Comments on: The worst idea in the history of business http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/2008/08/25/the-worst-idea-in-the-history-of-commerce/ A blog about our thoughts on entrepreneurship, teamwork, our services, the Web and anything we find interesting. Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:45:18 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: mirc indir http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/2008/08/25/the-worst-idea-in-the-history-of-commerce/comment-page-1/#comment-64549 mirc indir Fri, 03 Oct 2008 20:34:10 +0000 http://www.freshbooks.com/?p=1633#comment-64549 people who speak to their customers all day every day. Most large companies actually act like their customers are an inconvenience diffrent people who speak to their customers all day every day. Most large companies actually act like their customers are an inconvenience diffrent

]]> By: Corey Reid http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/2008/08/25/the-worst-idea-in-the-history-of-commerce/comment-page-1/#comment-64343 Corey Reid Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:46:01 +0000 http://www.freshbooks.com/?p=1633#comment-64343 Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner. Thank you, Douglas, for so aptly summing up my point. Exactly. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner. Thank you, Douglas, for so aptly summing up my point. Exactly.

]]> By: Douglas Greenshields http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/2008/08/25/the-worst-idea-in-the-history-of-commerce/comment-page-1/#comment-64342 Douglas Greenshields Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:43:32 +0000 http://www.freshbooks.com/?p=1633#comment-64342 And I'd also counter Mary's point by saying that individual people who work in these companies are often trying really hard but are only given poor, often out-of-date information to work with. Large companies with outsourced customer services: you know that big launch you've been talking about internally for months? Your customer services are probably only going to know about it when your customers start phoning in to complain when things aren't working right. And I’d also counter Mary’s point by saying that individual people who work in these companies are often trying really hard but are only given poor, often out-of-date information to work with. Large companies with outsourced customer services: you know that big launch you’ve been talking about internally for months? Your customer services are probably only going to know about it when your customers start phoning in to complain when things aren’t working right.

]]> By: Douglas Greenshields http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/2008/08/25/the-worst-idea-in-the-history-of-commerce/comment-page-1/#comment-64340 Douglas Greenshields Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:35:52 +0000 http://www.freshbooks.com/?p=1633#comment-64340 Having worked for a company that did outsourced customer care, I can say that I agree with you 100%. Offshoring isn't the issue here. The issue is that the company taking the outsourced work is always going to have a contractual relationship with the original company that uses metrics that are at odds with the provision of good customer service. It is just necessarily the case. When it comes down to it, a company doing such outsourced work is never going to want to get seriously effective, because they'd be cutting themselves out of a lot of work! And sooooo much useful information about the way the customers think about and interact with the company is just lost forever - worse, the original company will often pay way over the odds for the conduct of statistically insignificant surveys from some marketing company they've hired. If large companies actually cared about customer service, they would do everything in-house (*even* if that meant offshoring), they would only want to use well-designed user-centred automated telephone systems (which are still amazingly rare), they would collect information back all the time from the people who speak to their customers all day every day. Most large companies actually act like their customers are an inconvenience. Having worked for a company that did outsourced customer care, I can say that I agree with you 100%. Offshoring isn’t the issue here. The issue is that the company taking the outsourced work is always going to have a contractual relationship with the original company that uses metrics that are at odds with the provision of good customer service. It is just necessarily the case. When it comes down to it, a company doing such outsourced work is never going to want to get seriously effective, because they’d be cutting themselves out of a lot of work! And sooooo much useful information about the way the customers think about and interact with the company is just lost forever – worse, the original company will often pay way over the odds for the conduct of statistically insignificant surveys from some marketing company they’ve hired.

If large companies actually cared about customer service, they would do everything in-house (*even* if that meant offshoring), they would only want to use well-designed user-centred automated telephone systems (which are still amazingly rare), they would collect information back all the time from the people who speak to their customers all day every day. Most large companies actually act like their customers are an inconvenience.

]]> By: Beau Rudd http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/2008/08/25/the-worst-idea-in-the-history-of-commerce/comment-page-1/#comment-64331 Beau Rudd Thu, 28 Aug 2008 08:06:40 +0000 http://www.freshbooks.com/?p=1633#comment-64331 I think that it depends on what you are outsourcing, for instants maybe doing outbound sales, inbound sales over the phone some where like the Philippines or India there might be a little bit of an accent but nothing that is not acceptable. On the other hand I had a client that was looking for chat support but not to take total control of it, he just wanted to offer after hour support for there website builder, so what we did is hire about 5 agents to cover a 24/7 days a year. It worked great, the people that they where chatting with had no idea that they where talking to some one in another country and by hiring these people they where able to support there customers around the clock. Pretty much the price that we offered was 800 dollars an agent a month. Now I think its another story if you are looking to outsource something like 50 to 100 employees to an offshore company, I it might be better that you come to a place like the Philippines and look at opening your own operation. If you’re the smaller business I think that outsourcing is a great way to save some money. fresh books, I really love the software its going to help allot. I think that it depends on what you are outsourcing, for instants maybe doing outbound sales, inbound sales over the phone some where like the Philippines or India there might be a little bit of an accent but nothing that is not acceptable.

