Next in Queue: Upping Your Contact Center Recruiting and Hiring Game featuring Matt Beckwith
Contact Center Geek
OCTOBER 21, 2022
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Contact Center Geek
Customer Service Week
Contact Center Geek
OCTOBER 4, 2022
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! I know it’s not quite the winter holiday season, but yesterday kicked off Customer Service Appreciation Week and that’s pretty wonderful, too! This week, what my teams have referred to as simply, CSAW, is about showing appreciation for our colleagues that help our customers day in and day out. They are, so often, the faces and the voices of the company.
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Safety First, Money Second
Contact Center Geek
SEPTEMBER 27, 2022
Throughout my career leading contact center teams, I’ve learned many best practices. What some may have called my “rules”, my colleagues have affectionately referred to as, “Matt-isms”. One of these “Matt-isms” is something I have shared with every newly hired team member for years: “Safety first, money second”. I enjoy meeting with new team members on their first day of work and during this initial meeting I ask what they think I am most concerned with.
Coffee Talk With Brohawk Featuring Matt Beckwith
Contact Center Geek
SEPTEMBER 7, 2022
I recently had the honor of joining Mark Brody on his Coffee Talk with Brohawk series. Mark is a contact center legend and president of the Austin Contact Center Alliance.
Customer Service Gold Dust Podcast - Contact Center Secrets with Matt Beckwith
Contact Center Geek
JULY 6, 2022
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Customer Service Gold Dust Podcast - Contact Center Secrets with Matt Beckwith
Contact Center Geek
JULY 6, 2022
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"The one where Pest Control Saves Lives" - Matt Beckwith on the CX Passport podcast
Contact Center Geek
JANUARY 18, 2022
I had an absolute blast being a guest on Rick Denton ’s terrific podcast, “CX Passport”. We had a wonderful time discussing changes in customer service and customer experience through the years and what that looks like in the pest control and home services industry.
The Most Important Question Managers Aren’t Asking
Contact Center Geek
DECEMBER 17, 2021
“Is this the job we sold you on?” How much time does it take you to recruit, hire, and train a new team member? How much does it cost your organization? What is the impact if a new team member leaves your organization shortly after being trained, or even before their training is complete? Of course, there is a negative impact when someone leaves soon after being hired, so it makes sense to reduce the risk of that happening.
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From 411 Operator to Contact Center Geek: An Interview with Contact Center Operations Expert, Matt Beckwith
Contact Center Geek
DECEMBER 16, 2021
I recently had the honor of joining Hailey Corr on Vistio’s terrific podcast, “Recorded For Quality Assurance”. Great name, right? It was a thrill to talk about with her about contact centers, customer experience, and technology. vistio.io/blog/from-411-operator-to-contact-center-geek/.
Leading the Customer Experience by Brad Cleveland
Contact Center Geek
SEPTEMBER 30, 2021
Brad Cleveland is a legend in the customer service and customer experience space. Not merely a thought leader, but an action leader, who has helped shape how customer service and customer experience leaders think, practice, and evolve to do incredible work in the spirit of humanity and business. This latest book from Cleveland is a terrific jump into how to build, and execute on, a solid customer experience vision.
Regional Contact Center Associations
Contact Center Geek
SEPTEMBER 10, 2021
There’s a question I regularly get, it’s one that I really enjoy answering. It usually sounds like this, “I have a new person leading our contact center… where should they go to get help on how to run a contact center?” In addition to the plethora of conferences and training organizations there are so many amazing books, blogs, podcasts, and smart people freely sharing their knowledge on LinkedIn, Twitter, Clubhouse, and in Slack workspaces.
How to Run a World-Class Call Center
Contact Center Geek
FEBRUARY 23, 2021
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The Challenge of Leading an Energized Team: Experience Matters Podcast
Contact Center Geek
MAY 26, 2020
I was honored to be a guest on the Officium Labs, Experience Matters Podcast. I had a great conversation with the incomparable Nate Brown. Give it a listen here.
