> lazy > > lifestyle. I do hope they see the writing on the wall. Its time to > > move > on. > > I'll have to disagree with you on this, Chad, and have some > data to back it up. My wife works in reservations for > Continental Airlines. Their market niche is being as good as > possible in customer service/satisfaction. They have won > numerous awards for this; and its a big part of their > advertising campaign. Training in sales/customer service > from other large Fortune 100 companies has been outsourced to > them; and they've even outsourced sales/customer service from > their agents to other large companies.
I certainly agree with you about this, and you help make my point. Customer support is about supporting the business. It's the technical industry that has not caught on that just because you can outsource technical support offshore you should. In the case you describe above, the customer support is not technology based. The focus is not how well the reservationists knows the reservation system, its how well they socialize. They are not called the "Technical Support Staff" but "Customer Service representatives". I am sure that you have pretty much given up on getting good phone technical support from software and hardware you buy. You probably go to the U.S. Sales rep directly to get satisfaction. The Sales rep brings together his team of experts to solve your problem. This is about analysis, not technical savvy. As I preach here at work, you can teach anybody anything about computers, but you can't teach them to not be assholes... This is key when hiring computer people. Tech support has been marginalized for solving only the easiest, most common and least time consuming problems related to a computer product. In many cases, it is just window dressing that has no practical value. This is why it is moving overseas. It's a token gesture for the desperate. Not to bash Microsoft, but the free support line is a direct line to East Asia. If you want real support and help, you buy Premier support. This is provided by the top analysts in the company. These analysts travel the world rescuing companies from IT disasters. There is a lurker on this list who can speak in this regard, if he/she dares..... > > Their VP told the reservations agents that they would not > outsource offshore because of the need for customer > satisfaction. They further stated that other companies are > starting to retreat from outsourcing customer service. Delta > had a reservations center in India, which they closed for > this reason. One of the smaller rental car companies tried > this, and it hurt sales, so they stopped it. Good, I hate talking to people with native accents over the phone. It really sucks. The worst conference call I participated in occurred over 8 time zones, 3 continents, with Cockney, American, Indian and Asian native accents all mixing together... Pretty much all you could understand was "Wot?" or "Wut?" or "Ut?" depending on the accent. Total Disaster - but I digress. > > Airlines might be in a different position than others because > of their benefits. My wife, for example, works half time at > Continental and is a psychotherapist with a MSW. She works > for $12/hour more for the health insurance and fight benefits > than for the net cash. There are a number of other folks, > most of the part timers I think, who are in somewhat similar > circumstances. This appears to be a pretty good wage for customer support. It is probably Union controlled contracts that get them this wage. It may be artificial to the rest of America. > > Having traveled a decent bit internationally, I'd argue that > customer service is more of a priority in the US than > anywhere I've been in Europe. Its hard to say, it could be that only Americans can really provide the socialization that prevents alienation - subtle messages that tell you you are talking to a fellow American. The Canadians are pretty good at it until they use certain word that clue you into their Canuck Heritage.... You can't buy this overseas, now or ever... NFH > > Dan M. > > > _______________________________________________ > http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l > _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
