Shep Hyken's Blog, page 140

Amazing Business Radio: Doug Sandler

30 Days to Better Customer Service
Journey Mapping Your Way to a Better Customer Experience

Shep Hyken sits down with Doug Sandler to discuss journey mapping, important customer service skills, and assessing risk and value throughout your customer journey.

Top Takeaways:

Doug shared five traits that can improve your customer service skills in 30 days or less. He calls them the Nice Guy 30:

Return Every Phone Call
Return Every E-Mail
Deliver Every Promise
Be on Time, Every Time
Connect Twice a Day


A Journey Map is the representation of the entire customer experience, from their first interaction with your organization to become a customer or referrer and every interaction in between.
Journey mapping allows you to visually represent the experience the customer has throughout the entire process of doing business with you. It can help your management, the people working for your organization and even your customers.
Journey mapping allows you to see where your customers are having friction points and where you’re having internal friction caused by employee overlap. Once you’ve identified a potential problem, it becomes easier to fix.
Consider including your customers in the journey mapping process, because they can look at things from a different perspective. It’s important you speak with happy customers as well as angry “ex” customers.
Doug shared a “risk-quadrant” that allows organizations to determine the risk and value of specific steps along the customer journey. Do your best to add low-risk, high-value opportunities and eliminate high-risk, low-value opportunities.

High-risk, low-value

A high-risk, low-value opportunity is a place where your customer is likely to get stuck in your system and not be satisfied with the end result.
Low-risk, high-value

A low-risk, high-value opportunity is easy for you to do and it enhances the customer experience.



Quotes:

“Any time a customer comes in contact with your brand is an opportunity to sell them on your product or service and move them through the journey.” – Doug Sandler

“If you make it easy for people to do business with you (through your website, phone calls, or walk-ins), they will want to do business with you over and over again.” – Doug Sandler

“No matter how uncomfortable it is, your customers who had the worst experiences are going to help you solve your problems and create better systems.” – Doug Sandler

“Never ignore the comments that your frontline is making. They are a critical component to improving your customer experience.” – Doug Sandler

About:

Doug Sandler is a nationally recognized speaker and writer. In 2015, he published the award-winning book Nice Guys Finish First. Currently, Doug is the CEO of Turnkey Podcast Productions. Because of his expertise, he also helps organizations create effective journey maps that improve the customer experience.

Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and your host of Amazing Business Radio.

This episode of Amazing Business Radio with Shep Hyken answers the following questions … and more:

What is Journey Mapping?
How do you create a journey map?
How can you improve the customer experience?
How can you quickly improve customer service?
Can your customers help you improve your customer experience?

The post Amazing Business Radio: Doug Sandler appeared first on Shep Hyken.

5 Top Customer Service Articles for the Week of September 24, 2018

Each week I read a number of customer service and customer experience articles from various resources. Here are my top five picks from last week. I have added my comment about each article and would like to hear what you think too.

Customer Service: Where We Are and Where We Are Going by  Fara Haron

(CustomerThink) To provide some insight on what’s happening behind the customer inquiry scenes, let’s take a look at the evolution of the contact center.

My Comment: What does the future of customer service look like? Here are some interesting predictions about what a support center will look like in 10 years.

6 Tech Advances That Will Enhance Customer Experience by Kelechi Okeke

(CX360Service) In the last decade, humanity has achieved a significant number of technological advance which are bound to make a huge impact in our lives and the way we do business.

My Comment: While we’re looking into the future, you’ll enjoy this article that looks at six technologies that are – or are going to – impact the customer experience. Everything from IoT (Internet of Things) to 3-D printing to AR and VR… the future is quickly approaching with much to look forward to.

How to Add Unexpected Value by Paul Reilly

(Tom Reilly Training) Hilton is known for their award-winning guest experience. The employees are well trained and empowered to act. I recently experienced this while checking in at a Homewood Suites in Houston, TX.

My Comment: This is a short article from a value-added selling expert. Adding value is definitely part of customer service. Paul Reilly shares a story that shows us how the power of listening – and then doing something with what you hear – can create a memorable impression.

