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In this episode of "Advice from a Call Center Geek!",  we sit down with Jimmy Budnik, the VP of Customer Care and CRM at Overstock.com.

An engineer by trade, Jimmy takes to the role of VP of customer care at Overstock.com with one eye on the culture of his team and another on improving the customer experience through education and technology.

In this 30 minute interview, we tackle topics such as:

• Take a look behind the scenes at how Overstock handles the retail holiday season
• Understand how COVID-19 has affected the Overstock customer care model
• How Overstock is handling changing demographics and self-service
• What technologies are Overstock utilizing to improve the customer experience
• Jimmy's view on how analytics can better understand customer expectations
• How does Overstock view NPS in relation to customer/agent sentiment

Very insightful perspectives from an industry CX leader.  This episode is very technology-driven and will hopefully give you some insights into where customer care is moving to from the views of someone running one of the leading customer care models in the industry.

Follow Jimmy Budnik on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmybudnik/

Blog Post Link:
https://expiviausa.com/a-conversation-with-the-vp-of-customer-care-and-crm-at-overstock-com-jimmy-budnik/

For more info on Advice from a Call Center Geek:
Text us: 814.247.0366
Follow Tom: @tlaird_expivia
Join our Facebook Call Center Community: www.facebook.com/callcentergeek
Connect on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tlairdexpivia/
Watch us: Advice from a Call Center Geek Youtube Channel 

 Through Expivia Digital, Tom works with contact center leaders on CCaaS platform selection, AI implementations, and NICE Studio and integration services. 

Same honest, vendor-neutral advice you hear on the Call Center Geek podcast, applied directly to your specific operational challenges. 

Schedule a consultation at ExpiviaDigital.com to discuss your contact center technology strategy. 

Click here:

expiviadigital.com

Follow Tom: @tlaird_expivia
Join our Facebook Call Center Community: www.facebook.com/callcentergeek
Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tlairdexpivia/
Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@callcenter_geek
Linkedin Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/9041993/
Watch us: Advice from a Call Center Geek Youtube Channel

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Outsourcing is not for everyone, and we have been very open about that, in fact, we did an entire episode on 10 reasons why you should NOT outsource.

These 7 falsehoods though are topics that organizations that are new to call center outsourcing think are reasons why they would NEVER outsource.  

This is a false narrative.  In this episode, we talk specifically about these seven excuses for reasons not to outsource.

These are:

• Thinking you will love total control
• Quality will take a hit
• Not being able to integrate your data systems
• Your program is much to complex for an outsourcer
• Turnover will be high
• Security Concerns
• Issues with the cloud

Blog Post Link:
https://expiviausa.com/7-falsehoods-about-outsourcing-your-call-center/

 Text me: 814.247.0366
Follow me: @tlaird_expivia
Join our Facebook Call Center Community: www.facebook.com/callcentergeek
Connect on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tlairdexpivia/
Watch us: Advice from a Call Center Geek Youtube Channel 

 Through Expivia Digital, Tom works with contact center leaders on CCaaS platform selection, AI implementations, and NICE Studio and integration services. 

Same honest, vendor-neutral advice you hear on the Call Center Geek podcast, applied directly to your specific operational challenges. 

Schedule a consultation at ExpiviaDigital.com to discuss your contact center technology strategy. 

Click here:

expiviadigital.com

Follow Tom: @tlaird_expivia
Join our Facebook Call Center Community: www.facebook.com/callcentergeek
Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tlairdexpivia/
Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@callcenter_geek
Linkedin Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/9041993/
Watch us: Advice from a Call Center Geek Youtube Channel

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Call Center Superbowl....

For many of us, that is what Black Friday and Cyber Monday are.  Over the years, we have come up with some tips that help make these high-traffic days go as smoothly as possible.

In this podcast we go over 7 call center tips for Black Friday:

No IT Updates This week
Look at Your Shrinkage %
Have a Motivation for Your Associates
Taking Care of Large Queues
Virtual Call Backs
Using Mon-Wed to Educate Your Associates
Document, Document, Document

Blog Post Link:
https://expiviausa.com/7-tips-to-make-black-friday-run-smoothly-in-your-contact-center/

Text me: 814.247.0366
Follow me: @tlaird_expivia
Join our Facebook Call Center Community: www.facebook.com/callcentergeek
Connect on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tlairdexpivia/
Watch us: Advice from a Call Center Geek Youtube Channel 

 Through Expivia Digital, Tom works with contact center leaders on CCaaS platform selection, AI implementations, and NICE Studio and integration services. 

Same honest, vendor-neutral advice you hear on the Call Center Geek podcast, applied directly to your specific operational challenges. 

Schedule a consultation at ExpiviaDigital.com to discuss your contact center technology strategy. 

Click here:

expiviadigital.com

Follow Tom: @tlaird_expivia
Join our Facebook Call Center Community: www.facebook.com/callcentergeek
Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tlairdexpivia/
Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@callcenter_geek
Linkedin Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/9041993/
Watch us: Advice from a Call Center Geek Youtube Channel

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Speech analytics is an evolving tool that has use cases not yet thought of.

