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Top 5 Posts in June
Contact Center Pipeline
JUNE 30, 2020
More contact center leaders have begun to turn their thoughts from crisis mode to planning for next steps.
Contact Center Pipeline
After the Pandemic: How to Bring Back the Contact Center
Contact Center Pipeline
JUNE 25, 2020
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has caused unprecedented disruption across nearly every line of business, and contact centers are no exception. In times like these, the most pressing matters are keeping your workforce moving forward and your workplace culture healthy.
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COVID-19 and the Contact Center: Horror, Heartache, Humanity and Hope
Contact Center Pipeline
JUNE 10, 2020
Has anyone besides me noticed how many contact center industry work-from-home (WFH) experts there suddenly are? I thought there was only one, really. That would be Michele Rowan and I wrote about her in my April column (“On-Trend: At-Home Agents”). The timing of that column was totally serendipitous.
Go Beyond Net Promoter Score to Measure Customer Experience Effectively
Contact Center Pipeline
JUNE 23, 2020
Forbes defines the Net Promoter Score (NPS) as an index used to determine how willing customers are to recommend a brand, product or service. Most brands rely on software developers, such as Zendesk, to create this poll. The answers create a popular metric used to evaluate the customer experience.
The Best Sales Forecasting Models for Weathering Your Goals
Advertiser: ZoomInfo
Every sales forecasting model has a different strength and predictability method. It’s recommended to test out which one is best for your team. This way, you’ll be able to further enhance – and optimize – your newly-developed pipeline. Your future sales forecast? Sunny skies (and success) are just ahead!
Contact Center Pipeline Magazine: Inside Our July 2020 Issue
Contact Center Pipeline
JULY 2, 2020
With Independence Day here in the U.S. just a few days away, it gives me pause to think about where we are as a country and as an industry. Needless to say, we are facing enormous challenges on both fronts.
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Hold On, I’m Comin’: What to Do with Callers on Hold
Contact Center Pipeline
JULY 1, 2020
The 1966 hit, “Hold On, I’m Comin’,” was recorded by Sam & Dave and written by Isaac Hayes and David Porter. I know for a fact that they weren’t referring to actually “being on hold.”
Don’t Reduce People to Numbers… or Should You?
Contact Center Pipeline
JUNE 24, 2020
Assessment tools have been an industry standard in human resources management for a while. At times, this may feel cold and very corporate, as one of the beauties of Homo sapiens is that we’re all very unique and also different.
Upskilling the Contact Center: Planning for Your Agents’ Future in an Era of Uncertainty
Contact Center Pipeline
JUNE 16, 2020
The impact of the coronavirus pandemic continues to unfold, shifting last quarter’s priorities to the back-burner. As more communities around the world go on lockdown, company leaders are focusing their resources on stabilizing the operations.
Top 5 Posts in March
Contact Center Pipeline
MARCH 31, 2020
What a difference a month can make. In February, we were looking at topics like growth and development, aligning strategy and technology, and tools for delivering an exceptional customer experience. We’ve now entered the strange new reality of the COVID-19 era.
8 Contact Center Trends to Watch in 2020
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In this eBook, we’ll arm you with the research you need to inform areas of investment, and 8 quick tips you can use to improve your contact center’s performance now!
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Are Microskills the Key to Surviving the Bots?
Contact Center Pipeline
MARCH 11, 2020
As the next decade is upon us, we should all take a minute to understand the big trends that are going to impact our contact centers. Do you have anxiety about the bots? More broadly, are you thinking about how technology will impact how business is conducted in the contact center?
Strategic Communication: Techniques of Best-in-Class Voice Interactions
Contact Center Pipeline
JUNE 3, 2020
Today’s contact centers continue to expand their channel mix beyond voice (e.g., chat, text, email, web and video) to keep up with the communication demands of their consumers and prospects. Voice traffic, while dropping in total demand, is still more than 60% of overall contact center traffic.