The HubSpot Customer Code: 10 Tips for Customer Service and Relations Written by Abigael Donahue

(HubSpot) If happy customers, steady growth, and a clean conscience sound good to you, you might like HubSpot’s Customer Code. It consists of 10 tenets around how companies should treat their customers.

My Comment: Hubspot is a very successful company that is recognized as an industry leader in technology. They are also known for their customer service, so when they share what is referred to as “The Hubspot Customer Code,” we should take notice. Here are ten ways that Hubspot nails customer service and CX.

Three core ingredients of the perfect human-digital blend for B2B sales by Michael Viertler

(MyCustomer) Research has revealed three traits that should be the core ingredients of every company’s optimal human-digital blend: speed, transparency and expertise.

My Comment: As we head toward the future of CX and customer service, the balance between human and digital is important to get right. Here are three concepts that we must get right. The focus is on B2B, but you’ll quickly see it applies to just about every business.

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, professional speaker and New York Times bestselling business author. For information on The Customer Focus customer service training programs go to www.TheCustomerFocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken

The post 5 Top Customer Service Articles for the Week of September 24, 2018 appeared first on Shep Hyken.

Guest Blog: Which Road Is Your Customer Experience On?

This week we feature an article by Ian Moyse who writes about how important it is to examine the customer journey you are providing. You must deliver a consistent, convenient and frictionless experience. – Shep Hyken

Who would have thought that in 2018, with all the technological evolutions we have already lived through in the past 10-15 years, from Cloud Computing, Smartphones, Social Media, Drones, Big Data, Virtual Reality(VR), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet Of Things (IoT), that customer experience could still be behind, putting work on the customers and often letting customers down.

Take a recent experience of my own involving British Gas, whereupon being let down on a maintenance agreement and requesting to lodge a complaint, I entered into their process to be told the complaints team would get back to me within 8, yes 8 weeks! So, a customer who is clearly not satisfied and is requesting it to be dealt with is then put into an 8-week delay cycle, how does that address their complaint? My immediate thoughts were 1 of 3 things; either they were so inundated with complaints that this was the backlog; or they simply didn’t care about that department so understaffed it and hence a similar effect; or the biggie is that they hoped that this would diffuse a portion of clients who would either forget to re-engage or by the time it came around would not care or forget what it was about. None of which are acceptable approaches!

When talking about complaints, the common response I get from speaking with others is that you are told via email or web response that your inquiry will be dealt with in 10 or 14 days. Is it no wonder that many resort to the phone to request a resolution?

It is easy for a company to put you off electronically, to defer, delay or perhaps hope your complaint goes away. If like me when you get these messages you also deliberate on whether they will come back to you. Now I always create a diary event with the details to ensure it prompts me when a company has missed their SLA and I should be following up – usually with a phone call as they have now let me down again!

Is it too much to ask that once I am a disappointed customer that I get to engage and have my issue at least considered if not resolved quickly? Are businesses that short staffed or that plagued with complaints that they need this buffer? Isn’t a complaining customer one that you need to deal with quickly and diffuse? The longer it goes on the harder it gets to recover and the more effort and cost to your business!

‘33% say they’ll consider switching companies after just a single instance of poor service.’ – (Source: American Express Customer Service Barometer 2017)
‘For every customer who complains, there are 26 customers who don’t say anything.’ – (Source: Lee Resources International)
‘Customers tell an average of 15 people about a poor service experience, versus the 11 people they’ll tell about a good experience.’ – (Source: American Express Customer Service Barometer 2017)
‘82% of customers have left a company because of a bad customer service experience.’ – (Source: Rightnow)

Customer churn is costly and yet customers who have a problem and find it’s handled professionally and fast, often come back and increase spending, knowing with confidence they can trust this provider and are thus happy to spend more.

Too often such customer issues are responded to too slowly, if at all. They benefit from the personal touch, an email complaint will often be dealt with via email only, which can be okay, but consider offering a phone call. It is easy for the customer’s true demeanor to be misconstrued on email and you do not get the tonality and feel for the customer (nor they you) over electronic means. Arranging a time to actually ‘speak’ makes it a real engagement, gets the person engaging with a ‘real’ person, your agent and often diffuses the situation far quicker and makes the customer feel loved that they got ‘real’ attention.

