Ask the Experts
Ask the Experts
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Analyzing consolidated vs. decentralized customer service
Will the centralization of call centers really cut costs? Read Donna Fluss's advice here. Continue Reading
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Is Siebel SFA a good choice in today's market?
Is Siebel still the best option for sales force automation (SFA)? Read Bill Band's answer here. Continue Reading
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How will Oracle Fusion bring together Oracle CRM, Siebel CRM and PeopleSoft CRM?
Oracle's Fusion project can be confusing. Bill Band answers a question concerning what products and functionality will be maintained moving forward in this expert tip. Continue Reading
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Working the call center night shift -- tips for agents
The trick to working the call center night shift is to get into a routine, says Donna Fluss in this expert tip. Continue Reading
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How should we define customer equity in the short-term and the long-term?
Wondering how to define customer equity? According to Peppers and Rogers, it is virtually the same number as the "going concern" value of your business. Continue Reading
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Are there loyalty programs designed for hospital patients?
Michael Lowenstein sheds some light on what it takes to build a successful loyalty program at a hospital in this tip. Continue Reading
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Best practices for lead management in Microsoft CRM
In this expert tip, read advice from Richard Smith on lead management in Microsoft CRM. Continue Reading
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Should I use a combination of IRR, NPV and payback for capital budgeting?
What method -- internal rate of return (IRR), net present value (NPV) or payback -- is the best method to use for capital budgeting purposes? Read advice here. Continue Reading
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What's the testing process for an SAP CRM implementation?
Learn the testing process for an SAP CRM implementation in this expert tip from Srini Katta. Continue Reading
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How is relationship marketing changing the way marketers look at customers?
Lior Arussy explains how the shift to relationship marketing from transactional marketing will impact organizations and customers in this expert tip. Continue Reading
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How can understanding customer value lead to successful marketing?
According to Lior Arussy, understanding customer value can lead to successful marketing if you target those customers with the highest potential value, not just those with the highest actual value. Continue Reading
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Call center training and other ways to occupy agents during off-peak hours
Donna Fluss provides suggestions for a call center manager looking to increase productivity with call center training during off-peak hours in this tip. Continue Reading
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Call center salary: How to reward agents based on a performance appraisal
Learn Donna Fluss's guidelines for call center salary increases based on agent performance in this expert tip. Continue Reading
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Service-level agreement template to prepare for call center outsourcing
Donna Fluss offers this service-level agreement (SLA) template for a reader looking to get started with preparing an SLA and an outsourcing contract. Continue Reading
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Who is ultimately responsible for call center quality assurance?
Read Donna Fluss's advice on call center quality assurance, including how to implement a quality monitoring program and who should run it. Continue Reading
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Calculating customer defection and customer retention rates
Learn how calculating customer defection rates and customer retention can vary by organization or industry in this expert tip. Continue Reading
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What metrics best measure call center efficiency?
According to Lori Bocklund, every call center needs to define a metrics strategy -- and all metrics taken together will measure call center efficiency. Continue Reading
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Building a call center for an online travel company
Read advice from Donna Fluss on starting a call center for an online travel company, including what call center software to acquire and how to best design the call center to meet the organization's needs. Continue Reading
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Call center training for communication skills in sensitive customer situations
Donna Fluss offers advice on call center training programs for dealing with all types of customer situations in this call center tip. Continue Reading
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Quality monitoring: How to get started
In this call center tip from Donna Fluss, learn quality monitoring techniques and how to create a quality assurance strategy with limited staff. Continue Reading
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How can I calculate internal rate of return (IRR)?
Internal rate of return (IRR) is a valuable calculation because it generates a projected return that can be directly compared to the company's hurdle rate. Learn how to calculate IRR in this expert tip from Tom Pisello. Continue Reading
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Comparing on-demand CRM and on-premise CRM fees, architecture, functionality
Evaluating on-demand CRM? This expert tip from Paul Greenberg outlines architecture, costs and functionality of on-demand CRM versus traditional on-premise CRM. Continue Reading
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Where can I purchase call center lists?
Purchasing lists for an outbound call center is easy, says Donna Fluss, but it's important to learn which calling lists are valuable and have current and accurate prospect information. Learn where to purchase lists in this expert tip. Continue Reading
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New call center agents -- top 10 pitfalls
Common areas of call center agent weakness are largely due to inexperience in handling live (and sometimes frustrated and nasty) customers, and a lack of in-depth knowledge of systems, products, policies and procedures. Most of these areas can be ... Continue Reading
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Relationship marketing vs. transactional marketing for building customer loyalty
Learn how relationship marketing can help you build long-term customer relationships and increase customer loyalty in this expert tip by Michael Lowenstein Continue Reading
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How can I get call center agent buy-in for desk sharing or hot seating in the call center?
