Yesterday morning the phone rang and I answered it with our normal -friendly - greeting.
"Good morning, welcome to Wood You Like. This is Karin."
"This is MBNA credit facilities for businesses."
"And where does that stand for?"
"MBNA? That's just a name, doesn't really stand for anything. Just a company selling credit cards to businesses."
(Image courtesy of www.count5.com)
Right!
If I ever employ a call center I will make damn sure whoever makes the (cold) phone-calls to get us appointments, leads or new clients would know pretty darn well where our company stands for! (Like we did 5 years ago).
(MBNA stands for Maryland Bank, National Association. It has 7 million customers in the UK, is part of the Bank of America and issues credit cards in 150 countries - just so you know.)
Yesterday afternoon another call center call:
"Can I speak to the owner of the business, please?"
"What's it about?"
"This is MBNA...."
"Ah, just like your colleague this morning. No thank you, not interested."
Right!
Database? Tracking who calls who and with what result? If I ever employ a call-center...... - you get the drift.
Karen, I'm convinced those guys operate on the principle that if they bother folks enough, then just enough of them will give in and buy their services - justifying the fact that it totally ticks off the rest of us! *sigh*
Posted by: Robert Hruzek | October 02, 2008 at 01:16 PM
Hi Robert
So in the end it will be become a match between who persuades which group most: the 'being bothered enough' or the ones 'being ticked off'.
My money is on the latter. But on the other hand: when a call center does its job properly and instructs/teaches their employees the right methods then everyone wins.
(Or should the companies who employ call-centres concern themselves more with the methods used?)
Karin H.
Posted by: Karin H. | October 02, 2008 at 01:37 PM
I can't seem to find it now, but yesterday I just read a post from (insert name of some smart person here) about customer service and its impact on a company's reputation. Far too many consider it a necessary evil, when it should really be part of their main thrust. Managing a reputation BEFORE it gets bad is so much easier than trying to recover from one that's been trashed by poor customer service (and that includes initial customer contacts).
Posted by: Robert Hruzek | October 02, 2008 at 04:25 PM
So right Robert!
Seeing managing a reputation or customer service as a cost? Or as an asset?
I know what I choose!
Karin H.
Posted by: Karin H. | October 02, 2008 at 04:44 PM
Actually MBNA does NOT stand for anything. Before it was acquired by Bank of America in 2005 it stood for Maryland Bank National Association. Now it is just MBNA, it is no longer an acronym. Before trying to be trying to make someone look ignorant get your facts straight.
Posted by: Josh | April 09, 2010 at 07:18 PM
Facts are straight. Call-centre employees should know which company they represent.
MBNA is abriviation (old or still existing) of Bank Maryland National Association. Acronyms do come from somewhere.
Next time, do get the jest of the article.
Karin H
Posted by: Karin H. | April 09, 2010 at 08:09 PM