Poor service and the feeling that a business does not care are the top reasons for customer churn. Something in your control, not caused by competitors!

‘Customers who canceled because of price are more likely to come back than those who left because of poor service’  – (Source: Georgia State University Study)
‘70% of customers leave a company because of poor service, which is usually attributed to a salesperson’ – (Source: Peppers & Rogers Group)
‘67% of customer churn is preventable if the customer issue was resolved at the first engagement.’ – (Source – ThinkJar Survey)

Businesses need to invest in technology that enables them to have more time to ‘speak’ to clients, to engage with them and make that human touch still real.

We here all the time of wondrous new technology such as AI, VR, Chatbots and the like, that take us further from customers, pushing customers to self-serve and engaging with us as a personal brand. In shops, we are forced to self-serve, to in effect work for the shop in scanning our own goods, paying and packing without any payback, be it that the promise is faster service!  All positioned as aiding the customer, not to mention the cost savings in labor to the retailer.

Yet when something does not work. When a customer feels they need help, the customer perception of service is what is real to that individual and if you cut corners or let them down, they will churn and pass that bad feeling onto others

Customers today want and expect service and when needed, personal service and engagement with a human. Have you ever tried phoning your own company to find out the process as a customer? Maybe you should personal shop yourself?

‘45% of customers withdrew their negative evaluation of a company in light of an apology, whereas only 23% of customers withdrew their negative evaluation in return for compensation’ – (Source: Nottingham School of Economics)

Find out now how your customer’s journey is? Is it smooth, fast to get to the destination without traffic jams, diversions and frustration? Or do you make them want to turn back to take a different route and regret ever setting out on this journey?

Ian Moyse is the Sales Director at Natterbox.

For more articles from Shep Hyken and his guest contributors go to customerserviceblog.com.

Read Shep’s latest Forbes Article:  Ten Ways To Celebrate National Customer Service Week

The post Guest Blog: Which Road Is Your Customer Experience On? appeared first on Shep Hyken.

People Always Complain About That

The other day I was at my hotel waiting for my client to pick me up for a meeting. I wanted a quick breakfast, so I went to the hotel’s coffee shop to pick up some oatmeal. They had instant oatmeal in a cup. The cashier added the hot water and $4.00 later I was on my way. I sat down at an open seat in the hotel lobby and noticed that my oatmeal looked more like soup that oatmeal. Usually, you just wait a few minutes and the oatmeal thickens up, but that was not the case. So, I walked over to the coffee shop to see if they had any suggestions. Her response: “People always complain about that.”

She was very nice and gave me my money back. I started to think about what happened. If “people always complain about that,” then why do they continue to serve it?

The other night I was at a restaurant and when I went to order the server politely and honestly said, “Sir, you don’t want to order that entrée. I’ve never heard a guest say it was great, and we end up taking many of them back to the kitchen. More people complain about that dish than any other.  I don’t know why it’s still on the menu.”

Well, I don’t know why it’s still on the menu either!

We do an exercise in our customer service workshops. We ask the audience members to confer with their colleagues to answer the following question: “What are the most common complaints that you hear?”

I’m amazed at how many “common complaints” there are. Why are they common? Why do they keep happening? Why hasn’t someone done something about these complaints?

Sometimes the same complaints will be heard again and again. Some of those may not be under your control. For example, one of the top complaints we hear from our clients is the books they order didn’t show up. Typically (as in almost 100% of the time), the problem is with the shipping company. Once it leaves our office, it’s out of our control. But, to the client, it’s our responsibility. And, we accept that. We have a process in place and an explanation that always makes the client happy.

So, the lesson is short and sweet. If you hear people complaining about something, not once or even twice, but again and again, do something about it. Take it off the menu. Change up the process. Get rid of it. Do something so the people no longer “always complain about that!”

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, keynote speaker, and New York Times bestselling business author. For information, contact 314-692-2200 or www.hyken.com. For information on The Customer Focus customer service training programs, go to www.thecustomerfocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken

(Copyright © MMXVIII, Shep Hyken)

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Amazing Business Radio: Gregg Lederman

Give Employees What They Crave Most
Take Time to Properly Motivate Your Team

Shep Hyken sits down with Gregg Lederman to talk about his new book, Crave: You Can Enhance Employee Motivation in 10 Minutes by Friday. They discussed how to replicate your best people and give them the happiness and motivation they crave and deserve.



