Contact Centers: The New Call Centers…

When I entered the travel industry in 1995, I remember a conversation I had with Eddie Ramos of Carnival Cruise Lines. The topic was the future of both the travel industry and call centers in general. At the time, I was a new employee fresh out of grad school and Eddie was my supervisor.He made a great point that still rings true with me today. He convinced me that the future was call centers – “it’s gonna be big man…“. Without writing a long drawn out soliloquy, I agreeded with him then and I still agree with him.

As technology grows, so does the opportunity for instant communication with our customers.

In 1995, it was simple – you either dealt with customers over the phone or in person.

1-2 years later and customers start using basic email – I actually got the opportunity to create the first email program for the Group Sales Department at Carnival Cruise Lines.

As time goes on, live chat and message boards become a reality in customer contact.

Next come the blogs, more structured forums, virtual communities, and RSS feeds.

I don’t believe the tipping point has been achieved with social media in the traditional business world, but I think it’s very close on the horizon.

I can see 2-3 years from now where all this technology (and then some) will be utilized in customer care oppotunities and the term “call center” will be just another term from the late 20 Century – like voodoo economics or floppy disk.

Trust me people, the future is customer contact centers…

Smart Mobs: A Great Resource…

When I first started on my journey into social media, I kept on coming across the name on Howard Rheingold in my research. He is obvioulsy ahead of the curve in his thinking about social media and other technological advances.Since I’m currently working on a project that uses an online community, I was very curious to read his book Smart Mobs (published in 2002).

I just finished it and highly recommend it, however here are a couple brief comments:

1) Rheingold foresees the potential behind the smart phone and it’s borderline creepy on his observations as one looks back in 2006.

2) Since the book was published in 2002, there was only a minor mention of blogs, but the potential was implied.

3) Unfortunately, there was no mention of RSS feeds even though I understand this technology existed back then and I feel this will be important in the coming years.

4) Overall, the book was excellent and seems to have been a forecast on the path taken from 2001 to 2006 in regards to social media.

5) I also suggest you subscribe to the blog as it seems to have continued the book’s message over the past 4 years.

If you go to the Smart Mobs website, they actually do a great job of breaking down the book for you.

Check it out and let me know what you think.

Goowy.com: Thanks Alex…

Thanks to Alex taking the time to give me some positive feedback on my initial post regarding Goowy.com – I have decided to keep my account and try his suggestions over the next couple of days.

Alex, it would have been easy to blow me off as some bonehead moron, but instead you acted like a professional and addressed each of my criticisms. It’s great to see this type of effort from any organization.

Thanks.

Polling: A quick response…

I want to write a quick response to my last posting regarding polls and customer feedback. I’m not happy with the free poll I mentioned from Google Widgets. I do recommend PollDaddy and suggest you use thier service if you are on a budget.

Polling: Getting a Pulse on Your Customers…

Maria Palma has a great blog called customers are always. Last Friday, Maria posted a great piece called Surveying Your Customers on a Budget where she discussed inexpensive ways to get a pulse on performance through online surveys or simple blog pulse searches.

I completely agree with her message as we all know that customers will talk regardless if we’re involved or not so it’s vital to join the game rather than ignore it. Social media offers this opportunity.

One of the tools I think are vital to this are simple polls / surveys used as widgets. They are relatively cheap (or free) and incredibly easy to use. They also offer instant access to your customers with a live pulse – depending on what you’re asking. In addition, these widgets can make your website interactive and enjoyable for the User and especially so if you include a goofy question or two once in a while (e.g. Favorite Holiday Movie? Worst Holiday Gift?, etc.)

The poll I use in the top right hand corner is through polldaddy.com. It took me 5 minutes to set up a free account and it has multiple features and skins. Another one I’ll be using is thru Google Gadgets – again free.

So wake up people and take advantage of these tools – you’ll be a better business for it.

Goowy.com: OK Mark Cuban, I tried it…

In a recent post regarding a recent investment of his, Mark Cuban hyped Goowy.com.After reading his

post, I took Mark’s advice and checked it out.If you’re unfamiliar with this company, Goowy.com is offering Internet geeks a new Yourminis tool which is really just a personal desktop were you can add everything to simple widgets, RSS feeds, etc..Here are my initial thoughts after playing with it:

1) The different skins are cool but maybe I need to get a better graphics card as every skin I chose came out fuzzy when maximized.
2) I was disappointed with the RSS feed feature. You can only choose what Goowy offers unless I missed something. If I didn’t, then I’d still have to use Newsgator.
3) In addition to RSS feeds the widgets were kind of interesting (e.g. comic strip of the day) but the more widgets you include our your page only obstructs the wallpaper.
4) Again, basic widget choices were there but I didn’t see anything were you could add outside of what Goowy offers.
5) The first thing that jumped out at me was that this looks like a typical Mac desktop and I guess this is OK if you are a slave to PCs like me and can’t afford a MAC.

Bottom Line: I hope this tool is still in beta or simple ongoing development. For me, I’d rather have a RSS aggregator or a simple myyahoo account until they add more bells and whistles that includes customization. Mark, I’m going to pass and cancel my account.

Disney: Missing a Big Opportunity?…

One of my first posts discussed a communication breakdown with Walt Disney World employees regarding a new program (the Disney Gift Card).

I stated that I was pass holder (and have been so for some time) for a number of reasons. My family and I are devoted fans of the mouse and are willing to spend the money for the experience.

As I meander down today’s social media path, I relish and appreciate the positive moves that companies are making by integrating blogs, customer forums, podcasting, etc. Organizations appear to be listening and although I would argue that we have yet to achieve the tipping point for business blogging and vlogging, the right steps are being made each day.

The last time I renewed my Disney annual pass, I was advised that there is an online community for pass holders. This was around the same time I had come back from the WOMMA Basic Training conference in San Francisco. I was pumped to get home and check out this “online community”.

My balloon was deflated as soon as I logged on. The only difference between this site and the normal site – account information and a couple of “pass holder” events.

My point: As I’ve said in the past, I LIKE Disney and will spend the $400 annually for each of my family members to visit briefly once or twice a month. I am not an evangelist by any means, I just like to mention them since I would argue they are a benchmark in customer service.

Given Disney’s reputation for customer care and the Disney experience as a whole, I would say that they are missing out by not developing an online community for their pass holders who can engage in the overall experience. Think about this:

A vlog where customers can share their last visit

A blog with tips and experiences

Podcasting for current/upcoming events

Believe me, its not like no one is talking about Disney. For example, before I wrote this post, I queried the word Disney and found:

1955 results in Google Video

1,400,956 results in Technorati (19,851 with a lot of authority)

239,080 results in the past 30 days via Blogpulse

In addition, check our iTunes and see how may podcasts are available from Disney lovers.

It’s nuts and the public is talking about the product one way or another.

My advice to Disney is: harness this energy, listen, learn and adjust. Your ROI will be an epidemic of more Disney evangelists.