Uncategorized Archives

Email Writing Tips for better Customer Experience – the Ritz Carlton, Santa Barbara

20/05/2018by OmniTouch International OmniTouch International No Comments

In this article we share specific email writing tips for better Customer Experience and Service Recovery using a real case study at the Ritz Carlton, Santa Barbara.

The Ritz Carlton Hotels.

From their webpage:

100 years of history. Countless rewards. With an unshakeable credo and corporate philosophy of un-wavering commitment to service, both in our hotels and in our communities, The Ritz-Carlton has been recognized with numerous awards for being the gold standard of hospitality.

Santa Barbara, California.

The city lies between the steeply rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Santa Barbara’s climate is often described as Mediterranean, and the city is referred to as the “American Riviera”.

So, the expectations for service at the Ritz Carlton Bacara in Santa Barbara, California are understandably high.

The situation

On a recent holiday in the U.S. I spent time with my sister Diana who lives and has her business in Santa Barbara.

The Ritz Carlton Bacara, Santa Barbara

One evening she turned to us and said – let’s have a leisurely dinner at The Ritz Carlton Bacara tonight – to which we all emphatically nodded yes.

The following day, my sister sent a detailed email to the Ritz Carlton to share on our experience.

The purpose of this article is not to complain about service.

I’m not a fan of articles where Customer Service experts write to vent frustration or unhappiness under the guise of promoting Customer experience.

My intention in this article is to share email writing tips for better Customer experience and Service recovery efforts.

The email exchange with the Ritz Carlton provided a perfect and personal case study.

Here is the email my sister (the Customer) sent

Good Morning,

I am writing because I felt compelled after a bumpy visit to the resort yesterday in Santa Barbara and I thought it would be helpful for your managerial staff to be made aware of so many missed opportunities for our visit to have been special.

I have family in town from Singapore and Germany and felt a visit to the Bacara would cap off their trip spectacularly.

I made reservations for the Bistro at 5:30 to enjoy a leisurely time outside during a typically slow time for restaurants.

An hour after the reservation was made, Stephanie called from the Bistro and left a message to inquire whether we would want inside or outside, which I appreciated.

I called back a few minutes after her message and couldn’t reach anyone in the Bistro for a few tries (the PBX call bounced back to the operator).

When I reached her, I verified that we would be outside and see her in an hour and a half.

The Ritz Carlton Bacara, Santa Barbara

We parked in valet and entered the lobby where an absolutely spectacular floral arrangement greeted us. This was going to be great.

We reached the Bistro and the hostess stand was empty.

We waited a few minutes and Stephanie came up and greeted us and led us to our reserved table for four which was only set for three.

We sat and several minutes later the fourth setting arrived.

Approximately 10 minutes later bread arrived but no bread plates, so we waited another 10 minutes to give our order and at that point asked for bread plates.

Our Server was sweet but only came to the table a couple of times in the two hours we were there.

When we ordered our food, she didn’t ask about drinks, and on our side, we forgot to order them.

Risotto

The food came 45 minutes later, and the chicken/risotto dish was amazing (my visitors had this and they loved it).

I was beginning to get frustrated because of the wait times between visits to our table so we asked for the bill and a person we hadn’t seen yet brought it.

We decided that rather than leave straight away, we would have a drink/coffee in the bar and get a change of scenery.

At the bar the bartender told us that there is no coffee available at their bar but that they would get one from the restaurant.

The Ritz Carlton Bacara, Santa Barbara

We settled in front of the fireplace in the lobby and 30 minutes or more passed without any word or visit from the staff, so we left.

I was so disappointed because I felt like there were so many missed opportunities to be treated like welcome guests.

I truly hope this beautiful setting can be matched by top notch service soon.

Thank you for the opportunity to share our experience,

Best,
Diana

Here is the reply from ae Food & Beverage Director

From: “Lawrence Teatree” (names are changed)
Date: April 16, 2018 at 1:50:17 PM CDT
To:” <[email protected]>
Subject: Your stay at The Ritz-Carlton Bacara, Santa Barbara

Dear Mrs. XX,

Thank you for choosing to stay at the Ritz-Carlton Bacara, Santa Barbara and providing your honest feedback.

Providing the highest level of hospitality is our number one priority and we sincerely apologize for falling short of meeting your expectations.

We have shared your feedback with the Bistro and Bar team to ensure the necessary guidelines are in place to improve the restaurant experience. I have also passed your comments to our Chef regarding the risotto! Thanks!

I do appreciate you giving us the opportunity to restore your confidence in Food and Beverage by speaking to me directly. Please let me know the best contact number and time to reach you, or you can call me at any time at 805 XXX XXXX.

Once again, thank you for your valued feedback and we hope to serve you again whenever your travels bring you back to Santa Barbara.

Lawrence Teatree
Food and Beverage
The Ritz Carlton, Bacara Santa Barbara

Here are email writing tips for better Customer Experience – documented within the body of the reply

The Subject Line

From: Lawrence Teatree
Date: April 16, 2018 at 1:50:17 PM CDT
To:” <[email protected]>
Subject: Your stay at The Ritz-Carlton Bacara, Santa Barbara

With regard to the Subject Line, we were not hotel guests at the Bacara. We were clearly dinner guests.

The Subject Line made it clear that Alex had not read our email or that he was simply following standard (and robotic) protocols.

The Subject Line matters. It should be well crafted.

The Opening

Dear Mrs. XX,

Thank you for choosing to stay at the Ritz-Carlton Bacara, Santa Barbara and providing your honest feedback.

We did not stay at the Bacara, we were dinner guests. So, the Opening line is irrelevant at best, tone deaf at worst.

The Apology

Providing the highest level of hospitality is our number one priority and we sincerely apologize for falling short of meeting your expectations.

Lawrence is a Director of Food & Beverage.

