Shep Hyken's Blog, page 158

Don’t Be Ridiculous

One of my colleagues in the speaking business, Bob Wendover, sent in this amazing story – and it’s not amazing in a good way.

For years, the cable industry has unfortunately been one of those industries that finds itself in the bottom echelon of customer service rankings. While I believe the industry is making an effort to do better, and some companies are definitely becoming more customer-focused, it’s this kind of story that makes me wonder if they are going about it the right way.

My buddy Bob decided to make a change in his cable TV plan so, as most customers do, he called the company’s customer service support number. Eventually, after various prompts and a short wait time, he was connected to a customer service rep who introduced herself by her first name and asked to whom she was talking to. He replied, “Bob,” which is how he always introduces himself. Then she asked for the name on the account. He said, “Robert Wendover,” and she went on to verify the street address.  She then informed Bob that he was not authorized to change the account. Her explanation for this was simply… ridiculous!

The reason the customer service rep told Bob he was not authorized to make the change was because when he first introduced himself, he didn’t do so by using his formal name, Robert. At this explanation, Bob was surprised, to say the least, flabbergasted even. He asked her if she could ask some questions to verify his identity, but she refused to do so.

He hung up, disappointed, if not even slightly angry, and called right back. When a different customer service rep eventually came on the line and asked his name, he said, “Robert.” This time, he was able to make the change.

This is a result of one of two things: either hiring the wrong person for the front-line or not properly training the person (or maybe a combination of the two). This is more than a lack of flexibility. This was a display of questionable intelligence. So, the lesson here is simple:

Hire the right people: These should be people who have good common sense and the right attitude about taking care of customers.
Train these good people properly: In addition to whatever technical training they may need to answer customers’ questions, teach them some soft skills, such as how to communicate and when to be flexible.
Common sense should prevail: If you’ve hired the right people, and they are trained well, let them do their job. Empower them to do what is right for both the company and the customer.

Bob’s story is an example of a ridiculous Moment of Misery. It was a simple customer service experience gone bad, an experience that could have easily been handled with a little – actually, very little – common sense.

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 © MMXVII, Shep Hyken)

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Amazing Business Radio: Joey Coleman

Turn One-Time Purchasers Into Lifelong Customers
Shep Hyken Interviews Joey Coleman, Author of “Never Lose a Customer Again”

How would you like to never lose a customer again?

Award-winning speaker Joey Coleman shares the secrets behind not only gaining new customers, but also how to make them customers for life. He shares his 100 Days principle, and discusses his new book “Never Lose a Customer Again.”

Top Takeaways:

The Difference Between Customer Service and Customer Experience: Customer service is usually reactive, or the detailed, tactical steps taken when dealing with customers whereas customer experience is usually proactive consisting of the interactions, perceptions, and the feelings and emotions created with a customer.
Customers for life are built within the first 100 days. The 100 Days principle is a strategy for running a business, starting from the moment a customer decides to do business with your company. From there, it’s a ticking clock from day 1 to day 100. This is an opportunity to navigate the customer through a journey.
Social media should be used more as a listening device than as a megaphone device. You should be listening to what your customers are saying at an individualized level on social media so that you can personalize their experience versus using social media as megaphone for you to blast your content and message out to the world.
After closing the deal with the customer, the job is not done. Continually nurture the relationship, rather than just walking away after a sale is made. That is how you create loyalty.

About:

Joey Coleman helps companies keep their customers. An award-winning speaker, he works with organizations around the world ranging from small startups to major brands such as Deloitte, Hyatt Hotels, Zappos, and NASA. He is co-host of the “Experience This” podcast with customer thought leader, Dan Gingiss. His First 100 Days methodology fuels the remarkable experiences his clients deliver. In his upcoming book, “Never Lose a Customer Again,” (scheduled for publication March 2018) he shares strategies and tactics for turning one-time purchasers into lifelong customers.

