Another Perspective on Benchmarking by Mike Trotter Executive Director Purdue University's Center for Customer Driven Quality   November 8, 2005   I have been associated with the efforts of our industry to benchmark since the early '90's. I agree that there is a place for numbers in the call center operation. The real problem is that once an executive has a set of numbers they cannot see the forest for the trees. They won't focus on anything else because numbers/data has that feeling of being solid, dependable and factual.   Nothing could possibly be further from the truth. Anyone can make up any number (I am not saying they do) but they certainly can. The numbers in a benchmarking study are a good place to start (but realize they are averages), however, in the end it is the behaviors and the results of behaviors that actually deliver the customer experience.   We do focus way too much on numbers because they are comfortable. We need valid industry respected data, what we don't need is an executive team that tries to run its company and thus govern the customer experience through numbers. Get out of your office and listen to a few calls sitting next to an agent. Better yet, take a few calls and see how difficult we have made it to deliver great customer experiences.   I have seen great organizations add little value because they were focused on hitting a set of numbers not on delivering the best possible customer experience. It is a balance and the customer needs to win in the end - without customers you have no business to operate.