Last week, our family took its annual trip to Ohio to visit relatives and attend a series of major and minor league baseball games. My son and I refer to that as a vacation – my wife, well, she is very understanding after 18 years of marriage.

Instead of traipsing through my time off in the usual manner, I decided to put the Ultimate Question into action. Recognizing that we would inevitably be exposed to numerous products, services, and companies while traveling, it seemed a perfect time to ask myself, "Would I recommend this product or service to a friend, family member, or colleague"?

As you know, vacations consist of daily exposure to numerous products and services – food, lodging, entertainment, among others. So as we made our way across the Midwest, I was mindful not to leave my contact center background too far behind. Why? Because any effective interaction, even in a commercial setting, has characteristics that are necessary in the contact center. Minimally, the following need to repeatedly occur:

1. Identification – Am I treated on a personalized level?
2. Qualification – Does the provider of the service truly understand what we need?
3. Context – Is my total relationship to the provider truly understood?
4. Circumstance – Are unique attributes of my situation addressed?
5. Entitlement – Did we get what we asked for in relation to our past or current relationship?
6. Product/Service – Does the product or service meet or exceed our expectations?
7. Measurement – Were we asked how the supplier performed? Was the questioning not excessive?

We had "Ultimate Question" experiences on both sides of the equation during our trip. The best one occurred in a staple brand of family restaurants known for their hospitality and excellent, consistent food. No matter where we stopped, we were warmly greeted, quickly seated, and efficiently served. I can see why they had won numerous awards for customer service.

The other end of the equation was when I attempted to help a technically challenged friend with a consumer electronics issue. Literally, every no-no of effective customer contact was broken within a 30-minute period, including complex IVR qualification, routing and resource mis-matches, blind transfers with re-authentication, and incorrect technical answers that exacerbated the problem. The interaction could not have been more difficult if it was designed with difficulty in mind.

For the purposes of this blog, we'll keep the names of these firms masked. However, I will tell you that a neighbor of mine with the same age kids headed west by car last week – but not before my recommendation for "a certain restaurant chain" was shared with him as he pulled away!