By: Shep Hyken (submitted by Carmen Gass)
I recently wrote an article about the little surprises that companies – and people – sometimes give us when we do business with them. We received some great feedback, and it got me thinking of other ways to surprise our customers. That’s what this follow-up is about.
By: Myra Golden (submitted by Carmen Gass)
Watch this short video to learn how to calm customers faster and guide them to the next steps using 3 powerful de-escalation tactics. Read more here.
By: Shep Hyken (submitted by Carmen Gass)
I love a surprise. Think about the last time you received a surprise from a friend or loved one. It doesn’t even have to be a big surprise. It could be something small – just something that proves the other person was thinking about you.
Has this ever happened to you in business? I receive surprise appreciation gifts from clients. I’m enjoying a box of chocolates a client sent as I create this post. And of course, I love surprising others. But what I want to share now is the example of a surprise that came from a most unlikely source, the TSA, as in Transportation Security Administration. Read more here.
By: Jeff Toister (submitted by Carmen Gass)
“Be more managerial, or you’re fired!”
The director issued this ultimatum to his two managers. There had been some customer service issues within the department. The director wanted to see change, now.
The managers stared at their boss in disbelief.
I stared, too. The director had brought me in to meet with his leadership team and help create a strategy to improve the service culture. This was our first meeting, and it felt like a set-up.
The director looked to me for validation. What I said flummoxed him instead. “What exactly does ‘be more managerial’ look like?” Read more here.
By: Jeff Toister (submitted by Carmen Gass)
My wife and I own a vacation rental cabin called The Overlook. It’s located in a rural mountain village where propane is used for heating and cooking.
Our propane supplier offers a “worry free” service where they monitor the propane tank for us and fill it up once it gets too low. This service worked like clockwork for several years until we experienced trouble last December, when we didn’t get our usual refill.
The supplier usually tops off the tank in December, right when the cold winter season is starting. My wife, Sally, called our supplier to make sure a delivery hadn’t been missed. The rep in our local office promised to check on it and call back.
She never did.
The cabin was booked solid when a cold snap hit in January, and our guests were using a lot of propane. The tank dropped below 20 percent and we were going through two percent per day. At that rate, we had just over a week of propane remaining.
Sally called the propane company again. The person in the local office seemed unconcerned, but promised to check into it and call back. She never did. Read more here.
By: Shep Hyken (submitted by Carmen Gass)
The other day my friend asked me, “Is mediocrity the new customer experience?” He mentioned how he’s had to wait longer when he called customer support and that there weren’t enough cashiers at the grocery store.
I said, “You are a victim of skimpflation.”
The word skimpflation was introduced recently on NPR’s Planet Money podcast. I’ve already written several articles about this ugly word, and I thought it was time to introduce it here.
Continue reading here.
By: Nancy Porte [submitted by Carmen Gass]
Among the many challenges customer experience (CX) professionals face, often the most difficult is how to engage cross-functional and multi-level support. Beyond support for specific projects, there is a crucial need for ongoing sponsorship of the CX program, even as new areas of focus develop for the organization.
Throughout my career I’ve had the good fortune of meeting with groups of CX professionals around the globe. I’ve learned that each CX professional has unique goals and challenges. Some are B2B; others are B2C. Some are managed out of the Marketing team; others report directly to the CEO.
With all these differences, though, the similarities of CX professionals are even more striking. They are dedicated to working cross-functionally, bringing customer understanding, and offering tools to improve the customer experience.
How do CX Professionals do this? It’s through what they think, say, and do. Learn more here.
By: Shep Hyken (submitted by Carmen Gass)
“I’m sorry.” Customers love to hear those important words, especially when they are calling about a problem or have a complaint. I briefly covered this in a recent article (The Five Best Things to Say to an Angry or Upset Customer), but I want to dive into the “I’m sorry” comment a little deeper.
Not long ago I called a customer support center and early in the conversation the agent said, “I’m sorry you are experiencing this problem.” I appreciated those words. I felt that I was being heard and even understood. That was until a minute later when the agent once again said, “I’m sorry.” Read more here.
