urn:uuid:03aa6419-2324-f587-5ae8-130b8fb5a5a6 http://gethuman.com/Dell_Sales/news_231/atom http://gethuman.com/images/gethuman-hands50.gif urn:uuid:2d0c814e-fc76-b278-79d6-0523defef4a9 2010-02-04T18:18:09+00:00

urn:uuid:016dbac6-296e-2cd3-cabf-5031444df1d2 2010-01-26T18:26:20+00:00

urn:uuid:efdcee02-86bf-2c18-7c1d-a6a7b4140886 2009-12-16T19:33:26+00:00

urn:uuid:0e56899f-b4a4-8110-3e2f-4fad9c25eaa6 2009-12-14T15:56:02+00:00

urn:uuid:baab2486-b5a8-17cb-c05a-fa0b8b0c3a02 2009-12-10T17:16:56+00:00

Gethuman.com have been following companies that use Twitter as a means of providing solid customer support and satisfaction. Often times what can get lost in the mix is a quantifiable value created from extending the company's reach to customers by using Twitter. Until now. Dell Sales stated the other day that it has generated $6.5 million in sales of computers, accessories and software through it's use of the social media outlet. While this number is small when compared to the company's overall revenue, it's an encouraging sign that companies are indeed focusing on customer's needs and are focusing on customer's requests, albeit, if they only come 140 characters at a time. Dell Sales representatives acknowledge the power of Twitter and the need for businesses to lean on the social media outlet by claiming “It’s a very vibrant channel for us and it’s growing aggressively. It’s not just our reach and growth that has progressed, it’s that it’s happening globally.” One can only hope that when the third largest seller of PC's in the world starts quantifying the impact of using Twitter to connect with it's customers, more companies will follow, creating better customer service for those of out there that so desperately need it.

For the whole story, click here ]]>

urn:uuid:be593202-5117-dbf6-36dd-5418398826ad 2009-12-03T19:42:06+00:00

urn:uuid:3afe6613-a92a-9015-81f5-791487ff919e 2009-11-21T20:59:20+00:00

urn:uuid:6cd5b3b1-a87a-bb53-8a3d-bfb598e1a012 2009-10-03T16:26:49+00:00

urn:uuid:c476391c-d41f-7f2d-e736-b579139beda8 2009-09-22T00:04:45+00:00

urn:uuid:efceb680-a211-c6ff-bb67-5884e3112d69 2009-08-08T15:21:09+00:00

urn:uuid:8e8dc9ce-a30d-1cd1-a874-c1085ce7c0d5 2009-08-05T00:20:00+00:00

urn:uuid:73d52c21-5a09-362f-2668-e16d28c5af06 2009-07-11T21:01:54+00:00

urn:uuid:bb878462-14e3-ac40-0cc1-672a7437911d 2009-05-27T21:22:01+00:00

urn:uuid:9403b8cb-930e-ae50-0c55-d7038b4d4793 2006-02-07T12:43:28+00:00

I applaud you guys for this website, I use one it often, but I have a suggestion about of your general tips. Specifically the one that reads 'connect to sales and have them transfer you'

While this generally works in my company, it can in many cases, cost the person answering the phone money. I work (in sales) for Dell computer, and while I understand that my company having a more efficient customer care setup would avoid this, there is absolutely no way I can change the situation from within. I am always helpful and transfer the person calling in, because they don't understand that they're costing me money, and furthermore could usually care less since by the time they get to me they're frustrated to their wits' end.

The reason it costs me money (and probably the majority of other companies' sales departments that people use as 'switchboards') is because call centers are based on phone metrics. My monthly bonus is, in part, based on how many calls I take versus how many systems I sell. If I transfer a person using me as a switchboard, I don't make a sale and that percentage goes down and it does wind up costing me real money (quite a bit actually).

As I said before, I know that the users of your web site could care less, and the whole idea behind this site is to stick it to corporate america, but cheating in this particular fashion hurts the paychecks of real people who are not responsible for the problem, and in doing that you're helping one group of people while unknowingly hurting another group who are not directly responsible for the problem nor have any power whatsoever to change it, and I don't think that that's what you want to accomplish with this site.

If I can help you in any way to improve the site I'll be happy to answer any questions about the way a call center works and perhaps offer alternative suggestions, but I do request that you please remove that suggestion becuase it goes against the principles behind your site when it degrades one group of people to assist another.

My response: First, the purpose of this website is not to stick it to corporate America. The purpose of this website is to be a voice for a consumer movement including millions of people. Our goal is to change the face of customer service. A side effect of this is that we will stick it to companies with bad service (hopefully hurting their business and/or forcing them to change) but we will also help companies who provide good service, by highly recommending them to others.

As to your comments about gethuman.com "connect to sales" being hurtful to sales reps:

Sales reps are measured compared to their peers. The "connect to sales" tip will randomly choose any sales rep, so the few extra seconds to take and transfer a call to customer service should not impact your rating compared to your peers.

If this upsets you, complain to your company. If enough of their employees complain, it will help send yet another message to their employer that they should take the issue of customer service staffing more seriously.

We've also had some sales reps tell us that bypassing IVR and connecting directly to sales will not shorten the time on hold. First, that is not always true. We currently have 16 volunteers who edit the cheat sheet, and we have tested this technique, and it works with many companies. And even for companies for which this technique does not save the consumer time, it still saves the consumer the aggravation of having to deal with a computer. I would rather wait on hold for fifteen minutes without using a computer than instead being forced to spend three minutes talking with a computer and then spending only five minutes on hold.]]>