GraceTime

GraceTimeHi Rick!

I believe the skewing effect or how reports and research are slanted can be labeled several ways..
Most intelligent people really do understand this.. and generally ignore the results both in business and politics. So why do we continue and who are we really trying to sell??

Example.. During the last or any national election, the poles.. depending on who was conducting or designing the poles research.. could control the result even before the poll was taken.. just by targeting a special section, location or demography..

Its just as you say..

The real test, however, of the "spin" or should we really call it "marketing" of ideas.. is in the actual results.. be it sales, votes or whatever..

I learned a long time ago while attending numerous trade shows and special events.. If you want to see or experience what the "herd" ( or the people ) really desire and what sells.. just observe their actions that day and see where the "real watering hole" is..

We all are attracted to similar things.. consistently.
If you see one major attraction or event occurring in the controlled space (like a trade show).. take note and learn..

Usually it will be based around something you desire..
on a personal basis..
OR something that yields a rewarding experience (this comes in many flavors)...
And it is either easily assessable or free..

As far as the reports you refer to.. It is true.. I know large companies that actually don't get a big % of emails answered other than auto response.. but you have to consider the shear daily volume... some just are overwhelmed..

IVRs and the like are convenient if I really know what I am doing.. but for the non technical..
Yes, there is a large population that are not the silicon valley early adopters..

So it is very smart for the IVRs or auto answer machines to have a quick, efficient way for the non techies to get to a "Real Person" Who really knows the
answers for that business!

Customer Service is all about something that yields a rewarding experience (this comes in many flavors)...
And it is either easily assessable or free..

Thanks for your comments..

Regards,
Dan Stark
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--- Rick Rappe wrote:

> Over the last week I've had three instances of
> seeing conflicting data from seemingly reliable
> sources. One was a report that 92% of company
> interactions come via the phone while another said
> 45% phone and 45% Internet (FAQs, web-chat or
> e-mail). One report said that callers to wireless
> phone companies prefer speaking to live agents
> versus self service technology while VocaLabs
> research repeatedly shows callers prefer good self
> service over dealing with agents. The third
> instance was one source reporting that 15% of
> companies do not respond to customer e-mails and
> another said the figure is as high as 70%. What's
> going on here?
>
> Some of the above was due to apples to oranges
> comparisons flavored by individuals trying to sell
> paticular technologies. But the fact is that good
> research and survey methodology requires
> considerably more thought and expertise than many
> realize. How and what you ask, who you ask and even
> who does the asking can make a substantial
> difference. Biased questions asked of a biased
> sample are issues that must be understood and
> controlled. As Peter is fond of mentioning, if you
> ask "Do you like milk?" the answers are different if
> the previous question was "Do you like cookies?"
>
> A call center manager might be proud of her 75%
> customer satisfaction rating making it hard to
> swallow that the average in all contact centers
> approaches 84%, or that "satisfied" in the mind of
> the consumer is often a neutral rating. Yet if we
> truly want to improve the service we provide our
> customers, we have to get past our own bias to
> review information objectively, and not simply
> accept what we'd like to think is correct just
> because it is comfortable.
>
> Rick
>
> Rick Rappe
> VP of Business Development
> Vocal Laboratories Inc.
>
>
>