Top Takeaways:

Your employees’ attitudes and actions are affected by the three things they crave the most:

Respect: Respect them for who they are and what they do.
Purpose: Give them purpose, help them see that there’s meaning in their work and show them that what they do has an impact.
Relationship: Build a trusting and happy relationship with their leadership.




In less than 10 minutes a week, you can replicate what your best people are thinking, saying and doing by recognizing what you want to see more of and spotting the moments where your core values are in action.
There are three chemicals that Gregg calls the happy threesome of brain chemicals; dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin. They can increase employee happiness and motivation.
Recognition accelerates results. The first result is employee engagement. Employee engagement drives the work culture, and the work culture drives the customer experience.
Gregg shared a five-step process for building any habit, specifically the habit of recognizing employees:

Decide why it’s important to you.
Create the routines and schedule it in your calendar.
Determine any obstacles that may get in the way (time).
Focus on the personal and business benefits of forming this habit.
Track your effort daily.



Quotes:

“Successful companies can attribute their success to their people, as opposed to at the expense of their people.” – Gregg Lederman

“The work culture drives the customer experience.” – Gregg Lederman

“Giving people more of what they crave (respect, purpose, and relationships) accelerates business results.” – Gregg Lederman

“Praising good performance gives people a healthy amount of dopamine which encourages them to keep going and work harder.” – Gregg Lederman

About:

Gregg Lederman is an author, speaker, and the president of employee engagement for Reward Gateway. Gregg’s valuable insights are documented in his books Achieve Brand Integrity, Engaged, and his upcoming book, Crave.

Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and your host of Amazing Business Radio.

This episode of Amazing Business Radio with Shep Hyken answers the following questions … and more:

What do employees really want from work?
How can you recognize your employees’ good work?
How long does employee recognition take?
How does work culture affect the customer experience?

The post Amazing Business Radio: Gregg Lederman appeared first on Shep Hyken.

5 Top Customer Service Articles for the Week of September 17, 2018

Each week I read a number of customer service and customer experience articles from various resources. Here are my top five picks from last week. I have added my comment about each article and would like to hear what you think too.

The Violence of The Customer Experience by Mary Drumond and Guilherme Cerqueira

(Worthix) The Customer Experience Economy is the most violent economy in the history of capitalism.

My Comment: Ignoring the customer experience movement can end with the “violent death” of your business. This article reminds us of some of the brands who have fallen to their demise because of the commoditization of their products and experiences. A focus on customer experience is one of your top strategies to survive and thrive.

16 Tactics for Boosting Your First Contact Resolution Rate by Alan Finlay

(Relay) Once you’ve figured out how to measure your current FCR, you can experiment with the tactics outlined to improve your rate.

My Comment: Do your customers ever reach out to you with problems are complaints? Whether you’re a support center or just someone who is in charge of taking customer complaint calls, you know the importance of First Call/Contact Resolution (FCR). Here are 16 ways that will help you get your customers’ issues resolved on their first attempt.

Are Your Customer Experience Metrics Setting You Up For Success? b y Inge de Bleecker 

(CMSWire) No two customer interactions are the same, so what constitutes success for one company might not make the cut at another. That’s why it is so important to determine ahead of time what ‘success’ means for you and your organization.

My Comment: How do you measure CX success? What metrics are you using to determine if your CX efforts are working? This short article sheds some light on the most popular ways companies are determining that their customer experience efforts are working.

Customer Experience Metrics, Through a New Lens by Diane Gordon 

(CMSWire) Rather than rehashing a list of frequently discussed CX metrics, I thought it would be interesting to approach measurement through the lens of the acquisition, engagement and retention framework.

My Comment: As long as we’re on the topic of customer experience metrics, here’s another article that looks at three alternative views to measure the success of your CX efforts; acquisition, engagement and retention.

