Transformation & Other Stuff

Change comes from the outside in, forcing us to react and manage crises. Transformation, on the other hand, whether it is business or personal, always comes from the inside out, and that gives us far more control while allowing us to actively shape the future. If you’re looking at customer feedback, customer satisfaction surveys, customer…

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Centralizing Branch Functions

One of the most valuable projects I’ve ever worked on was the Branch Auto Attendant application. Citi was always trying to find ways to maximize the profitability of our brick-and-mortar branches. Along this line, the back-office strove to assume responsibility (especially in CitiPhone) for as many functions as possible, thereby reducing the need to refer…

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Ranking vs. Rating Employees

Seems I’ve always been at odds with my friends in Human Resources…for one reason or the other. (“Psssst…pssst…”) It’s recently come to my attention that I’ve been, er, not always seeing eye-to-eye with a LOT of different people, especially those in authority. I believe it began at Regina Pacis, the elementary school I attended (for…

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Adding Value…No Matter What!

In much the same manner in which I always drummed into my people’s head that their responsibility as a service representative is NOT to just answer customer questions.. and NOT to blindly & obediently fulfill their requests…and NOT to merely “follow orders”, but rather, TO add value…TO probe for the true, underlying need…TO resolve their…

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Customer Centric Part 2

Every organization in the world claims to be “customer centric”. “We love our customers!”, “We’re here to serve you!” & just about every other tag line you’ve ever heard. But it’s also important (mandatory?) that the manner in which the company measures its own performance is “customer centric” as well. 🤔 Years ago, back in NY…

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Control Desk & First Impressions

After bringing down the Tax Shelter Center (Retirement Plan Services) from NY to the USCC in Oct 1993 & spending 15 months running Operations, I was asked by USCC President, John McEachern, to assume responsibility for the Control Desk. Seems it was the out-of-Control Desk. CitiPhone was continuously falling below standard on several SPIs/Service Performance…

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