If space is an issue in your call center, desk sharing or hot seating may be the answer. Learn how to make it work with this tip from call center management expert Donna Fluss. Continue Reading
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Developing a quality assurance form for evaluating call center agents
Call center expert Donna Fluss provides best practices for developing a quality assurance (QA) program in this expert tip. Continue Reading
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Sales forecasting opportunities and reports in Microsoft CRM
What are the best (and easiest) sales reports to create in Microsoft Dynamics CRM? Read advice from Microsoft CRM expert Richard Smith to help create reports for sales effectiveness. Continue Reading
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Comparing ROI for multiple business initiatives
Trying to compare multiple projects requiring different investments? Use this formula from CRM ROI expert Tom Pisello. Continue Reading
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Using subject matter experts (SME) to develop call center managers
Learn the benefits of promoting star agents to subject matter expert positions (SME) where they work under the call center supervisor. Continue Reading
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How do you define flow out calls?
Call center expert Lori Bocklund answers a reader who's using Avaya reports and is wondering about flow out calls, and whether they are the sum of abandoned and blocked calls. Continue Reading
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Industry standards for call center staff shrinkage
Call center expert Lori Bocklund answers a question from a workforce optimization (WFO) executive who asks whether there are industry standards for shrinkage, and how they can be used in the call center. Continue Reading
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Agent performance management for the help desk
Call center expert Lori Bocklund answers a reader question about the best ways to score help desk agents and which metrics to use for a fair assessment. She suggests service levels, quality and customer satisfaction to start, with varying metrics ... Continue Reading
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The difference between up selling and cross selling
In this sales tip from expert Liz Roche, you'll learn the definition of up selling and cross selling, plus up selling and cross selling techniques. Continue Reading
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Motivate call center agents: Eight tips for success
Learn advice for motivating and rewarding call center agents in this expert tip from Donna Fluss. Continue Reading
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Call center staffing tools
In this tip, Lori Bocklund provides advice on using Erlang models and other call center staffing tools, from low-cost to sophisticated software. Continue Reading
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Targets for a service-level agreement in an inbound call center
Lori Bocklund advises one reader on how to set targets for a service-level agreement while transitioning a call center from outbound to inbound in this expert tip. Continue Reading
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Salesforce.com vs. SalesLogix
Choosing between Salesforce.com and SalesLogix? Read CRM software expert Paul Greenberg's advice in this exert tip. Continue Reading
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Centralizing customer service to improve customer satisfaction, reduce costs
Donna Fluss explains how centralizing customer service can increase service quality and customer satisfaction, improve effectiveness and reduce costs in this call center tip. Continue Reading
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Call center terms and definitions -- utilization, attrition, occupancy, shrinkage
Lori Bocklund reviews common call center terms including attrition, utilization, occupancy, shrinkage in this expert tip. Continue Reading
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Use Sarbanes-Oxley compliance as a catalyst to drive ROI
In order to achieve a positive ROI, a SOX compliance project must have net benefits that exceed the investment to achieve compliance, Tom Pisello advises in this expert tip. Learn more from SearchCRM.com's CRM ROI expert here. Continue Reading
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Customer loyalty programs for Internet Service Providers (ISPs)
CRM expert Michael Lowenstein answers a reader question about customer loyalty programs for Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Continue Reading
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Measuring call center quality with metrics
What is the best way to measure call center quality? Lori Bocklund offers some advice on quality control in this expert tip. Continue Reading
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System integrators with call center software products
In this expert tip, Donna Fluss, call center software and call center management expert, provides a list of system integrators who sell call center software products. Continue Reading
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Metrics: ROI, IRR, NPV, payback, discounted payback
Which metric will provide a most effective cost evaluation for a CRM project: payback, discounted payback, ROI, NPV or IRR? Tom Pisello offers his advice. Continue Reading
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Call center transition from inbound to inbound-outbound
Lori Bocklund explains to a reader what factors to consider when turning a small inbound call center into a dual inbound-outbound call center. Continue Reading
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SAP CRM and Siebel CRM -- a side-by-side comparison
Evaluate strengths and weaknesses of SAP CRM and Siebel CRM with this side-by-side vendor comparison by CRM expert Srini Katta. Continue Reading
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Remote call center agents can offer cost savings and other benefits
Learn call center strategy from Donna Fluss in this expert tip, including the benefits of remote agents for the call center. Continue Reading
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On-demand CRM -- benefits and drawbacks
SearchCRM.com's SAP CRM expert analyzes SAP's commitment to the on-demand market and discusses tech-savvy users and the potential for on-demand software that meets user needs more quickly, especially for small and midsized businesses. Continue Reading
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Hybrid CRM deployments -- advantages and disadvantages
Read this tip to understand what hybrid deployments really are and to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of this CRM deployment option. Continue Reading
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Quantifying soft ROI vs. hard ROI for CRM
Read Tom Pisello's advice on defining soft ROI and hard ROI for CRM in this expert tip. Continue Reading
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Do you believe in Peppers & Rogers' Return on Customer concept?
