If you've ever had your oil changed by one of the 30 minute firms, you're probably familiar with the reminder sticker placed on the windshield indicating when the next oil change should occur – I always liked that. This concept plays off the notion that most people truly appreciate anything that can save them time, reduce the number of decisions they need to make, and simplify their lives in this hectic world we live in.

Outbound calling using predictive dialing technology has traditionally been known for its use in high production legacy environments such as collections and telemarketing. Over the past several years, Do Not Call legislation was expected to have a significant impact on this function of the contact center. Yet those traditional uses still continue, and a new use of outbound calling, or Proactive Contact, has evolved to include what is becoming known as Loyalty calling. This is essentially using outbound technology to establish, maintain and improve customer loyalty. Applications such as welcome campaigns, proactive customer service calls, customer service satisfaction surveys, appointment reminders and many others work to comprise this new Loyalty market. The interesting trend emerging is that, in outbound applications, customers are finding that both Legacy & Loyalty applications can cohabitate successfully within a contact center environment.

As discussed in our segment on The Ultimate Question, most businesses have a very high density of customers who represent a very high percentage of the corporation's profits. I have a feeling that I represent one of those people for several companies whose products I've used for years and promoted to my friends. I actually ran a report in my home Quicken and realized there was one company to whom I had paid more than $34,000 for telecom services over the last 12 years – without once defecting to another supplier. Yet when I recently tried to adjust my service to another plan, I was told I could not carry forward one of the benefits of my existing plan. To me, this broke the primary customer service rule of "do no harm". I've never received a call from this firm, or any other for that matter, with an acknowledgment of my relationship just because it's "so". If and when I do, I'll know that insight has finally turned into action for some companies.