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

“If you get that first 100 days right, all the research shows that you will have the potential for a customer for life.” – Joey Coleman

 

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

How can I make my customers feel better about working with me?
Am I using social media properly?
After a prospect becomes a customer, how do I create loyalty?
After a customer buys, how do I keep them?
How do I create customer loyalty?
Am I creating a customer experience, or just customer service?
What is the difference between customer service and customer experience?

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5 Top Customer Service Articles For the Week of November 13, 2017

Each week I read a number of customer service articles from various online 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.

Improving Customer Experience with a Customer Centric Culture by Mansi Bhatia

(CustomerThink) Customer experience (CX) has gained a newfound glory in today’s industrial landscape. CX along with employee engagement are the focal points for companies who are looking to improve brand loyalty and customer engagement. One of the ways of achieving this is by adopting a customer-centric organizational culture.

My Comment: The companies that deliver the best customer experience are typically winning accolades for being the best companies to work for. That’s because CX is built into the culture of the company. It’s a philosophy to be embraced by everyone in the company, from the CEO to the most recently hired.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff: ‘Loyalty is dead.’ Here’s how we’re circumventing it by Elizabeth Gurdus

(CNBC) “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer spoke to Salesforce.com chief Marc Benioff about customer loyalty, new technology and competition.

My Comment: Dreamforce, the HUGE Salesforce annual convention, was last week. After Marc Benioff, chairman, and CEO of Salesforce, did his keynote address, Jim Cramer from CNBC interviewed him. Benioff commented that “Loyalty is dead.” Not sure that I 100% agree. I’d say that “Loyalty as we know it is dead (or at least dying a slow death).” Benioff had some important ideas. To stay successful, we must change the way we’ve always done business. This is a great interview, and included with the article is the video.

5 Innovative Ways to Inspire Customer Loyalty by Vivian Wagner 

(CRM Buyer) Getting customers — and keeping them — is the name of the game in e-commerce.

My Comment: If you have any type of loyalty program, you will want to read this article. Whether you have an onsite or online retail business, you should read and study this article that includes five innovative ways that you can improve customer loyalty.

4 Essentials for Building a Well Mannered Customer-Service Chatbot by Clemont Tussiot

(Entrepreneur) If your chatbot is aggravating customers, human error is to blame.

My Comment: If you are using – or even thinking about using – AI (Artificial Intelligence) and chatbots, then you must read this article. It has some important tips about how-to and why you should (and should not) move into using Chatbots and AI. They are an excellent way to deliver service for the right reasons. AI and chatbots are not fads. They are here to stay – until something better comes along.

How can Twitter for customer service benefit your business? by A.M.S Pandian

(Forbes India) According to research, 30 percent of social media users prefer customer service over the online medium rather than traditional service.

My Comment: Twitter has become a great tool for customer service. There are some compelling stats that will make you a believer. Consider this: 80% social customer service comes from Twitter. There has been a 2.5x increase in tweets to brands and their usernames. If you aren’t using Twitter for customer service, it’s time to give some serious consideration to doing so.

BONUS

New Study: 41% of Companies Ignore Customer Service Emails by Steven MacDonald 

(SuperOffice) To get loyal and happy customers, we all know that we have to deliver excellent customer service.  In fact, research has found that 60% of customers are willing to pay more for a better experience.

My Comment: 41% of the emails customers send to companies are ignored. REALLY! Here is SuperOffice’s annual benchmark report, filled with great stats, facts and suggestions to deliver a better customer service experience. And, it was an honor that they included some of my comments in the report. By the way, you’ll have to give them your email before you download the full report, but it’s worth it.

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, professional speaker and New York Times bestselling business author. For information contact 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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Guest Blog: Live Chat Simplifies the Customer Journey

This week we feature an article by Sawaram Suthar who writes about how live chat can simplify the customer journey. I believe that chat is an excellent self-help tool. Always remember that the customer just wants to be taken care of, regardless of how you go about it. – Shep Hyken

Businesses often face multiple challenges with respect to how to simplify the customer journey. These challenges must be tackled to achieve improved quality and quantity of leads. The most crucial challenge comes from converting website visitors into leads and then onboarding them.