Based on his title, the restaurant where we had dinner and the bar where we later tried to get coffee would both fall under his purview.

The email would have sounded a lot more personal if he referred to himself – “I” and not “we”.

For example:

I apologize that I and our Team fell short of meeting your expectations and that of your dinner Guests…

And by talking about himself and/or his Team, he would have demonstrated that he took ownership of the experience.

This Empathy statement would have sounded more human and sincere than “we sincerely apologize”.

If you need to use the word ‘sincere’ in a Customer communication, that’s already a red flag.

If you have to sincerely apologize, does that mean you have insincere apologies too?

The Corporate Speak

Now let’s get to the Corporate speak.

How does the following phrase help matters?

Providing the highest level of hospitality is our number one priority…

Is that so? Providing the highest level of hospitality is our number one priority?

The entire reason the Customer took the time and effort to write a long and detailed email is because that didn’t happen for her.

He might as well have written –

The Ritz Carlton Bacara, Santa Barbara

Providing the highest level of hospitality is our number one priority, except obviously what happened in your case…

When you make a mistake – you apologize first.

You don’t couch the apology in ‘corporate-speak’.

This statement, coming at the opening of the Empathy Statement, reduced the impact and sincerity of the apology.

It sounded robotic and scripted.

The Content

We have shared your feedback with the Bistro and Bar team to ensure the necessary guidelines are in place to improve the restaurant experience.

The Customer was very detailed.

She shared no less than 10 observations about the experience across both the restaurant and bar.

The Ritz Carlton Bacara, Santa Barbara

She took effort and time to help the Ritz Carlton improve and even references at the end of her email that “I truly hope this beautiful setting can be matched by top notch service soon.”

Lawrence’s reply did not address a single specific point out of the 10 raised – nor did he share any details of “ensuring the necessary guidelines are in place.”

Lawrence could have done so much to restore the confidence of the Customer.

While it may not be necessary to address each of the 10 points raised by the Customer, Lawrence could have better matched her effort.

He could have specifically shared what he was going to do with that information that had been given.

As an example – and with better service recovery in mind – he could have said –

With regard to the number of settings at the table when you were seated (3 vs. 4), we have asked the Team that takes our reservations to indicate clearly to our Servers, the number of diners expected and the preferred seating location.

The Ritz Carlton Bacara, Santa Barbara

I’m really glad you brought this to my attention.”

When you learn how to write an efficient & effective email, you learn that you need to address both the Tone of the Customer and the Content of the Customer.

This Customer deserved a better ‘Content Match’ than she received. She put a lot of effort and detail into her email.

That was not reciprocated in the reply.

I have also passed your comments to our Chef regarding the risotto! Thanks!

This was a nice statement and showed that Lawrence read the email.

The Recovery

This invitation to reach out to him is excellent and shows a personal touch.

The recovery would have been so much more effective if the overall email had been better.

The Closing

Once again, thank you for your valued feedback and we hope to serve you again whenever your travels bring you back to Santa Barbara.

The Customer is a long-term resident of Santa Barbara – making assumptions that all your Guests are tourists or visitors is not very welcome for locals.

Lawrence Teatree
Food and Beverage
The Ritz Carlton, Bacara Santa Barbara

In closing

If you attend to Customers by email, it’s important to –

Know what your brand ‘voice’ is – and confirm that it sounds human. The days of Corporate speak and roboticism in email writing are over.

In this new world where chatbots and AI Assistants sound friendlier than a real human being does, humans should sound more human!

Understand that email is a complex form of one to one communication. Training and coaching really matter.

Ensure all your Customer channels are operating to the same, high standard.

I hope this article has been helpful!

Daniel

Daniel Ord / [email protected]

Getting a handle on Abandonment Rate in the Contact Centre

11/02/2018by OmniTouch International OmniTouch International No Comments

Recently, a Call Centre benchmarking report made the rounds, stating that the industry standard average abandonment rate was 12%.

It could have said 22%, 2% or even 82% and the report still wouldn’t have been that helpful.

But it was the long thread of comments that struck me.

The tone ranged from mild annoyance – “This just can’t be…The sample size is too small…How do they calculate…” – through to the kind of responses you’d expect from an extinction level event and return of the dinosaurs.

“They should all lose their jobs!…You have to be where your Customers are!…Off with their heads!” (ok that last one was mine).

If your Centre generates revenue – you can stop reading now

Clearly, if you’re in the revenue generation business – abandonment rate matters – a lot.

We had a Client in the hospitality business that calculated that every 1% increase in abandonment rate represented a potential US$1,000,000 in lost hotel bookings worldwide.

So if you’re DHL, a major hotel chain or even McDonalds delivery – and your Customers still call you to place orders – you have to care.

But if you’re in Technical Support or Customer Care, the importance of Abandonment Rate on the overall performance dashboard is secondary at best.

You are invited to read on.

The best & primary metric to measure the Customer’s wait time experience? Service Level

Mastery of interval based Service Level performance is where your control lies.

The process for planning and managing Frontline resources to ensure consistent wait time experiences for Customers is well understood and well documented.

Whether you’re 90/10, 80/30 or 70/160, having the right number of people in the right place at the right time is the objective.

That’s how organizations plan for and manage labor cost as well as deliver a consistent Customer experience for wait time.

Intervals matter

Most mid to larger Centres plan, staff and manage down to hourly, half-hourly and even 15 minute intervals.

If the Service Level goes down during any interval – let’s say from 10:00 – 10:30 in the example shown here – the Customer wait time during that interval increases.

And as Customer wait time increases – that’s likely to have an impact on the Abandonment Rate for that interval.

Makes sense doesn’t it.

If I don’t perform to my Service Level objectives then my Customer Wait time goes up, and my Abandonment Rate will likely go up too.

