January 25 was Robbie Burns Day, honouring Scotland’s national poet and favourite son. He once wrote, "O wad some power the giftie gie us. To see oursels as ithers see us!" Which means, "O would some power give us the gift to see ourselves as others see us." That applies in spades to call centres. Many organizations just can’t get a fix on how the call centre appears to their customers. Executives rely too much on metrics or vague satisfaction surveys; the managers feel paralyzed by lack of funding; and the agents just try and cope.

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