Many times, businesses want tools or resources that help their customers. A live chat tool can help businesses significantly improve lead capture efforts, customer onboarding, and long-term support. A live chat tool is ideal for these tasks as it owes to interactive methodology and better communication.

Here’s how live chat simplifies the customer journey:

1.    Proactively greets every website visitor.

To improve visitor engagement and bring them closer to conversion, communication is essential. Businesses can enable proactive greetings for website visitors by analyzing their online behavior. After multiple visits, the live chat can be triggered to proactively greet and ask questions regarding the visit’s purpose. When website visitors see something of value and find proactive live chat support to clear the doubts, there is a higher chance of being converted into a customer.

2.    Answers queries and clears doubts, around the clock.

Live chat tools are a great way to turn visitors into prospects and prospects into customers by engaging them through relevant answers to queries. Using live website agents, businesses can ensure prospective buyers don’t leave without answers to queries about the business and its services. Live agents are equipped with advanced algorithms to answer visitor queries, making them confident in their purchasing decision.

Promising travel search marketplace, ixigo, uses the power of live chat to solve traveler queries around the clock. Known as ixibaba, the live chat helps travelers plan a trip through live conversation, allowing them to find the best flights, hotels, and transportation. Ixibaba also provides suggestions and tips for places to visit and tourist attractions to see.

3.    Provides a seamless customer on-boarding experience.

Live agents enable businesses to offer seamless customer support and onboarding experiences. Busy lifestyles and hectic routines result in customers/visitors wanting support at a time convenient to them. Live chat enables businesses to offer 24/7 support services, ensuring better customer engagement and delightful onboarding experiences. In addition, and because of chat support aligning with fast-paced lifestyles, live chats have a better chance of succeeding with both prospective and existing customers to drive revenue growth.

The Royal Bank of Scotland uses the power of AI live chats to provide customers with real-time customer support. Luvo, their dedicated customer support live chat, helps customers carry out daily tasks and get information about account balances, funds transfers and much more using live conversations.

4.    Employs live chat analytics to better understand prospective buyers.

To understand a website visitor’s behavior, live chat software is embedded with analytics tools. Businesses can determine how often specific pages are visited, how long visitors stay on them and what sections most interest them. Per a survey, more than 55% of online buyers abandon their shopping carts if quick answers to their queries aren’t received.

Analytics can help identify user behaviors like continuous browsing of particular products or services. Business can then use this information to identify the best moments to engage a visitor in conversation with a live agent. This can ultimately result in the conversion of the visitor to a lead and closed sales by enriching users with relevant details about products/services.

Global fashion giant H&M makes use of live chat analytics to understand shoppers’ fashion preferences. The live chat asks the shopper a few questions to get an idea about their fashion taste, likes, and dislikes, then provides the most appropriate shopping suggestions using analytics.

5.    Engages visitors with real-time proactive chat sessions.

According to an industry survey, 44% of total online consumers reveal that receiving answers to product questions by a live person during online purchase activity is one of the most important website features. It improves the buying experience. The current generation is used to digital methods of interaction, like the live chat.

Once users become acquainted with chatting, they feel comfortable engaging with a brand using a live chat agent on its website. The live chat agent helps talk to prospects in real-time by answering inquiries, gathering information and providing solutions.  All of which combine to improve businesses’ chances of converting every visitor into a lead. The information gathered during the live chat session can be used to pitch individuals with additional relevant information, making them interested in particular services or products.

Online gifting platform, 5Gifts4Her, uses the power of live chats to help users find gifts for loved ones, discover products, personalize, and address inquiries through the conversational method. The live chat is revolutionizing the online gifting landscape and whole e-commerce domain by assisting users to make real-time shopping decisions by clearing their doubts.

 Conclusion

As a revolutionary tool for improving website conversion metrics, live chats stir the business landscape and the online customer journey through inherent advantages. Live chat tools are fast, responsive, interactive and becoming more relevant in the online world of social interactions.