In this situation, you don’t have an Abandonment Rate issue – you have a Service Level issue.

When your Service Level life is good

Operations professionals know that when interval-based Service Level is well managed, there are significant positive impacts across Quality, Engagement and the Customer Experience.

And when your Service Level objectives are being met – interval after interval – then my inner operations guru reminds me that Abandonment Rate will be what it will be.

Abandonment Rate flows from a combination of your Service Level performance – which is in your control – and your Customer behaviour – which is not.

Let’s make one point very clear.

An accurate discussion on Abandonment – whether yours or that of others – has to be predicated on the understanding that interval-based Service Level objectives are being met.

If they’re not being met, then you need to have an entirely different conversation.

I’m not sure that any of these ‘benchmarking’ studies makes that prerequisite clear. And that limits their effectiveness.

Back to revenue generating Centres for a moment

If you’re in revenue generation you have to care. Abandonment costs potential revenue.

But what the smart folks in revenue generation do is set very high Service Level objectives.

Then they work hard to meet them interval after interval.

95/5, 90/10, 100/15 – this level of Service Level objectives is typically associated with revenue generating Centres – or those that deal with life & death or mission critical issues.

Sure – more Staff will be required.

Through the use of ‘incremental revenue analysis’, the additional cost of labor is calculated and measured against revenue gained through the reduction in Abandonment Rate (via quicker answering times).

That was a mouthful.

Customers & Abandonment rate

For non-revenue generating Centres we need to consider – what are the drivers of Customers hanging up before reaching the Agent?

Here are some common drivers:

Degree of importance – how important is it for me to get this done ‘right now’?
Time available to wait – am I calling from work where my time is limited? Or am I calling from the comfort of my easy chair when I’m home?
What other options do I have? – can I get what I want from the website? Perhaps the mobile app? Did you share an alternative method on your delay announcement?
What kind of mood am I in? – Relaxed? Impatient? Calm? Anxious?
What are my expectations? – Am I a VIP? Is this a premiere line? Do I hold some special status?

When I work with Contact Centre management in classes I ask – “Is Abandonment Rate a mathematical behavior? Or is it a human behaviour?”

Invariably, they answer correctly.

Abandonment Rate is a human behaviour.

It lies in the hands of the Customer – what they want or need at that moment, their mood, their options, their expectations.

What I can control is how well I plan, staff and manage to meet my Service Level objective interval after interval.

What I can’t control is their mood, their unique expectations, what options we offer for digital self-care.

But you do have a viable option

If you are still unhappy about the ‘level’ or number of abandoned calls you receive – you can choose to raise your Service Level objective.

Go from 80/20 to 90/20.

Do the delay profile analysis against abandonment rate patterns to see how many abandons you can possibly do away with.

I’ve even seen Centres proactively raise their Service Level objective for certain intervals across the day.

You just have to ask yourself a classic trade-off question.

Is the increased cost of my labor pool justified by the reduction in Abandonment Rate?

Or more generically: Does the benefit exceed the cost?

Not a simple question to answer – but absolutely the right question to ask.

Let’s get formal about it

There are a lot of metrics in a Centre – and some great ways to look at how to classify them and understand their inter-relationships.

Formally, Abandonment Rate is best classified as a secondary measure of Wait Time.

Wait Time: Because along with metrics like Service Level, Response Time, Longest Wait Time and Average Speed of Answer, Abandonment Rate reflects wait time.

Secondary: Some metrics are drivers, some metrics are outcomes. Abandonment Rate is an outcome of the ‘driver’ of Service Level.

You can’t achieve a Service Level objective and an Abandonment Rate objective at the same time – simply because one is a driver and the other is an outcome.

You tell me you can? That you are? That you have been for some time?

Then you’re just lucky.

The targets set just happened to work out. There’s nothing scientific going on here.

What interests me more

The most mature organizations – again in Customer Care & Technical Support – look at Abandonment Rate this way.

They say things like:

Wee don’t target Abandonment Rate – but we study it.
We look for and find patterns to Abandonment Rate – we know which intervals across the day tend to experience higher or lower rates of abandonment when achieving Service Level.
We don’t just study how many abandons we get, nor even the percentage – we like to study the distribution. Do most hang up in the first 15 seconds or so? What percentage of abandonment comes after 3 minutes (for example) vs. less than 3 minutes?
We’re experimenting with our messaging to understand if our messages contribute to abandonment (which can be good!) or if we need to change the timing or positioning of such messages to try and influence abandonment.

Agents & Abandonment rate

No – your Agents don’t control Abandonment rate – sorry but that’s just silly.

When you use accepted practices to calculate and schedule the number of Agent you need in place to achieve a predetermined Service Level and those Agents are actually there, logged in and part of Capacity – they’re contributing to Service Level performance.

I met a Client some years back, that intentionally managed their Centre based on Abandonment Rate as a primary metric – not Service Level.

But focus groups with Middle Management and the Frontline revealed the level of extreme stress these folks experienced.

Because you can’t plan and staff to Abandonment Rate – it’s driven by Customer/human behavior. And that behaviour that fluctuates from interval to interval, day to day.

So they operated like a fire-fighting outfit – chasing constant flare-ups in abandoned calls.

How stressful. And ultimately not the right way to achieve Customer Experience.

In closing

One of the most important tenets of Customer Experience is to deliver a consistent experience.

In the Contact Centre, Service Level (and Response Time) are the best measures of delivering a consistent wait time experience.

Smart operations folks know not to chase outcomes – but to work on the drivers.

Abandonment Rate is a secondary measure of Wait Time. It flows from Service Level performance.

And when you’re meeting what you can control – the Service Level performance – the abandoned calls you get are reflections of Customer/human behaviour.

They change from interval to interval, day to day, month to month and year to year.

If you’re not happy with the level of abandoned calls you receive, you can raise your Service Level completely – or just select certain interval where abandonment happens most often.

