When this episode gets aired in August - I will be in Switzerland, staying with my family for the first time in 4 very long months. I can’t wait for this - and of course, to ensure I can take time out I have been batch recording podcast episodes so that you, my wonderful listeners don’t miss out. In Episode 25 - where we talked about the LEAP Framework, I mentioned that I would talk about the importance of having an Ops Manual - One single point of reference! This is a scary task! It’s big, It’s...
Jul 31, 2020•21 min•Season 1Ep. 28
In Episode 24 I touched on employee survey data very briefly with Dave D’Arcy, who - like me - is an operational generalist with a big heart for his teams. My guest today picks up on the topic of employee survey - and how you can put your data to work! Teresa and I got to know each other through work and a mutual acquaintance - but then also found out that we both lived in bonnie Scotland - not far from each other. Teresa’s field of expertise lies in Human Resources, plus Learning and Delivery M...
Jul 24, 2020•43 min•Season 1Ep. 27
Quite often we know what the problems are. We just don’t have the time, the energy or the resources to work on them all at the same time. That’s where FAB Solutions and Garry Gormley - the contact center specialist can help! Do you want your customers to say amazing things about your service? Are your processes letting you down and do you struggle to create the capacity and the time to fix them? Do you want help to build a team of people that pull together, communicate more effectively and incre...
Jul 17, 2020•39 min•Season 1Ep. 26
Hello everyone! This is episode 25! We are listened to in 34 countries and by the time this episode airs we will have surpassed 1000 downloads! One of our raving fans - Morris - said recently “A brilliant series of podcasts! Marianne Rutz has built some of the best content available “ - Thank you Morris! Today I’m taking you behind the scenes of my LEAP Framework! What does LEAP stand for and how do I use it when conducting a 360 Degree Assessment of my clients’ contact center operation! You hav...
Jul 10, 2020•19 min•Season 1Ep. 25
My guest today is Dave D’Arcy - the Senior Director International Care and Tech Support with Vonage. Dave very candidly shares his initial first job in the industry - where all he knew was “wanting to wear a suit” and how he ended up starting up what we now would call a customer retention campaign for his then employer. Dave went on to live and work in a number of countries including India, South Africa, and some European Countries before taking up the role with Vonage. The main topic we discuss...
Jul 03, 2020•47 min•Season 1Ep. 24
Helen joined BPA Quality in 2013 after previous roles in teaching and operations. As EMEA Quality Solutions and CX Manager, she leverages her passion and expertise for all aspects of Quality and Customer Experience. Helen is considered a leading voice in our industry on Quality Evaluation. She has been a guest speaker at industry events, participated as a judge for the ECCSAs and also co-chairs a quarterly Quality Management Special Interest group in partnership with the CCMA. Helen’s role requi...
Jun 26, 2020•38 min•Season 1Ep. 23
Marcus - A German National - and I, first got to know about each other when Marcus promoted the DACH Customer Experience Awards. You will hear Marcus talk about them at the end of the podcast. But then I learned about his passion - Mystery Shopping - for big international blue chip companies such as DHL or Singapore Airlines, testing all their customer interaction channels - Including Chat Bots - Yes - Chatbots! Marcus is the Managing Director of OmniTouch International, helping and inspiring or...
Jun 19, 2020•57 min•Season 1Ep. 22
Martin started his contact centre career as an agent on the phones in a small contact centre in London. He has been in this vibrant, fun, diverse, creative and hard working Contact Centre industry now for the last 25 years. He’s worked his way through a number of roles in the industry - from Team Leader to Contact Center Manager, to Director of Quality. This industry allows many of us to work abroad - Martin worked in Madrid and also Istanbul. He has been serving as a judge in the industry and h...
Jun 12, 2020•44 min•Season 1Ep. 21
We all know somebody, that knows somebody who suffered from burnout in our very busy and pressurised industry! I’m humbled and honoured that my previous line manager and now good friend B J Kennedy - is talking very candidly with us about his mental exhaustion in 2010. He was working 84hrs per week in an extremely busy environment - but had his wife buying a new home - one he never even saw before they moved in. Something had to give! This is a very powerful episode - I’m sure you can gain much ...
