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“You got to know when to hold ’em…” and what to fold into great customer service systems

With a tip of the hat to Kenny Rogers 1979 hit, of interest is this article a friend shared with me this week, When to Walk Away from a Deal in the Harvard Business Review (below is a brief summary of the article on BNET.com) by Geoffrey Cullinan, Jean-Marc Le Roux and Rolf-Magnus Weddigen…

“Is your company prone to “deal fever”–getting so excited while pursuing acquisitions that it skimps on due diligence? Caught up in the thrill of the chase, many firms use due diligence to justify the deal rather than to uncover potentially serious problems.”

The article asks the reader to consider…

  • What are we really buying?
  • What’s the target’s stand-alone value?
  • Where are the synergies?
  • What’s the most we’re willing to pay?

All good questions.  Consultant Bain also offers an article summary, and surveyed 250 senior managers “with M&A responsibilities.” They found that…

  • “half said their due diligence process had overlooked major problems,
  • half also found that targets had been dressed up to look better for deals,
  • two-thirds said their approach routinely overestimated the synergies available from acquisitions, and
  • a third acknowledged they hadn’t walked away from deals despite nagging doubts.”

“Top corporate buyers take a similar approach: “When I see an expensive deal, and they say it was a ‘strategic’ deal,” says Craig Tall, vice chair of corporate development at Washington Mutual, “it’s a code for me that somebody paid too much.”

This made me think: when it comes to mergers and the way each company approaches customer service, systems and staff, you have an opportunity to ask…

  • Culturally, how different are the approaches to customer support?
  • Compared with what the acquiring firm offers currently, are there incremental services that customers get from the target firm?
  • How do the costs compare between our in-house support as compared with the target company?
  • What additional value does the company’s support staff provide vs. outsourced support? What are the incremental benefits when you consider the areas of overlap, if any? 

In the February issue of CIO in 2006, Elana Varon writes in the article “Enterprise Value Awards – A Brief History of IT Value” how Hilton hotels found an opportunity to integrate different systems in operations and customer service (as noted here)…

“… [Hilton integrated] the chain’s property operations systems with its call center, reservations and customer loyalty systems. Hilton’s OnQ suite of applications gives hotel employees access to a complete guest profile at check-in, allowing them to tailor welcome messages and anticipate customers’ needs. Hilton’s internal metrics credit the system with increases in customer loyalty.”

Hilton also offers an online training system through hilton-university.com in multiple languages to its employees for training on OnQ. 

At Microsoft, product lines and business units benefit by the centrally managed education systems we offer through Engineering Excellence on subjects that are of importance to employees, such as the Security Development Lifecycle (aka SDL)… and not to be confused with the Microsoft spoof training videos (in two parts here and here).  Businesses and employees new to Microsoft get the benefit of this packaged training and guidance.

A lot of companies overlook customer support and services when considering how different companies approach dealing with customer calls and queries.  I’ll put these question to a couple of recently integrated business units and see what they have to say.

Tags: Microsoft, Customer Service, Customer Support, acquisition.

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$2 per month and other reasons why I’m leaving Blockbuster for Netflix

Thinking about a great last-minute gift that doesn’t require going to the mall or waiting for the FedEx driver to find your house?  Give a subscription to a DVD-by-mail service.


Better, give a Netflix subscription.  This from a for-the -moment Blockbuster Online subscriber.


Here’s the full story.


I like the ability to go online to the Blockbuster site and pick out movies for family viewing.  When we first signed up, we considered the monthly fee on par with about what we spend on visits to the retail store, on top of the video game rentals and miscellaneous purchases we make. And we chose Blockbuster as we already have a local store that the kids enjoy carousing through as they make their selections for a weekend evening movie night.


But the proverbial straw has landed on my back, and I’m about to contribute to what the industry calls “subscription churn.”


Translation: I am leaving Blockbuster “Total Access” online, DVD-by-mail service for Netflix.