Not all abandoned calls are bad.

If a Customer chooses to hang up and use one of my self-care or digital options that can reflect success in my digital uptake strategy.

As long as I’m not ‘pushing’ the Customer to digital self-care by providing a poor Wait Time experience (Service Level). That’s clearly not ok.

Lastly, the Frontline job is hard enough, and getting harder. Don’t layer on an abandoned calls objective or target on your Frontline.

It’s not only inappropriate from an operations standpoint – it makes the job of human to human service unnecessarily more stressful.

Thank you for reading!

Daniel

[email protected] / www.omnitouchinternational.com

What I’ve learned about Motivational Quotes

08/01/2018by OmniTouch International OmniTouch International No Comments

I’d always been sceptical of Motivational Quotes

I’d always been sceptical of motivational quotes.

Of course, there were exceptions.

President John F. Kennedy’s “Don’t ask what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country” always stuck with me.

Later on I learned that the design of JFK’s quote – that of ‘parallel construction’ where two halves of the claim are attractively balanced – has much to do with it’s wow factor.

After my Mom passed away

After my Mom passed away, I found a small spiral bound notebook titled “Inspirational Quotes” in her desk.

Over the course of a few small pages – in her painstakingly beautiful handwriting – she had written down about a dozen quotes.

As I read each one, I considered the context of the quote in her life.

For a few I understood the context right away – for a time she was a caregiver for both her husband and son (my brother).

Thematically these quotes focused on personal strength.

Maya Angelou’s “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide to not be reduced by them” was one of these.

For the other quotes I realized that the context belonged to my Mom. I couldn’t be sure why they had struck a chord with her.

But I as I read these I felt I was looking down into her well of inspiration – and it inspired me in turn.

I’ve rethought the utility of motivational quotes

Not all motivational quotes are created equal. A quick scan on Pinterest on the topic of ‘motivational quotes’ proves this out.

But when I find one that resonates or inspires, I think first of context.

Who in what situation would benefit from reading this? That’s an interesting empathy exercise.

Reading my Mom’s selections from her little spiralbound notebook gave me insight into what she needed or wanted to hear.

Sometimes I actively seek out quotes that address my own context – what do I need to hear right now to keep the fire burning. Or what can I look at in a new or different way?

A resonant quote – at the right time – gives me a chance to dialogue with myself.

What can I do with my CCXP?

There’s nothing new under the sun

When it comes to human frailty, foibles & emotions, there’s nothing new under the sun.

Someone has experienced what I’ve experienced or felt the way I felt.

I love that some of these folks – whether from ancient times or the present – wanted to share perspective.

Thank you for reading!

Daniel

[email protected] / www.omnitouchinternational.com

How to be a better Service Quality Manager in 2018

25/12/2017by OmniTouch International OmniTouch International No Comments

It’s a new year – and a great time for Service Managers to reflect on ways to deliver more value for their Teams & Organizations in 2018.

Here are some ideas.

More inspiration, less compliance

It’s so easy to get caught up in compliance.

Did Staff say the Customer’s name three times. Did they wear black socks.

Sure compliance matters – but it’s not the stuff of Staff inspiration or culture building.

In the best circumstances, Service Quality Managers help design ‘what kind’ of experience to deliver.

Then using vivid language – written with adults in mind – they create a ‘statement of experience’ that links the day to day activities of their Staff to the kind of experience the organization aims to deliver.

But crafting an inspirational statement of experience – while important – is only one aspect of inspiration.

The best Service Quality Managers are also inspiring people.

What they speak about, the way they speak, the rituals they build into the lives of their Staff.

The best Service Quality Managers understand the impact of inspiration and harness it through how they behave and what they do.

More ‘let’s try new things’, less ‘we have to do it the same way’

As the new year begins, some organizations will begin planning for Wave 12 of their Mystery Shopper program, or Wave 23 of their Customer Satisfaction survey program.

They will trot out exactly the same programs they’ve always run – with the refrain that ‘we need to keep things the same for trending analysis’.

With rapidly changing Customer expectations, delivery methods and opportunities to learn and grow, it doesn’t make much sense to keep looking at the past when your Customers live in the present (and of course the future).

Again, courage is required.

The courage to challenge senior leadership to be brave.

To set aside endless trending and really dig deep to learn.

To stop looking at only numbers and respond to what Customers want, need and feel.

The best Service Quality Managers keep updated on evolving approaches & practices in Customer experience and are willing to try new things to learn and grow their effectiveness.

More ongoing Staff development

In so many workshops, Participants tell me, “Dan, I haven’t attended a workshop, training or developmental program in (fill in the blank) years.

Many receive training at hiring and then, as the years roll by, they’re expected to organically ‘get better’ through repetition and tenure.

While I remind folks that they need to largely self-manage their own career these days – that’s not an excuse for organizations to forego Staff development.

The best Service Quality Managers understand that their Staff need to feel they are learning & growing to stay equipped and engaged.

More journey, less destination

Embedding daily, weekly and monthly rituals & storytelling practices, keeps Service & Customer experience front and center in the lives of your Service Staff.

Look deeply into the frequency and intention of your rituals.

A once a year ‘Service Week’ or participation in an industry Awards activity – on their own – won’t be enough to effect profound change.

Whether it’s the morning huddle or a weekly Customer sharing session it’s important to keep Customers front and center in the minds of your Staff.

If you commit to a monthly / quarterly Service ritual – then stick to it.

And use the ritual to focus on Customers – not organizational announcements.

The best Service Quality Managers know that meeting & exceeding Customer expectations is a journey, not a destination.

They design & execute meaningful rituals that routinely bring Customers to life in the lives of their Staff & Organization.

I hope some of these ideas were useful for you.

Happy holidays!