As we are evolving how we use the tool, we want to tell the Geek! community as a whole to possibly spur some thoughts on the best way to use analytics in your organization and to also increase the ROI for an analytics investment.

In this episode we talk about 10 unique ways that we see analytics being used:

1. Proactive Customer Service
2. Incenting Associates to be Nice
3. Generating Marketing Data
4. Finding out WHY?
5. Notating Frustration
6. Learning What the Real SLA Variance Should Be
7. Tracking Silence
8. Fraud Protection
9. Tracking Key Words and Competitors
10. Expanding Service to Other Channels

Blog Post Link:
https://expiviausa.com/10-unique-use-cases-for-speech-analytics/

Text me: 814.247.0366
Follow me: @tlaird_expivia
Join our Facebook Call Center Community: www.facebook.com/callcentergeek
Connect on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tlairdexpivia/
Watch us: Advice from a Call Center Geek Youtube Channel 

 Through Expivia Digital, Tom works with contact center leaders on CCaaS platform selection, AI implementations, and NICE Studio and integration services. 

Same honest, vendor-neutral advice you hear on the Call Center Geek podcast, applied directly to your specific operational challenges. 

Schedule a consultation at ExpiviaDigital.com to discuss your contact center technology strategy. 

Click here:

expiviadigital.com

Follow Tom: @tlaird_expivia
Join our Facebook Call Center Community: www.facebook.com/callcentergeek
Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tlairdexpivia/
Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@callcenter_geek
Linkedin Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/9041993/
Watch us: Advice from a Call Center Geek Youtube Channel

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Its almost 2021 (YES!!) and we here at Expiva are having budgeting talks and discussions on where we see the industry moving in 2021 and what technologies and strategies do we want to invest in for next year.

In this episode we talk about the top five trends that we see in the industry and how we plan on using them to our advantage.

Topics include:

• Google Real-Time Transcription / Dialogflows
• Customers Want No Excuses After COVID-19
• The Effects of COVID-19 on Legacy (older) Technology 
• Exploiting Digital Service (Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp...)
• Proactive Servicing using Analytics

Blog Post Link:
https://expiviausa.com/five-call-center-customer-service-trends-in-2021/

Text me: 814.247.0366
Follow me: @tlaird_expivia
Join our Facebook Call Center Community: www.facebook.com/callcentergeek
Connect on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tlairdexpivia/
Watch us: Advice from a Call Center Geek Youtube Channel 

 Through Expivia Digital, Tom works with contact center leaders on CCaaS platform selection, AI implementations, and NICE Studio and integration services. 

Same honest, vendor-neutral advice you hear on the Call Center Geek podcast, applied directly to your specific operational challenges. 

Schedule a consultation at ExpiviaDigital.com to discuss your contact center technology strategy. 

Click here:

expiviadigital.com

Follow Tom: @tlaird_expivia
Join our Facebook Call Center Community: www.facebook.com/callcentergeek
Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tlairdexpivia/
Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@callcenter_geek
Linkedin Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/9041993/
Watch us: Advice from a Call Center Geek Youtube Channel

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One of the age-old call center ops questions is "Should we use live or recorded calls" for our QA?  Understanding that many call centers are moving to an analytic based QA platform, there is still a majority of centers using managers to "listen" to calls.

In this episode, we talk about the benefits of using both methods and when to do so.

We discuss what type of individual you should hire for a QA role and making sure you don't have your QA staff think that the job is to just find the mistake that reps are making.  There is so much more to QA!

Calibration sessions are a very important tool in creating the right quality culture in your center.  We discuss how to set them up, what types of calls to use, and tips to get the most out of them.

Text me: 814.247.0366
Follow me: @tlaird_expivia
Join our Facebook Call Center Community: www.facebook.com/callcentergeek
Connect on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tlairdexpivia/
Watch us: Advice from a Call Center Geek Youtube Channel 

 Through Expivia Digital, Tom works with contact center leaders on CCaaS platform selection, AI implementations, and NICE Studio and integration services. 

Same honest, vendor-neutral advice you hear on the Call Center Geek podcast, applied directly to your specific operational challenges. 

Schedule a consultation at ExpiviaDigital.com to discuss your contact center technology strategy. 

Click here:

expiviadigital.com

Follow Tom: @tlaird_expivia
Join our Facebook Call Center Community: www.facebook.com/callcentergeek
Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tlairdexpivia/
Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@callcenter_geek
Linkedin Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/9041993/
Watch us: Advice from a Call Center Geek Youtube Channel

Send us a text

I am going to start to answer the awesome  questions I am getting in the Advice from a Call Center Geek! SMS Texting community as Community Q/A mini-podcasts.

 I want this to be a huge benefit of joining our texting community (to join text "podcast" 814.247.0366 to get signed up).

In this Mini-Pod, I give my thoughts on some best practices when you have voice and chat agents and channels to staff.  Should you keep them separate or should you cross train and integrate all the reps with all the channels?