In case you missed the news, Blockbuster is raising prices for their online service, which will mean an increase in the monthly cost for many (MSNBC estimates that increases of up to 40 percent will impact current customers and all new customers).  And the way the message was delivered to me was quite extraordinary:



“We know that during this busy time of year the convenience of BLOCKBUSTER Total Access is especially important to you. Have your movies delivered right to your door. If you want new movies right away, exchange in-store. And with free shipping both ways and no late fees, it’s easy to enjoy all the movies you want for as long as you want.


“To continue to bring you the unmatched convenience of both online and in-store DVD rentals, your monthly subscription fee will change slightly from $9.99 to $11.99.”


Uh, hello?  Care to explain what I am getting for the 20 percent jump?  No lament about the rise in processing and labour costs, postage increases or price of recycled paper in China?  The only thing I see in the mail is that it’s the same service, it just costs more.


It will be funny to see what impact a two-dollar-a-month increase will have on customers.


If my cable bill rose by 20 percent in one month, I might be prompted to move to an alternative.  If my mobile phone service rose by 20 percent, I might consider changing carriers.  


I’m surprised by this move after learning that Blockbuster lost in the neighbourhood of 500,000 online customers last calendar quarter. I enjoyed the privilege of being able to return movies back to my local store for a free exchange, but the additional cost outweighs the benefit when I think of the few times we actually used the service.

Also, no note in the email to me from Blockbuster of the options I have as a Blockbuster customer to downgrade my subscription to subscription-by-mail only. On the blockbuster site, I found references to the current $8.99 per month fee for mail-only, and read in the above article that the “basic plan that lets subscribers keep one DVD but doesn’t entitle them to free in-store exchanges will drop from $4.99 to $3.99 per month.” (After posting this entry, I found on the Blockbuster customer service page has more info on the price restructuring in order to learn more about the price increase.)

One of those may be better for us.  But I get a sense that this is a beginning of a slippery slope, and that the momentum and popularity of Netflix is added justification to make the move.

Not to mention that Netflix offers DVD by mail in addition to live customer service and movies over the Internet.  And with the hiring of my previous boss, Anthony Wood of ReplayTV fame, I expect more great things as Netflix looks for more innovative ways to deliver movies via the Internet, with rumours recently that the company is considering a $50 set-top box.



“Netflix has all but said that it will introduce some type of set-top box to get video to the TV. The company hired Replay TV founder Anthony Wood as its VP of Internet TV in April and in May, CFO Barry McCarthy said the company has been working on a solution for the last two years but wouldn’t discuss it’s “box strategy” until later this year or next.”


(Hmmm… CES is just around the corner… perfect timing for a Vudu-Netflix acquisition announcement.)

As much as I would rather see Xbox Live be the set-top box in our living room that provides over-the-Internet movies, I think that this will continue to be first and foremost a gaming platform, leaving a breadth of broadband movies to Vudu and companies like Tivo, DirecTV and Echostar. 

Nearly two years ago I predicted that as consumer broadband installations increase, subscription music packages (Rhapsody, Zune) would increase at a faster rate than online music sales (iTunes).  In that vein, I would like to see a monthly subscription video programme from Xbox Live, perhaps in combination with a company such as Netflix.  Full disclosure: Reed Hastings is on Microsoft’s board, and ‘though I have no insider knowledge of any such deal, it would be super to have a Netflix page on Xbox Live. 😉

It appears that the article in the Times was right: Netflix customer service is a strategic weapon against your DVD-mailing service… 


“Netflix’s decision to eliminate the e-mail feature was made after a great deal of research, Mr. Osier said. He looked at two other companies with reputations for superb phone-based customer service, Southwest Airlines and American Express, and saw that customers preferred human interaction over e-mail messages. “My assessment was that a world-class e-mail program was still going to be consistently lower in quality and effectiveness than a phone program,” he said.”


… And now, so is the price.