Daniel

Daniel Ord

[email protected] / www.omnitouchinternational.com

How Team Leaders can talk like Leaders

15/12/2017by OmniTouch International OmniTouch International No Comments

It’s all about the conversations

When you’re managing or leading a team, it’s all about the conversations.

Some of my closest peers use the term ‘high frequency and high quality’ to describe the vital role of conversations with Team Members and that’s such a great way to put it.

The challenge for Team Leaders is that they either don’t know about the many different kinds of conversations at their disposal or they haven’t grown confident in the use of the conversations.

Some Team Leaders will tell you they don’t have time to have conversations with their Team Members which is a different challenge altogether.

There are many conversations in the Team Leader’s repertoire

Every Team Leader has a repertoire of conversations to choose from and use at the appropriate times and for the appropriate purposes.

In no particular order we share a few of these conversations here:

Praise
Gratitude
Monthly Team Reviews
Sincere & specific conversations about what went ‘right’
Sincere & specific conversations about ‘what did not go right’
Performance reviews
Manager as ‘boss’
Manager as ‘person
Transactional coaching
Individual monthly reviews
Poor performance
Personal advice (when asked for)
Manager as ‘Leader’

There’s a lot to talk about.

So how can a Team Leader talk like a Leader?

The simple advice is actually quite practical and links specifically back to the organizational or departmental Vision, Mission & Values.

Senior management wants the essence of the organization to cascade throughout every department and level.

So it can befrustrating for a CEO or VP of Customer Experience (etc.) to find that the folks answering the phone or serving at the Counter don’t have a basic understanding organizational goals, vision, mission and values.

While it’s to be expected that the senior folks incorporate organizational essence into their daily work, it often fails to appear in the conversations that take place between Team Leaders and the Frontline.

Vision, Mission & Values – this isn’t purely theoretical stuff

When we teach the Vision, we help people understand that this is a point in time in the future (as in our organization aims to become…).

Of course this is highly simplified for this article but still very clear.

In a recent class one of the students wanted to use Korean Airlines as a case study and here is their Vision:

To be a Respected Leader in the World Airline Community

While the calibre of the Vision Statement is open for discussion, we decided that this indeed represented a point of time in the future – a point in time when all the dreams of Korean Air would come true.

When we teach the Mission, we help people to understand that this is what we do ‘every day’.

For example, if we are a Call Centre, we may seek to listen and solve the enquiries of our Customers in a positive manner – and that’s something we do every day – not just on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

We then went to the Mission Statement for Korean Air which is:

Excellence in Flight

While the calibre of the Mission Statement is open for discussion, we decided that excellence in flight was something that was supposed to happen ‘every day’.

We then went to Zappos to visit a few of their well-known Core Values – 3 of which are listed below:

Core values are supposed to guide our behaviour at work and when well designed they can be very inspirational.

So what do we mean by the Language of Leadership?

Cindy – I really liked the way you incorporated empathy into your email to Mr. Lawrence. That supports our mission to provide excellent service ‘every day’.

Tom – one of our core values is Teamwork – and by staying back last night to help Tanya finish her report on time you helped bring that value to life. Thanks Tom.

Alex, for the next Guest who checks in, be sure to remember to ask them if they have their loyalty card so that they can enjoy the additional benefits of staying with us – that supports our vision to be the most trusted provider of hospitality solutions for our Guests.

It’s a terrific moment when Team Leaders begin to speak like leaders.

In closing

Managing people well involves having a lot of different types of timely and effective conversations with them.

And every potential conversation in the repertoire has its own purpose.

But to speak like a leader, just look to your organizational and departmental vision, mission and values and aim to bring them to life in your conversations with others.

Thank you for reading!

Daniel

How to write a professional Training Brief

14/11/2017by OmniTouch International OmniTouch International No Comments

In this article we share how to write a professional Training Brief.

We receive a lot of inquiries for training.

Some of these inquiries are super clear. They are well thought through and presented.

That enables us to make a clear and considered reply with a great set of recommendations.

But sometimes we get a one line emails

“We need to train people in Customer Service – send us your outline & rates.”

Or –

“We need our people to be trained in 2 hour shifts on alternate Fridays – send us your proposal.”

Or –

“Send us a list of classes & rates.”

These types of inquiries aren’t easy to work with.

So we decided to see how we can help.

How to prepare a simple yet professional Training Brief

When problems – or opportunities – crop up in the workplace, it’s easy to assume that Training is the solution.

But as any Training expert will tell you – training is never the solution to everything.

We developed a simple infographic to show how to create a professional Training Brief.

On the left side we address the process that happens internally – within your Organization.

On the right side we suggest what you can provide to the external Training Partner so that they can help you better!

Let’s begin by looking at the things you can do internally

Step #1 – Identify & document the Problem(s) & Opportunities – we always recommend that you first identify and document the problem or opportunity that you’d like to address.

Usually two or three sentences should be enough (per problem or opportunity).

Think of it as your elevator pitch – it should be crystal clear to everybody.

Step #2 – Examine the root causes and determine if training is the best solution – once the problem has been identified & documented, continue by examining the root causes of the problem, or the potential barriers to the opportunity at hand.

Then decide if Training is the right solution. If it’s not – then pursue the right solution.

When you believe that Training is the right solution – the next step is to decide if your internal Team has the experience & expertise necessary to achieve results.

If so – give them the brief.

If not, then consider an external Training Partner.

When you’ve decided to contact an external Training Partner

Typically we find that Organizations like to email their inquiries for training and that’s great.

You can easily address incorporate the following steps in a simple email without too much effort.

These 6 steps are described on the right hand side of the infograph.

Step #1 – Describe the job role(s) or functions that you plan to train

Be as clear as you can about ‘who’ will experience training.