Tech Brands Dominate Brand Loyalty Rankings By Paul Ausick

(24/7 Wall St.) Of the top 100 product categories and brands in a new ranking of customer loyalty leaders, more than a third (35%) are tech companies engaged in digital technology, social networks and products.

My Comment: Which brands are the leaders in customer loyalty? It won’t surprise you to know that companies like Amazon (online retail) and Apple (smartphones and computers) lead the pack. But what about a company like Hyundai (automotive) who ended up 14th on the list of top loyalty leaders. And, you’ll be surprised at the brands that dropped the most in the last year.

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, professional speaker and New York Times bestselling business author. For information on The Customer Focus customer service training programs go to www.TheCustomerFocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken

The post 5 Top Customer Service Articles for the Week of September 17, 2018 appeared first on Shep Hyken.

Guest Blog: How Live Chat Can Improve Conversion Rate For Your Business

This week we feature an article by David Olson who shares tips on how to use live chat software correctly. – Shep Hyken

The modern marketplace offers many different ways to make your business and employees more productive. From automation to artificial intelligence, now is an exciting time to explore all the possibilities. One of the most promising methods for improving your conversion rates is through live chat software.

If you have already invested in live chat software, are you maximizing your ROI? Live chat is a powerful tool that can help you reach your customer in a myriad of different ways. But like any good tool, live chat is useless unless employed correctly.

Here are a few tips on how to get the most for your money and improve conversion rates for your business using your help desk software.

Be Selective in Who You Target

Just like you wouldn’t waste your time spending money and sending direct mail messages to people who aren’t interested in your product, why would you be chatting with people who aren’t in your target demo if you have a high traffic site?

Rather than stretching your support staff thin trying to contact every single site user, you may want to segment your audience prior to accessing them. By being savvy about who are the most likely to eventually become conversions, you can ensure that your time is well spent walking them through the buying process and being there for them if they have any questions along the way.

Ease of Use

You need to make the live chat features on your website easy to find and use for even the least tech-savvy users. There is nothing more frustrating for a customer than dealing with a piece of technology that is hard to find and even harder to use. We’ve all been there. Make things easy. Hold your customer’s hand a little.

And once they do connect with a customer, agents should be able to figure out the customer’s problems quickly and troubleshoot them with ease. If a customer sees his or her problems being solved in an efficient way, they’re more likely to come back. And repeat customers means repeat sales, which is success you can take to the bank.

Fine Tune Your Approach

It’s important not only to reach out, but to be conscious of when and how you are reaching out too. Are you stampeding on your customer’s experience by reaching out to him or her the second they access your website? Are you waiting too long?

You can use your trusty analytics reports to see which is most effective. Fine-tune your approach to live chat. Like many things in the world of online marketing, live chat can be an incredibly powerful tool indeed, but only if and when it’s done right.

Manage Basket Abandonment

Did you know that e-commerce customers have been shown to abandon their online shopping carts more often than they actually make a purchase?

As a small business owner, you may be confident in your website design and your customer’s experience, but don’t be overly confident and risk losing sales.

Use live chat to connect with customers and mitigate these basket abandonment issues shortly after they occur. Engage with customers early and engage often. Let customers know you are there to solve and issues they may have with the purchase process. This strategy can help recover lost sales and boost your bottom line almost immediately.

Be Proactive

Especially or pages with high bounce rates where customers seem to be leaving in droves, use proactive chat to make a window appear and address any concerns before they leave the page.

In the best case scenario, you may end up closing a sale, but if that doesn’t work out, you may be able to glean some powerful information on why the customer experience isn’t working for that particular corner of your site.

Max Out Your Chats

Remember that the world of live chat is a game of numbers. Statistically speaking, the more chats you have going and initiated, the better chance you have of closing a sale. Remember this when you’re training your customer service staff (or if that staff includes you yourself).

Live chat can increase the productivity of your business by 4 to 5 times as much, so make sure you’re fully taking advantage of this efficiency by using live chat to the best of your ability.

Customize

Use custom settings to give your chat bubble, window and icons your site’s own unique flair. This could potentially attract more customers to respond to your chats and in turn, could provoke more sales.

In the world of online retail, you need to take every possible advantage to get ahead, and creating a live chat experience that is unique and accessible to your customer through these types of customizations are one way to potentially do just that.

