The bar is raised. Customers expect more than ever when they call. The average utility customer doesn’t compare the level of service they receive from your call center to another utility. Instead they make comparisons to companies who provide stellar, even legendary, service such as Nordstrom’s, LL Bean and Southwest Airlines. When utilities go beyond taking care of the customer’s “transaction” to caring for the “relationship”, they create long-term loyalty and opportunities for incremental revenue. Continue…

The available pool of high performing tele-professionals is shrinking by the day, causing call enter managers to take a closer look at the reason good employees leave. A recent national survey of 100 American workers by Interim Services, a national staffing and consulting concern, discovered that poor supervision is a top driver of employee turnover. Continue…

How the everyday sales that you miss become easy pickings for your competition

Would an apple grower who owns acres of apple trees routinely pick only the fruit at the top and the middle of the tree, leaving the low-hanging fruit to fall to the ground and go to waste? Not one who wants to stay in business. The same principle applies when hundreds of sales opportunities are missed everyday because those on the front line who deal with customers by telephone don’t ask for the order, leaving low hanging fruit to go unpicked or even worse, harvested by the competition. Continue…