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To All The Bosses I've Had Before
Contact Center Geek
OCTOBER 17, 2019
Happy Boss’s Day Yesterday, October 16, was Boss’s Day. In honor of that, I’d like to thank some of the managers that helped me get where I am today. There are a great number of people that have helped me get where I am in my career. I have a great boss today and my career has been shaped by a number of other great bosses. I consider myself very lucky to have only had a couple of not-so-great bosses, but they are not the subject of today’s post.
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Customer Service Appreciation Week 2019
Contact Center Geek
OCTOBER 7, 2019
Happy Customer Service Appreciation Week! Although many people may not realize it, this week is being celebrated in contact centers all across the country. Although not specifically a contact center event, it has certainly become one! By a resolution of the United States Congress and proclamation by President George Bush in 1992, the first week in October was named Customer Service Week.
The 2019 Customer Contact Central Awards Judge Spotlight
Contact Center Geek
OCTOBER 4, 2019
For the second time, I am excited to be a judge for Customer Contact Central Awards. Here’s the video we did as part of their judge spotlight. The 2019 Customer Contact Central Awards Judge Spotlight from Shelley Trout on Vimeo. Permalink.
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Frost & Sullivan Customer Contact West 2018
Contact Center Geek
NOVEMBER 4, 2018
This year’s Customer Contact West conference was held at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix. I really enjoy this event every year. It’s a smaller conference, I believe around 350 attendees, but the events and content are huge! The format of the sessions are great. The Frost & Sullivan team does a great job mixing up keynotes, general sessions, interactive sessions, panels and roundtables so there are so many opportunities to learn and connect with other customer contact and customer experience
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How To Be An Effective Manager
Contact Center Geek
MARCH 22, 2019
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. A new team member joins your contact center. She is put through training and taught how to use her phone and your company CRM, how to de-escalate upset customers, and how to go through the necessary talking points on common calls. She is taught all about the products and services your company offers and how to overcome objections and answer customer questions.
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Matt Beckwith on the Fast Leader Show
Contact Center Geek
DECEMBER 19, 2018
Matt Beckwith considered leaving his contact center job because he felt bogged down by the things he didn’t like about the job. He almost left, and then his boss asked him some very insightful questions that helped him find clarity almost instantly. [link] Permalink.
What Metallica Can Teach Us About Customer Experience
Contact Center Geek
JANUARY 3, 2019
Lessons on Customer Experience are all around us, if we just look for them. All of us, after all, are customers first. Metallica, the metal band that has been around since the 1980s, could teach us all something about Customer Experience. My wife and I and some friends recently attended a Metallica concert on their World Wired Tour. It was the first time many of us had seen them since the late 80s or early 90s.
Contact Center Predictions in Three Sizes
Contact Center Geek
NOVEMBER 6, 2018
This article originally appeared on ICMI.com. The end of the calendar year often brings with it the inexorable look into the crystal ball. It seems everywhere you look there is someone touting that they know what the future holds. So, as many of us are starting to look ahead to 2019 and beyond, especially since we likely already finalized our budgets and plans for next year, I thought I would add my bold predictions.
Frost & Sullivan Customer Contact West 2018
Contact Center Geek
NOVEMBER 4, 2018
This year’s Customer Contact West conference was held at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix. I really enjoy this event every year. It’s a smaller conference, I believe around 350 attendees, but the events and content are huge! The format of the sessions are great. The Frost & Sullivan team does a great job mixing up keynotes, general sessions, interactive sessions, panels and roundtables so there are so many opportunities to learn and connect with other customer contact and customer experience
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Customer Experience – No, Not That
Contact Center Geek
SEPTEMBER 16, 2018
Guest post from Dr. Debra Bentson We talk a lot in the Customer Experience space about how to deliver CX – I’m putting this topic on its head to share a few things about customer experience. You know I love a good story – so here we go: I walked into one of those shops we all know to buy a cup of coffee – as simple or as froufrou as you like. There was one other customer in the shop.
