Everybody’s screens were busy related to trending #travel topics last week. Some of us were riveted by the stranded cruise ship. Other folks are watching the story unfold of the meteor hit in central Russia. The annual carnival ended in RIO DE JANEIRO and by all reports a good time was had by all. As we write thousands of stranded of travelers (labor strike issues) are trying to figure out how to get home from Germany. The point is that the human condition predisposes us all to be fascinated with stories about travel and events in faraway places.
Last week several of our Leaders travelled to San Francisco to meet with other travel executives at the Switchfly Annual Conference. Switchfly technology is used by us and other leading travel companies and loyalty programs. We are in fact strategic partners with Switchfly and as a heavy user of their SaaS platform, we are proud of what we have accomplished together. (FYI - Switchfly processes over $750 million worth of commerce every year and the platform itself enables travelers to visit nearly every country on the planet.) We always come back from the conference with fresh ideas and we always make a few new friends. Such is the essence of travel itself, right?
Speaking of visiting nearly every country on the planet – We had the opportunity to spend some time this week chatting about the wonder of travel and extreme globetrotting with a new team member here at Trase Miller. Chance B. joined our team a few months ago and truly has a passion for travel. Chance grew up in a military family and he himself served in the military. Chance has so far been to over 40 countries. WOW! We asked Chance to recount his most intriguing trips and several came to mind. Much of Chance’s travel abroad was spent in Asia and he sites Asia as the most interesting of all continents. Hong Kong is the destination that Chance has spent the most time in and it’s the people there that strike Chance as remarkable. “The population is so concentrated and yet the people make visitors feel so welcome” according to Chance. Equally as fascinating to Chance in his travels is The Amazon. “I spent several weeks on the river and hardly saw a soul. Exactly the opposite of my Asia travels.” The most “exotic” place Chance has been is Kenya. Of course you will be reading his insights about all these places and more in Trase Miller Travels.
Back to where this ramble started and #travel in the news. We at Trase Miller were paying close attention to the latest airline consolidation story; American Airlines and US Airways. American Airlines has been a client partner of ours since our inception in 1994 and we very much identify with the brand and all the good people that we work with there. These are exciting times and we look forward to our continued involvement with The New American Airlines.
Tomorrow is Groundhog Day. Surely you have big plans to celebrate. Groundhogs are actually more commonly known as wood chucks and WE draw some wisdom from the animal, the annual celebration and the popular movie made in 1993 (a year before our inception).
We have mentioned our company’s duality several times in our blog. We have an Illinois presence but most of our staff lives/works in Oklahoma. Groundhogs/woodchucks are actually very rarely seen in Oklahoma so we need to provide some detail here about the animal to those readers in Oklahoma and other places not familiar with the animal. The groundhog is a lowland creature widely found in North America but most common in the northeastern and central USA. It is a rodent that belongs to the group of large ground squirrels that can grow to thirty or so pounds. Groundhogs are diggers that have short/powerful limbs and curved thick claws and have an incredible sense of hearing. Groundhogs raised in captivity can be socialized relatively easily and quickly. What an incredible animal really. They know how to dig in, they are good listeners and they learn fast.
In dozens of cities in the USA and Canada, there will be Groundhog Day celebrations. According to folklore, if it is cloudy when a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day, then spring will come early; if it is sunny, the groundhog will supposedly see its shadow and retreat back into its burrow, and the winter weather will continue for six more weeks. The largest Groundhog Day celebration (up to 40,000 celebrants) is held in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. The star of the show is of course the groundhog Punxsutawney Phil. According to records kept since 1887, Punxsutawney Phil's weather predictions have been correct 39% of the time. Not exactly a reliable predictor but always a heck of a good party. And people travel from all over for this party. “Prognostication” happens at Gobbler's Knob in the early morning and though the event is free it brings a great deal of revenue into the region. Those of us in the travel business know that this is a good thing!
Bill Murray stars in the 1993 comedy movie Groundhog Day which takes place in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania though mostly the movie was filmed in Woodstock, Illinois. Murray’s character is forced to relive the day over and over again until he can learn to be more selfless and become a better person. And he does. It’s a great film that is referenced frequently in popular culture.
So what does all this have to do with our contact center? A fair amount actually. This week we welcomed a new group (class) of employees. Sarah Adair leads our Learning and Development team and shared that 17 of the 20 candidates we extending offers to are actually employee referrals and shared, “To me that says people like working here and are sharing that sentiment with their friends and family. After a full week, I’m seeing active listening, bright personalities and people who are excited, eager and willing to learn.” Wow - They know how to dig in, they are good listeners and they learn fast.