Track Analytics

This is a must anytime you’re using software to reach out and connect with your customer base. You simply must be using analytics and data reports to monitor your successes and failures and the evolve your course.

If you’re resistant to this sort of measurement, think for a second about your competition. Do you think they’re resistant to using analytics with their live chat software to track progress? Of course not, they’ll be taking every possible advantage they can get, and you should too.

If your live chat software provider doesn’t offer analytics, there are always workarounds that can be done with Google Analytics. Do your homework and make sure this is an integral part of your game plan.

David Olson is a writer and content strategist who works with live chat systems and customer services. He specializes in the latest developments in technology and how they help companies communicate with evolving consumer bases worldwide.

For more articles from Shep Hyken and his guest contributors go to customerserviceblog.com.

Read Shep’s latest Forbes Article: Disrupt Your Competition: Lessons From Uber, Amazon, Walmart And Carvana (Who Is Carvana?)

The post Guest Blog: How Live Chat Can Improve Conversion Rate For Your Business appeared first on Shep Hyken.

Never Take Your Eyes Off the Customer

One of my favorite restaurants in St. Louis, where I live, is Tony’s. You may be familiar with Tony’s if you have been following my articles and videos for a while. They are an outstanding example of a great product – their food – and amazing service. So, good in fact that they are one of the businesses that don’t have to exceed expectations. They are so good at what they do, all they have to do is meet expectations to amaze their guests.

When Tony’s first opened they were a very formal restaurant. Servers were in tuxedos, men wore suits and ties and the women wore fancy dresses. Also, “back then,” they were in a different location. It was a multi-level building. I was always impressed when the maître d’ would escort you to the table, and when he walked up the stairs, he walked backward. I thought, how interesting. This must be an extremely formal way of taking a guest to his or her table. Well, decades later, I now have the story.

I interviewed Kim Tucci, entrepreneur and restaurateur, for my Amazing Business Radio show, and if you haven’t listened to it, you should. There are many excellent customer service tips from a veteran in the hospitality business. Many years ago – as in almost 50 years ago – Kim worked at Tony’s, and he’s the one who came up with the idea of walking backwards up and down the stairs. It turns out that it wasn’t because of a fancy or formal ritual. It was born out of necessity.

On any given weekend night, the restaurant was packed. Sometimes the wait for a table was three hours. But, the food and service had the reputation for being stellar, and people were willing to wait. My friend, Kim, was the maître d’, and one busy Saturday night he was escorting his guests to their table. He asked them to follow him, and about halfway up the stairs turned around and they weren’t there. Somehow, they had lost sight of Kim and went in the wrong direction. At that moment, Kim decided he would never take his eye off the guest, and the infamous walking backwards up and down the stairs ritual began.

The Lesson: Never take your eye off your customers. If you do, they might get lost. You must guide them, but it is more than guiding them to a table in a restaurant. In business, you must guide them to make good decisions – one of which is doing business with you. Don’t let them get lost, or they may stray to doing business with the competition. Stay focused on doing the right thing for your customers, and they will stay focused on you.

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, keynote speaker, and New York Times bestselling business author. For information, contact 314-692-2200 or www.hyken.com. For information on The Customer Focus customer service training programs, go to www.thecustomerfocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken

(Copyright © MMXVIII, Shep Hyken)

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Amazing Business Radio: Bill Gessert

Ten Ways To Recognize Employees During National Customer Service Week
National Customer Service Week Is About Customers AND Employees

Shep Hyken sits down with Bill Gessert to talk about National Customer Service Week (October 1-5, 2018). They discussed 10 ways to celebrate the week-long event, how to create an employee-centric culture, and how to get C-suite executives involved in the everyday culture.



Top Takeaways:

The International Customer Service Association started National Customer Service Week (NCSW) in 1984 because they wanted to create a meaningful way to recognize the work people do and the impact it has on the customer experience.
In 2018, NCSW will be held on the first week of October. The theme this year is Exceeding Expectations, Every Customer, Every Time.
The people that provide customer service need to get recognized in order to re-energize their customer-centric focus. National Customer Service Week is a great way to have a positive impact on employee engagement.
There are employees that your customers never meet who have a profound impact on your customers’ overall experience.
Organizations that focus on creating a sustainable culture that is employee-centric will eventually become customer-centric.
Bill shared ten ways to recognize and celebrate the value employees bring to the customer experience during NCSW. A few of them included hosting a kickoff breakfast, having C-suite executives trade places with employees, and writing handwritten thank you notes to employees.

