Why do so few senior contact centre managers become chief executives? Is it that most are content to remain at middle management level, or do they lack the nous to make the leap.
Julian Smith was the contact centre manager for Coca Cola and Restaurant Brands before becoming the CEO of DataSquirt in 2003 – a position he left last year. Currently he is working under contract for Vector on the executive team.
“Fifty percent (of contact centre managers) want to migrate and move on, but I’d say 95 per cent don’t know how to,” he says.
And the barrier to the corner office? According to Smith, CC managers need to start thinking strategically – work out how much the contact centre makes for the company and then make sure the board knows it.
“You have to have financial nous, to know how many dollars you bring in. The vast majority of contact centre managers will say ‘we provide customer care’ but the CFO has no way of quantifying their contribution.”
His advice to aspiring CEOs in the contact centre profession is clear – upskill your financial skill set, because when you’re competing with the sales, marketing, financial and line managers for the top job, you can bet your bottom dollar that those guys will know the bottom line.