Sawaram Suthar is CMO at Tagove, a provider of chat software and also a founder of Jagat Media. A digital marketing consultant, he has experience in things including branding, promotions and page optimization, along with research and strategy. He has an MBA from the University of Pune.

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

Read Shep’s latest Forbes Article:  The Phone Is The New Millennial Wallet

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Charging More for a Better Customer Service Experience

It’s almost a given that every company has some form of a customer service department. Even the smallest companies – with just one solo entrepreneur – will act as if they have a customer service department. Why do people reach out to the customer service department? Because they need help, have a question, or want to make a complaint.

So, understanding that, why would a company choose to deliver an amazing customer service experience to just some of their customers and not to every customer? (That’s a rhetorical question, by the way.) This question comes on the heels of reading the customer service policies of some companies. Unless you’re willing to pay for better support, all you’ll receive is minimal and mediocre support.

There are some companies that will only give you email support – unless you pay more and upgrade your customer service experience to phone support. Or, there’s the company that wants more money to speak to a U.S. based customer support rep. Then, there are the companies that make their customers pay for each and every support call. I recently read about a cable company that charged a customer to resolve an issue with a monthly bill that had an error on it.

The offer to get better support usually has promises like less wait time, extended hours and, as mentioned earlier, a support rep that is based in the U.S. (or from whatever country you’re calling from). Why should that be an option or an add-on feature? This should be automatic.

Customer service can make, or break, your reputation. Being known for your service earns you a reputation in the marketplace that can give you a competitive edge. Charging for these services can erode that positive experience. And you really don’t have to charge more, because customers are willing to pay more for good service. The stats and facts prove that a large majority of customers – as high as 90 % – would be willing to pay more if the company provided better service. So, rather than charge for each time a customer calls, build it into the price of your product.

Finally, you want and need feedback. Charging extra for customer service may cause a customer to be unlikely or unwilling to call you with a problem. Even if they resolve the problem on their own, there is likely a level of stress and frustration the customer will experience in doing so, which may cause them to buy elsewhere in the future. And if they don’t call you, you won’t hear about the complaint or get feedback that you need to fix problems and create a better experience for future customers.

Customer support should not be a feature your customer must pay more for. It should be baked into the price of a product, and be part of the total positive experience the customer has with you and your company.

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 © MMXVII, Shep Hyken)

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Amazing Business Radio: Steve Hockett

Be a Cut Above the Rest
Shep Hyken Interviews Steve Hockett, President of Great Clips

Wouldn’t you like to learn a few tips from a company that sees over 35 million customers a year?

Shep and Steve Hockett, President of Great Clips, discuss the importance of knowing your customers and delivering a consistently amazing customer service experience.

 

Shep Hyken interviews Steve Hockett, the President of Great Clips. Steve shares how roughly 35 million customers’ information each year are put into a database, so that each and every time they return, the salon knows exactly how to best serve them individually. As President of Great Clips, Inc, Steve preaches the importance of consistency on every level so that every customer has a predictably amazing experience.

 

Top Takeaways:

There is much we can learn from the Great Clips Approach: customers are coming primarily as customers of a Great Clips salon, not to a specific stylist. The Great Clips experience is about the brand, not an individual that works there.
Great Clips knows their customers, when they last came in for a haircut, and when they need to come back for the next one. They understand what the customers want and what’s important to them.
The Great Clips Five Steps to Customer Care:

1. Greet the customer when they come in, with eye contact.
2. The consultation – ask the customer what they want.
3. Create the cut, and talk product.
4. The confirmation – make sure they are happy.
5. Thank the customer and invite them to come back.


