Shep Hyken's Blog, page 142

Amazing Business Radio: Bob Baker

Amazing Customer Service Tips From A Doctor
Techniques from the stage to optimize the patient/customer experience

Shep Hyken sits down with Dr. Bob Baker. They discussed his new book The Performance Of Medicine, how Bob relates his experiences as a magician and doctor to customer service, and how to optimize the customer/patient experience. There is a lot that anyone and any business can learn from Dr. Bob!



Top Takeaways:

Bob shared four basic techniques that all performers use to create connections with customers. They are:

1. Listening and observing – Listen to what the other person is saying and respond with your full attention. At that moment, be the best version of yourself that you can be.

2. Being in the moment – You want your customer to think that you’re only there for them at that moment. Being present in the moment is the only part of the interaction that you have complete control over. The way you maintain that is by…

3. Staying in character – The character you have to play is the best version of yourself. That character is different than who you are at home or in social settings.

4. Act as if – If you act in a certain way, you will feel it, then you will become it. Act like there is no place that you’d rather be than with that customer.

As a doctor, thinking of people as just patients isn’t enough. It’s the experience that they get that will cause them to come back and refer friends to you.
Bad things are going to happen, the lesson is to own them. Hospitals (and businesses) can decrease malpractice suits (and lost customers) by taking the following steps:

1. Owning their mistake

2. Explaining the mistake to the victim family

3. Explaining what steps the hospital will take to prevent it from happening again

4. Offering some form of compensation

Quotes:

“It is easier to act our way into a new way of thinking, then to think our way into a new way of acting.” – Bob Baker
“When something goes wrong, patients and customers want to hear that you care, that you’re concerned that the problem happened, and that it won’t happen to anybody else.” – Bob Baker
“Good performance is authentic behavior in a manufactured environment” – Bob Baker“
Every time you speak with a customer, you need to be the biggest and best version of yourself for that one person at that one moment.” – Bob Baker

About:

Dr. Bob Baker is a retired gastroenterologist. Before medicine, he performed as a professional magician and ventriloquist. He even was a contestant on America’s Got Talent. His experiences in both medicine and performance gave him the knowledge and wisdom that he shared in his book, The Performance Of Medicine.

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:

How can doctors be better at customer service?
How can you make your customers happy?
What can you do to create a better customer experience?
How can customer service reps be authentic?
How can businesses fix their mistakes?

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Six Ways To Out-Convenience Your Competition – And Maybe an Entire Industry

I’ve spent my professional career teaching companies and individuals how to provide amazing customer service and a customer experience (CX) that would keep customers coming back and help their businesses to grow and thrive. But today, customers expect more. They know what good service looks like and they expect it. And, they not only compare you just to your direct competitor, but to the best service they have ever received – from anyone. Delivering an expected level of service is now the baseline, and you have to find a way to differentiate yourself from the competition – because they are also trying to out-service you. I have found a way. It’s a concept that is being embraced by smart, successful companies to disrupt their competition, and in some cases, entire industries. 

And the secret is this: Convenience. If you can find a way to make your customer’s life easier, or find a way to be easier to do business with, you will have added a new level to your CX that will draw customers away from the competition. How can you do that? I can teach you. My new book, The Convenience Revolution: How to Deliver a Customer Service Experience That Disrupts the Competition and Creates Fierce Loyalty, can guide you and help you come up with ideas to create more convenience for your customers.

The book highlights dozens of companies that have used convenience to disrupt their competitors. And, in some cases, companies that have come up with ways to make people’s lives easier have disrupted entire industries. As I studied these companies, I identified six Convenience Principles that they are using to set themselves apart from the competition. They are:

1. Reduce Friction

2. Self-Service

3. Technology

4. Subscription

5. Delivery

6. Access

Let’s discuss each one and look at examples from different companies:

Reduce Friction: This is really what convenience is all about. It is the overriding principle, and the others that follow detail ways to reduce friction, or make life easier for the customer. Think about a convenience store. The concept originated in the 1920s, when Southland Ice Company, which sold big blocks of ice for iceboxes (precursor to the refrigerator), started stocking basic items like milk and bread. Maybe their items cost a little more, but customers loved the convenience of not having to make a special trip to the grocery store for these necessities, and the convenience store was born. Today we know it as 7-Eleven, which has nearly 65,000 stores worldwide. Another company built on the principle of reducing friction is Uber. They not only disrupted a competitor (a taxi cab company), they disrupted the entire industry. You open up the Uber app, input your destination, the app informs you how far away your driver is and how much the trip is going to cost. When the car shows up, the driver knows your name and when you leave, you don’t have to reach in your pocket for money or a credit card, because you’re already in the system. Uber out-convenienced the entire industry!