Also this past week, the phones got very, very busy. We broke a few of our own records and it was nearly an overwhelming week really. Because our team has so many selfless people – We were able to keep up pretty well. Our clients appreciate these kinds of efforts and we the leaders of this business appreciate the sacrifices that so many of our good people make when it gets a little crazy. Veterans; THANK YOU and new recruits; WELCOME to the Trase Miller family.
Today is 12.12.12. All across the USA there has been a spike in marriage ceremonies and the sale of lottery tickets is through the roof with players using these numbers. And there are a number of people here at Trase Miller that are celebrating the novelty of today along with 2012 in general. At the top of the list of celebrators are those individuals that were recently honored at our annual Christmas party.
This year’s Supervisor of The Year Award went to Coretta Grubs. “Coretta strives to excel on every task she is given. She understands the real meaning of teamwork and is always willing to help her peers and share her knowledge with everyone. She's 100% committed to provide outstanding customer service to her external and internal customers and is willing to work as many hours as needed, during any time of the day to ensure everything gets done. Coretta was responsible for revamping one aspect of our staffing model and did an amazing job. She is a great mentor to her peers and a wonderful coach! Bottom line is Coretta really get’s our company promise of we’re here to help you”.
Trase Miller’s 2012 Employee of the Year Award went to Adam Lucas. Adam makes a difference with his knowledge, excellent customer service skills and commitment to offer support. When a fellow employee has a question, Adam puts everything aside to help. He doesn’t just help find the right answer; he ensures the answer is understood. In the spirit of teamwork, Adam is the “it guy”. Adam is well respected by everyone for his confidence, willingness to share knowledge, ability to multi task and capacity to stay calm in stressful situations. Bottom line is Adam really get’s our company promise of we’re here to help you”.
One of our friends is travel industry luminary Pamela Johnston of Cloud 12 Group. She recently wrote and enlightend us with these thoughts - - “Twelve is the number that marks a complete cycle. There are 12 hours on the clock, 12 months in the calendar year, 12 inches in one foot, 12 items in a dozen. In modern numerology, 12 is the number associated with knowledge, wisdom and oracle-like serenity. Astrologers believe that the 12th house of the zodiac rules the most creative and magical parts of our psyche.” We love this perspective and context (thanks Pamela) and wish to everyone a very happy 12.12.12 and look forward to a great run in 2013.
Trase Miller hosted some special guests this week. They came to us to have a look at our operation. One of the guests, a European has been to the USA over 30 times but never to Tulsa. They liked what they saw. But all of them asked what we have been asked many times before - “Why Tulsa?”
And we answered as we always do “because of the people.”
It’s because of the people that we decided to start this business in Tulsa. And when we opened our doors here on Halloween 1994, our first days of operation included a costume party (boo bash). With that kind of beginning – to say that our culture is special is an understatement.
We have blogged relentlessly about our people but only a few times about how it relates to the essence of Tulsa. The citizens of Tulsa have deep roots in the travel and aviation related business. During World War 2, Tulsa was a hub for airline pilot training and Douglas Aircraft built airplanes here beginning in 1942. After the War, Tulsa became an important maintenance center for American Airlines and numerous other aviation related businesses sprung up in support. Through the years many of our team members have told stories of their parents and grandparents working in these related industries.
Known as the “oil capital of the world” in the 1920’s” - Tulsa prospered and was often called "America's Most Beautiful City" by the 1950’s. Our people are pleasant and proud. The truth is that Tulsa’s history has much to do with why we are able to attract so many great people.
Speaking of great people, we welcomed seven great new members to the Trase Miller team this week. They were recruited to represent one of our big brand airline clients. A poignant moment occurred with the class on their second day this week. The European visitor stuck his head in the training room and said “hello”. The new team members chit-chatted with him and one confessed that they were a little nervous about taking their first call. Our guest (a successful and accomplished Travel Executive) is like many of us and has humble beginnings. He shared with the group that he started on the phones and that they would be fine, but that they would likely always remember their first call.
Lauren, Kelly, April, Anastasia, Lauren, Tanaya and Cassidy. We welcome you to our contact center and to the Trase Miller Family and look forward to hearing you say “We’re here to help you” on your first call in a few weeks.
If you are reading this within 10 days of 9/11/11 and you put a TV on at this moment there is most certainly a tribute or a documentary or maybe even a news fill about 9/11/01. To some of us it’s unsettling to watch. To some of us it’s unsettling to even think about the anniversary of one of the most horrific days in American history. But how many of us really remain committed to the promise “never forget”?
The majority of Trase Miller employees will never forget. Though we are probably not all that unique from ordinary American’s, we reflect on 9/11 with a certain perspective. We are unique in that the vast majority of our employees have been HERE for 10+ years. We remember the panicked calls from stranded passengers. We remember panicked calls from families of travelers that day.
