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Niek Bosch

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Teammanager at Energie Direct, Owner of NBC3 Consultancy

58 points

The biggest strength I bring to every organisation I am privileged to work with or for, is my broad skillset. Having managed front and back office teams and departments in customer service, sales and finance for various international organisations, gives ...

The biggest strength I bring to every organisation I am privileged to work with or for, is my broad skillset. Having managed front and back office teams and departments in customer service, sales and finance for various international organisations, gives me the advantage that I can relate easy to different positions within an organisation and negotiate working solutions with all stakeholders.

Recently I have founded NBC3 (Niek Bosch Contact Centre Consultancy), a business management consultancy, with a strong focus on contact centers and contact strategies.

If you have any quick questions or are looking for someone to support your organisation, feel free to mail me at nbc3info@home.nl

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WEB: Energie Direct

Jan. 15, 2011

Niek Bosch answered this question

What does today's more 'social' customer mean for companies trying to service them?

My definition of Social CRM - Social CRM is every CRM technology where the provided service to the customer can be shared with other possible customers of an organisation's products or services. The factor "Social" is defined by the "probability that an experience is shared ... more

Customer Service

Jan. 15, 2011

Niek Bosch and 3 other people answered this question

What are some tips for getting your contact center ready for a technology change?

Hi Scott,
A couple of years ago, I was one of the responsible project managers for the implementation of SAP R3 in a customer service environment. These are my tips that might help you:
1. Double check and triple check that the new technology covers ALL processes ... more

Customer Service

Contact Center Solutions

Contact Center Techonology

Jan. 3, 2011

Niek Bosch and 5 other people answered this question

How do you turn a negative customer experience into a positive one?

There are many models to successfully turn negative customer experiences into positive ones. This is what they all have in common:
1) Listen... really Listen... to the customer's complaint.
2) Take the complaint serious even if it is small in your eyes.
3) Resolve the complaint and if ... more

Customer Service

Dec. 18, 2010

Niek Bosch and 5 other people answered this question

What can be done to reduce stress levels in my call center?

I agree with Mr. Zweibel, that listening to your agents is the best way to decrease stress levels in your contact center. Like every human being they need the feeling that they are being taken serious and that they matter to the organization.
The other thing ... more

Customer Service

Human Resources

Angry Customers

Dec. 17, 2010

Niek Bosch answered this question

What are your tips for creating scorecards so that they are as objective as possible?

Hi Kristen,
Contact center scorecards, have quite a lot of very objective targets on them:
Handling Times, Wrap Up Times, Occupancy %, Compliance %, etc.etc.
The two subjective items on the scorecard are customer satisfaction (which an organization should not try to tweak) and quality.
Reading your last sentence, ... more

Customer Service

Call Center Representatives

Call Center Tools

Dec. 17, 2010

Niek Bosch answered this question

I cant figure out how to view a saved presentation?

It depends on the type of presentation you are trying to view (powerpoint or other program). When you look at the file, it will have an extension behind the file name (for instance .ppt for powerpoint presentations).
If you don't have the program that is ... more

Customer Service

Dec. 15, 2010

Niek Bosch and 5 other people answered this question

What is worse: waiting or poor service?

A very recent survey by one of the biggest consumer's agencies in the Netherlands made it very clear, I think. Out of the unsatisfied customers (a whooping 59% of all customers) the results were:
13% complained about the long waiting times
44% (!!!) complained that they were ... more

Customer Service

Contact Centers

Dec. 14, 2010

Niek Bosch answered this question

What's the call quality like when using wireless headsets?

Hi Mark,
I managed a 100 seat contact center and had my full staff on wireless headsets. Our Aspect set up was great and we had no issues what-so-ever with voice quality or disturbance.
This being a tech-support contact center, the wireless set up was great for ... more

Customer Service

Information Technology

Call Center Features

Dec. 12, 2010

Niek Bosch and 2 other people answered this question

What have you done to reduce escalations?

Tips:
1. Make First Call Resolution the main driver for agent's bonuses instead of Average Handling Time. This will force them to work "harder and smarter" for the customer.
2. Empower Agents to make actual decisions without consulting their supervisor/team leader for every minor issue. It increases ... more

Customer Service

Call Center Agents

Contact Centers

Dec. 12, 2010

Niek Bosch and 2 other people answered this question

Contact Center Trends: What are the top trends to watch for in 2011?

1. Increased focus on the quality aspects of the customer contacts instead of on the quantitative aspects;
2. Voice contacts re-shoring from Asia back to the United States;
3. Pushed service initiative through I-Pad's and other mobile technologies. more

Customer Service

Call Center Tools

Dec. 12, 2010

Niek Bosch and 6 other people answered this question

Should I be calling my own contact center?

In any business I have worked I advice management to follow their complete product/service flow from beginning to end on a regular basis. This gives them inside in what the customer experiences when they are doing business with them and makes it easier to recognize ... more

Customer Service

Information Technology

Contact Center Security

Nov. 30, 2010

Niek Bosch and 4 other people answered this question

What is your best tip for improving customer service through a call center?