Quotes:

“There is a clear link between employee engagement and customer experience. Customer Service Week is a great way to enhance employee engagement by providing recognition.” – Bill Gessert
“When someone takes the time to hand write a note and send it to you, that makes a positive statement. There’s power in the pen!” – Bill Gessert
“Customers like knowing they’re doing business with organizations that recognize the value of their employees.” – Bill Gessert

About:

Bill Gessert is the VP of business growth at Premiere Response and the President of the International Customer Service Association (ICSA).

Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and your host of Amazing Business Radio.

This episode of Amazing Business Radio with Shep Hyken answers the following questions … and more:

What is National Customer Service Week?
How can companies Celebrate National Customer Service Week?
How can companies recognize their most valuable customers?
How can you create a customer-centric organization?
How can you improve employee engagement?

The post Amazing Business Radio: Bill Gessert appeared first on Shep Hyken.

5 Top Customer Service Articles for the Week of September 10, 2018

Each week I read a number of customer service and customer experience articles from various resources. Here are my top five picks from last week. I have added my comment about each article and would like to hear what you think too.

Five Musts For Delivering ‘Legendary’ Customer Care On Social Channels by Andrew Kokes

(Forbes) In today’s disruptive business economy, in order to create distinctiveness for a brand online, it is imperative to have social customer care that is more than good — or even great. It must be legendary.

My Comment: There are some basics in delivering an excellent customer service experience on social media. This article has some of those basics and a little more. Quick response… a must. Empathy… customers want you to understand them. Fun… that’s optional, but why not? After all, it’s social!

4 Simple Strategies That Will Help You Offer Excellent Customer Service by Toby Nwazor

(Entrepreneur) The story about Amazon and the PlayStation will warm your heart. It’s also a great model for your company to follow.

My Comment: As long as we’re covering some basics, this article shares some of the most important reasons customers want to do business with a company. The author brings back an old story about how Amazon took responsibility for a lost package. It wasn’t Amazon’s fault, but they took ownership. (That’s what Amazon does!) And, there are some good stats and facts about the importance of delivering an excellent service experience.

How AI, Machine Learning And Other Disruptive Trends Are Defining The Future Of Customer Service by Julian Mitchell

(Forbes) As rapid advancements in technology continue transforming how businesses are developed in the modern world, entrepreneurs are actively exploring smarter ways to operate more efficiently and eliminate issues that have traditionally plagued progress and performance.

My Comment: Mikhail Naumov is a very smart man. He’s an AI, machine learning expert and has a successful company that I’ve featured in Forbes in the past. This interview shares some of Mikhail’s most recent observations about how chatbots, AI and digital technology is changing the world of customer service.

How to train your agents to avoid these 5 customer service fails by Rhiân Davies

(GetApp) Nowadays, customers won’t hesitate to vent about their poor customer service experience over social media, which can do huge damage to your company’s reputation.

My Comment: If you are a customer and are on the receiving end of any of these support center “mistakes,” no doubt you’ll be unhappy – and may even choose to cease doing business with the company. And, if you manage a support center that is guilty of any one (or more) of these five “customer service fails,” you’ll be just as upset. This article was originally published three years ago and updated this week. Good information for your support center!

Personalize Customer Service To Boost Sales Opportunities by Michael Mink

(Investor’s Business Daily) According to Dialog Direct’s Customer Rage study, the No. 1 phrase in customer service that makes everyone crazy is this doozy: “Your call is very important to us. Please continue to wait on hold.”

My Comment: A personalized customer experience increases sales. It’s that simple. This short article has six ideas to create an experience that will help bring your customers back. Repeat customers spend more and can eventually become loyal customers.

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, professional speaker and New York Times bestselling business author. For information on The Customer Focus customer service training programs go to www.TheCustomerFocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken

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