Despite the pressure to become a profit center, most organizations’ customer service and contact centers continue to miss the mark on becoming a strategic business partner and are not considered part of the corporate revenue strategy, noted Forrester Research’s Natalie L. Petouhoff.

However, the research firm added new Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations and data are making decisions about positioning customer service for success more relevant than ever before.

“This presents an opportunity for customer service professionals to accomplish goals they may have previously lacked the data to justify,” suggested Petouhoff, adding the transformation of customer service from a “cost center” model to a “profit center” paradigm entails a commitment to change from all levels within an organization — from C-level executives to call center agents.

Customer service leaders can serve their companies well by helping executives decide if customer service is a financial priority, advancing their own leadership and business case development skills, and demonstrating to agents why and how customer service is key to a company’s brand and bottom line.

Webcopyplus is involved with a Yale study and would appreciate your participation in a survey that takes less than 10 minutes to complete. There are 20 questions, and you could win a $20 Amazon gift certificate.

Just click on Soe City Survey.

— Thanks!

Author and marketing guru Seth Godin posted a sharp entry in his blog about the inbound phone call being a hugely valuable marketing event for a business.

He noted: “The goal of every single interaction should be to upgrade the brand’s value in the eye of the caller and to learn something about how to do better, not to get the caller to just go away.”

That seems to be the prevailing objective: do away with the nuisance, rather than learn something from the prospect or customer.

Also, almost every consumer would wholeheartedly agree with Godin’s statement:

“Your call is very important to us,” does not jibe with, “Due to unusually heavy call volume.”

Read his post: Who answers the phone. Or view a case study on how not to deliver
‘customer service’.

Here’s a Rogers customer service case study on how not to conduct business. It’s no wonder so many consumers are turning to the superior services of Skype, Vonage and Shaw.

With my business phone and mobile with Rogers, I decided to bunch everything together and switch my home phone to Rogers as well. Here’s a breakdown of the events that spanned more than one year:

• After talking to two Rogers call centres for more than an hour in total, a switchover was scheduled for the morning of March 13, 2007.
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While speaking at a recent Web forum in Vancouver, a web copywriter from the audience approached me with disheartening stories about how his skills were not valued at his workplace.

Part of the reason web copywriters are under-valued extends from the fact managers often get excited about new technologies. They believe employing new software and applications demonstrate they’re on the leading edge, creating an opportunity to score points with their superiors. As a result, the employees who handle design and development tend to gain more attention and recognition.

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Have you ventured ‘outside the box’ today?

Many businesses claim they’re innovative when it comes to the Internet, but few seem to demonstrate it.

Most stay on the cushy path, eagerly following cyber herds with the tried-and-true. “Why take a chance?” After all, going outside the box can be downright scary.

One group that relentlessly ventures into the unknown is “an ideas studio” named Burnkit, which is made up of 14 “thinkers” in Vancouver, BC.

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Webcopyplus recently had the pleasure of participating in a creative session with Canadian marketing communications consultant Brian Follett, who ingeniously demonstrated the value of branding.

He talked about a plain, white Styrofoam cup on one end of a line, followed by several other cups, each more elaborate than the prior. The last cup was a Starbucks cup.

“Each one’s filled with brown liquid,” he said, promptly pointing out few would pay for the first cup, but many pay upwards of $5 for the last cup.

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Clever entrepreneur and author Seth Godin posted an interesting piece on editors today. His point: the easy route for editors is the safe route, which avoids trouble – but also eliminates success.

“Sometimes, a great editor will push the remarkable stuff,” stated Godin. “That’s his job.”

I wholeheartedly agree editors often take the trouble-free route, which can result in lame material. However, it’s often not the choice of editors, but rather the suffocating layers of policies and bureaucracy enforced by the poor soul’s boss, department or company. Editors are, frankly, politicized and homogenized into submission.

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What has your website done for you lately? If it’s not supporting your bottom line, a simple mind shift can make a world of difference.

Regardless of the industry, most business owners fail to take full advantage of the Web. It’s unfortunate when you consider a website’s ability to cost-effectively promote a business 365, 24/7.

Hiring employees at $30 an hour to market your business every hour in the year would equate to 8,760 hours or $262,800. Alternatively, a well written, properly designed and fully optimized website costs just a fraction of that. Additionally, you don’t have to deal with several other human resources costs and issues.

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The Globe and Mail’s Small Business Report recently featured an article on Webcopyplus, which discusses how we take an active approach to networking and resource sharing.

One of the many benefits Webcopyplus provides clients is direct access to an extensive network of talented and dependable web types. Ironically, the article prompted several new potential partners to reach out, possibly expanding our already broad range of contacts.

That’s valuable for clients, plus it helps our business. As the article mentioned, it’s unrealistic to stay on top of every emerging Internet and software technology. Hence, we lean on various web experts when called for and they call on us when the issues surround web copy.

Special thanks to Business consultant Mark Wardell and the Globe.