Jun 05, 2020•41 min•Season 1Ep. 20
For years on end there has been this chicken and egg scenario in the contact center world! The question is - what comes first - Operational Management or Customer Experience? In this episode Dan Ord and I explore the differences in the two roles but also look at what they have got in common. And… we will answer the question for you - from our perspective of course! Dan Ord LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellawrenceord/ https://www.omnitouchinternational.com/ My Podcast is produced by: ...
May 29, 2020•48 min•Season 1Ep. 19
Sandra Green is a certified executive coach, founder of the Women Leaders Association (www.thewla.com), speaker and author. Her passion is in helping leaders recognise their brilliance and break through their limiting beliefs. Her READY framework provides a model for bringing greater feminine energy into the workplace (for both women and heart-centred men). She is an advocate for men and women to lead with their heart. Sandra worked in corporate for many years before following her dream to set u...
May 22, 2020•41 min•Season 1Ep. 18
As I record today’s episode, the United Kingdom is still in lockdown - and it’s most likely to be extended for another couple of weeks. Many contact centres moved their workforce into home offices - with great effort, lots of logistics involved and at a huge cost to the business. It was, and still is, the right decision. Initially line managers reported that their staff’s performance was great, absence numbers were down, scheduled adherence was spot on - as high as never before. But now - for th...
May 15, 2020•13 min•Season 1Ep. 17
In today’s episode I am talking to a LinkedIn expert! Over the last couple of months LinkedIn has quickly risen to the platform of choice for so many professionals and entrepreneurs! There is a reason for that! LinkedIn is more than just another job-platform! LinkedIn is more than just another sales channel. Your LinkedIn Profile carries a lot of weight for you and your clients - no matter how big or small your company is, no matter how senior you are in your corporate world. Shelley Hutchinson ...
May 08, 2020•34 min•Season 1Ep. 16
We are seeing the recruitment industry change at the speed of light. The current Covid-19 crisis forces businesses to look at Working from Home solutions on all levels. Some people, like myself, have been an advocate of Home Woking for many years! One of these people is Jo Griffiths . We hear from Jo about how the recruitment industry has changed over the last 20 years and more importantly how Jo and her team can help you to get high quality team members - offering the full process remotely, plu...
May 01, 2020•33 min•Season 1Ep. 15
In this episode I’m discussing the hot potato in the contact center industry - well any industry for that matter - Customer Experience - what do we measure and how do we measure it. My guest is an absolute authority in this field - Morris Pentel Morris is the Chairman of the Customer Experience Foundation, he is also a consultant in Business Transformation, all things Omnichannel and of course customer experience. Morris calls himself the Chief Student at London School of Customer Experience. He...
Apr 24, 2020•36 min•Season 1Ep. 14
Today’s episode was supposed to be about the Ritz Carlton’s awesome customer experience - but over the last week or so - friends, colleagues, acquaintances - simply - just people - have been asking me “How do you deal with this lock-down”? You seem so content - not worried at all? That got me thinking… - because I very well know what it means to be worried - worried for my life. On the 29 September 2015, just three days before my wedding to Kevin, we were told by a very competent surgeon and an ...
Apr 24, 2020•11 min•Season 1Ep. 13
My client today is an expert in the lighting industry! Just look at the light-bulb you may have in your home, or the Smart Lighting solution you may have - it could be from Signify - formerly Philips Lighting. In today’s interview, Bart-Hendrik Huisman, Head of Customer Satisfaction with Signify and I, discuss what it takes to set up a global operation, starting in Kuala Lumpur ending in Puerto Rico. 2 Years ago Signify went on a journey which saw the business model change in Signify but not the...
Apr 17, 2020•40 min•Season 1Ep. 12
I am so excited for today’s episode with business executive and team leadership coach, Gregor Findlay the owner of Courageous Development! Gregor was the very first business coach I ever had. I was just promoted to Site Director in Accrington, near Manchester, to set up and open a brand new contact center. I was clearly talented, but out of my depth. My team was non existent, everyone I hired I felt I had to “control” because I could do it better myself. In no time I was overworked, stressed and...
Apr 10, 2020•38 min•Season 1Ep. 11
Welcome to Episode 10! As I’m recording this, the UK is heading into its second week of lock down due to the CoronaVirus. Many of you will have been advised to work from home now and your teams are remote! It was frantic all of last week - getting people access to companies' IT networks, ensuring everyone had the right equipment, setting up conference calls, and also pondering how on earth you would stay engaged with your teams. I was privileged to attend a 2 day conference for business leaders ...
