Shep Hyken's Blog, page 178

Customer Satisfaction Is the Enemy of Exceptional Customer Service

Jim Collins, author of the bestselling business book, Good to Great said, “Good is the enemy of great.”

A twist on this excellent concept is that, “Good is the foundation of exceptional.”

A good customer service experience is doing what you are supposed to do. That’s expected. In other words, it meets basic expectations. It’s satisfactory. It’s just good. Beyond satisfactory – and beyond good – is an exceptional customer service. And, according to Nate Spears, the Chief Operations Officer and Co-Founder of ClearSource, exceptional customer service is anything you do beyond that is better than just good.

I had an excellent interview on my Amazing Business Radio show with Nate. His company, ClearSource provides customer support via phone, email, chat and social media for companies that want to outsource their customer service. Nate believes that good customer service is just a foundation to something better. He quoted Daymond John, one of the “sharks” on the hit TV show Shark Tank, who said, “Great customer service is when you do for the customer everything you can do after you have done what you are supposed to do.”

Nate says, “Doing what you’re supposed to do builds trust. And, trust is the foundation to the customer experience.” Once again we’re back to the old expression, “People want to be around people and do business with people they know, like and… trust!”

Trust creates confidence. Confidence turns into repeat business. And when the customer comes back and experiences the consistent positive experience that they had the last time – and the time before – that repeated positive experience becomes predictable and can turn into customer loyalty.

This is why it concerns me when companies talk about “satisfying” their customers. Some people might say this is semantics – or that I’m just playing with words. No way! Satisfactory is not acceptable if you want to be competitive in your market. I believe when a company says they want to satisfy their customers, they actually intend to be better than that, but are just using the wrong word to describe it.

Think of it this way. If you were asked to take a survey of a recent customer service experience, and they asked you to rate the service on a one to five scale, where one is bad and five is great, satisfactory would be in the middle. Satisfactory is good or average.

Maybe I’m not playing word games. Maybe it’s not semantics. Satisfying customers is really just creating an average experience. So, if good is the enemy of great, then satisfaction is the enemy of an exceptional – even an amazing – customer experience. In other words, don’t settle for good. Make it the starting point. Make it foundational.

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, keynote 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

(Copyright © MMXVI, Shep Hyken)

Save

Save

Save

Save

The post Customer Satisfaction Is the Enemy of Exceptional Customer Service appeared first on Shep Hyken.

Amazing Business Radio: Nate Spears

Nate Spears on Providing Exceptional Customer Service

in the Digital Age

Shep speaks with customer service evangelist and Chief Operations Officer and Co-Founder of ClearSource, Nate Spears, about providing exceptional customer service. Nate defines the meaning of an exceptional customer experience and explains how it’s not as hard as you think to go above and beyond for your customers. He also shares his opinion about how customer complaints are a gold mine, filled with opportunity. Nate shares an excellent example of how (and why) all complaints really need to be listened to. Shep and Nate also discuss how to continue to create personal interactions in this digital age and the future of customer support. In this episode of Amazing Business Radio, you will learn many ways to provide an exceptional customer service experience – and who doesn’t want that?!

Nate Spears co-founded ClearSource, a provider of outsourced business services. Prior to founding ClearSource, Nate managed customer service teams for both American Express and BMW Bank, which instilled in him a passion for the customer experience. In 2008, Nate and his business partner recognized an opportunity in the outsourced customer service space for a company that prioritized exceptional customer service above anything else. They then formed ClearSource with a belief that any company – not just Nordstrom, Disney, Ritz Carlton, and Zappos, to name a few – can become renowned for providing outstanding customer service!

 



 

“Customer complaints are a gold mine of process improvements.” – Nate Spears

 

 What questions will this episode answer?

How do I handle customer support calls and resolve customer complaints?
How can I provide a personal emotional connection with my customers?
How do I provide an exceptional customer experience?
What is ClearSource?

Save

Save

Save

Save

The post Amazing Business Radio: Nate Spears appeared first on Shep Hyken.

5 Top Customer Service Articles For the Week of November 28, 2016

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.

Five Ways Artificial Intelligence is Changing the Customer Experience by Titir Pal

(TechZone360) AI is also transforming the way companies interact with customers. That’s good news since the ability to consistently deliver an excellent customer experience is critical for companies in today’s hyper-competitive economy. Here are five ways AI is changing the customer experience:

My Comment: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the hot topics of the day. Here are five good ideas – and I’m especially partial to number three, which is about personalized recommendations. AI can remember more about a customer than is humanly possible, and the machine (computer) can make some excellent recommendations to personalize the CX.

