WNTD: “Who signs your paycheck?”

What Not To Do: Random horror stories from the trenches.

“Who signs your paycheck?”  A consumer products company outsourced part of their call center operations to the wilds of Utah, where labor was much cheaper.  They worked with a company who’s expertise was outbound telemarketing, not that it mattered much.  After weeks of training, they went live, and it worked okay.  There was much monitoring from the parent company at first, then gradually the reins were loosened. 

What was interesting was the metrics the call center reps were judged on - how long was the call (short is good) and how satisfied are your callers (based on surveys).  One rep started getting higher marks, then much higher marks - in fact, he collected all the possible bonuses.  He was demure when he was asked how he achieved his success - “I just listen to them, and try to do what’s right for the customer” was his reply.

The real answer turned out to be he essentially answered the phone with “Hey, it doesn’t matter what your problem is, will $25 in coupons solve the issue?  What about $50?  Great, let me get your name and address.”  He was giving away ten times what some other reps were, over $2000 each day - but the cost of the coupons came from the parent company, not the outsourcing company that signed his paycheck. 

Short call times, happy callers... but somehow, not good overall customer service.  At least, not very cost-effective.