Regretfully there is not one big quick fix that works for all customer satisfaction issues.
Customers expect a lot nowadays but will generally mark you heaviest on speed and quality.
Manage your service levels, keep your IVR short and to the point and make sure ... more

Customer Service

Contact Center Solutions

Contact Centers

Nov. 30, 2010

Niek Bosch and 1 other person answered this question

Do you measure First Contact Resolution (FCR) in your contact center?

Hi Joey,
There are several ways that FCR is measured but the most common are:
1) Based on contact registration
In the CRM tool the contact is assigned to a customer. By extracting the amount of contacts per customer in a certain amount of time (1 day, 1 ... more

Customer Service

Information Technology

Call Center Metrics

Nov. 22, 2010

Niek Bosch and 2 other people answered this question

What factors influence customer retention?

Customer's loyalty and satisfaction are based upon multiple factors. From the price and the quality of your product to the friendliness of the staff upon a certain moment. These "touch points" or "contact points" between your organization and the customer are the defining moments on ... more

Customer Service

Customer Experience

Customer Loyalty

Customer Satisfaction

Nov. 21, 2010

Niek Bosch and 4 other people answered this question

The client doesn't want to pay through Paypal only wire transfer from Europe, what are my options?

In Europe, Paypal is not always seen as a "professional" method of paying. A lot of businesses prefer bank transfers, either electronically or by registering paper orders at their local bank.
In your case, you have several options, but they largely depend on where your customer ... more

Customer Service

Payment Service Provider

Nov. 21, 2010

Niek Bosch and 2 other people answered this question

Do organizations find any importance in measuring their customer loyalty ?

SME's don't measure customer satisfaction as much as they should be doing. There are several reasons for it:
- Due to their size they assume they are closer to the customers than a large organization could be and that they therefore will "know" when their customers ... more

Customer Service

Customer Loyalty

Customer Relationships

Nov. 17, 2010

Niek Bosch recommends this answer by Michelle Babb

IVRs - love them or hate them?

As a IVR user and designer, I love well designed IVRs and detest poorly designed ones.
A well designed IVR is customer friendly, complements your brand with a well designed persona, is easy for callers to quickly get what they need then get out, but ... more

Customer Service

Information Technology

Contact Center Productivity

Nov. 17, 2010

Niek Bosch and 3 other people answered this question

Is call center location a factor when choosing an outsourced call center?

Hi Troy,
During the boom years (2000-2008) it wasn't an issue where you would outsource your call center to. A lot of multinationals choose for Asia, due to the lower costs and the high level of education of the staff.
Rationally this was (and is) ... more

Customer Service

Information Technology

Contact Center Solutions

Nov. 16, 2010

Niek Bosch answered this question

I wish to do CRM consulting for small businesses. What type of a fee should I charge?

Hi Elaine... Congratulations on your decision to go into CRM consulting and good luck with your business.
I have done the same thing as you did only a month ago, when I started NBC3, and ran into the same issue.
Based on your service offers, ... more

Customer Service

Nov. 16, 2010

Niek Bosch answered this question

Are there hidden costs I should be concerned about when buying a new CRM?

The hidden costs depend on what you expect your CRM software to do for you.
When I was one of the project leaders on a SAP CRM implementation, the big extra costs came from the server and network upgrades that had to be performed, the ... more

Customer Service

Cost Management

Nov. 12, 2010

Niek Bosch and 5 other people answered this question

What's trending right now in customer service?

2011 is going to be a very interesting year for contact centers I think.
Like Roger allready mentioned, I think we will see the first (crude) apps for Apple I-Pad's and clones. These will be chat based, as the costs for this form of customer ... more

Customer Service

Contact Centers

Nov. 12, 2010

Niek Bosch and 13 other people answered this question

What are customers looking for in service today?

"So many customers, so many expectations."
Customers have grown more and more powerfull over the years, having discovered the power of social media to share negative experiences. However, what they expect of contact organisations is not rocket science:
1. Ease of contact
The customer wants ... more

Customer Service

Customer Experience

Customer Satisfaction

Customer Service Best Practices

Nov. 12, 2010

Niek Bosch and 15 other people answered this question

How should we approach customer service in the current economy?

In the current economy, organisations that don't get their contact strategy in order, are at serious risk. Customers are less loyal to brands and will leave earlier to a competitor if they feel they get better value.
At the same time, due to the tight ... more

Customer Service

Consumer Behavior

Customer Loyalty

Customer Service Best Practices

Nov. 12, 2010

Niek Bosch and 6 other people answered this question

What are the top internal metrics that you use to measure your contact center?

What metrics matter most for a contact centre is decided by the role of the centre. In a sales focussed organisation, lead to sale conversion would be the absolute top priority, while at a service organisation, one would look at First Contact Resolution.
Different channels, ... more

Customer Service

Information Technology

Contact Center Technologies

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Contact Center Technologies

Customer Service

Information Technology

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Followed by 5 People

Knowledgeable in 15 Topics

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