And we remember the layoffs. Many good people lost their jobs here at Trase Miller in Tulsa because of the 9/11 attacks and killings. That’s at a local level. But on a macro level think about it. The 9/11 economic (ongoing) impact is staggering. It has been estimated by Mueller and Stewart (“Terror, Security and Money” – Thank you Wall Street Journal) at $330 billion + $360 billion in incremental homeland security spending + 1.3 trillion in war costs in Afghanistan and Iraq. Wow.
The people most affected by 9/11 are people who lost their loved ones (Nearly 3,000 on 9/11 and more than 6,200 US troops). They will never forget. The brave public servants and volunteer heroes that rescued over 25,000 citizens on 9/11 will also never forget to be sure. And the men and women that serve and protect our country as a result of the 9/11 attacks/murders are in harm’s way every day. How can they ever forget?
Speaking of volunteers and anniversaries - - - Trase Miller is a company culture of caring and this year marks the Tulsa Area United Way's 20th Annual Day of Caring. It is a day dedicated to volunteerism. The Tulsa Area United Way's 20th Annual Day of Caring is one of the largest events of its kind in the nation. During this day, more than 4,100 volunteers log more than 30,000 hours of work on 360 projects across the Tulsa area. Many Trase Miller employees will be there and this is our 15th year of participation.
Volunteers: We appreciate YOU. Brave protectors of our liberty: We appreciate YOU. Those innocent people that lost their lives to the jihadist fanatics: We appreciate YOU and the ultimate SACRIFICE that was made without choice.
So powerful was the recent earthquake that struck Japan that it actually shifted the Earth on its axis and shortened the length of a day by a small measure. This scientific fact got us to thinking about cause and effect on a seismic level in our business.
Our blog has a number of entries and threads that discuss onshore versus offshore contact centers and we saw a news item this week that gave us pause. The story in our opinion is in fact a seismic cause and effect case study.
Major Airlines Bring Call Centers Back to the U.S.
Apparently several of the big dogs over at a few airlines have come to understand that there really are not material cost savings in offshore contact center outsourcing and that their customers by and large abhor the offshore experience.
In 2009, The CFI Group released an excellent research paper in which they measure and discuss “How contact center customer satisfaction impacts the bottom line.” Consider these two items from the report and what the big dogs at the airlines took into consideration when they decided to bring the work back to the USA:
- Offshore agents provide first call (issue) resolution to just 42% of customers, compared to 68% domestically.
- Longer average handle time (AHT) is likely when using an offshore contact center. The disparity between AHT in onshore v offshore can be large which is attributed to what is known as “call comprehension”. CFI estimates that the problem of comprehension extends a call AHT by at least 39%.
Trase Miller’s clients are exceedingly pleased with our AHT. Our client’s customers benefit from quickly receiving our expertise and Trase Miller clients benefit from lower costs per call.
Kudos to Delta and US Airways for their contact center repatriation efforts! Could it be that these airlines and the big dogs that run them just shifted the Earth on its axis?
Today American’s go skipping into the three day weekend which acts as a trigger point to the start of summer for many. It’s the same this year as last but the world has changed in a year in many ways - -
- Ashton Kutcher and Ellen DeGeneres (combined) have more Twitter followers than the populations of Ireland, Norway, or Panama.
- In the last year YouTube global daily views went up 50% to a whopping 3 billion views per day. “That’s the equivalent of nearly half the world’s population watching a YouTube video each day, or every U.S. resident watching at least nine videos a day.” (According to YouTube)
We ran into a great blog entitled “The Internet Changes Everything — Except Four Things” which talks about how things have changed and how things have stayed the same in the Internet age. According to the author, in many ways the world stays the same - -
“…telecoms are capturing most of the wealth being generated from the Internet. For all the new world hype, the old world has a major role to play. And sometimes focusing on what is not changing help us figure out how to best master changes. We still need to find, delight, and excite customers. We need business models that pay people fairly for their work. Businesses must make a credible case to government that they act in the public interest. And the best asset for mastering change is still that old classic: leadership.
The point of delighting and exciting customers is exactly the reason we get out of bed each day so this article really resonates with us. We love the Internet and all the trappings of Twitter and You Tube but nothing will ever replace the basic human need of live/personal contact with other humans. We’re here to delight and excite 24/7/365.
When we look back at our blog musings of a year ago and those in between it really is clear that it’s been an extraordinary year of business here at Trase Miller. We are not contrived in trying to publish a provocative blog about a travel contact center but occasionally we are told that happens. The best part about blogging is that it forces us to take time to think and to consider the insights of others. A year ago we included a You Tube video of Simon Sinek explaining “people don’t buy what you do - they buy what you believe”.
Sinek’s theory is a great reminder for us of why we get out of bed every morning. One of our goals in bringing new clients onboard is to do business with people (and companies) that believe what we believe. And one of our core beliefs is that in the category of package vacation sales to Americans, there is really only one smart contact center option: Onshore USA. Our other core belief is that it matters to be passionate about our travel expertise.