By: Carmen Gass
For customer service reps, having conversational skills and knowing how to talk to customers (and how not to talk to them!) are critical to doing your job well. In this course, instructor Noah Fleming covers the skills you need most when engaging with your customers. Noah explains how to find the right tone and how reading the situation can help you make sense to the customer. View the LinkedIn Learning Course here.
By: Myra Golden (submitted by Carmen Gass)
While we want the customer to have a good day indeed, and we want to follow the company call framework, we need to be genuine. Watch my video to learn how to genuinely give a fond farewell, even when you’ve given the customer terrible news. Read more here.
By: Noah Fleming (submitted by Carmen Gass)
If you are a customer service manager or a sales manager, you know how important it is to identify a customer’s value to your company. But how do you assign the value? How do you determine what is most valuable to your company? In this course, instructor Noah Fleming walks you through ways to define, create, and evaluate customer value. Noah explains both the way the business defines customer value and the way the customer defines value.
Watch the course here.
By: Jeremy Watkin, submitted by Carmen Gass
I recently spent some time with some of our star colleagues who consistently earn high customer satisfaction marks from customers. As I shadowed chat support conversations I was
struck with the realization that the differences between great and less than great customer service are ever so subtle. Read more here.
By: Behavior Science and Mental Health Experts at Johnson & Johnson
Submitted by Carmen Gass
In this video, Gahan Pandina, who is a Clinical Psychologist and Senior Director and Compound Development Team Leader at Janssen Research & Development, describes how stress can affect your thoughts, emotions, and physical body. Chronic stress, like you may be experiencing now, can have serious effects on our physical and mental health. But calming practices used in the moment can help reduce those effects. Watch the video here.
By: Carmen Gass
Celebrate the people who make customer service happen!
For more than 30 years, the first week of October has been set aside to celebrate customer service. What started as a national pledge has grown into a worldwide event. Established by the
International Customer Service Association (ICSA, now PACE), National Customer Service Week was proclaimed an official event by the U.S. Congress in 1992, via Presidential Proclamation.
Since then, the first full business week of each October has been celebrated by organizations across many industries in the United States and around the world. Learn more here.
By: Shep Hyken (submitted by Carmen Gass)
Culture is one of the most important parts of customer service and customer experience. I’ve written numerous articles about this and have included a chapter on this topic in my latest book, I’ll Be Back: How to Get Customers to Come Back Again and Again, which by the way, is finally out. (Shameless plug: Get it today!)
It’s always been my philosophy that customer service is not a department. It’s a philosophy to be embraced by everyone in an organization. It’s part of the company’s culture.
In the past, I covered six steps to creating a customer-centric culture. These are still the right steps. But, I’d like to add some ideas from the new book to supplement this powerful process.
Read more here.
By: Brad Cleveland [submitted by Carmen Gass]
A profound shift is underway from functional-driven products, services, and support to a more comprehensive customer experience strategy. Customer experience (CX) is a holistic approach to the customer lifecycle, from before the sale, to the experience the customer has with your products or services, to their experience when needing support, to loyalty and lifetime value. In this course, globally-known customer strategy and management expert Brad Cleveland shows you how to establish, maintain, and continue to improve upon customer experience.
View the course here.
By: Shep Hyken (submitted by Carmen Gass)
I’ve written about this before. Our customers are smarter than ever when it comes to customer service and receiving a great customer experience. They no longer compare us only to our direct competitors, but instead, to the best service they have received from any company, large or small, global or local. These companies are setting the bar higher. They are forcing everyone
in business to up their game, and that’s great for us as customers.
One company that has been continually setting new standards and forcing all companies to step up is Amazon. That’s nothing new. They’ve been doing it for decades. Amazon revolutionized the book industry and eventually the entire retail industry.
By: Jeff Toister (submitted by Carmen Gass)
Advanced techniques are one of the top requests I receive as a customer service trainer. Many people feel the basics are, well, too basic.
If that’s you, I have five advanced techniques to share. But first, a word from our sponsor: basic skills.
The basic skills never go out of style. Customer service professionals who master the basics will always do well.
My top three skills:
Rapport: make customers feel at ease.
Listening: understand what customers need.
Empathy: help customers feel better.