Great Clips is hyper-focused on what they do best. They cut hair. They don’t do manicures, pedicures, or massages. They offer quick, efficient, high quality, moderate price haircuts, and are able to repeat that experience every time.
Great Clips is using technology to connect with their customers. They call it Clip Notes… notes about each customer’s specific details. What clipper guard number was used , what kind of neckline, etc. It’s all stored in the cloud. So, when a customer comes to Great Clips, if they’ve ever been there before, no matter the location, all the details of the previous haircut show up. Also in the Clip Notes are personal details of the client… did this customer just get married, or recently go on vacation…? That all helps build rapport.
The power of managing the wait time is given to the customer. The Great Clips app allows their customers to know exactly how long the wait time is so that they can avoid the busiest times.
Great Clips knows it can’t be all things to all people. It’s about simplicity and staying in their lane.

About:

Steve Hockett is President of Great Clips, Inc, soon to be CEO beginning in January 2018. Steve began his career with Great Clips, Inc. in 1988 and has spent 20 years with Great Clips in three separate segments, serving in various positions starting as a franchise owner. During his experience, he has worked extensively in marketing and operations, and was heavily involved in the massive growth of the system from 150 units to now over 4,200 operating salons in the United States.

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

“We want more customers to come in. We’re not focused on more dollars per customer.” – Steve Hockett

 

      

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

How can I know my customers better?
How do I understand customers better?
How can I create consistency?
How do I make a good impression with customers?
Do I greet and thank my customers every single time?
How can I use technology to generate more business?

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5 Top Customer Service Articles For the Week of November 6, 2017

Each week I read a number of customer service articles from various online 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.

Your Customer Service Team Should Be in Every Strategy Meeting by Jaspar Weir

(Entrepreneur) Get the people who know what your customers want and need — your customer service team — more involved in company decisions.

My Comment: Here’s a great idea. Invite the customer service team to every strategy meeting. If your company wants to truly be focused on delivering an amazing customer experience, then the customer must be at the heart of every strategic decision that is made. And the only way to get real feedback on what’s happening between the company and its customers is to invite the people who have day-to-day contact with the customers.

Customer Experience Simplicity in Technology: How Quality & Design Impact the Bottom Line by Ricardo Saltz Gulko

(Eglobalis) We divided this article into two parts so that it would be easier (more simplistic!) to read. This is the first part. In this part, we will talk about simplicity more broadly: what is it, how does it impact the bottom line, why should you care, etc. In the second article, coming in about a week, we’ll discuss how to make your products, services simpler from a design and customer experience standpoint.

My Comment: Another great article from Ricardo Saltz Gulko, this time on the concept of “simplicity.” Simple is simple, but not necessarily easy. Creating a simple, friction-free experience for customers takes a lot of thought and effort. But, it’s worth it. The stats and facts in this article prove that customers pay more and will do more business with companies that make it easy for them.

Three Lessons From Superhero Team-Ups For Customer Service by Paul Selby

(A Customer Service Perspective) As a fan of this movie genre, I was thinking about how the typical plotline–powerful heroes overcoming challenges to join forces in order to take on a large threat–is a lot like how companies today must also recognize the need to come together in order to build a customer-centric culture and succeed in the marketplace.

My Comment: If you’re a superhero fan, then you will love this article. And, even if you’re not, there’s some great information here – three simple ideas to help take your customer service to the next level. Share this information at your next team meeting – and use some of the super-hero quotes. A fun way to share some important concepts.

Marketers Need to Stop Looking at Mobile as a Channel. It’s a Lifestyle by Will Kassoy

(Adweek) What do you think is the No. 1 digital priority among today’s brands? I’ll give you a hint: It’s not social marketing or Internet of things. It’s not content, video, cross-channel, data or even marketing automation. (You might be wondering, what’s left?)

My Comment: The focus of this article is on the customer experience (CX) and specifically the customer’s mobile experience. As this article points out so well, a customer’s mobile device is not about the phone. It’s about the ability to connect with the brand. It’s not just another channel. It’s becoming (and already is for some) the main channel. So, are your mobile strategies on par with the customer’s expectations? Consider a main point of the article: Smartphones are capable of hosting an entire customer journey, from discovery to purchase.

The Best CX Leaders ROCK at These 3 Things by Jeannie Walters 

(360Connext) Most leaders want to show customers they care, but many aren’t sure how to do that. It’s time to help our colleagues, employees and even our bosses understand! They need to see why customer experience isn’t just a catchy phrase.