You May Be Thinking about Customer Experience All Wrong by Danny Wong

(Salesforce Canada) In recent years, the term “customer experience” has garnered buzz in the business community. Recent research found that as of 2016, almost 90 per cent of companies believe they are competing mostly on customer experience, as opposed to only 36 per cent at the start of the decade.

My Comment: Salesforce has done us a great service with this excellent article that compares and contrasts the differences between customer service and customer experience (CX) and gives us some very important insights to consider. This article is essential reading for anyone in leadership and management.

How to Put People in the Right Mood by Kevin Daum

(Inc.) Want people to enjoy doing business with you? Here is how to use the 5 senses to close the deal.

My Comment: Want to put your customers into the right mood? Then read this article on how to incorporate the five senses into the customer experience (CX). It doesn’t matter what type of business you’re in, creating the right mood is powerful.

Black Friday: Gimmick, gone or more relevant than ever? by Judy Mottl

(Retail Customer Experience) Is Black Friday relevant, needed, necessary or even a valuable marketing event, or has it become a gimmick in the quest to grab consumers’ attention earlier thatn ever in the holiday season and get that cash?

My Comment: It may not be customer service, but I’m still including this article in the weekly roundup. The information in this article gives us a hint about how the economy in general is going to be. Black Friday was just three days ago and the numbers are in. According to Adobe Digital Insights, Black Friday sales passed the $3 billion mark with over $1 billion of that attributed to mobile sales. This is a substantial increase in sales over last year, which leads me to believe that 2017 will be a good year for business.

How to Staff Your New Social Customer Service Team by Julian Nguyen

(Sparkcentral) So your company has acknowledged social media customer service might be “a thing” these days. It’s true, providing support to customers on social channels isn’t just cool… it’s ice cold!

My Comment: Our friends at Sparkcentral have offered up a great article by Julian Nguyen that has excellent information and is also fun to read. (It was written a few months ago, but just popped up on my feed this week.)  So, be prepared to get a few insights on staffing social service care teams and smile at the same time.

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

Save

Save

Save

The post 5 Top Customer Service Articles For the Week of November 28, 2016 appeared first on Shep Hyken.

Guest Blog: “We Hate ‘dat Letter”

This week on our Friends on Friday guest blog post my colleague, Ricky Nowak, shares a customer experience she had recently with a hotel that didn’t exactly go well. It’s a great example of how not to give excellent customer service! – Shep Hyken  

On a recent business Roadshow, I inadvertently left a brand new PowerPoint clicker in a hotel room but didn’t realize it until I returned home several weeks later. When I called the hotel in New Zealand they confirmed that it was turned in the day I left. Two things struck me immediately about the hotel that didn’t seem to fit with their brand of “Excellence in Customer Service.”

I had a sticker on it saying  “If found please call to arrange return and we will talk about your great service at our events!”
In the hotel handbook I noticed a letter from the Hotel Manager saying their “customer service policy is to do everything they can to maintain the relationship with that guest long after they leave.”

So when I politely asked Guest Relations why they didn’t call me to let me know that my clicker had been found and that this was indeed part of their policy her reply was “We hate ‘dat letter!” Then promptly went on to say:

“It’s simply not possible to ring everyone who leaves their stuff here. If we had to look after all the customers who left things behind  we wouldn’t get our other jobs done”

So what’s the moral of this story?

Don’t stay at a hotel that puts things in writing? Or,
Make sure your staff knows that without customers they don’t have a job.

My guess it’s the second option and here’s why. Staff who respect the customer and treat them as if they are ‘new friends’ or acquaintances, at some point are more inclined to respect each other. And if we didn’t respect our friends and their property we probably would lose good people from our lives. And while  everyone is so busy just getting through the daily grind, we must have top of mind  that  if we didn’t have customers (as frustrating at they can be at times!) we wouldn’t in fact have a job.

So, ten days later the clicker arrived, together with a conference tote bag I had thrown out in the trash… as well as a $50.00 bill for the trouble they had gone to send it back. Not all was lost because I thanked them for a great story to share. Shame they didn’t think so, and probably don’t know what to do with the tote bag I sent back with my bill for inconvenience, do you?

