regardless of the type of call center you work in, there is a common need for increased, positive visibility. This is necessary for two key areas. The first is budgeting; the second is […]
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 […]
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 […]