Apr 03, 2020•22 min•Season 1Ep. 10
I first met Willow in 2018, we both attended a course by Heather Dominique to think about our deposition of being ‘Highly Sensitive” - that doesn’t mean we are highly emotional or irrational as many people would assume! You will hear in the interview what traits HSP’s have and why they make excellent Customer Service Advisors, Coaches, Consultants - especially in an industry that’s highly pressurised! I needed coping mechanisms: ways to structure my day differently, I needed to learn how to acce...
Mar 27, 2020•40 min•Season 1Ep. 9
Hi everyone, welcome to this episode! I’m delighted it comes on the back of Episode 6 ‘How to set yourself up for a Successful Day in the Office - I got a number of comments and requests around “And what happens next - I have done all the coaching with my agent / Teamleader / Member of staff - but somehow the performance doesn’t improve.” Now - let's be clear - not every team member we have is also in the right role! Here’s what I mean by that: You followed the recruitment guidelines, you hired ...
Mar 20, 2020•17 min•Season 1Ep. 8
Today I’m talking to Joy Bains. Hands down - Joy is one of the best project / programme managers I have worked with in my career. I hired Joy in May 2019 - simply because I struggled to deliver a global, multilingual programme, spanning around the world - from Malaysia to Puerto Rico. In this episode Joy shares a wealth of tips, ideas and insights covering all aspects of project management. https://www.linkedin.com/in/joy-bains-b3171646/ Our Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/5823960...
Mar 13, 2020•35 min•Season 1Ep. 7
In our fast-paced environment, most of my Team Managers and Ops Managers struggled to demonstrate how they worked through their day. Often - at the end of the day - they sat at their desks - wondering whether or not to actually go home - as their to-do list was endless! And yet again some of the coaching they had planned to do hadn’t happened. As I was measured on the performance of my teams - I thought about how I might be able to help my guys without taking up too much time in their already bu...
Mar 06, 2020•23 min•Season 1Ep. 6
I recently looked into the importance of the customer journey, measuring customer experience or customer effort. Interestingly - very few articles acknowledged that operational excellence plays a big part in this! Find out why. Our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/582396082326472/?source_id=1807833562816621 My Podcast is produced by: https://www.unavoided.com...
Feb 28, 2020•17 min•Season 1Ep. 5
As a manager, in charge of people with serious illnesses, it is your responsibility to ensure there is an open communication line with your employee. But… you don’t know what to say? I know it can be difficult. Today we dive into the options you have got to make your employee feel supported and valued, despite their illness. Our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/582396082326472/?source_id=1807833562816621 Elephant in the Room Part 1: https://rutzconsulting.com/the-elephant-in-the-r...
Feb 21, 2020•11 min•Season 1Ep. 4
Are you of working age and going through a cancer trauma? Or any other long term sickness, preventing you from going to work? And you are wondering how to communicate with your manager, your peers? You are not alone! Our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/582396082326472/?source_id=1807833562816621 Elephant in the Room part 2: https://rutzconsulting.com/elephant-room-part-2/ My Podcast is produced by: https://www.unavoided.com...
Feb 13, 2020•16 min•Season 1Ep. 3
When contact centers - or as they were then called, call centers started in ernest, everything was done the old fashioned way. Remember faxes? Or Telephones with a receiver? Or having to raise your hand to go to the toilet? In today’s episode we examine how the contact centre industry has changed - or… has it really changed? Our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/582396082326472/?source_id=1807833562816621 My Podcast is produced by: https://www.unavoided.com...
Feb 12, 2020•13 min•Season 1Ep. 2
Do you wonder whether it is possible to have a contact center career? Do you think it’s impossible to be successful in the long run in this highly pressurised environment? In today’s episode I share with you how I started out and eventually created my own business in the industry! Our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/582396082326472/?source_id=1807833562816621 Fawlty Towers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgctmHfe3XE My Podcast is produced by: https://www.unavoided.com...
Feb 12, 2020•24 min•Season 1Ep. 1
Do you work in the service delivery industry? Providing operational excellence to your team, your customers, your colleagues? Are you passionate about people, do you strive for good processes and want to make a profit as you do so? This is the podcast you have been waiting for! Each week we feature powerful insights, training and interviews to help you navigate and step up to be the leader you desire to be! Our industry is fast paced, cruel at times and it often is tinted with negative experienc...
Feb 12, 2020•48 sec