Self-Service: While self-service sounds like it’s making more work for the customer, this isn’t really the case. Many customers prefer the self-service checkout option at the grocery store if it means not having to stand in a long line. And, when customers have a question or problem, where do they turn for answers? Most will start by checking the company’s website first, hoping to find a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page, or maybe even instructional videos to help them figure out a solution on their own. One of my favorite examples of self-service is offered at Panera Bread, a chain of restaurants that provides the option for customers to order and pay for their meal at a kiosk. Since introducing the kiosks, Panera has been working to streamline the process even further. Now, when you place your order at a kiosk you are given a pager, then you simply take your seat at a table. The tables actually have sensors built into them, so when your order is ready, you don’t even have to get up. The server knows where you are and brings your food to you. I asked a manager at a local Panera why they made the change, and his answer was simple and direct: “Because it’s more convenient for our guests.”

Technology: Technology is an obvious way for companies to create more convenience. By providing an app or website, you are giving customers more options, more ways to connect, get information or even make purchases. PayPal is an online banking solution through which people can send money or transfer funds from one bank account to another in an instant. One of my favorite apps is the NoWait app, which allows customers to remotely put their name on a restaurant’s waiting list. If the wait is an hour, you can actually watch your name moving up the list and time your arrival so when you get to the restaurant, there is … no wait.

Subscription: Subscription services have expanded from magazines and newspapers to include all kinds of products and services. Amazon, the leader in convenience, offers a subscription service for a myriad of consumable products. Annual maintenance contracts are a form of a subscription model. If you go to a hardware store to buy an air conditioner or furnace filters every six months, many now make it easier by offering the option of automatically sending you the new filters when you need them. And when they show up, it is also a reminder to change them. Netflix disrupted the video industry when they offered a subscription model that made it easier than driving back and forth to the video store.

Delivery: Take it to the customer. Using delivery as a convenience proposition can go beyond shipping a product to the customer’s home or office. Even some service-based businesses have begun to offer mobile options, going to where the customer is, making life easier. I recently purchased a new car – not from the dealership where I had been a loyal customer for more than 20 years – but from one that, even though it was much further from my home, offered more convenience. I really didn’t intend to buy a car there; I just saw one that caught my eye while driving past. When I stopped to look at it, I told the salesman that I would ultimately buy from my local dealership, but he sold me on convenience. He said that anytime the car needed service – even a simple oil change – they would deliver a new car to my home to use until they returned mine. He disrupted the other dealership that I’d been going to for more than two decades.

Access: Are you available where and when your customers need you? If you’re not, you face some stiff competition. Websites are available 24/7. Walmarts are everywhere, in fact, 90 percent of U.S. residents live within 10 minutes of a Walmart. Think about your location and hours of operation. Are they designed to be convenient for your customers – or for you? Could you disrupt your competition by offering nighttime or weekend hours? Huntington Bank offers extend daily and weekend hours

The concept of being intentionally convenient can be a competitive business weapon. I studied hundreds of companies and their business processes to identify the areas in which these companies excelled to create a more convenient CX. My book, The Convenience Revolution, can guide you and help you come up with ideas to create more convenience for your customers.

And, if you’re reading this article before the book’s official release on October 2, 2018 – you can actually read the book today! Go to www.BeConvenient.com to purchase today, and you will have immediate access to the eBook for free. Then, on the official release date, you will be sent the hardback book.

In the end, it’s really quite simple. Customers will pay more for convenience. And they’ll choose to do more business with the people and companies that make their lives easier. So, choose one or more of the Convenience Principles that you can work on. Find ways to be more convenient for your customers and you’ll disrupt your competition and create fierce loyalty.

Shep Hyken is a customer service/experience expert, an award-winning keynote speaker and New York Times bestselling author. His latest book, The Convenience Revolution, is now available for pre-order.

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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5 Top Customer Service Articles for the Week of August 20, 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.

