And you say you want to outsource your customer service?

I found this post on BoingBoing. After reading it, it became so obvious I had a moment of "why didn't I think of that?" Indeed. And I don't make a 7-figure salary as CEO of some Fortune 100 company.

Customer service, if you believe the stock market numbers, certainly appears to be mission-critical. Yet, CSRs (Customer Service Representatives--the grunts who answer the inbound phones) are some of the lowest paid and least respected people in the organization. Perhaps they should be just a tad more important.

No one seems to value good customer service skills. Certainly not if all you are willing to pay is $10.00 per hour. It's particularly onerous to have to "translate" your need to someone for whom English is a second language. I am not knocking Indian workers, because I have good friends who are Indian, and they work just as hard as I do, but still there is that language barrier. I make this point because I am attuned to the accent. Not everyone who calls ... say Dell, for example ... will feel the same way (or understand the broken English, as well, either).

Let me be clear. This is not discrimination against overseas workers. It's a cultural matter, and all about the quality of the experience. People are funny about things, especially when they have a problem and are looking for a solution. It doesn't take much to turn a potential win into a dismal loss.