Read an evaluation of the Peppers & Rogers' concept of Return on Customer (ROC) for CRM. Continue Reading
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How to prepare a service-level agreement (SLA)
Lori Bocklund advises a reader on what to include in a service-level agreement (SLA) for the call center. Continue Reading
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Call center cost per seat -- new vs. existing call centers
Call center expert Lori Bocklund provides some tips for calculating cost per seat in this expert Q/A. Continue Reading
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Is there a call center metric for average hold time?
Learn how to reduce hold time and find other benchmarks for the call center in this tip from Lori Bocklund. Continue Reading
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Measuring customer churn rate to calculate customer lifetime value
Read advice on how to measure, define and calculate customer churn rate in this expert Q/A. Continue Reading
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Absenteeism statistics for the call center
Every call center manger should strive for the staff attendance figures expert Lori Bocklund shares in this tip. Continue Reading
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Six questions to help build customer loyalty
Want to increase customer loyalty? Start by answering these 6 questions... Continue Reading
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Quality metrics for the call center
What metrics should you use to measure quality in a call center? Read advice from Lori Bocklund here. Continue Reading
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Is average handle time (AHT) a good performance metric?
Forcing agents to watch their average handle time could lead to cutting calls short, thus reducing sale efforts and resulting in overall poor customer service. Continue Reading
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Evaluating Siebel CRM On Demand versus Salesforce.com
Deciding between Siebel and Salesforce.com for CRM on demand? Read this expert tip first. Continue Reading
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Creating a bonus structure for a call center manager
How should you create a bonus structure for call center managers, and what should it be based on? Our call center expert provides some tips on compensation and bonuses for call center management. Continue Reading
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First call resolution (FCR) -- what does it really mean?
A debate on what constitutes first call resolution (FCR) in the call center with advice from Lori Bocklund, call center metrics expert. Continue Reading
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Fundamentals of an inbound call center budget
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How should average hold time be figured into average handle time?
Average hold time should be included in average handle time to get Erlang models right, says Lori Bocklund in this call center expert tip. Continue Reading
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The difference between AHT and calls per hour
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BPM and business intelligence
Does business performance management (BPM) impact a business intelligence project -- or is it just another buzzword? Read advice on BI and BPM from a business intelligence expert in this tip. Continue Reading
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Essential technical skills of a Data Warehouse Architect
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The roles of data warehousing, data mining and OLAP in knowledge discovery
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Industry standards for average speed of answer (ASA) and abandon rate
Are there industry standards for average speed of answer (ASA) and abandon rate for the call center? Learn more in this expert tip from Lori Bocklund. Continue Reading
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Calculating cost per seat for the call center
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Recommended data collection tools for call centers
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Loyalty programs with true value propositions
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Customer address verification during incoming calls
It is a fairly common practice to verify customer addresses with incoming calls, but it adds time to calls, says Lori Bocklund. Learn more in this expert tip. Continue Reading
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Definitions: NPV, IRR, ROI and payback
Learn the definitions for commonly confused terms related to return on investment (ROI) in this expert Q/A. Continue Reading
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Datawarehousing hardware requirements
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Labor costs for call centers
Wages for call center agents vary greatly, based on location and the type of calls being handled. Learn more in this expert tip. Continue Reading
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A quick guide to customer lifetime value (CLV)
Learn how to associate a value to a user as his customer lifetime value (CLV) and how to calculate lifetime value. Continue Reading
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Customer facing verses customer centric strategies
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CRM's origins
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CRM for the services industry
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The role of ISO 9000 in the ICT industry
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CRM vs. portal tool
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CRM for FMCG companies
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How early is too early for outbound calls?
Conduct a customer survey to determine how early is too early for outbound calling, says Lori Bocklund in this expert tip. Continue Reading
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Determining frequency of customer contact
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Moving from manual to automated processes
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Exporting data from Siebel
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What is customer profiling?
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OLAP cube requirements
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Using voice recognition
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CRM functions and processes
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Thoughts on Model Driven Development (MDD)
Learn to deal with a system that uses well-established standards to create a new architecture that operates from a platform independent model. Continue Reading
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What does "churn" really mean?
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Exploring U.S. call center industry standards
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Integrated Relationship Management - a real term?
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Trends in hotel loyalty programs
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Data mining in the grocery industry
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Methods of data mining used by credit card companies
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CRM philosophy