On the other hand I had a client that was looking for chat support but not to take total control of it, he just wanted to offer after hour support for there website builder, so what we did is hire about 5 agents to cover a 24/7 days a year. It worked great, the people that they where chatting with had no idea that they where talking to some one in another country and by hiring these people they where able to support there customers around the clock. Pretty much the price that we offered was 800 dollars an agent a month.

Now I think its another story if you are looking to outsource something like 50 to 100 employees to an offshore company, I it might be better that you come to a place like the Philippines and look at opening your own operation. If you’re the smaller business I think that outsourcing is a great way to save some money.

fresh books, I really love the software its going to help allot.

]]> By: Mike McDerment http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/2008/08/25/the-worst-idea-in-the-history-of-commerce/comment-page-1/#comment-64305 Mike McDerment Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:37:11 +0000 http://www.freshbooks.com/?p=1633#comment-64305 @david and you're talking about it ;) Which is think is the point Corey is trying make...good luck showing that on a balance sheet. @david and you’re talking about it ;)

Which is think is the point Corey is trying make…good luck showing that on a balance sheet.

]]> By: David Shaver http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/2008/08/25/the-worst-idea-in-the-history-of-commerce/comment-page-1/#comment-64225 David Shaver Wed, 27 Aug 2008 11:01:11 +0000 http://www.freshbooks.com/?p=1633#comment-64225 We had a HP PC, which quit working while still brand new. We called their support but found they could not understand English and were just able to respond with certain canned responses. This was not a good experience for us. We had a HP PC, which quit working while still brand new. We called their support but found they could not understand English and were just able to respond with certain canned responses. This was not a good experience for us.

]]> By: Corey Reid http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/2008/08/25/the-worst-idea-in-the-history-of-commerce/comment-page-1/#comment-63929 Corey Reid Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:25:33 +0000 http://www.freshbooks.com/?p=1633#comment-63929 Hey Chris I strongly recommend "Profit For Life" by Joseph Bragdon. Mr. Bragdon is much better-equipped than I to provide big companies with plans. I don't actually WANT their attention, so I'm not very motivated to do it anyway. But plenty of large companies have maintained high levels of customer care and been very successful thereby. I'm not arguing that big businesses don't know what to do. There's plenty of smart people all over the place, doing smart things, and they don't need me telling them what to do. Hey Chris

I strongly recommend “Profit For Life” by Joseph Bragdon. Mr. Bragdon is much better-equipped than I to provide big companies with plans.

I don’t actually WANT their attention, so I’m not very motivated to do it anyway. But plenty of large companies have maintained high levels of customer care and been very successful thereby.

I’m not arguing that big businesses don’t know what to do. There’s plenty of smart people all over the place, doing smart things, and they don’t need me telling them what to do.

]]> By: Chris Jagers http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/2008/08/25/the-worst-idea-in-the-history-of-commerce/comment-page-1/#comment-63915 Chris Jagers Tue, 26 Aug 2008 17:47:17 +0000 http://www.freshbooks.com/?p=1633#comment-63915 Corey, I agree with you in principle, but you might help your case by presenting an analogous plan for big business. How can they improve their customer service in a way that is financially viable? Rather than downplay the significance of their budget by calling it "short-order," how about a creative alternative that respects real world financial constraints? Then you will REALLY have their attention. Corey,

I agree with you in principle, but you might help your case by presenting an analogous plan for big business. How can they improve their customer service in a way that is financially viable? Rather than downplay the significance of their budget by calling it “short-order,” how about a creative alternative that respects real world financial constraints? Then you will REALLY have their attention.

]]> By: Corey Reid http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/2008/08/25/the-worst-idea-in-the-history-of-commerce/comment-page-1/#comment-63780 Corey Reid Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:29:36 +0000 http://www.freshbooks.com/?p=1633#comment-63780 @Mary: Exactly! Those are the sorts of "higher-order" implications I'm talking about. If you only look at the first-order stuff (salaries paid vs revenues generated), outsourcing customer care looks like an easy win. But when you include those other elements, that aren't as obvious (or as easy to measure), it becomes a much more difficult argument to make. @Mary: Exactly! Those are the sorts of “higher-order” implications I’m talking about. If you only look at the first-order stuff (salaries paid vs revenues generated), outsourcing customer care looks like an easy win.

But when you include those other elements, that aren’t as obvious (or as easy to measure), it becomes a much more difficult argument to make.

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