Remember when call center agents used to “serve” customers by robotically reciting scripts over the phone? Not anymore. These days, customers expect to have an entirely different experience, one that is personalized just for them. They can reach out...

Providing top-quality customer service requires successful call center management of many moving and interconnected parts, not the least of which are all the personnel that you have answering the phones.

Without effective workforce forecasting, call centers cannot serve customers well or function profitably.

Virtually everything that goes into optimizing resources — recruiting, hiring, staffing, and scheduling — depends on having an accurate...

For many companies that operate their customer service call center internally, staffing is an ongoing concern. This is currently an even larger concern in an environment where the national unemployment rate is only 3.8%. This can be both daunting...

No company can stay in business without analyzing performance data. However, useful data depends on using the right set of key performance indicators, or KPIs. Fortunately, there are a lot of ways to gather these kinds of metrics in a customer...

One way or another, the great majority of customer service reps are going to utilize a script on a few, some, or perhaps all of their calls. However, the last thing any of us wants when we call a customer service department is an agent who recites a...

Staffing and managing an internal call center is both challenging and costly. For many direct-to-customer businesses, it can represent as much as 3% of net sales, or even more. And there is no way to put a price on the frustrations involved....

Have you ever wondered about the difference between multi-channel and omni-channel communications? Multi-channel offers multiple lines of communication individually, while omni-channel combines all those channels into one single experience. They may...

When a customer contacts your company to ask product questions, place an order, or get tech support, they assume they are talking to your people. They may not even realize they have contacted a “call center.” In fact, that's the goal, that they...

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platforms can (and should) play an important role in customer relations. Here at The Connection®, we always recommend that companies integrate call center and CRM technologies. Doing this enables call center...