For example:

Non-Customer facing job roles
Contact Centre Agents
Quality Assurance folks
Team Leaders in service
Team Leaders in manufacturing
The Organization at large

Step #2 – Estimate the number of Participants by job role or function

There are different facilitation approaches to working with a group of 5 pax vs. a group of 500.

When you can, provide estimates for the number of Participants and a short description of their job roles.

Step #3 – Share the problem(s) and/or opportunity(s)

What is the problem to be solved? What are the opportunities to be unleashed?

Just pick this up from the work you did earlier.

If you’re concerned about sharing this information with an external party – just arrange to execute an appropriate non-disclosure agreement.

Step #4 – Share any ancillary or contextual information

What’s going in on your organization?

Are you new in the market or region? Is there a reorganization? Are there new initiatives? Has morale has fallen? Are you looking for culture change?

The more that your Training Partner understands the situation, the better the recommendation that they can give.

Step #5 – List down your objectives for training

It’s always worth jotting down a few key objectives you want to gain from the engagement.

We suggest you use phrasing such as –

As a result of this training Participants should be able to _______________ should be able to understand___________should know _____________.

It’s expected that you won’t address everything – but it helps your Training Partner understand the scope – and come back with a set of well-rounded suggestions and competencies.

Step #6 is tactical in nature

Special requests about dates, days of the week, venue, catering and the like are tactical details related to the training.

It’s best not to start your inquiry with these details – generally these can be sorted out once the strategic objectives for training have been addressed.

Preparing a Training Brief is as much for your internal Team as it is for your external Training Partner

The benefits of organizing a professional Training Brief are significant for you:

The Brief ensures that internal Stakeholders are aligned
The Brief helps to ensure external Training Partners are assessed objectively and accurately
The Brief demonstrates how seriously your Organization views training.

The benefits of organizing a professional Training Brief are significant for your external Training Provider:

The Brief helps the Provider give you the best set of recommendations in the shortest span of time
The Brief helps guide the Provider in asking additional questions to flesh out the situation at hand
The Brief ensures that the Course Outlines or other submissions provided are in line with your needs & expectations.

It’s never fun for a Training Provider to have to guess at what it is that you want – risky business indeed.

We hope that this short article & infographic are helpful and thank you for reading!

If you’d prefer us to email you a copy of the infograph just let us know and provide us with your email address.

Thank you!

Daniel

What you need to know about the Pooling Principle in Contact Centers

11/11/2017by OmniTouch International OmniTouch International No Comments

This article is about understanding Contact Centre productivity and how the Pooling Principle impacts how ‘busy’ Agents are when they are signed in.

It’s Monday morning and the calls are pouring in.

But you planned well and you’ve got the right Agent capacity in place.

For the morning interval of 9:00AM to 9:30AM, here’s what your stats look like using a simple Erlang C calculator:

Erlang C Example

Your Service Level objective is 80/30.

Based on a Talk Time of 4 minutes, an After Call Work time of 2 minutes and a volume of 1,000 calls, you require 209 Agents to login and be part of capacity so that you can achieve your 80/30.

All good.

Now let’s look at the Occupancy stats for this interval

In this same scenario, you can see that the Occupancy Rate – which is an outcome or result – stands at 96%.

Simply put – that means during this 30 minute interval, your Agents are talking or doing their after call work for 29 minutes.

That means that they will experience only 1 minute of Available Time over the course of that half hour (not much).

What about calls handled per Agent?

Well – if we are receiving 1,000 calls distributed across 209 Agents that works out to an average of 4.8 calls per Agent for that interval (using simple math).

Occupancy is a high level of Contact Centre productivity – telling us how busy Agents were when they were signed in.

Same Contact Center – later that same day

In this Center, the workload drops significantly in the afternoon.

For the afternoon interval of 4:00PM to 4:30PM, here’s what your stats look like using a simple Erlang C calculator:

Erlang C Example

It’s time to relook at the Contact Centre Outsourcer relationship

02/10/2017by OmniTouch International OmniTouch International No Comments

As pressure to deliver a better Customer experience increases, more Organizations are relooking at their Contact Centre Outsourcer relationship.

And their hands are often tied by ineffective, outdated outsourcing agreements signed years earlier.

The serious Client – can you help us look at our Contact Centre Outsourcer?

Over the past year we’ve had about 1 – 2 inquiries per month along the lines of –

“Hey Dan, can you help us relook at our Contact Centre Outsourcer contract or Outsourcer performance?”

Most came from Organizations who wanted to up the game of their Outsourcer.

But they found their hands tied by poorly designed outsourcing contracts.

It’s tough to be locked into an existing outsourcing contract that was designed and executed years earlier.

And by colleagues who are long gone or in different roles.

Some of these folks told me that when they approached their Contact Centre Outsourcer to ask questions, the Outsourcer replied – That’s not in the contract.”

Oh dear.

These Contact Centre Outsourcers shouldn’t be surprised that when the contract is up, the Client finds a new provider.

Some Organizations don’t want to be in the Contact Centre business

A few of these inquiries came from organizations where the folks in charge of the outsourcing relationship don’t seem to be happy about it.

The common thread to their situation was that ‘handling the Contact Centre Outsourcer’ was just one of their overall job responsibilities.

And likely the one that caused the most headaches and for which they were the least equipped.

I’d worry if I worked somewhere where Contact Centre or Customer Experience was seen as so simple that it could just be one of my responsibilities.

That’s a big barrier to working effectively with the Contact Centre Outsourcer.

Sometimes the Outsource relationship looks to be an afterthought

Early this year, I was invited in to discuss a Contact Centre Outsourcer vendor evaluation for a major brand.

Their existing Outsourcer contract ran into the millions of dollars.

I had expected a senior level audience and prepared accordingly.

After arriving at the meeting place, I was greeted by 2 mid-level executives who were nominally in charge of the Outsourcer relationship.

