How does customer care impact major business operations in technology, HR, finance, marketing and change management? What is the role of the customer care professional in these areas?

These important questions will be addressed in the breakout sessions at the April Symposium. Sessions will deliver timely, relevant “how-to” strategies and case studies on the function of customer care in business.

Breakout sessions:

• Consumer Concerns in the U.S. Spanish Speaking Community: Creating a Targeted Customer Care Business Strategy for Success—Jeff Maszal, Customer Care Measurement and Consulting
• Crisis Management 101: Preparing for and Surviving a Product Crisis—Beth Ziff, Premiere Response
  Breaking Down Contact Center Silos via a Workforce Optimization Initiative—William Durr, Witness Systems
• A Case Study of Continental Airlines: Reward and Recognition Programs and Their Impact on Performance—BJ McDonald, Continental Airlines
• Customer Experience Performance Management: Utilizing Technology-Driven Measurement to Drive Coaching Success in Your Contact Center—Tom Hammond, The Hartford Group
• Telework Makes Good Business Sense—Ilene Morris-Sambur, Creating Opportunity by Recognizing Abilities (CORA)
• Weathering the Winds of Change: A Case Study on Leading Your Organization through Transition—Galen Thomas, DBS Communications
• Creating a Culture of WOW—Andre Harris, Westfield
• The Consumer Service Representative's Role in Managing Crisis and Protecting the Company in our Litigious Environment—Douglas Besman, Nestlé
• Managing Remote Agents to Provide a Consistent Customer Experience in a Changing Environment—Tim Houlne, Working Solutions
• Leading Customers through Change: A Survival Guide to Persuasive Marketing to Your Customers—Peter De Trempe, Clarke American
• Dancing With Megaphones: The Consumer Generated Media (CGM) Revolution—Pete Blackshaw, Nielsen BuzzMetrics
• Protecting Your Customer from Identify Theft—Sean McCleskey, U.S. Secret Service
• Email Marketing, Privacy and Optimization Strategies—Jordan Cohen, Epsilon Interactive
• Leading Organizational Change… On Target, On Time and On Budget—Dutch Holland, Holland and Davis

Outreach to the Hispanic consumer will be a major focus at SOCAP’s 2007 Symposium in San Antonio. Several sessions will offer useful strategies for understanding this growing consumer segment.

Kelly McDonald, a leading expert on the Latino market and president of McDonald Marketing, will be a keynote speaker at the Symposium. Kelly is a marketing and advertising expert with 20 years of ad agency experience in both the General Market and Latino sides of the business. She worked in top positions for several global ad agencies, including Young & Rubicam, TBWA Chiat/Day and Temerlin McClain before making the move to Latino advertising and marketing.

While working for one of the country’s top Latino ad agencies, Kelly immersed herself in Latino culture. She has worked to help top clients such as Toyota, Nissan, Subaru, BlueCross BlueShield, Kimberly-Clark, Bank One, Alltel and Budweiser grow their businesses by targeting U.S. Latinos strategically and creatively.

In addition to Kelly’s keynote presentation, the Food & Beverage SANG will address the Hispanic market in its meeting on Wednesday, April 18. Speakers will include Jeffrey Maszal of Customer Care Measurement & Consulting (CCMC) and Yvonne Garcia of Market Vision, a Hispanic-owned company that consults with industry giants on marketing to the Hispanic consumer. Additional registration is required to attend the Food & Beverage SANG meeting.

CCMC and Kraft will also present breakout sessions at the Symposium on Hispanic marketing. Visit the SOCAP website for full details on these sessions, including dates and times. Don’t miss your opportunity to gain new insights and strategies on the Hispanic consumer.

If you want to know more about marketing to Hispanic consumers, the 2007 Symposium is the event for you!

By Pete Blackshaw

The marketplace is entering an entirely new phase of the consumer landscape most clearly crystallized in the notion of "Web 2.0," a discussion about the evolution of the Internet that speaks to a new world of "social media," networking and the vast interconnectedness of increasingly empowered consumers.

Whether today's companies and brands like it or not, the DNA of Web 2.0 is shaping the new landscape. Media is fragmenting, and consumers are increasingly more empowered to say and do whatever they want. In the advertising world, dollars are increasingly chasing what remains of consumer attention, and everyone is seeing an avalanche of new strategies and tactics for entering meaningful “conversations” with the most vocal and expressive consumers. Importantly, marketers are pursuing social media experiments to which consumer affairs is peripheral (at best) for planning and execution.

Dissect the key audiences being engaged or targeted in such initiatives, and one fact is clear: vocal consumers matter. These are the consumers who talk, scream and/or tell others. The vocal creators of “consumer-generated media” actually have a higher ROI than typical consumers because they have greater influence on market perceptions about brands.

For information on the new Consumer 2.0 landscape and increasing consumer-control, read the complete article and SOCAP’s interview with Pete Blackshaw in the upcoming March issue of CRM Magazine.

SOCAP is now accepting Call for Papers submissions for the 2007 Annual Conference, October 7-10, in Palm Springs, CA. Focus areas for the Annual Conference are:

• Best Practices in Customer Care
• Globalization/Global Markets
• Professional Development

If you have a presentation idea that highlights one of these areas and you want to share it, then submit your proposal today! All submissions will be reviewed by SOCAP’s Conference Committee. The deadline for presentation proposals is Friday, March 30, 2007.

SOCAP International, in conjunction with representatives from major auto companies, is planning the third annual Automotive Summit, September 18-19 in Beverly Hills, Michigan.

The Automotive Summit was started in 2004 by members of the Great Lakes Chapter of SOCAP in order to provide automotive industry benchmarking and to address issues specific to consumer affairs professionals in the auto industry. This is the first year that SOCAP is helping plan the meeting. SOCAP will work closely with a Summit Steering Committee to develop the content and overall agenda for the Automotive Summit. Additionally, SOCAP will manage event logistics, including registration, marketing and hotel accommodations.

The Automotive Summit in September will be held at the Birmingham Conference Center in Beverly Hills, Michigan. Look for event details coming soon to the SOCAP website.

Q. How do I register for the 2007 Symposium?

A. SOCAP International is making it easy and efficient for you to register for the 2007 Symposium. All of the information you need is conveniently located on a single form, available on the SOCAP website and in the conference brochure you will receive in the mail.

In addition to the basic information needed to process your registration, SOCAP’s convenient registration form enables you to identify your level of membership and select full or daily rates for the Symposium as well as SANG meeting attendance (including SANG membership).

You can select one of four easy ways to register:

• INTERNET registration via the SOCAP website.
• FAX your registration form including credit card information to 703.549.4886.
• MAIL your registration form to SOCAP International, 675 North Washington Street, Suite 200, Alexandria, VA 22314.

SOCAP’s Internet registration uses the popular Shopping Cart model, allowing you to add/subtract, or change quantity for, items in your cart. It also enables you to conveniently print a PDF invoice before clicking the “Continue to Checkout” link.

SOCAP is committed to making your conference experience a positive one. No matter which method you use, register before March 10 and get the Early Bird discount!

Have a question? Ask SOCAP!