What Comes Before "The One Number You Need To Grow"
Contact Center Geek
SEPTEMBER 9, 2018
Guest post by Andrew Gilliam About six months ago, the survey that I've been working on for almost two years went live. It's the first step toward revitalizing our Voice of the Customer program. In the beginning, I recognized that capturing actionable data will be very challenging and essential to gain traction. The old survey had been stagnant for about a decade.
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63 How to Scale Your Culture as Your Contact Center Grows
Contact Center Geek
SEPTEMBER 6, 2018
This article originally appeared on ICMI.com. What is culture? In my mind, it is the principle that will guide employees to behave in a certain way - the operative term being, guide, not force. Culture is also the sum of all behaviors of all employees. It is intangible. It cannot be seen, in and of itself. It can be encouraged, and enforced, by co-workers.
How To Stand Out As A Customer Experience Change Agent
Contact Center Geek
JULY 26, 2018
I am a podcast junky. I devour podcasts. Funny podcasts, serious podcasts, and, of course, podcasts centered on my passion for contact centers and improving customer experience. One of my favorite shows is Crack The Customer Code hosted by two CX rock stars: Adam Toporek and Jeannie Walters. On episode 329 from July 17, 2018, “Be a Customer Experience Change Agent” , Jeannie spoke about how you can be a customer experience change agent in your company: Go big, find quick CX wins, and gather your
Fast Food Wars: The Battle of Social Service
Contact Center Geek
JULY 16, 2018
Before I begin, I want to tell you a love story. A story about how a man from Northern California fell in love with a chicken sandwich and those funny cows. Or at least, provide a little proof that it is not my intent to publicly shame the home of the best chicken sandwich in the nation. I love Chick-fil-A. I don't mean a little love, I mean I really love it.
Breaking the Ice Episode #42: Innovative Contact Centers & Giving Back w/ Matt Beckwith
Contact Center Geek
JANUARY 17, 2018
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"Follow the Leader", Featuring Matt Beckwith
Contact Center Geek
APRIL 4, 2018
Has working in customer service made a positive affect in your personal life? The short answer is: absolutely! I’m not sure if I was drawn to work in customer service because of my natural curiosities and interests or if working in service has created who I am today. I suspect it’s a little of both. I believe that working in customer service and leading customer service teams has taught me more about the human condition than I would have otherwise learned.
It's So Hard To Say Goodbye (But It Shouldn't Be)
Contact Center Geek
AUGUST 7, 2014
Here's a question to my fellow call center and customer service colleagues: have you re-evaluated your company’s cancellation procedures in light of the recent Comcast cancellation fiasco ? As a customer of Comcast myself, I gasped at the story recently about Ryan Block, the AOL executive that tried to cancel his Comcast service. After 10 minutes of getting nowhere with the representative, he started recording the call and since then, the world has been given the chance to share in his eight min
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Thanks For the Toilet Seat Covers
Contact Center Geek
AUGUST 18, 2014
What comes to mind when you hear the word “ management ”? Princeton defines management as “the act of managing something” and “those in charge of running a business”. When I hear the term “management” used to describe a group of unnamed people, I think of toilet seat covers. Specifically, I think of toilet seat covers in public restrooms. Sometimes the packaging reads: “Provided by the Management For Your Protection”.
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Customer Service Week
Contact Center Geek
OCTOBER 5, 2014
As a call center manager, Customer Service Week is a lot of fun! Celebrated every year during the first full week of October, this is a chance to show my appreciation to the people that take calls and, often, get closer to our customers than anywhere else in the business. Call center representatives are often the lifeblood of an organization. I enjoy being part of the festivities during Customer Service Week and hearing what other call center leaders do in their centers.
No! No! No!
Contact Center Geek
OCTOBER 17, 2014
I make calls to call centers nearly every working day. On purpose. And I enjoy it! Yes, you read that correctly. I actually go out of my way to call at least one call center each working day. I have been doing this for more than 15 years and I still get crazy looks when I tell people I do it. More on that subject later. Today, I'm focusing on one thing I hear on these calls with alarming regularity: " No.".
