You don't need extensive market research to realize that the call center market is
still in its infancy -- All you need is a telephone, a mortgage or a credit card.
America's economy is destined to become a service economy. How many times have we heard
this? Service companies are making a killing on Wall Street with huge market
capitalization numbers and future business projections are equally impressive.
But for a company to remain competitive, this is only part of the picture - Every
company needs to have incredible customer service. Insurance, banking,
manufacturing
everyone. So as we approach the next millennium, we have made great
strides in customer service and the future looks bright. Right? Wrong!
I recently had two encounters, one with a bank and the other with a credit card
company, that were absolutely infuriating. I am not in the banking or credit card
business, but I can guarantee you that service is the key to long-term growth in both
these industries. Bank advertising seems to be at an all-time high: the airwaves are full
of radio and television ads, newspapers are chock full of them and it seems there are
billboard ads for them every few miles along our highways. Add to this the fact that
electronic banks are popping up everywhere on the Internet and you can conclude that the
market seems to be very hot. Couple this with the fact that interest rates are
ridiculously low for every bank and you wonder what keeps a customer with their existing
bank if another offers a better deal or better service.
Credit card companies constantly send me incentives to get their cards. I have been
offered platinum cards, diamond cards, gold cards, free gas, free long-distance, free
grocery shopping, free miles, free cash back; credit limits from $20,000 to $100,000, 2.9%
interest, 3.9% interest -- where does the madness end?
You'd think the largest of the large financial institutions would have this customer
service problem licked. They should be models of perfection. They should make sure that
under no circumstances would they lose a customer to poor service. These institutions have
millions of customers and advertising budgets in the tens of millions of dollars to
attract new customers. If they didn't have great customer service, every day a smaller,
nimbler competitor would be chasing their prime customers, stealing revenue from their
pockets and bread from their tables. This is what I always thought, but boy was I nave.
In the last few months, I have witnessed customer service atrocities that would make me
cringe if they came from my company. You wonder if executives in these large financial
institutions ever try calling their own customer service lines themselves to see what the
average customer has to suffer through.
Case in point is my recent need to acquire a mortgage for a house. After some shopping
around, I decided to do business with the company that has also been handling my primary
credit card. This is one of the largest banks in the country. When filling out my
application and speaking with the representative from the mortgage company I mentioned I
had a credit card with the same bank. This had absolutely no effect on cutting down my
paperwork. I was a new customer and that was all there was to it -- I had no credit history
with them, they did not know me from Adam. I was a stranger. My credit card has been with
this company for over ten years, yet I wasn't even in the computer. I mentioned my loyalty
but no one cared.
Well, I got the mortgage and all was well for a few months until I realized I needed my
credit limit extended on my credit card. So I called the credit card telephone number and
told them that I needed my credit limit increased. After a week I received a letter
informing me that I would need to send in a copy of my paycheck or a letter from my boss
stating how much money I make. I called to tell them that my salary information, in fact
my entire life story, was in the mortgage department's computers. I mentioned to the
customer service rep that the mortgage department could tell him how many square feet my
house has, how many bathrooms, the year it was built; they know my lawyer, they know my
accountant, and they even pay my property taxes for me -- who knows me better? "I'm
sorry sir, it doesn't work like that," I was told politely. "But why not?"
I insisted. "Well, you see sir, the mortgage department works on a different computer
system than the credit card department and we can't access their information and they
can't access our information," he replied, being ever so polite. "Well great, I
have their phone number, would you like to call them and double-check the figures I gave
you?" I explained, hoping to ruffle the agent's feathers a bit. "Mr. Tehrani
(now that he used my name I could tell I was getting to him), our corporate policy
maintains that the credit limit adjustment department (or some such arcanely named
department) must have the document faxed or mailed to us for record-keeping
purposes," he said in an agitated tone. I decided I had better things to do at this
point than argue on the phone when I knew I was getting nowhere. I figured if
"record-keeping purposes" were really that important, they would actually share
some of these records with their other internal departments. Who needs these records? Are
the agents getting commission on the number of records they save up? Are the agents
archiving records in the computer in competition with each other? A brief flash of
squirrel-like agents busily burying nuts in the yard flashed through my head. Well, I lost
too much work time on this; I needed to get back to my job.