Neither had any Contact Centre or Customer experience credentials nor did they want any.

They simply wanted a quick and dirty report card on the performance of their outsourcer – and they wanted it to be done fast and cheap.

The risk of not stepping up to the plate in an Outsourcer relationship

Aside from the obvious financial implications and the impact on Customer experience, there is an additional risk when organizations fail to step up to the plate and partner fully in their outsourcing relationships.

Customer care, Customer experience, Contact Centres & Service delivery – whatever you choose to call it – is a complex business discipline.

It’s a lot more than ‘being nice’ while on you’re on the phone.

It takes time and mastery to build up what I call your ‘Customer chops’.

For some people it is a life-long calling.

By not stepping up to the plate, these folks on the Client side – by design or circumstance – fail to build up their Customer chops.

So when the time comes when someone finally says – “Hey, why are we getting so many complaints?” or

“Hey, does anybody understand our outsourcing contract?” or

“Hey, how are we doing with successful implementation of self-care/human-care strategies?” no one is going to have a robust answer.

And that’s going to be a problem.

Build your chops

One of the biggest decisions your organization will ever make is who will manage your Customer outsourcing and how it will be done.

And the only way to get this right is to take it seriously.

Learn the industry, build your chops, partner closely with your Outsourcer.

You might learn a thing or two.

Thank you for reading!

Daniel

Daniel Ord

Why are you still talking about Average Handling Time?

14/07/2017by OmniTouch International OmniTouch International No Comments

In this article we talk about Contact Centre Average Handling Time.

So put your feet up on the couch and tell the Dr. – for heaven’s sake, why are we all still talking about Average Handling Time?

The more you talk about AHT, the less you talk about Quality

I have a theory that’s been proven out over the years.

Contact Centre Average Handling Time & Quality

The more a Centre and its inhabitants talk (or fret) about Contact Centre AHT – the less they talk (or fret) about Quality.

Sure – Quality gets lip service (who’s going to bash Quality?) – but it’s AHT that reigns supreme.

And for some inexplicable reason, it’s almost always about the Agents.

Yeah – you know – those Agents who brush their teeth in the bathroom mirror every morning and plot how to sabotage AHT.

“Hmmmm (they say to themselves) – how could I drag the calls today?”

“A few more holds and a bit of nonsensical small talk and I’m sure I can knock AHT out of whack.”

Really?

Any Quality Assurance professional will tell you a simple truth

AHT flows from Quality.

Exhaust coming from an automobile tailpipe

Average Handling Time is an outcome

It’s an output…a byproduct…an emission.

You know those Monitoring Forms with the checklists and standards that QA likes to hand out to let you know how you’re doing with regard to Quality?

Those Forms dictate your Contact Centre Average Handling Time.

Want Agents to use the Customer’s name 3x? Ok – that’ll be about 15 seconds.

Want Agents to say “Is there anything else I can do to help you today (and mean it)?” – that easily adds 7 more seconds.

Need Agents to conduct 2 levels of verification – yup – takes time.

Are you fearless enough to put First Contact Resolution on your Form? Well that’s gonna cost you too (in time that is).

If your Agent scores 100% quality on their call and you still have to talk to them about their AHT something’s wrong with the Form or something’s wrong with your Quality process.

As I like to say when I transition into ‘guru’ mode – when your Agent achieves Quality – and it just feels right – then AHT will be what it will be.

Contact Centre Average Handling Time flows from Quality.

But most assuredly Quality does not flow from Contact Centre Average Handling Time!

Did you ever order chocolate lava cake for dessert in a restaurant? It’s delicious.

But the menu often says “please order early, or just be aware it will take about 20 minutes for us to make you this delicious chocolate lava cake”.

I’ve never seen it happen that a Diner bangs the table and says – “Hey, Chef baby – make me one of those delicious chocolate lava cakes in 10 minutes – you hear? ”

So what’s the best way to correct Contact Centre AHT at the Agent level?

The best way has always been – and it will continue to be – conducting root cause analysis at the Agent level.

Watch the Agent at work, listen to calls, correct what needs to be corrected (sometimes it’s a piece of equipment, sometimes it’s knowledge or skill).

When you fix Agent Quality – you automatically fix AHT. It’s an outcome – not a driver.

Of course having a guideline helps.

Contact Centre AHT lends itself beautifully to measurement as an ‘acceptable range’.

Contact Centre Average Handling Time Acceptable Range

For example an ‘acceptable’ range for your Centre AHT in the mornings might range from a low of 3 minutes to a high of 6 minutes.

I’d set my ‘acceptable’ range based on my high performers in quality – if your call is great quality-wise – then by default the AHT is acceptable. (if it isn’t something is broken in how you measure quality).

Armed with a range, you can track performance across your Team Members and identify outliers – for example those who are consistently above or below the acceptable range for that time period.

This approach allows you to focus in on folks who may have some barrier in their way.

Do remember though –

Acceptable ranges are not consistent throughout the day – most Centres see longer AHT in the night hours as compared to the morning hours (for example).

You have to adjust your ranges based on your call mix, Customer mix and the like.

If you’re in WFM or Process AHT matters

Of course – if you are in WFM (Workforce Management)or you are in Process improvement and/or Customer journey mapping, AHT is super important.

And WFM folks tend to understand that the biggest improvements in AHT come from technology and process improvement.

When you look at all the factors that ‘drive’ AHT, Agents themselves have only minor control over AHT – namely applying their knowledge, skills & abilities as trained and coached.

Industry-wide AHT for voice calls is going up

As the world increasingly becomes digital, Customers reach out to voice channels when their issue is complex or they are confused or unhappy with something.

Coupled with the digitization of ‘simple’ inquiries the outcome is clear – while voice volumes may be ‘stabilizing’ in volume for some Centres, AHT continues to climb.