T-Mobile is completely overhauling how its customer service works by Chris Welch

(The Verge) Team of Experts launches nationwide today for postpaid customers

My Comment: This is how customer service should always be. T-Mobile is becoming a role model for customer service. Check out this quote from their CEO, John Legere: “The first thing I did when I became CEO of this company is I spent every night sitting at home listening to both sides of customer service calls. I listened, we acted and we heard. That’s the foundation for what we’re going to do today.”

Are your customers’ experiences profoundly remarkable? by Chip Bell

(Retail Customer Experience) Emotional connection in the customer experience game is a mere table stake, not an extra or a value-add. It is the rule, not the exception. The absence of an emotional connection is the definition of a poor customer experience.

My Comment: I read the title of this article and was intrigued. What does “profoundly remarkable” mean? What does it take for a customer to say, “They are remarkable.”? Customer service expert Chip Bell gives us some insights into how to do exactly that.

11 Customer Experience Experts: Here’s How To Get Customers Talking About Your Company by Dan Gingiss

(Forbes) As companies pour money into generating the seemingly elusive “word-of-mouth marketing,” it’s not just about celebrities and other influencers. Focusing on a great customer experience can result in fewer customers leaving a business and, perhaps more importantly, more customers advocating to their friends and families on a company’s behalf.

My Comment: Musical recording artist Bonnie Raitt had a hit song, “Let’s Give Them Something to Talk About!” Dan Gingiss, marketing and customer service expert, pulled together comments from eleven customer service experts who share their insights that will help you give your customers something to talk about.

Critical areas of the digital customer experience by Natalia Hawkins

(MyCustomer) Over the past couple of decades, the concept of being able to conduct business operations virtually (both in a B2B and B2C setting) has caused a huge ripple effect for companies across the board. Perhaps no area has been impacted more than the customer experience (CX).

My Comment: How much digital is too much digital? And how can a company manage the digital experience across all channels and to all the stakeholders in a business, on both sides (the company and the customer)? This article covers some interesting areas One of the popular conversations in the CX world is how to balance the digital and human interaction. This article looks at three areas that, while applicable to all companies/brands, are especially applicable to the B2B companies.

Domino’s Pizza Serves Up Innovations In Customer Experience (CX) To Drive Business Growth b y Brian Solis

(Forbes)  Businesses must now understand customer expectations as they continue to rise as a function of customer relationships with technology. And, brands must also rethink innovation and service to deliver faster, easier and better customer experiences (CX) to drive business growth and loyalty.

My Comment: Domino’s pizza has a simple business, right? You just call in to order the pizza and it shows up 30 minutes later. How complicated can that be? Well, it’s not, but today innovation and technology are at the forefront of creating a better experience for Domino’s customers. And, there’s quite a bit any business can learn from a pizza delivery company.

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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Guest Blog: How to Benchmark Your Customer Support Metrics — A Quick Guide

This week we feature an article by Kaavya Karthikeyan who writes about customer support metrics that you should be tracking. – Shep Hyken

In the world we live in today, we are constantly faced with challenges and competition, and the only way you’re going to win in such a cut-throat environment is to stand out. The best way to outperform your peers is through constant evolution and refining, and nowhere does this apply more than in the customer support arena. One of the best ways by which you can ensure your organization is consistently performing is by benchmarking customer support metrics. This involves the comparison of certain metrics to that the industry benchmarks and to your competitors. If you’re below the industry average, you need to rethink your current support strategy and maybe see what your competition is doing differently. If you’re at or above the average, you know you’re doing something right and thus, use that as a foundation to build further innovations on.

Here are the top five customer support metrics that you should be tracking.

First Call Resolution: A Testament to Your Support Team’s Product Knowledge

First call resolution (FCR) is the number of tickets that have been resolved with the first response. It directly translates into the level of product knowledge your support team has. A positive FCR has a directly proportional impact on customer satisfaction (CSAT) as well.

Accordingly, to the Freshdesk’s Customer Happiness Benchmark Report 2018, the average FCR is 71%.

Anything below this means that your support team is not well versed with the product/service you offer.

Pro tip 1: Get your team involved in a knowledge base project or set up micro-learning.

Pro tip 2: Make a note of commonly raised issues and create a strong knowledge base which can be shared with the customer and improve FCR.

First Response Rate: The Measure of How Soon a Customer Ticket is Resolved

First response rate (FRR) is the time taken for a response to be provided to a ticket. The quicker the resolution, the more satisfied your customers will be with your service.

The industry benchmark for FRR is 7 hours.