Meet Kathleen Peterson: Our April 2020 Wall of Fame Honoree
Contact Center Pipeline
APRIL 16, 2020
Contact Center Pipeline’s AUTHOR WALL OF FAME Kathleen Peterson is Chief Vision Officer of PowerHouse Consulting, a renowned management consulting firm specializing in operationalizing the Customer Experience; our consultants are recognized experts in the design and implementation of Contact Center strategy and associated technologies.
Accomplishing Call Center Transformation with Unified Communications Softphones
Contact Center Pipeline
JUNE 18, 2020
The contact center industry is seeing a growing need to improve operational efficiencies, enable increased flexibility and agent versatility, and deliver vastly enhanced customer experiences.
The Pros and Cons of Incentivized Reviews
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With so many online reviews out there, we’ve decided to take a look at how incentivized consumer reviews fare against regular reviews from consumers that were not incentivized. Is one better than the other? More positive? Are they similar in topics covered and level of detail? Download this report to get answers to those questions and more!
Contact Center Pipeline Magazine: Inside Our April 2020 Issue
Contact Center Pipeline
APRIL 3, 2020
I hope our April issue finds you safe and well. You may have seen Mr. Rogers’ quote that is so applicable for our times: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are […].
Leading in Uncertain Times: 10 Ways to Help Employees Cope with the Pandemic
Contact Center Pipeline
APRIL 24, 2020
As the COVID-19 pandemic takes hold, we’re all being impacted in various ways, many of them pretty dramatic. Everyone is feeling more than a little fear and anxiety about the future.
Where Contact Centers Go from Here
Contact Center Pipeline
MAY 28, 2020
Everyone is talking about the way we’re functioning now as our “new normal.” But is this current routine just a short-term patch while we work through the COVID-19 crisis, or will it change the way we operate in the future?
4 Measures to Implement Social Distancing for On-Site Contact Center & Customer Service Agents
Contact Center Pipeline
MAY 1, 2020
Work from home is the most effective form of workplace social distancing, as advised by governments and public health organizations.
Why Smoking Costs Employers More Than They Realize
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Your employees are smoking, and at a cost of $7,000 per year for each employee who smokes, that adds up - fast! This free report will show you how an effective cessation program pays for itself.
Contact Center 2020: Yesterday and Today
Contact Center Pipeline
JANUARY 22, 2020
In 2016, I spoke at a customer conference and the topic was, “Contact Center 2020.” At the time, 2020 seemed like it was forever away, and I had carte blanche to forecast whatever I wanted to about the potential state of the contact center in 2020.
Meet Customer Contact Strategies: Our January 2020 Wall of Fame Honoree
Contact Center Pipeline
JANUARY 29, 2020
Contact Center Pipeline’s SPONSOR WALL OF FAME Company name Customer Contact Strategies CEO/Founder Michele Rowan When founded 2009 Describe your company We help companies design/expand their work-at-home programs for contact centers via custom consulting, public workshops and conferences.
Surprising Ways to Motivate Your Agents
Contact Center Pipeline
OCTOBER 25, 2017
I love movies. So, I was thrilled to win movie tickets as part of a contact center sales campaign back when I was an agent. However, the coworker sitting next to me hated movies and was not motivated at all by this contest. Everyone is different. What motivates one person may demotivate another.
Resiliency in the Age of Pandemic
Contact Center Pipeline
JUNE 11, 2020
As we prepared for 2020 six months ago, few (if any) had a crystal ball that anticipated the kind of widespread disrupted brought on by COVID-19. Hopefully, your center was able to respond to the pandemic with the least possible impact on your customers or your staff.
AI & Community: Don't Hammer the Flowers
Speaker: Venessa Paech, Australia's Leading Community Specialist
Join Vanilla Forums on Tuesday, July 21, 2020 at 8:30 AM ET for this on-demand workshop led by Venessa Paech, Co-Founder of Australian Community Managers and Leading APAC Community Specialist.
Meet LogMeIn: Our May 2020 Sponsor Wall of Fame Honoree
Contact Center Pipeline
MAY 21, 2020
Contact Center Pipeline’s SPONSOR WALL OF FAME Company name: LogMeIn CEO: William (Bill) Wagner, CEO Describe your company: LogMeIn delivers industry-leading solutions designed to empower companies to deliver smarter, more personalized customer engagement and support.