My Comment: Here are three simple ideas that every CX leader must consider doing. Think of what your customers experience when they do business with you, constantly ask for feedback, and include everyone – not just the customer-facing employees – in CX education.

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, professional speaker and New York Times bestselling business author. For information contact 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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Guest Blog: How Your Competitors can Improve Your Customer Service

This week we feature an article by Gemma Baker that shares three areas that your organization should examine during your regular competitor analysis. One key is to always deliver value to your customers to keep them coming back. – Shep Hyken

Does it seem like your competitors have an advantage over you when it comes to attracting new customers? Or that too many customers are dissatisfied with your service?

Taking a look at your closest competitors and analyzing not just what they do well but what customers also dislike can help your organization to take a step in the right direction to improving your customer’s experience.

Here are three areas that your organization should review during your regular competitor analysis:

Mystery Shopping

Regularly take the opportunity to put yourself in the customer’s shoes and explore your competitor’s website. What do you like about it or dislike? Are they doing something that particularly catches your eye, use of photos or videos?

Start to go through their purchasing process, note if they make contacting the company easy and come across as an approachable company. If they offer live chat try it out, what are their responses like, do they:

Take too long
Overuse predefined replies (canned responses)
Don’t address the visitor by their name enough

By seeing how your competitors treat their customers you can start to compare with your own service. If there was something you liked, you can implement it in a similar manner to fit appropriately for your business.

For example, if after your purchase your competitor sent you a thank you email with a giveaway, handy tips for the product or 10% off your next purchase with a long expiry date, it can make the customer feel valued and is a positive way to strengthen the relationship, it’s definitely worth considering for your company.

Reviews

Organizations will place only the testimonials that reflect them in the best light on their website to attract customers. To get a more accurate representation, review sites including Trustpilot, have been set up. You will be able to gauge exactly the aspects that contribute to consumers positive or negative opinions and start to replicate or ensure your organization avoid it altogether.

For example, customers may complain that your competitor ties them into a lengthy cancellation process. Ensure your company makes the termination procedure as easy as possible and short enough to give the consumer enough time to action any bits they need to do, e.g. take a script off their website but still comply with data protection.

Social Media

Similar to review sites, customers will give their honest feedback about organizations on social media platforms. Your competitors’ profiles should be viewed to see what customers are saying directly to the company and how they are responding.

Other consumers will not direct their post to your competitor; therefore monitoring sites including Brand24, allows you to track your competitors and provides any mention of their organization within the selected social media platform. If someone is unhappy with their service it gives you an opportunity to approach them with your superior service.

Conclusion

Your competitors’ customers are your potential consumers if they are dissatisfied they are more likely to look for a new supplier. Ensure you are listening to their needs, by learning what your competitors are doing and what the customer actually likes and dislikes, your customer service will improve.

Reviewing the three areas doesn’t just have to be for your competitors.  Take a step back from your organization, experience the customer journey your website provides and explore what consumers are saying about your brand to help improve your customer service.

“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning” – Bill Gates

And soon, it will be your competitors wondering why their customers are leaving for a different supplier!

Author Bio: Gemma Baker is the Marketing Executive for UK chat box for website provider , Click4Assistance, with a range of digital knowledge within PPC advertising, SEO practices, email campaigns and social media.

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

Read Shep’s latest Forbes Article:  Personalized Customer Experience Increases Revenue And Loyalty

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Customer Service Training: When you’re done… you’re not done!

It happens all the time. As a customer, you interact with good people who don’t seem to deliver great customer service. They are nice, even knowledgeable, but they don’t seem to be what I call customer focused.

So, I took a few minutes to talk to several people about how they were trained. I talked to a retail salesperson, a flight attendant, and a server at a restaurant. I asked them what kind of customer service training they received from the companies they worked for.