If your FRR is below par, it’s due to being understaffed or the support channels are too narrow.

One of the best ways to tackle the problem and help agents optimize their work is to consider using helpdesk software. Additionally, creating an FAQ page and community forums for customers can help deflect tickets and reduce the volume of tickets for your agents.

Pro tip 1: Make sure that chasing speed doesn’t compromise on the quality of support.

Pro tip 2: Hire temporary support agents during seasons that see high ticket volume.

Meeting SLAs: Setting the Right Expectations for Customers

Service Lease Agreements (SLAs) are time-based parameters that agents are expected to work within. This also sets the right expectations for the customer and how quickly they can get a response from support.

The industry average for resolution time is 86 percent.

If you’re below this benchmark, your support channels may not be optimized and thus, your support is to reply to your customers. You may not have an optimized knowledge base set up.

You can look at metrics such as the number of clients per support person, as well as time taken to resolve each ticket to look at your agents’ performances and offer them the aid they need.

Pro tip 1: Base your SLAs on a ticket to agent ratio.

Number of Responses to Resolution: The Sooner, the Better

This tells you how many responses your agents take to resolve a customer.  It is also a measure of how efficient your agents are at what they do.

The industry benchmark is one response to resolution.

If it is taking longer than a single response it’s due to the absence of essential information from the customer, a loosely built knowledge base, lack of omnichannel approach, or merely inadequate product knowledge.

Pro tip 1: Make sure that your staff is well versed about your product so that they will be able to resolve tickets faster.

Pro tip 2: Make sure that the various teams who are in charge of the different communication channels work in tandem.

Customer Satisfaction Score: The Ultimate Goal of Your Support Team

However, at the end of the day, make sure that the stats you choose are both measurable across the industry and that the parameters you use are as similar to others as possible. Your customer’s feedback matters the most so make sure you collect it and keep updating your support based on it. Lastly, focus on the future as well. Ensure that all your support methods are scalable and that you constantly analyze and keep up with the trends of the industry. After all, you exist to keep your customers satisfied and content.

Kaavya Karthikeyan is a content creator at Freshworks. Binge reader. Gaming addict. Coffee connoisseur. Feminist.

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

Read Shep’s latest Forbes Articles:  Five Ways To Create Rockstar Employee Engagement

My Ritz-Carlton Experience

 

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The Convenience Question: How Easy Am I to Do Business With?

Over the years I’ve taught a concept I refer to as the One Thing Question. This is a very simple question to use in a survey as a follow-up to the simple survey question, like the Net Promoter Score question (NPS). For those that may not be familiar with the NPS survey question, it is simply this: On a scale of zero to ten, what is the likelihood that you would recommend us to a friend, colleague or family member. This simple question gives you an idea if your organization did well enough for the customer to recommend you. The follow-up question is this:

Is there one thing you can think of that would make doing business with us better?

The idea is that if you have a number of customers suggesting the same “one thing,” you need to pay attention. And, if the ideas are coming from the customers giving you high ratings, then the suggestions are giving you the opportunity to improve on greatness.

So, here’s a twist on the typical one thing question. Let’s assume you are customer focused and your organization is providing a level of customer service that earns consistent high scores. Where can you go from here? In addition to the great service, be easy and convenient to do business with. That’s the subject of my new book, The Convenience Revolution: How to Deliver a Customer Service Experience that Disrupts the Competition and Creates Fierce Loyalty. This is the next level of customer service. So, the twist on the one thing question is this:

Is there one thing you can suggest that would make doing business with us easier or more convenient?

Some companies make convenience part of, if not all of, their value proposition. They know it separates them from their competition. Huntington Bank has extended hours for their customers, so they can bank after normal business hours and on weekends. CLEAR provides a solution to the frequent traveler that hates waiting in security lines in the airport. Walmart has strategically placed their stores so that 90% of people in the US are less than 10 minutes from a Walmart. Restaurants that choose to use the NoWait app lets their guests add their names to the waiting list at a busy restaurant and time their arrival so that when they show up they are near the top of the list.

So, what one thing (or more) can you do to be more convenient for your customers? Come up with the answer and you may get more business from your existing customers and steal away customers from your competition.

Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, award-winning 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

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Amazing Business Radio: Tiffani Bova

The Carnival Of Business Growth Strategies
Get smarter about building your company’s future

Shep Hyken sits down with Tiffani Bova, the global growth and innovation evangelist at Salesforce. They discussed her new book Growth IQ, what the carnival can teach you about business, and the 10 simple paths of business growth.



