March 1999

Dear Matthew:

I really enjoyed your story "From Prospect To Loyal Customer." [January 1999.] It puts a real-world perspective on customer relationship management - the new buzzwords.

Ironically, I was about to send a couple of ideas to Erik Lounsbury [CCS Editor] for possible publication. The first revolves around creative ways to hire and retain great service people - who build those customer relationships. The second - which I will now nix given your accurate perspective - had to do with the reality of customer relationship management.

We used to have TQM, etc. That usually was not connected to the overall organization effectively. Skip a few and we got to sales force automation - SFA - which was sales' way of building a system that does not cohesively involve the support personnel, so it has become CRM now. As you said, it is really about people and giving them the tools and processes to be effective.

I was only concerned about one of your statements -"You should also consider enabling your front line…." I'd like to make them the "center of the universe."

[An] interesting angle [on the subject is found] in my daughter's Solar System magazine, [which discussed the fact that] the 2nd Century Egyptians said that the sun revolved around the earth. It took 1,400 years to correct that notion. Kind of like our organizations and how the folks working with customers are often more like the "rings chasing around Saturn on behalf of customers" rather than having the company organized on their behalf.

Anyway, I've got the bruises (Apple, Levi's, Cisco, Oracle, JBL, etc.) - and a few gray hairs - but the commitment remains.

Thanks for your perspective.

Best wishes,
Ivan Temes
Principal, Service Excellence

Matthew Vartabedian, CCS Technology Editor, replies:

Dear Ivan:

Thanks for your input and comments - I appreciate the feedback. You're right to disagree with my statement; I should have made it more emphatic.

Please do submit both your ideas for consideration for publication - the readers can only benefit from an additional (your) perspective on CRM.

Dear Sirs:

I enjoyed reading Rich Tehrani's December 1998 "High Priority!" article about the improvements call centers can make in their IVR tree designs and overall customer responsiveness. In his article, he wished out loud for a critical improvement call centers could make: "So what if IVR systems allow us to leave a message rather than waiting for the right agent to answer the call? I've never encountered a menu option such as, 'Press 5 at any time to leave us a message that will be answered when the next agent is available.'"

I particularly related to this request, since this customer-friendly capability is exactly what our company offers. Virtual Hold is a patented ACD enhancement that eliminates hold time by setting up a "virtual queue." The virtual queue doesn't require a line connection to the caller, yet still keeps his or her place in line, fulfilling Mr. Tehrani's dream call center system.

Our software is the only technology on the market able to meet this request, with true first-in-first-out call integrity. The system watches the inbound call queue and, during an overflow, automatically provides callers with the option of receiving a callback to any number at any time it's convenient to the caller. Virtual Hold software manages this overflow call volume without any interaction from the agent. In addition, no special agent training is necessary with Virtual Hold technology.

The admonition to "be careful what you wish for, or you may receive it" certainly applies here, but only in a positive sense. Mr. Tehrani is obviously close to the market, and his perception that there is a need for a technology such as ours is gratifying.

Keep up the good work at C@LL CENTER Solutions! I personally read every issue, and I know others on my staff pay close attention to it as well.

Sincerely,
Mark Williams
President
Virtual Hold Technology