(A side bar: Netflix chose Oregon as the location for the customer service call centre as one exec “found Oregonians to be polite.”)

In defense, I should say that I have found the representatives at my local Blockbuster to be super helpful, once calling and holding for us a new, popular movie once it was returned by another customer.  But unlike Netflix, you can’t talk to a Blockbuster customer service agent, just send them an email through the Blockbuster online customer service web page.)

I agree with Thomas Hawk who wrote on his blog…


“Blockbuster has been in liquidation mode…

“For every store that goes out of business, it creates a big opportunity for Netflix to expand into their market. Blockbuster might be able to move some of these customers online, but the loss of the higher transaction revenue will certainly be felt as Antioco & Co. continue to dismantle the company piece by piece.”


Another sign of this: Shane Evangelist left Blockbuster Online for U.S. Auto Parts Network as Chief Executive Officer (as reported in this PR). Mr. Evangelist previously served as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Blockbuster Online until this past October.  The role for managing the online business now falls to CIO Keith Morrow (as noted here), so he understands why a previously enthusiastic customer (one who also rented and purchased product in your retail stores) is leaving Blockbuster for Netflix.

BTW, interesting to note that Mr. Morrow is on Facebook (as am I).  Care to poke him with your opinion of the price increase? 😉


Tags: Microsoft, Customer Service, Customer Support.


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Article: Holiday customer service from the service workers point of view

This weekend finds an article by Nicole Tsong in the Seattle Times, Help them help you: Service workers offer some “counter intelligence.” It offers views of outrageous customer behavior during holiday shopping from the viewpoint of the people “who work the cash register.”



“Grocery-store cashier Jennifer Dougherty once watched, horrified, as a customer grew angry at a man in her express lane with twice as many items as allowed. It was Christmas Eve.

“Before you know it, [he] had opened up his milk and dumped it on the head of the guy in my line,” she said. “It ruined many people’s Christmas spirit, including my own.”


Ouch.  Tough crowd.  Overall, another reason for shopping via the Internet.


According to the article, here are the Top 10 ways you can help out your service worker:


1. Get off your cellphone.

2. Be polite.

3. Don’t fuss with displays more than necessary.

4. Don’t blame them for prices.

5. Don’t use the bathroom while calling customer service.

6. Put the money or credit card in their hand.

7. Respect other shoppers.

8. If you’re taking care of something while you’re on hold during phone support, make it quick.

9. Tip.

10. Get off your cellphone.


You can also contribute your own “Dear customer messages.”


Tags: Microsoft, Customer Service, Customer Support.

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Bringo, GetHuman offer ways to avoid phone tree hell

“Thank you for reading our blog today. Your visit is VERY important to us. Please select from the following options. Please make sure you read through to the entire menu because our options have recently changed.”


OK, not really.  All options are still available in the left-hand nav. And happy December – we have snow on the ground today.

I read about an interesting new company featured in the Seattle Times today (courtesy of Craig Crossman, McClatchy-Tribune News Service): Bringo, serving customers calling a company with automated phone trees:


“(In the automated phone tree) you finally hear the option you want and press it. You are then presented with a sub-menu of choices. “Please select one of the following seven items.” You listen and then make another selection. You then hear “Please select from the following six options,” and so it continues.


“It is somewhere around the third sub-menu that your mounting frustration makes you either give up or start pressing random phone keys in hopes that you might be connected to a live person who can actually help you.

When you finally navigate all the appropriate menu options, you discover that you now have to wait 17 minutes. When you do finally speak to a live person, you have to swallow your tongue, least you make a comment you may regret later. There must be a better way to quickly get to a live person on the phone, and now thanks to Bringo, there is.”


Bringo was featured with Gethuman.com in the Wall Street Journal earlier this year, “two Web sites designed to help callers connect to an employee and bypass automated systems.”

And I like Bringo. 