Top Takeaways:

While growing up in Hawaii, Tiffani worked in a roaming carnival. She learned many valuable lessons about business such as hiring, firing, employee motivation, and customer experience.
According to Tiffani, you can boil down business growth to ten paths. Successful companies are able to maximize at least one of these ten growth paths.
Growth comes down to three things:


The context of the market in which someone chose a particular path.
The combination of what they did around multiple growth paths.
The sequence of how they actually did those things.

Context, combination, and sequence make or break the decisions companies make.

By making decisions that lean towards customer experience and radical hospitality, companies like Shake Shack are able to differentiate themselves from the competition.
Starbucks suffered a brand crisis when they overwhelmed their customers by expanding too fast and adding many items to their menu that weren’t congruent with their main offering. They brought back CEO Howard Schultz to course-correct by returning to the customer experience path.
Businesses play a huge role in society. They should choose to do well by doing good, putting purpose over profit, and becoming better stewards of the people in the world.

Quotes:

“Everything I learned about business, I learned from the carnival.” – Tiffani Bova
“Word of mouth is a huge part of why people decide to buy – or not.” – Tiffani Bova
“Customer experience is the new product.” – Tiffani Bova
“People will remember the experience much longer than the price they paid.” – Tiffani Bova
“If you want to reduce churn, you have to deliver a better experience.” – Tiffani Bova
“If customer experience isn’t your true north, you’re setting yourself up for failure.” – Tiffani Bova

About:

Tiffani Bova is the global growth and innovation evangelist at Salesforce. She spent ten years at Gartner, where she helped companies like Cisco, IBM, and Oracle capture new growth opportunities, win the eyes of customers, and improve the way they take their products to market. Her new book Growth IQ helps companies get smarter about the choices that will make or break their businesses.

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:

How can a business achieve sustainable growth?
What qualities should you look for when hiring employees?
What is radical hospitality? And how can it help your business?
How can you differentiate your business from competitors?
How can companies be more socially responsible?

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5 Top Customer Service Articles for the Week of August 13, 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.

Are You Making This Critical Connection With Your Customers to Strengthen Relationships and Drive Loyalty? by Steve Bernstein

(Business2Community) Customer Success is typically defined as, “ensuring customers achieve their desired outcomes while using your product or service.” If you’re relying on this explicit definition to drive retention and expansion then you’re missing a better opportunity.

My Comment: This excellent article on customer loyalty departs from the typical article focused on B2C businesses and has a big emphasis on the B2B customer. Consider two types of loyalty; behavioral and attitudinal. Plenty of good info and ideas to get you thinking about how to drive loyalty with buying committees, executives, end users and more.

Want better customer service? Don’t call. Text. by Geoffrey A. Fowler 

(Savannah Now) Here’s how much I hate calling customer service: I wasted $120 over six months just to avoid calling AT&T to turn off data service on two iPads I was no longer using.

My Comment: If you want better customer service, especially for quick and simple questions or requests, then read this article. Customers are getting more comfortable with alternative support channels. Traditionally customers called. Now they like to text. Texting/messaging can potentially get you a faster response. More and more brands are open to alternative channels. Your customers expect it, so don’t fight it.

9 Ways to be a Never-Ending Student of Service by Steve DiGioia

(Steve DiGioia) When we become the boss we automatically think we’re a leader. Then we do “leadership-type” things.

My Comment: Want to get better at customer service? Don’t stop learning about it. There are plenty of resources to keep up-to-date with the latest customer service strategies, technologies and tactics – and my friend Steve DiGioia shares many of these in this article. Keep learning and stay at the top of your customer service game.

Eight Unique Ways To Thank Customers For Their Loyalty by Young Entrepreneur Council

(Forbes) Customer retention is a critical component of any business’s overall strategy. After all, studies show that it costs five times as much to land a new customer than it does to keep the one you already have.

My Comment: One of the first customer service lessons I learned was to say “THANK YOU” to my customers. At 12 years old I started my birthday party magic show business. After my first show, my parents told me to write a thank you note. Showing appreciation to your customers is not an option. It’s imperative. Here are eight ways you can thank your best customers. It may seem basic, but it’s so very important.

