[April 26, 2012]

TeleTech Foresees New Standards for Building Customer Trust as the Driving Force for the Future of Customer Experience Management

TeleTech Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTEC), a leading global provider of technology-enabled customer engagement and experience solutions, today outlined the evolving attributes of trust between organizations and the public in the 21st century and the role a holistic customer experience management strategy plays in that equation.

These findings stem from a new book, "Extreme Trust," by best-selling business authors, Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, Ph.D., which debuted today. In the book Peppers and Rogers detail how customer expectations of brands they trust are quickly evolving to higher standards based on greater transparency, proactively making choices for the benefit of customers and building long-term relationships. These expectations will pressure organizations to rethink their historical approaches to customer relationship management and implement new policies, procedures and technologies that will increase their customer's trust with every interaction.

Increasingly, consumers are drawn to businesses that are not only trustworthy, but proactive in protecting the interests of its customers. For example, while today it is standard policy for companies to let gift cards expire or collect overdraft charges on accounts without informing customers, consumers are beginning to demand a more proactive approach that would warn them offers are about to expire or when their account balances are dangerously close to the minimum threshold.

"Businesses realize that consumer expectations are rising and trust is essential to making interactions with customers more efficient and relationships longer lasting. With information about customer experiences with brands so accessible and social networks making it easy to share that information instantaneously, it has become far more costly for companies to keep secrets or hide things than it is to be forthright and open. This requires companies to ask themselves if they are operating in an extremely trustable manner with every customer interaction. The bottom line is this, to be considered trustable an organization must do things right, do the right things, and do it proactively. The book is called Extreme Trust because we believe that is the new standard which successful companies are striving for," ~ Don Peppers, author and founder, Peppers and Rogers Group.

By comparing what made a company trustworthy in the 20th century and contrasting it with what is now the expectation of a trustable company in the 21st century, Peppers and Rogers shed new light on the need for companies to adjust their behavior. One example of this illustratd in the book is how companies used to manage and coordinate all brand messaging to ensure a compelling and consistent story. Whereas today companies must recognize that what people say about the brand is far more important than what the company says. This point illustrates how the advent of social media has completely changed the way in which consumers can affect corporate reputations.

Ever wonder how trustable your company or organization would be regarded? Extreme Trust has that covered as well, with a series of trustability tests that can be taken and discussed on extremetrustbook.com. Interested parties can also engage in the trust conversation, read the authors latest ideas, and learn how to become a trust ambassador through the book's social properties www.facebook.com/extremetrustbook and on twitter @extremetrustbook.

"This imperative towards proactive trust and customer focus is not a passing trend," comments Mark Grindeland, CMO of TeleTech (News - Alert). "Businesses large and small need to look in the mirror and evaluate if their perception of their commitment to customer focus matches their customers' perceptions. Research shows that 80% of companies believe that they are doing a great job with their customer experience while only 8% of their customers agree they are achieving it. And, most importantly, the research shows that achievers consistently outperform believers in revenue and profitability. Trust is a key contributor towards delivering on an exceptional customer experience and therefore bottom line results."

Peppers and Rogers research reinforces the economic value of trust. They found that customers who say they trust a company are more likely to be long-term customers and spend more money with that company than customers who don't have a high level of trust. It's important that organizations put a premium on their trustability when developing their customer experience programs.

What this means in terms of best practices for customer experience management programs is:

• Committing the entire organization to the three basic principles of trustability: do things right, do the right things, and do them proactively
• Creating a solution with the best interest of both parties in mind
• Ensuring that all customer information is consistent across all channels
• Integrating processes and technologies across all customer touch points and applying analytics to gain greater insights into customer behaviors and trends so that organizations can act more proactively and intelligently in building customer trust
• Proactively engaging with customers through social media channels to demonstrate commitment to listening to customer sentiment
• Making customer interaction a two-way street with more emphasis on outbound customer contact

ABOUT TELETECH

For nearly 30 years, TeleTech and its subsidiaries have helped the world's most successful companies design, build, implement and manage superior customer experiences across the customer lifecycle in order to drive shareholder value. As the go-to partner for the Global 1000, the TeleTech group of companies delivers technology-based solutions that maximize revenue, transform customer experiences and optimize business processes. From strategic consulting to operational execution, our more than 42,000 employees drive success for clients in the communications and media, financial services, government, healthcare, technology, transportation and retail industries. Our companies deliver award-winning integrated solutions in support of customer innovation, revenue generation, technology innovation, enterprise innovation, learning innovation and strategic management consulting. For additional information, please visit www.teletech.com.

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