Lately we have been on the phone quite a lot talking seriously to a big brand travel company about a new partnership. On a conference call this past week, we were challenged and asked to offer data and insights that support the reason to invest in premium onshore contact services versus offshore. We were a bit incredulous (and perhaps even abrupt) in our response which is that “we reject the whole idea of offshore – in our business it just isn’t good business thinking.”
Last year, Frank Silzer – Trase Miller’s General Manager released a research brief on this topic. If you missed it - click here for a copy: Why Best Travel Brand's Contact Centers Are USA Based
There are two salient points about the hidden costs associated with offshore contact centers and these points can actually be translated into MONEY.
- Offshore agents provide first call (issue) resolution to just 42% of customers, compared to 68% domestically. The variance between onshore and offshore FCR translates into additive costs. Service calls are generally shorter in length than sales calls but if customers are forced to call back on an issue, it is duplicative effort/cost.
- Longer average handle time (AHT) is likely when using an offshore contact center. The disparity between AHT in onshore v offshore can be large which is attributed to what is known as “call comprehension”. CFI estimates that the problem of comprehension extends a call AHT by at least 39%.
To our potential new client partner – We apologize if we seemed abrupt but we truly believe in what we do and why we do it 24/7/365!
An incredibly good thing happened this week in American history and various ripple effects touched virtually everyone in the world; including us here at Trase Miller. We really do try to avoid delving into politics in our blog but we have to weigh-in on the idea that world is in fact now a better place.
Our blog is written in the first person plural to reflect the views of our culture and to some extent the views of the leaders of our business. We have talked before about our geographic duality – Meaning that we have offices in the Chicago area and Tulsa. It’s an eleven hour drive or a two hour plane ride but either way our culture is solidly middle-American (even though Tulsa is Southwest). And we are solidly patriotic, which is a theme that often works its way into our blog and pictures at the top of our blog. American Flags, Boy Scouts, Mount Rushmore, Military, Independence Day, etc. Our pictures are tagged so often time’s people come to visit the Trase Miller website looking for images. They might be making a flyer for a bake sale or whatever but our pictures do invite tons of visits. One day this week, hundreds more people than usual came to our site because of the patriotic images we use. It was Trase Miller’s biggest site visit day ever. It’s a ripple effect that sounds trite but in a small way it illustrates the enthusiasm and patriotism of American’s. These days that’s a good thing.
In our blog, we have written about our family members serving our country and the pride and honor that their service represents. It all doesn’t have much to do with contact centers but it has all to do with who we are. American service men and women - We appreciate you!
In 1841, historian Alexander Young discovered a letter written by one of the Pilgrim/colonists (Edward Winslow). The 200 year old letter recounted the 1621 harvest feast describing it as “the first thanksgiving”. There was no mention of turkey and historians agree that the pilgrims and Native Americans most likely feasted on ducks which were abundant in New England. We mention the menu because Thanksgiving these days is mostly about the menu and feasting…
The truth is that the first thanksgiving was as much about TRAVEL as it was about feasting and giving thanks. The colonists traveled on the Mayflower for 65 days to reach America. Massasoit and his 90 men walked 2 days to join the party that was to become the first thanksgiving. Celebration travel to be sure.
In this blog, we’ve previously mentioned celebration vacations in and yet Thanksgiving is one of the most concentrated celebration travel weeks of the year. For most Americans, Thanksgiving evokes a boat load (Mayflower?) of memories. Because we hold nostalgically to our traditions of family and gathering we go to great lengths to see our kin. Officials at AAA predict around 42.2 million Americans will take a trip at least fifty miles away from their homes. The average travel distance will be about 816 miles. The average traveler will likely spend about $495.00.
Many of our team members have stories about Thanksgiving travel. Often times these stories involve an interaction with a customer that desperately needed help navigating trains, planes and automobiles in their attempts to reconnect with loved ones. We also have a few of our own stories. One team member fondly recalls celebrating Thanksgiving in Key West with his wife and young children. A rickety table on the beach , a delicious mini turkey and a golden sunset are described in crystal clear detail even though the Thanksgiving was many years ago. The experience was a stark contrast from the traditional “over the river and through the woods” kind of a Thanksgiving.
Americans are flying and driving all over the place this week. Some to get to their families – Some to get away from their families. Hopefully
everyone takes time to reflect and give thanks for our freedom and for the extraordinary opportunities we are afforded as Americans. Most companies are closed on Thanksgiving to give their employees the time to offer thanks in celebration. Trase Miller is open. This blog is dedicated to the hard working people that will keep our lights on and answer customer phone calls and e mails on Thanksgiving Day. Thanks for everything – We Appreciate YOU