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Contact Vox to learn about how we can help you create a comprehensive Customer Experience that drives bottom-line results dramatically higher.

The other afternoon I strolled into my local bank to make a deposit. A deposit always puts a spring in my step. The lobby was quiet; there appeared to be one teller on duty, she was helping one customer, and nobody else was in line. Excellent. I sidled up to the "please wait here for the next available teller" sign and enjoyed the brief moment of calm in my day.

The big clock ticked, the teller glanced in my direction (somehow without actually acknowledging my presence) and continued chatting about some critical banking issue that caused her or the customer, alternately, to occasionally giggle.

Time passed.

I could hear but not see other employees behind assorted partitions and walls. Everybody seemed in a good mood.

After about ten minutes (no lie) another customer queued up behind. I resisted the temptation to throw him a motion of the head, and rolling of the eyes. Instead I did some isometrics, first leg muscles, then arms, then abs.

Spring turned to summer. Just kidding. It only took 16 minutes! No apology, in fact no greeting at all.

My thoughts on leaving, after my 30 second transaction? Less…than…stellar.

Apparently, we all pretty much hate dealing with call centers, and as these customer "support" centers are outsourced off shore, and "productivity" measures like voice recognition software are employed, we customers want to throttle somebody.

One recent article predicts huge obstacles to the future growth of outsourced call centers in India, stating that at least 10 of the top 15 centers will either be swallowed up or just vanish in the coming months. Not only that, research company Gartner predicts that 80% of the companies that outsource customer service will fail, primarily because of customer defections and hidden costs that defeat the goal of cost savings.

There are more scary numbers. Another blurb cites a survey showing that 97% of callers find dealing with call centers stressful. And many of those customers have decided to fight back in a variety of ways, like just bypassing the endless phone menu by hitting zero, or calling in through sales or the home office.

Again, it seems that a dose of common sense would help many of these companies. Sometimes the simplest solution just might be the most effective like, hmmm, maybe…have a real person answer your phones!

Not that I’m angry…

I headed down to the mountains of North Carolina with a buddy of mine this past weekend. We do it every year to visit with his grandparents (in their mid-eighties and funny, a little nutty in a good way, and healthy) and also to play a little golf, which we both did very poorly.

We drive down, since it gives us time to catch up on each other’s life. I can outline the customer experiences of the trip pretty quickly: bad coffee and scary restrooms (don’t go in there!) a pleasant driving experience in my Mini, and good tunes through my ipod mini hooked into the car stereo. I’m into all things Mini, except for Oreos and such.

While we were down there south of Ashville in the Smokies, a couple of things made me think of context. First, I borrowed a computer to check email and it was a dial-up connection. Man! That is some slow stuff. I’d forgotten, what with broadband at home and DSL at the office. But nobody else seemed to mind the sluggishness; they were used to it.

Also, we picked up a couple pizzas late Saturday afternoon at one of the town’s two pizzerias. The employees were harried, and it turned out the pizzas were mediocre, and yet the place was jammed. There were dozens milling about at 5:30 waiting for tables to open up. That place wouldn’t have lasted the month up in Chicago, but with little to compare it to, the folks here buzzed about the greatness of the bland, thin offerings. So what can we learn? I guess the quality of the customer experience, in some cases, doesn’t need to be world class, if your real competition either doesn’t exist yet, or is more pathetic than you are. It’s like the story of the two guys caught in the wilds of Africa and are being stalked by a tiger. One guy starts to put running shoes on. The other says, "what are you doing? There’s no way you can outrun a tiger." The first guy says, "I don’t have to outrun the tiger. I just have to outrun you."

For my birthday last week, my wife surprised me with a new, beautiful acoustic guitar. It’s made by Larrivee, a smaller company that’s really devoted to producing high-quality guitars. Mine is made with aged mahogony and canadian spruce. The fretboard is African ebony. The overall design is simple and elegant. The tone of a struck chord is deep and rich and resonates on and on.

Just to get it on the record, I’m very very bad at playing guitar. But I’m addicted. And now I’m a devoted customer of Jean Larrivee. So thanks, Jean, and thanks Marti!

Here, now I’ll show you how I play Smoke on the Water…

So just who "owns" the customer experience in your company? Someone in marketing, customer service, operations? If your company is like most, according to new research by Forrester, no one area controls all the customer touchpoints.

While most companies tout the importance of customer experience, only 22% of the respondents could point to one person who’s in charge of shaping the customer relationship. So, if the customer has to cut across your company’s functions (or silos, get it?) by getting answers through the mail, on the web, in person, etc., shouldn’t the company have a person or a team devoted to cutting across those same silos? Usually, the answer is yes.

OK, I know I was extolling the virtues of Radio Shack’s newer, better customer experience when I bought a cordless phone there a couple weeks ago. Well, I’m about to make my third attempt at getting a phone that works. The first one just emitted loud static, the second was obviously used, with a bunch of numbers in its caller id already, and could not communicate with the base unit.

They are very nice when I stomp back into the store to demand an exchange, and they wish me well as I stomp out. But geez, give me something that works!

Our very own Jeannie Walters, Vice President at Vox, Inc. could be found today on Chicago’s Channel 5 News, chatting amiably with a local news personality. She was discussing the issue of work/life balance.

Jeannie knows balance: she is not only a key member of the Vox team, she is Executive Director of ChicWit (Chicago Women in Techonology), a 9,000-strong women’s professional networking group, and they are sponsoring an event this Friday on the work/life balance question. Jeannie also has a new baby at home, just in case you thought she might have any free time.

Jeannie was articulate and charming as always. Way to go, Jeannie.