Feel better? I do

In an era of Customer experience, it won’t do you or your Team Members any good to have an artificial clock ticking in their ear while trying to listen, empathize and resolve a Customer call.

If you’re a Manager or Team Leader who still harps on individual Agent AHT it’s time to rethink your value.

It’s not 1973 anymore.

Thanks for reading!

Daniel

[email protected] / https://www.omnitouchinternational.com

Daniel Ord

What Service People can learn from “The Princess & the Pea”

07/05/2017by OmniTouch International OmniTouch International No Comments

The rise of digital interactions has generated a corresponding rise in the volume and intensity of difficult Customer situations.

The story of “The Princess & the Pea” has some lessons on how to deal with difficult Customer situations.

The Princess & The Pea

In the story of the Princess and the Pea, a Prince seeks to find and marry a ‘real’ Princess.

Though there were a lot of young ladies that claimed to be Princesses out there, something seemed to be wrong with each one.

It was hard to find out if any of them were, in fact, a real Princess.

One night, during a severe thunderstorm, there was a knock at the castle door.

Outside, there stood a young lady. Wet and dripping she asked for shelter for the night.

The Prince’s mother, the Queen, decided to test if this was indeed a real Princess.

“We’ll soon find out,” she said to herself.

She went into the bedroom, took all the bedding off the bedstead, and laid a pea on the bottom-most mattress.

Then she proceeded to lay another 20 mattresses on top of the pea, and finally 20 more comforters on top of the mattresses for good measure.

“Here you go young lady”, she said.

“You can sleep here.”

The next morning, the King, Queen and Prince entered the bedroom where the young lady had slept and the Queen asked, “How did you sleep?”

To that the young lady replied –

“Oh, very badly!”

“I have scarcely closed my eyes all night…

Heaven only knows what was in the bed, but I was lying on something so hard, that today I am black and blue all over. It’s horrible!”

Imagine the worst NPS score ever.

Now they all knew that she was a indeed a real Princess.

Only a level of sensitivity that great could feel the pea below all that bedding.

I think there is a valuable lesson from this story.

Especially those of us in the Frontline and who deal with difficult Customer situations.

Dealing with difficult Customer situations

When we teach how to deal with difficult Customer situations, we ask participants to define or describe a difficult Customer situation.

Common responses include –

They are so demanding…
Why do Customers repeat the same thing over and over…
Our Customers are persistent and refuse to understand…

Then I usually ask –

“Ok – did you have any fear about your physical safety as a result of what you just described?”

” Um…no…”

“Did you experience any emotional damage as a result of what you just described?”

“Not really…”

“Then is it possible that perhaps, in this moment, you’re responding a bit like the Princess with a pea?”

Usually we all laugh here.

The role of emotional maturity

In the world of Customer Service – or Corporate life in general – you’re bound to come across people that are demanding, irritating and unpleasant.

We can always thank our parents, our teachers, a higher power or whatever it may be, that we don’t behave that way.

That we don’t look at the world from an unhappy vantage point.

That we don’t operate as if somebody owes us a living.

According to research, people that succeed in life have high levels of emotional intelligence.

And the most predominant characteristic of emotional intelligence – as isolated by the researchers – is self-control.

Self control

Self control involves not taking things too personally or with too much sensitivity – especially if we’re not in any physical or emotional danger.

It’s not about what we go through – and in Customer Service we go through a lot.

It’s about how we choose to respond to what we go through.

And that includes difficult Customers.

Thank you Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen’s story is a classic and you have to give it to the characters in the story.

She got a Prince and he got his Princess.

The Queen can return to matters of state – or whatever it is that Queens in fairy stories do.

But getting back to real life my advice is – stop looking for the pea!

Daniel

The situation

Here is the email my sister (the Customer) sent

Here is the reply from ae Food & Beverage Director

Here are email writing tips for better Customer Experience – documented within the body of the reply

The Subject Line

The Opening

The Apology

The Corporate Speak

The Content

The Recovery

The Closing

In closing

If your Centre generates revenue – you can stop reading now

The best & primary metric to measure the Customer’s wait time experience? Service Level

Intervals matter

When your Service Level life is good

Back to revenue generating Centres for a moment

Customers & Abandonment rate

But you do have a viable option

Let’s get formal about it

What interests me more

Agents & Abandonment rate

In closing

I’d always been sceptical of Motivational Quotes

After my Mom passed away

I’ve rethought the utility of motivational quotes

There’s nothing new under the sun

More problem prevention, less problem solving

More inspiration, less compliance

More ‘let’s try new things’, less ‘we have to do it the same way’

More ongoing Staff development

More journey, less destination

It’s all about the conversations

There are many conversations in the Team Leader’s repertoire

So how can a Team Leader talk like a Leader?

Vision, Mission & Values – this isn’t purely theoretical stuff

So what do we mean by the Language of Leadership?

In closing

But sometimes we get a one line emails

How to prepare a simple yet professional Training Brief

Let’s begin by looking at the things you can do internally

When you’ve decided to contact an external Training Partner

Preparing a Training Brief is as much for your internal Team as it is for your external Training Partner

Now let’s look at the Occupancy stats for this interval

Same Contact Center – later that same day

The serious Client – can you help us look at our Contact Centre Outsourcer?

Some Organizations don’t want to be in the Contact Centre business

Sometimes the Outsource relationship looks to be an afterthought

The risk of not stepping up to the plate in an Outsourcer relationship

Build your chops

The more you talk about AHT, the less you talk about Quality

Any Quality Assurance professional will tell you a simple truth

So what’s the best way to correct Contact Centre AHT at the Agent level?

If you’re in WFM or Process AHT matters

Industry-wide AHT for voice calls is going up

The Princess & The Pea

Dealing with difficult Customer situations

The role of emotional maturity

Self control

Thank you Hans Christian Andersen