Winning the Hearts–and Loyalty–of Younger Consumers by Shannon Andrick

(Chain Store Age) Alliance Data’s 2018 “Rules of NextGen Loyalty”  study validates an emerging trend happening with today’s younger consumers: Not only are they financially conscious, they’re also heavily influenced by cost when it comes to purchasing decisions.

My Comment: The first thing I thought about as I started to read this article were the first words from a popular song: “I believe the children are our future.” Businesses need to know that loyalty, earned from a younger customer, is a key to long-term growth and success.

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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Guest Blog: Six Ways Predictive Analytics Enhances Customer Relations

This week we feature an article by Jarrin Howard who writes about how predictive analytics can enhance customer relations. – Shep Hyken

Have you ever gone down a rabbit hole of suggested videos on YouTube? Or maybe you’ve lost yourself in a thread of related products on Amazon (regretfully). These are common examples of sites using predictive analytics catering to individual customer preferences.

With the rise of machine learning, predictive analytics is becoming the status quo. It applies to various fields such as banking and travel, with customer relations at the forefront, putting Predictive Customer Analytics (PCA) in a field of its own. PCA utilizes historical data from a CRM to guess the likelihood of future events. These predictions aren’t without error, but they assist in making informed decisions concerning customers.

Here are 6 ways predictive analytics can enhance customer-related interactions:

Targeting Warm Leads

If you can determine which leads will turn out to be warmest, converting customers will be easier, and all marketing efforts will be worthwhile. Predictive analytics can assist in this process by comparing existing loyal customer data to the leads in question. This will provide a prediction on whether the leads will turn out to be warm and help decide where to direct the bulk of your marketing efforts for new business.

Segmenting Customers

Manual segmentation is extremely tedious work, especially if there is a bulk of customers with a myriad of interests. With machine learning, PCA can simply group customers into distinct segments based on diverse characteristics more efficiently than doing it manually. Segments that are more detailed and precise work to make your marketing efforts more efficient. This makes it easier to access and allows personalized content to a heightened degree.

Personalizing Content

Personalization is key in today’s sophisticated market; creating campaigns for customers based on their personal interests can spark new interests and provide memorable experiences. Again, utilizing historical information, PCA helps with this process by comparing the customers in question with past customers. From there, machine learning creates models to predict what customers are most likely interested in.

This matter of specialization doesn’t just relate to products but also to product discounts, promotions, upselling, and cross-selling. When marketing efforts are personalized, customers tend to respond more readily.

Choosing Channels

After producing content that will be of interest to customers, deciding which marketing channels to use is important. Just like there is a wealth of products and services on the market, there are countless channels available to reach customers such as email, social media, blogs, webinars and more. Machine learning can help with this by utilizing a regression model to determine which channels will customers prefer.

Predicting Satisfaction

When there isn’t enough feedback from customers, it may be difficult to determine how satisfied they are with your services or products. However, predictive analytics can aggregate various criteria to predict satisfaction.

For example, if satisfied customers typically click on ads at a high rate, it may be easy to assume that a customer who consistently has a low click-rate is not satisfied. However, there are multiple variables needed to measure and predict satisfaction. Luckily, machine learning can synthesize multiple variables in one model, such as a neural network design.

Calculating Customer Churn

Predicting customer churn and satisfaction are two sides of the same coin. The two processes might even occur at the same time, and similar data can be used for both. Knowing which customers are likely to churn helps decide whether to direct special attention to them to change their minds, or focus on customers who are most likely to stay.

Final Thoughts

Predictive analytics helps in all aspects of the customer journey. From the time you are trying to identify your warmest leads, to the point where your most loyal customers want to promote your business, predictive analytics is a necessary aid. It is already commonplace in many industries. Don’t get left behind.

Jarrin Howard is a Digital Marketing Intern at Indusa an innovative technology partner providing end-to-end enterprise software solutions and services to deliver business results: improve productivity, increase efficiency, and reduce costs. 

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

Read Shep’s latest Forbes Articles:  What Customers Want And Expect

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Your Customer Service DNA

Some people are just naturally good at providing great customer service. They are people pleasers. They pay attention to details. And, it seems to come naturally to them. So, are they born with it, or do they learn it? How do they recognize that this is what they are good at?

Just a few weeks ago I went through an exercise and one of the questions was about my “entrepreneurial DNA.” I took a different approach to the question. It wasn’t just about being an entrepreneur. I realized that there was a point in my life that I could look back and say, “That’s when I knew I was passionate about taking care of customers.” I didn’t know it then but looking back I can see that it was what defined me. That was my “Customer Service DNA.”