After a month or so, I forgot all about this encounter. I seem to be on the road more
and more these days, and nothing clears my mind and helps me forget my problems like
spending hours in an airplane. Thankfully, all my traveling has added up to a wealth of
frequent flyer miles.
Frequent flyer miles equate to nobility in airports. I have hundreds of thousands of
miles on certain airlines and merely thousands on others. If I fly airline X, I am a
traveling god -- my mere presence flying standby immediately reduces all other standby
passengers in rank. I check in at certain "no wait" lines at airports. Life is
good when I fly airline X.
Airline Y however, is different. When I fly this airline it seems to be for short hops.
I can never accumulate the miles I need to reach the next level of flying status. Once,
airline Y made me wait in an airport for 12 hours before I could fly out of the city - I
was bumped off 6 standby lists. Recently, when I saw an ad offering a credit card yielding
free frequent flyer miles on airline Y, I jumped at the chance. I had visions of reigning
as an airport god on this airline as well. Better yet, the credit card company was the
same company that offered my secondary credit card.
I immediately called the number on the screen and was barraged by questions: Name, age,
social security number, etc. I mentioned I already had a card from this company but the
agent, although pleasant, seemed unfazed. So I continued for a while until the agent
finished the queries and I went back to watching TV.
A few days later, a letter came to my attention telling me that I must submit
employment verification. So I found a pay stub and looked for the fax number on the
enclosed letter. No fax number? In this day and age? I am impatient -- am I supposed to
wait another week just for them to get to opening my letter? So I called and asked for the
fax number. It turned out this bank didn't seem to have the same "record
keeping" system as the last bank. In this case, only a letter will do. Here we go
again. So I patiently explained that I have been a cardmember in good standing for over 12
years. He said, "Oh, Mr. Tehrani, I did not realize this. Please give me your social
security number again." Progress, I thought, progress. So I iterated the magic number
and, lo and behold, my prior history was revealed to the agent and I no longer needed to
submit anything. I hung up satisfied, but my subconscious didn't rest. I thought to myself
that if the social security number is a unique identifier, why didn't I get picked up as a
long-time customer already. I needed to tell the agent and the company that I am in their
computer? This whole situation wasted time, paper, postage and telephone charges. We could
have avoided all of this with a simple database query.
Based on these experiences, I know we are still in the nascent stages of a wonderful
technology revolution in the call center. These above cases are ridiculous. A small
company should be embarrassed, let alone a large company or the hugest of the huge,
knowing that this sort of thing takes place in their call centers.
Perhaps you are thinking about your own call center. Do you have these issues brewing?
Are your databases in synch? Do they cross-reference and communicate with each other? Do
you have call center software designed to catch this sort of problem?
I have issued a challenge. I have picked some of the major companies in the call center
industry and presented them with the challenge of solving the above problems. I have asked
for the products they would suggest and how they can link together to make sure the above
scenarios never happen in your company. Our October issue of C@LL CENTER Solutions
will have a mini-round-up of companies that can tackle this challenge. Please be sure to
read it thoroughly so you will ensure your company serves its customers as well as
possible.
These types of scenarios remind me of the days when agents used 3 x 5 cards to keep
track of their accounts. Call center software vendors have barely scratched the surface --
every company needs to make sure its call center data is accessible as needed by all other
departments that have outside contact. People are busy and they are getting busier. Every
call center must look at the latest products that will be outlined in the next issue and
beyond.
To those banks in question: I noticed you subscribe to C@LL CENTER Solutions. It
seems to me you may not be reading as carefully as you need to be. Might I suggest that
you take these challenges seriously before I or someone else decides to name you in future
articles?
Sincerely yours,
Rich Tehrani
Group Publisher
rtehrani@tmcnet.com
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