The retail salesperson was sharp. She delivered great service, however, her fellow employees didn’t seem to operate at her level. When I walked in the store, the employees, other than her, just stood there and watched me look over their merchandise. When she engaged me, it was obvious she had initiative and wanted to help, which also meant hopefully make a sale. It turns out that when she was hired, she went through training. Part of that training included a good amount of time spent on how to deliver good customer service. She went on to say that in the 18 months she had worked at the store, she received no additional customer service training.

I had a similar discussion with a flight attendant. She was amazing. Unfortunately, the other flight attendants on her flight were not. I had a similar conversation and received a similar answer. She received extensive customer service training when she went to flight attendant school, but had not received any formal training in the last five years since she was hired.

And, the third conversation was with a server at a restaurant. The difference here is that everyone at the restaurant was laser-focused on making sure their customers were delighted with their experience. Again, a similar conversation, but with a completely different answer. It turns out that when this server was hired, he also went through training. And, since that initial training, every day he has come to work, his manager has a team meeting before the shift starts. The meeting is only about 10 minutes long, but every day the manager takes just a few minutes during that meeting to talk about customer service and shares examples from the day before or suggestions on what everyone can do. Every day, every employee hears a customer service message. It’s constantly reinforced. It becomes top of mind. It turns into a habit.

Do you see the difference between the three examples? The retail store and the airline hired good people. They even trained them when they were hired. But, they didn’t continuously reinforce the training. For many of the employees, it appears that it was almost forgotten. But, the restaurant took just a few minutes each day to remind and emphasize the importance of customer service.

Many companies have a good customer service initiative. They put their recently hired employees through powerful training. And, then they think they are done. It doesn’t work that way. The only way customer service becomes part of a company’s culture is to train and reinforce. When it comes to customer service training, it’s not something you did for your employees. It’s something you do for your employees!

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 © MMXVII, Shep Hyken)

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Amazing Business Radio: Josh Liebman

Josh Liebman Encourages Running Toward Complaints, Not Away From Them

When it comes to receiving complaints, there are many people who would view this as a negative occurrence. However, Josh Liebman encourages companies to seek out complaints, saying that there are likely many other people who feel the same way, but will never say anything. Without complaints, you never know what needs improving.

 

 

Shep speaks with Josh Liebman, an expert in handling complaints. Josh is a fanatic about the benefits of hearing complaints. He encourages companies to seek out constructive criticism in order to improve their way of doing business. Josh also explains how to recover from service failures and gain loyal customers. If you have customers (and I know you do), this this is a powerful must-listen-to episode of Amazing Business Radio!

 

Top Takeaways:

In addition to amazing information about mystery shopping and managing customer complaints, Josh Liebman shares his LTAST formula for managing service failure:

L – Listen: Understand and process the complaint. Validate the customer’s comments even if you don’t agree with what is being said.
T – Thank: Thank the customer for the complaint. Don’t get defensive. This will tear down the wall between you and the customer.
A – Apologize: Apologize, but don’t apologize for the cause of the complaint; apologize for the effect. If you apologize for the cause, this only places blame on someone or something.
S – Solve: Provide specific service recovery that fits the complaint.
T – Thank: Thank the customer again, this time for the opportunity to make it right. Also, thank them for future business that will result because of the solution.



About:

Josh Liebman is the Director of Business Development at Amusement Advantage, Inc. In this role, Josh has enabled numerous attractions to improve how they meet and exceed expectations, and then follow through by harnessing satisfaction and converting it to lifelong loyalty. With more than 12 years of experience in the Hospitality, Tourism, and Attractions Industry, Joshua specializes in guest experience training, feedback analysis, mystery shopping, and quality assurance consulting.

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

“Everyone is competing for the entertainment dollar, and the way that you get that dollar is through the experience.” – Josh Liebman

 

      

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

Why is my company having complaints or a service failure?
How can I recover from customer complaints or a service failure?
How can I resolve a complaint?
How can I manage complaining and angry customers?
How can I implement secret shoppers?
How can I eliminate customer complaints?
How do I resolve customer complaints?
How do I prevent the same complaints from happening again and again?

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