By: Shep Hyken (submitted by Carmen Gass)

I’m always frustrated when I call a customer support number that I’ve called before and have to retell my story. The same goes for when I’m transferred to another person. There is no need for this.

I recently posted that message to social media. My friend and fellow customer service and experience expert Jason Bradshaw responded that the same thing happens with online chat.
Specifically, he wrote, “This is also why I have never advocated for online chat – I’ve yet to find a company that uses online chat and doesn’t have the customer repeat their story numerous times. The customer wants success, not pain.”
Read more here .

By: Inspirekindness.com (submitted by Carmen Gass)

1. See someone who needs a smile? Give ‘em yours!

2. We all need a little encouragement sometimes. Tell someone they’re doing a great job, whether it’s a co-worker, store employee, restaurant server, or a family member.

3. Express gratitude for someone in your life whom you are thankful for. Send a quick text, write a note, or simply tell that person “thanks for being you!”

By: Jeff Toister (submitted by Carmen Gass)

Early in my career, I lucked into a solution to a challenging project.

My department was asked to create a training program to help contact center agents pitch the company credit card to customers who called in to place an order from our catalog.

A computer program ran in the background during each call to determine if the customer was eligible for the company credit card. When they were, a little box popped up on the agent’s
screen that prompted the agent to offer the card.

Our success rate averaged averaged five percent. It needed to be 20.

The instinctive move would be to gather the management team in a conference room and invent something. That’s how the request came to me: “Let’s call a meeting to talk about what needs to be in the agent sales training program.”

I’m glad I didn’t do that. Read more here.

By: Shep Hyken (submitted by Carmen Gass)

How do you say Yes to every customer request? Is it possible? Is this customer service utopia? My friend Christine Trippi wrote a book titled Yes Is the Answer. And Cameron Mitchell, about whom I’ve written before, wrote a book with a similar title, Yes is the Answer. What is the Question? Read more here.

By: Jeff Toister (submitted by Carmen Gass)

Empathy is a critical customer service skill that’s hard to master. Here’s a guide that will help.

** How to demonstrate empathy**
Empathizing with customers requires two things:
1. We must be able to relate to how our customer is feeling.
2. We must have the presence of mind to acknowledge and understand those feelings.

Empathy is fairly easy if you’ve been in your customer’s shoes. Just think about how you felt when it happened to you and try to show them you understand.

It gets trickier if it’s never happened to you. For example, someone working in tech support might find it hard to empathize with a confused customer because they can fix their own
computer.

Here’s what you can do to demonstrate empathy when you don’t have a relatable experience:
1. Ask yourself, “Why is this customer upset?”
2. Think about a time when you had a similar feeling.
3. Try to demonstrate to the customer that you know how they feel.

By: Shep Hyken (submitted by Carmen Gass)

It is one of the most common questions I’m asked in interviews: What’s the difference between customer service and customer experience (also known as CX)? Learn the difference here.

By: American Negotiation Institute and Kwame Christian
submitted by Carmen Gass

Conflict seems unavoidable in life, but how can we wind down and diffuse anger, especially when there’s a lot on the line? In this audio-only course, adapted from the Negotiate Anything podcast, Justice Yvette McGee Brown explains how to present conflict, have constructive conversations with those who have different viewpoints, and find your specific approach to
resolving conflict. Listen to the 19 minute class here.

By: Shep Hyken (submitted by Carmen Gass)

Everybody has angry customers. Some customers are angry because they have a complaint. Some are just having a bad day. Whatever the reason, you must know how to handle angry customers.

In our customer service training workshops, we provide a number of tactics to manage these difficult customer situations. Read more here.

By: Myra Golden (submitted by Carmen Gass)

One of my sisters is a flight attendant. Yesterday we talked about her enforcing mask requirements on her flights. With the CDC’s recommendation, I knew that vaccinated people don’t need to wear masks outdoors or indoors, but we still should cover
up on planes, trains, and busses, which would put her in a challenging position.

We happened to be having the mask conversation as my sister was walking down the jetway for a flight from Dallas to Des Moines. She told me… Read more here

By: Myra Golden (submitted by Carmen Gass)

Join Myra Golden for some tips on working with the customer who will not stop talking! In this short video Myra responds to frequent questions about this and other challenges.

By: Myra Golden (submitted by Carmen Gass)

I watched the viral video of former child star, Ricky Schroeder confronting a Costco worker, Jason, about the store’s mask mandate.

My first thought was my daughter, Lauren. Lauren worked in the mall here in Tulsa when she was home from college during the early days of the Pandemic. Often, Lauren was the greeter for her store. Like Jason from Costco. Read more here.

By Shep Hyken (submitted by Carmen Gass)

During my live presentations, there is a part of my speech where I talk about Moments of Magic. These are positive experiences we create for our customers, including our internal customers, also known as our fellow employees. (If you’ve been following my work, you already knew that.) In the speech, I’ll ask audience members to share an example of when they created that experience.

During a recent keynote presentation to an audience of managers of a major retail chain, an example was shared, and it was a good one. Read more here.

By: Shep Hyken (submitted by Carmen Gass)

Let me put it to you in the simplest terms possible. When your customer calls, emails or texts you, you must respond. That is unless you don’t care if they ever do business with you again.

One of our subscribers to The Shepard Letter, Andy Saks, owner of Spark Presentations and professional corporate presenter, sent in a story worth sharing. Here’s a short version of what happened. Read more here.

By: Jeff Toister (submitted by Carmen Gass)

Take a deep breath in between customers. Try to consciously clear your mind of the previous interaction and give the next customer you serve your full attention.

Clearing the clutter has a few benefits:
* Building rapport comes more naturally
* Listening skills improve
* Empathizing with customers is easier

Best of all, you’ll feel a lot better!

By: Jeff Toister (submitted by Carmen Gass)

The webinar software wasn’t working.

An important client was paying me to facilitate a virtual session for its employees. The client had juggled a lot of schedules to make sure everyone could attend. A lot was riding on this.

I could feel a rising sense of anxiety. There was less than 30 minutes before the webinar started.

To my surprise, a friendly employee quickly answered my technical support call. To my greater surprise, she expertly diagnosed and resolved the problem without first insisting on asking me 50 irrelevant questions.

Then, she did something shocking. Read more here.