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48 Your Customers Are Already Texting You
Contact Center Geek
JANUARY 7, 2016
Today was day two of PesTech3.0 , a three-day conference dedicated to connecting industry leaders to discuss technology trends in pest control. So far, we've heard from some great speakers on disruptive technology, how the "internet of things" impacts our industry, mobile marketing and using mobile technologies throughout sales and servicing. We've also learned about interesting and innovative ways that pest control operators can start to deploy wearable tech.
The Effortless Experience - A Must Read for Contact Center Managers
Contact Center Geek
JANUARY 14, 2016
A fellow Nor Cal Contact Center Association steering committee member recently recommended the book "The Effortless Experience" by Matthew Dixon, Nick Toman and Rick DeLisi. I loved it. If you work in a call center, or provide service to customers, this is a must read. The book comes from the Harvard Business Review article, "Stop Trying to Delight Your Customers".
The Hexahedron of Quality
Contact Center Geek
JUNE 9, 2016
Here's a bit of call center humor, in the spirit of Throwback Thursday. And buried in that humor is a lesson that continues to stay with me. Let me answer your first obvious question. Yes, it is acceptable to do a "Throwback Thursday" post on LinkedIn. Ok, now let me answer your second obvious question. A hexahedron is a polyhedron with six faces, 12 edges and eight vertices.
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48 AHT - You're Still Doing It Wrong
Contact Center Geek
JUNE 19, 2017
Contact center managers, you are still wrong about AHT (Average Handle Time, also known as Agents Hate This ). Maybe not all of you are, but for sure, many of you are. I know what you’re likely asking, how would you know if you’re wrong about AHT? Here’s a simple test. Do your agents have an AHT goal? Do your supervisors have an AHT goal? If the answer to either question is “yes”, you are doing it wrong.
What a Dinosaur Taught Me About User Adoption
Contact Center Geek
SEPTEMBER 28, 2017
Throughout my career I've been part of many new technology implementations. An important element to nearly all of them has been successful user adoption. Years ago, the customer service contact center at the bank where I worked implemented a new performance reporting application from Merced Systems (side note: several years later, Merced Systems was acquired by NICE).
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48 Customer Service Appreciation Week 2017
Contact Center Geek
OCTOBER 2, 2017
Did you know there is an official Customer Service Week to highlight the work of customer service employees? Customer Service Week is not specifically only for contact centers but many across the country have adopted it is their own holiday. By a resolution of the United States Congress and proclamation by President George Bush in 1992, the first week in October was named Customer Service Week.
Customer Survey Lessons
Contact Center Geek
OCTOBER 10, 2017
I have been called a glutton for punishment because I call a contact center every day of my career. No way. The lessons I've learned calling other contact centers have proven invaluable. I wouldn’t have had the career I’ve had without the years of “competitive analysis”. The real punishment I put myself through however, is taking surveys. Although I’m not able to take one every day, I actively seek out opportunities to take them and have completed hundreds over the past several years.
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Three Recruiting and Hiring Resolutions for the New Year
Contact Center Geek
JANUARY 8, 2018
This article originally appeared on ICMI.com. Happy New Year! The new year often brings new candidates to the job market, so if you're taking advantage of that like I am, here are three tips to improve your contact center’s recruiting and hiring efforts. If you’re not doing them now, feel free to consider them New Year’s Resolutions. Resolution Number One: Track Every Candidate Throughout the Entire Hiring Process Whatever your interview process is like, track the source of every new candidate a
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Your Team Meetings Suck (But They Don't Have To)
Contact Center Geek
MARCH 1, 2018
This article originally appeared on CallCenter Weekly. Contact centers of all shapes and sizes often have lots of similarities. One thing I have found to be true across most companies is this shocker: contact center team meetings suck! And another thing that is generally true is that your team members may not tell you they suck. Why? Because they crave the time off the phones!
How to Make Performance Metrics Truly Matter
Contact Center Geek
MARCH 7, 2018
This article originally appeared on ICMI. As contact center leaders, we are always in search of the best way to effectively manage our operations, which can simply translate to how well are we managing costs. But our job is far more than just "managing costs". It is also our job to communicate how our teams impact the rest of the business and the bottom line.
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