Start by visiting the Bringo Web site and search through the list of companies on their web site that you’re interested in speaking to a live person. Noted as a Chicago health-care technology, Bringo provides nearly a thousand listings.  You type in your phone number and hit a button that says “fetch.” The site rings your phone within seconds to verify that the request is legitimate.

According to Bringo’s site, here’s how it works:


  1. Find the company you’d like to call by category (credit cards, mortgages, loans, health care)
  2. Enter your phone # (we will never disclose your phone number to anyone, not even your mother!).
  3. Wait a few seconds while we navigate the phone tree.
  4. When we call you back, pick up your phone and you’re done. No more phone trees.

Ready to get started?


  • Click here to list all categories of companies
  • Click here for an alphabetical list of all companies

But where are the tech companies and broadband service providers in the list of popular services?  It makes sense that these companies don’t make the top ten list of companies called (but all companies I tried to reach in the last couple of weeks.) 

Interestingly enough, I found that of the company categories listed, I recently called only one type: Credit Cards.  For most of the others, most of my inquiries are over the web or email, even live chat.

Oddly, AT&T Wireless isn’t listed (it’s reached via the listing for Cingular), and Comcast isn’t listed in the ISP list.  And on the computer hardware page, Dell numbers occupy more than a third of the listings.  But that stuff is easily fixed.

Back to what works. 

Bringo’s site navigates the company’s phone tree for you, and then calls you back when it finally finds a live person (or in the queue).

So, let’s take a look at Bringo’s main entry for Microsoft:


Microsoft: Avoid the phone tree and talk directly to a human at Microsoft. Microsoft is leading software company. Its main products are: Windows XP, MS Office, Internet Explorer. Company owns also MSN.com website and manufacturers XBOX 360 game console.

This company’s operators may answer very quickly after we navigate the phone tree. This may cause them to hang up before you are connected. In the event that this happens, you may try Bringo again, or dial them directly and press “0” at each prompt when connection is established.


Sweet. 😉

So, before using the service, try dialing the number that Bringo has listed on their site and see if you get a live person quickly. 

BTW, for Microsoft Tech Support, call (in the US) 1-800‑642‑7676, and press 0 at each prompt, ignoring messages.  (Thanks, GetHuman.)

As with gethuman.com, take a look at the telephone number listings on the sites and paths for getting a hold of a live person.  But when you are faced with the dreaded automated warning, “your call will be handled in twenty minutes,” head over to Bringo and see if that works for you.


Tags: Microsoft, Customer Service, Customer Support.

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Slate: how to get a refund on Amazon and other helpful customer service info

Back from a long weekend of Thanksgiving merry making and Black Friday weekend shopping…


Leave it to a new article on Slate.com to help me get a refund when I see the price drop on that new widget or whachamacallit that I just purchased on Amazon…



Timothy Noah, tired of companies hiding from their customers—by creating Web sites that offered no contact information for consumers in distress, for example—took on a mission: “to compel Web-based retailers to take phone calls from the public.” With the holiday shopping season upon us, and with consumers in need of these numbers more than ever, Slate presents his findings once again.

In 2003, after diligently probing Amazon.com’s SEC filings to locate its corporate address, Noah tracked down the Web site’s elusive customer service number. That January, still in the sleuthing spirit, he revealed Amazon’s 30-day price guarantee, just in time for post-holiday markdowns: If you buy an item from Amazon and its price drops within a month, the company will refund you the difference. Last year, Noah triumphantly unearthed the even-more-elusive iTunes customer support number, and he details the six simple steps needed to get an actual human being on the phone.


Also of interest, see Seattle Times: Via phone, MS is “worse” than 2005, but better than many, which includes a link from the Seattle Times to a compiled list of shortcuts for thwarting the phone systems at 60 local and national companies and government agencies. The complete table of companies surveyed by the Seattle Times (many here in the pacific NW are listed) can be found in this list (PDF).


Tags: Microsoft, Customer Service, Customer Support.