The same could be said for any profession. The president of a major bank looks back and says, “That’s when I knew I was good at numbers and wanted to work in finance.” Or, the artist at some point realized, “That’s when I fell in love with painting.” It could be a career or a hobby. It’s what you’re passionate about. With enough thinking, many people can look back and realize there was a point in their life that defined who they are today. That leads me up to my defining moment, and I refer to it as the Snow Plow Moment.

I was just sixteen years old. I had spent $900 on an old Jeep with a snowplow. The snow plow was worth about $700, so the jeep was worth only $200. It was a “hunk of junk.” My goal was to make money in the winter plowing driveways. Before the first snowfall, I had secured 15 customers in the area. The first snowstorm came that winter and all worked perfectly. Same with the second snowstorm. It was that third snowstorm that was the defining moment.

It was 4:00 am and I was getting ready to plow the driveways, and my car wouldn’t start. Nothing I did was going to get that engine to turn over. I was upset. Not because the car wouldn’t start, but because I promised these people that I would plow their driveways. They were going to wake up and not be able to get their cars to the street.

A friend of mine had a brand-new Chevy Blazer with a plow. He plowed parking lots and athletic fields for schools. Maybe he could help me. So, at just a few minutes past 4:00 am I called him. His mom answered the phone. I explained the problem and she woke her son. I told him how much I charged for each driveway and that I would be happy to give him all the money if he would pick me up and help me take care of my customers. He did, and my customers never knew there was a problem.

At the young age of 16, I knew that all I wanted to do was take care of my customers. The money didn’t matter at that point. They depended on me, and that’s all that mattered. It would have been easy to call them and tell them my car wouldn’t start, but that was not me. As I look back at my youth, I can see how certain “moments” defined me. That was the Snow Plow Moment, and today that is how I treat each and every client. I’ll do what I have to do to take care of them. That’s my customer service DNA.

So, what’s your version of a Snow Plow Moment? Looking back, what moment helped define who you are today? Once you recognize it, it will give you a renewed sense of purpose. It’s who you are and why you do what you do.

Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, award-winning 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

Amazing Business Radio: James Dodkins

Delivering A Rockstar Customer Experience
Putting Your Customer First By Putting Your Employees First

Shep Hyken sits down with James Dodkins to discuss James’s new book, 136 Ideas For Rockstar Employee Engagement, having an employee mission, and the real definition of customer experience.



Top Takeaways:

James previous experience as a rockstar in a heavy metal band helped him discover that companies can be customer service rockstars, too.
What happens on the inside of a company will be felt on the outside by the customers. That’s why it’s important that you put your employees first.
Your part of the customer’s experience is typically a tiny little piece of a much larger puzzle. There’s a lot more that happens across the whole customer journey.
Giving employees an inspiring, empowering, and memorable mission is one of the best gifts you can give them. Employees want to see that they’re making a positive change in customers lives.
Of the 136 ideas for rockstar employee engagement, a few of James’s favorites include having employees meet their customers, writing personal letters to employee family members, and holding fun employee events, such as a a class on how to make cocktails (named after emplyees and departments).
James shares a heart touching story about how Southwest Airlines truly embodies their mission, “Connecting people to what matters most.”
Rockstars don’t have customers. They have fans. Likewise, rockstar companies don’t just have customers, they have evangelists who are willing to share their experiences

Quotes:

“If you engage with your employees rationally, they’ll take the job. If you engage with them emotionally, they’ll stay for life.” – James Dodkins
“Your mission can affect attitudes. Attitudes become behaviors. Behaviors become cultures. And, rockstar cultures create not only customers, but fans.” – James Dodkins
“Look at things as if you were the customer. It seems so foundational, but it works. If you think like the customer and encourage others to do the same, you’ll get really good at customer service.” – James Dodkins
“If you want to put your customers first, you need to put your employees first, first.” – James Dodkins

About:

James Dodkins is an author and customer experience rockstar. Before he transitioned into his current occupation, he played guitar in a heavy-metal band. Today, James helps companies like Nike, Disney, and Mercedes improve their employee and customer experiences.

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:

How can you increase employee engagement?
How can you think like a customer?
What’s the definition of customer experience?
What’s the importance of an employee mission?
What is a customer experience rockstar?