Reviewed by Paul Stockford
Klenke, Maggie. Business School Essentials for Call Center Leaders. 1st ed: The Call Center School Press, 2004.
In the not-too-distant past, the successful call center manager had to be competent in motivating employees, meeting performance objectives, and maintaining customer satisfaction. Operational management was the focus of the call center manager’s career.
In today’s post-dotcom economy and rapidly evolving contact center environment, the role of the customer care professional is changing. Today’s successful call center manager must be competent in traditional call center operations as well as traditional business disciplines such as human resources, business process management, financial management, strategic planning, risk assessment, and performance management.
In her book, Business School Essentials for Call Center Leaders, author Maggie Klenke plots a course designed to help aspiring managers and seasoned call center veterans alike to navigate and understand the essential business elements required of successful call center leaders today. Klenke presents essential business knowledge in a way that will be easy for today’s customer care professional to understand and appreciate.
The book is written in layman’s terms and peppered with anecdotal illustrations that can only come from years of experience in the industry. From front-line agents with career aspirations to seasoned call center executives, Business School Essentials for Call Center Leaders should be required reading for anyone with designs on a successful contact center career.
Paul Stockford is the founder of Saddletree Research, which provides industry information to vendors involved in contact center and communications markets. He can be reached at 480-922-5949, info@Saddletreeresearch.com.
[To order this and other call center related books, go to www.thecallcenterschool.com or call 615-812-8400.]
[From Connection Magazine – November 2004]