First day thoughts
I think everyone will agree that its been a long but informative and productive day at the symposium. The learnings shared from the benchmark study gave me some good insights into where I match up with other companies in the food and beverage industry. I already have a long list of things to take back to my team!
I won’t go into the details of what I learned from the community meetings today, mostly because my brain is so full of stuff that I can’t get it all into a clear, usable format! I will say that the discussions we started at our breakouts today have spilled over into the evening, and I’m sure we’ll continue to discuss them in the days and weeks to follow.
I hope that some of the ideas we began to generate today gain some traction and we are able to follow through with them. I know I’m particularly interested in the social media aspect of consumer affairs. Bob Evans has recently started discussions with our customers on Facebook, Twitter and through the use of company blogs and we feel like we’re starting to have the two way conversations that our customers are looking for. I’d love to be involved in initiatives to help move social media forward not only for my company but for others who are interested.
I’m looking forward to the sessions tomorrow, but I’m going to call it a night so my brain can rest and be refreshed for the morning!
Sarah Meenach – Bob Evans
Day 1 – SOCAP Symposium
Enjoyed kicking off the day with Seth Kahan – he had good energy and I am hoping to read his book “Building Beehives”.
Interesting to hear Seth’s recap of the influence that blogs/social media had on Obama’s campaign.
Seth’s discussion has given me the idea to build a community of internal partners when I move our consumer care software to a web-based version, as means to network internal partners.
COPC findings – survey results were interesting; now that we’ve built list of what we want to work on in F&B industry community meeting, we need to dedicate time to come up with best practices around the topics. Need to collectively determine best way to calculate cost per contact and critical / top questions for consumer satisfaction surveys.
Eileen Troise – Dannon
The SOCAP Night Life: The Secret CHA-CHING!
So much has been said about the first day’s outstanding value that it’s worth noting the easily over-looked value of the SOCAP Night Life!
Have dinner with peers and mix business with pleasure! We all have a favorite topic that’s just begging for insider insights, and a SOCAP dinner is one of the best places to get them. Whether it was covered today or not, what does everybody at your table REALLY think…? For frank, honest straight talk, there’s no better opportunity.
And when you have a few moments in your room, book a 15-minute meeting with one of the most important people at the conference: you! And that’s not just an ego rant. You’re the only person who can translate all the day’s insights into an action plan that will add value at your company. So you need to talk to you!
Take 15 minutes to bullet key opportunities for your company, and outline key steps. Then book some meetings on your calendar to turn those steps into action! I’ve done this for years, and it’s given me a list of SOCAP coups as long as your arm. Some are big, while others (perhaps more) are powerful tactical improvements that kick powerful strategies up a notch. (Don’t miss the low-hanging fruit and quick wins!)
John Cronce – Jockey
Key Issues: Pharmaceutical & Medical Devices
Filed under: Pharmaceutical & Medical Devices, Symposium (2009)
Here are some of the key issues discussed in the Retail & Consumer Goods industry session:
Pharmaceutical & Medical Devices
- Customer Satisfaction – majority of companies focus on phone only
- Quality Monitoring – variations across centers and sites; majority measure monthly
- Uniqueness of pharmaceutical/medical devices industry – training cycles, attrition, deviation processes, definition of successful call, not ROI based, complaint management process
- Handling regulations and continuing to deliver quality
Key Issues: Retail & Consumer Goods
Filed under: Retail & Consumer Goods, Symposium (2009)
Here are some of the key issues discussed in the Retail & Consumer Goods industry session:
- Measuring customer satisfaction – 50% collect daily and others monthly
- Quality monitoring
- Tracing issue resolution performance to target timeframe
- Average cost per call $763
- Correlation between end-user satisfaction and handle time
- First call resolution – 70% do not track
Key Issues: Food & Beverage
Filed under: Food & Beverage, Social Media, Symposium (2009)
Here are some of the key issues discussed in the Food & Beverage industry session:
Food & Beverage
- Priority Setting
- Quality Monitoring
- Governance (FDA, FTC)
- Recall Management
- Emerging Trends
- Adding Value w/More or Less
- Correlation between quality and First Contact Resolution (FCR)
- FCR as part of cost-per-contact
- Measuring ROI – coupons
- Transition from Phone to Social Media
- Customer Satisfaction – measuring it and doing it right; connection to quality monitoring
- Metrics for New Consumer Channels
- Chat – how to reach different audiences and what it means
- Lifetime Value of Consumer
Key Issues: Household & Personal Care
Filed under: Household & Personal Care, Social Media, Symposium (2009)
Here are some of the key issues discussed in the Household & Personal Care industry session:
- Quality Monitoring – a “yes” doesn’t always mean a structured program
- Use and management of social media
- Operational Metrics for efficiency -
- Doing more with less
- Use of technology to drive efficiency
- Managing consumers’ perceptions during crisis situations
- Measuring occupancy vs. utilization – companies use different terms
- Ways for consumer affairs to gain respect of customers that result in buy-in for programs/service targets and budgets
Key Issues: Travel & Hospitality
Here are some of the key issues discussed in the Travel & Hospitality industry session:
Travel & Hospitality
• Doing More with Less
• Maintaining quality and turnaround time with less staff
• Managing customer expectations with media and government pressures
• Customer Satisfaction – impact of scoring and tying to revenue
• Agent retention practices
• Evolving process management
• Complaint Management – providing a speedy resolution
Conversations Turn into Content
During the 2008 Annual Conference, Iasha Rivers of Macy’s spoke to new members and first timers about her experience in SOCAP:
Iasha is blogging from the 2009 SOCAP Symposium.
Retail – and Social Media & Networking
Filed under: Retail & Consumer Goods, Social Media, Symposium (2009)
Just wrapped our vertical session. A major request and/or interest area was…get ready for this…
SOCIAL MEDIA/NETWORKING!
Our group not only wants to learn how to use it, but wants to be on the cutting edge of maximizing the opportunities available with its use.
I am now sitting in on the Monday evening general session with Lisa Mann,VP for Consumer Experiences for Kraft Food. And guess what she is talking about? – Leveraging social media in consumer experiences.
Consumers are experiencing a level of control like none other and we need to keep up with their expectations on how we respond to their inquiries, comments and complaints.
Fascinating stuff!
Iasha Rivers – Macy’s