Text me: 814.247.0366
Follow me: @tlaird_expivia
Join our Facebook Call Center Community: www.facebook.com/callcentergeek
Connect on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tlairdexpivia/
Watch us: Advice from a Call Center Geek Youtube Channel 

 Through Expivia Digital, Tom works with contact center leaders on CCaaS platform selection, AI implementations, and NICE Studio and integration services. 

Same honest, vendor-neutral advice you hear on the Call Center Geek podcast, applied directly to your specific operational challenges. 

Schedule a consultation at ExpiviaDigital.com to discuss your contact center technology strategy. 

Click here:

expiviadigital.com

Follow Tom: @tlaird_expivia
Join our Facebook Call Center Community: www.facebook.com/callcentergeek
Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tlairdexpivia/
Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@callcenter_geek
Linkedin Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/9041993/
Watch us: Advice from a Call Center Geek Youtube Channel

Send us a text

 Here is a quick overview of what skills-based routing is, how to use it, and why it's such a great tool.

This is the biggest difference between a UCAAS (Office Phone System) and a CCAAS (Call Center) platform.

I have been getting a bunch of questions on skills-based routing so I hope this answers a lot of them!

We did a white boarding video that goes along with this as well if you are more of a visual learner that can be found here:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/tlairdexpivia_callcenter-contactcenter-callcentergeek-activity-6725462092012371968-Qci4

Text me: 814.247.0366
Follow me: @tlaird_expivia
Join our Facebook Call Center Community: www.facebook.com/callcentergeek
Connect on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tlairdexpivia/
Watch us: Advice from a Call Center Geek Youtube Channel 

 Through Expivia Digital, Tom works with contact center leaders on CCaaS platform selection, AI implementations, and NICE Studio and integration services. 

Same honest, vendor-neutral advice you hear on the Call Center Geek podcast, applied directly to your specific operational challenges. 

Schedule a consultation at ExpiviaDigital.com to discuss your contact center technology strategy. 

Click here:

expiviadigital.com

Follow Tom: @tlaird_expivia
Join our Facebook Call Center Community: www.facebook.com/callcentergeek
Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tlairdexpivia/
Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@callcenter_geek
Linkedin Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/9041993/
Watch us: Advice from a Call Center Geek Youtube Channel

Send us a text

Lowering handle and talk time the right way can add to a center's ROI and make the customer and agent experience better

In this episode of the Geek!, we talk about tips on how to break calls down into segments to streamline processes. how to lessen hold time, and how to minimize one of the biggest killers to handle time and call center efficiency...after call work/wrap time.

I try to give simple and effective ways that we have used to best utilize technology, processes, and training to get your handle time lower while not impacting the customer experience.

Blog Post Link:
https://expiviausa.com/tips-to-lower-your-call-center-handle-time/

Text me: 814.247.0366
Follow me: @tlaird_expivia
Join our Facebook Call Center Community: www.facebook.com/callcentergeek
Connect on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tlairdexpivia/
Watch us: Advice from a Call Center Geek Youtube Channel 

 Through Expivia Digital, Tom works with contact center leaders on CCaaS platform selection, AI implementations, and NICE Studio and integration services. 

Same honest, vendor-neutral advice you hear on the Call Center Geek podcast, applied directly to your specific operational challenges. 

Schedule a consultation at ExpiviaDigital.com to discuss your contact center technology strategy. 

Click here:

expiviadigital.com

Follow Tom: @tlaird_expivia
Join our Facebook Call Center Community: www.facebook.com/callcentergeek
Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tlairdexpivia/
Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@callcenter_geek
Linkedin Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/9041993/
Watch us: Advice from a Call Center Geek Youtube Channel

Send us a text

Outsourcing your call center operations can be a scary deal. If you can manage the relationship in a proper way, there can be a win-win mentality that happens not just for you and the BPO partner but most importantly for your customers as well.

In this episode, we give you actionable items to put into place to make sure the client/call center relationship runs as smoothly as possible.

Some of the items we discuss will center on:

• Partnership over Vendorship
• Single Points of Contact
• Weekly Calibration Cessions
• Quarterly Reviews
• IM Tools
• Issues/Escalation Processes 

Blog Post Link:
https://expiviausa.com/how-to-manage-a-call-center-outsourcer/

Text me: 814.247.0366
Follow me: @tlaird_expivia
Join our Facebook Call Center Community: www.facebook.com/callcentergeek
Connect on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tlairdexpivia/
Watch us: Advice from a Call Center Geek Youtube Channel 

 Through Expivia Digital, Tom works with contact center leaders on CCaaS platform selection, AI implementations, and NICE Studio and integration services. 

Same honest, vendor-neutral advice you hear on the Call Center Geek podcast, applied directly to your specific operational challenges. 

Schedule a consultation at ExpiviaDigital.com to discuss your contact center technology strategy. 

Click here:

expiviadigital.com

Follow Tom: @tlaird_expivia
Join our Facebook Call Center Community: www.facebook.com/callcentergeek
Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tlairdexpivia/
Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@callcenter_geek
Linkedin Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/9041993/
Watch us: Advice from a Call Center Geek Youtube Channel