The InsideOut Approach: Three Ways Managers Can Improve a Contact Center Culture
Contact Center Pipeline
MAY 26, 2020
Virtually every contact center understands the unique challenges its employees face: Agents often struggle with low pay, high stress, few chances for advancement, not enough training and poor leadership.
Executive Interview with MusicWorks’ David Sandler
Contact Center Pipeline
JUNE 9, 2020
It is interesting that what we may perceive as relatively “small” touchpoints can have a considerable impact on our customers’ experience. One such area is our music-on-hold experience, and the voices used in greetings and other applications.
Helping Organizations Adapt and Respond to the COVID-19 Pandemic
Contact Center Pipeline
MAY 19, 2020
The upheaval created by the Coronavirus pandemic is unprecedented. Your customers are understandably concerned and confused, and are likely coming to your organization with many questions, most of which are different from what your agents typically hear.
Get More Value from Contact Center Performance
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This whitepaper has provided some suggestions for KPIs that you may want to use. Once you’ve chosen your KPIs, make sure that you’ve communicated the importance of these metrics to all employees in your contact center, as well as how you expect them to be achieved.
Onward and Upward… Or So the Saying Goes
Contact Center Pipeline
JANUARY 5, 2018
According to thefreedictionary.com, “onward and upward” is an expression that is defined as “something that you say in order to encourage someone to forget an unpleasant experience or failure and to think about the future instead.” Ah, the future!
Contact Center Pipeline Magazine: Inside Our June 2020 Issue
Contact Center Pipeline
JUNE 2, 2020
These are not easy times. The struggle is real. We have so many vital decisions to make for our operations that can have profound impacts on our staff and customers. Do we continue with a work-from-home strategy? Can we start to re-open our office doors?
Meet Paul Stockford: Our June 2020 Wall of Fame Honoree
Contact Center Pipeline
JUNE 17, 2020
Contact Center Pipeline’s AUTHOR WALL OF FAME Paul Stockford is Founder, President and Chief Analyst at Saddletree Research, a veteran-owned boutique research and analysis firm with a sharp focus on the North American contact center industry.
Contact Center and COVID-19: Lessons Learned
Contact Center Pipeline
APRIL 7, 2020
To say the Coronavirus pandemic caught many contact center executives unprepared would be an understatement.
B2B Pocket Playbook: End-to-End Guide to Sales Enablement
Advertiser: ZoomInfo
Sales enablement is the strategic process of providing sales teams with the content, guidance, and mentorship needed to engage targeted buyers. It’s all about equipping sales professionals with the tools they need to put their best-selling foot forward. And if sales teams want to continuously sell better -- and faster -- their sales enablement process must have a game-winning strategy. It's time for you to start selling smarter - and hitting your sales number - with the best B2B database in the market. Get started today.
Boost ROI by Enhancing Contact Center Agent Performance
Contact Center Pipeline
MAY 20, 2020
An inbound customer service call center generated a 1,000% ROI in just four months of work. An outbound telesales call center doubled sales of a key product in just two months.
The Contact Center Trends to Watch Out for in 2020
Contact Center Pipeline
JANUARY 28, 2020
When invited to compile this list of customer service trends for 2020, naturally the first thing I did was look back at all of the predictions made the previous year.
Contact Center Executive Outlook on 2020 and Beyond
Contact Center Pipeline
SEPTEMBER 12, 2019
Across industries, research reports are predicting that businesses can expect more change in the next five years than in the last 50.
The Secret to Training Seasonal Agents
Contact Center Pipeline
SEPTEMBER 20, 2017
“They are just temps,” said one contact center manager describing his seasonal agents. They will be gone in a couple of months!” That condescending attitude was reflected in the seasonal team’s environment. They were crammed into an abandoned conference room filled with computers, phones and wires.
3 Signs You Need A Self-Service Consumer Insights Solution
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Understanding consumers can be a complex task. Consumer research can be a lengthy process–whether it’s manual research or configuring and training first generation AI machines on what to look for in consumer feedback.
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