Demotivated…what happened?

Sometimes, you just don’t want to work. You lie in bed and process why you’re dreading going in. You’ve had a bad week or maybe you’ve been miserable from day one. Regardless, something has changed and the thought of stepping out of bed makes your stomach turn. Maybe one of the following is a reason why…

No Direction

Your targets or goals are vague or unrealistic and you feel you have really no way to achieve them. Maybe you weren’t trained sufficiently, or you don’t have the support. Either way, you’ve lost your confidence and ambition. It’s hard to take pride in your job when you have no idea what your doing.

No Kudos

Did you work really hard on a great project only to have your credit shrugged off or unfairly given to someone else? Or maybe no one seems to recognize the effort you put in day after day in an incredibly tough job. If there isn’t enough praise or if you feel like the work you do is never appreciated or recognized, why try?

No Social life

Too many hours. You live, breath and think about work. You have no time for your family or friends. You’re burned out, exhausted and overburdened which renders you unable to perform your duties well.

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Supervisor Skills 101

With greater accountability, pressure and responsibility, it’s tough being a Supervisor. What’s even tougher is working under one that has little to no idea in properly managing and leading others. What abilities should they possess that will set them apart?

Feedback

If it’s positive or negative, it takes skill to effectively communicate. Supervisors have the power to make it pleasant and meaningful. How? Most importantly, feedback should be an ongoing process, and not just a once a year followup. It should be relevant, constructive, and give the employee an opportunity to develop or change behavior and performance through realistic goals.

Listening

One way to value an employee is by giving them quality attention. Supervisors should be prepared to allow employees to provide their input in situations, listen and ask appropriate questions. Listening= Learning.

Attitude

…is everything. A negative attitude can contaminate a workplace and generally make things feel awkward. While everyone has their bad days, having a higher position means greater control in altering workplace morale. Work with a Supervisor who continually criticizes, complains or has a bad temperament towards work or employees? Not so fun.

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Call Centers: 10 reasons why it’s a miserable job

Call centers fill a valuable role in the world of telemarketing, health care, customer service and much more. Working there seems like a great opportunity to advance ones career, learn communication skills and make some cash. But Is it?

Call centers have been associated as a negative, thankless job… here’s why.

1. The Training

Insufficient. Mainly, the focus is to train and get you on the floor as quickly as possible.

2. Repetition

Impersonal, fluffy scripts. Pick up the phone, follow the directions, deal with the problem, and repeat as quickly as possible. A constant, mind-numbing blur.

3. Customer handling

Help is skewed towards scripted empathy, concern, and reassurance. Actually resolving the customer’s problem comes second.

4. The Customers

It’s nerve-wracking when irate customers target you with their frustrations, questions and complaints, and even worse if you’re not from their country.

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Advice to First Time Entrepreneurs

“First of all, find investors that understand your business. We were desperate to raise capital and we accepted the first offer of someone who knew nothing the business. Secondly is to align the interest of the partners and try that the common goals be shared and don’t let that the communication between you is interrupted. And last, if you are trying to sell a new product let customers try it first, because that’s the customer that’s going to validate your product.” – Oscar Giraldo

El Call Center de Silicon Valley

Encontrarse con una empresa de servicios de outsourcing de Call Center con sede en Silicon Valley puede parecer extraño teniendo en cuenta que la mayoría de empresas que se encuentran en esta zona son de alta tecnología. 247Customer tiene más de 9.000 empleados repartidos en 8 países el mundo. Fue fundada en el año 2000, en pleno debacle de las “punto com”, y levantó capital de la mano de Mike Moritz, el VC número uno de Sequoia Capital, la firma de capital de riesgo más exitosa y de mayor prestigio en Silicon Valley. Mike Moritz es conocido por haber invertido en Yahoo y en Google.Tuve la suerte de reunirme por unos minutos con PV Kannan, el fundador y CEO en su oficina en Campbell, con el objetivo de conocer su punto de vista acerca de lo que estamos haciendo en Arcaris. En este post no voy a profundizar acerca del valioso feedback que nos dio PV, sino el aprendizaje general de ese encuentro. Continue reading →

Análisis parálisis – Just do it!

Cuando se recolecta información proveniente de diferentes fuentes en el Call Center uno de los desafíos más grandes es el análisis pero sin duda lo más importante para el negocio es la interpretación de esos datos para tomar acciones que impacten de manera positiva al negocio. El problema está en que al tener tanta información este análisis y la interpretación de los datos se vuelve difícil de leer y de entender, lo que nos lleva en un estado de análisis parálisis en la organización. Continue reading →