Gotta love this business!

Ricky Nowak works with leaders to dramatically improve their results and increase their performance. She is a Conference and Workshop Presenter, Executive Coach and Author based in Australia.

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

Read Shep’s latest Forbes Article: 2016 Black Friday, Cyber Monday Holiday Insights And Predictions

Save

The post Guest Blog: “We Hate ‘dat Letter” appeared first on Shep Hyken.

Don’t Blow the Holiday Card Experience with Blatant Promotion

It’s always nice to show customers a little appreciation. You can call the customer, send an email or text or go with the old fashioned handwritten thank you note. You can also send a greeting card, which leads to the topic of this article. And, this is especially appropriate as the holidays are rapidly sneaking up on us.

Just about two weeks ago one of our subscribers emailed me a question asking how I felt about sending a holiday card around Christmas with a gift in the form of a discount coupon for ten percent off the customer’s next purchase.

I like the idea of the coupon, however, I’m not sure I want to confuse good wishes during the holidays with overt and blatant promotion. Most people get holiday cards from their friends, family members and even some of the places they do business. Sure, they are all appreciated, but there are so many. Yours might get lost in the stack. Furthermore, when you send your card with a “gift” that is really a discount coupon, that means that in order to get the gift, the customer has to spend money. Some gift!

So, if you’re going to send a holiday card, make it about your appreciation for the customer and not a marketing tactic. Save the marketing for a separate promotion.

But, there are other holidays that may be more appropriate for a money-saving coupon, or any other type of promotion. How about a New Year’s card that shows up the first week of the year? It’s a bit unexpected, it’s an opportunity to thank the customer for their loyalty over the last year and it can include an incentive (in the form of a coupon or discount) to continue their loyalty.

Valentine’s Day is a great opportunity to show your customer a little love in the form of a card expressing “heart felt” thanks and a discount to show how much you appreciate your customer’s business.

I cannot forget one of my favorite holidays, International Customer Service Week, which happens the first full week of October, and is a great time to show some appreciation and send a card with a promotional coupon to the customer.

Keep in mind there is a delicate balance you have to keep. Blatant promotion looks exactly like… blatant promotion compared to an expression of appreciation. It can come across as disingenuous. A lack of sincerity will erode trust, and cause you to lose any emotional capital you’ve built up with your customers.  And, you thought that card with a discount coupon embraced the holiday spirit!

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, keynote 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

(Copyright © MMXVI, Shep Hyken)

Save

Save

Save

The post Don’t Blow the Holiday Card Experience with Blatant Promotion appeared first on Shep Hyken.

Amazing Business Radio: Andy Masters

Andy Masters On How Customer Service

Is Just Like Dating and Relationships

Shep Hyken speaks with professional speaker and author Andy Masters about his bestselling book, “Kiss Your Customer: 77 Reasons Why Sales & Service Are Just Like Dating & Relationships.” Andy shares humorous stories and provides some great tips about loyalty, social media, showing appreciation, overcoming bad customer experiences, listening skills, and much more. Andy loves to be unique and surprising to the people he cares about – in both his personal and professional relationships. So if you need some help surprising your customers or your loved ones, don’t miss this episode! It’s packed full of hilarious stories from Andy, while also providing excellent tips for building better relationships. And he even offers an amazing tip for surprising your significant other for Valentine’s Day!

Andy Masters is an award-winning author and international speaker who has written 5 books, earned 4 degrees, and presented hundreds of programs on a variety of sales/service, leadership, and personal development topics. Andy’s professional career included working for two high-profile performance improvement and marketing services firms, where his clients included Lexus, Honda, Nestle-Purina, and Anheuser Busch. Andy escaped the corporate world just in time to preserve his sanity, as he followed his passion for speaking, consulting, and entrepreneurship in 2003.

“It’s not the screw-up, it’s what you are going to do after the screw-up; that’s what people are looking for.” – Andy Masters

What questions will this episode answer?

How is customer service just like dating and relationships?
How are romance and business similar?
How do I create customer loyalty and build stronger relationships?

Save

The post Amazing Business Radio: Andy Masters appeared first on Shep Hyken.

5 Top Customer Service Articles For the Week of November 21, 2016

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.

Surprises Await When You Pretend To Be Your Own Customer by Steve DiGioia

(Steve DiGioia) Stop complaining about your customers. “They’re too demanding; always have something negative to say and they look for discounts”.  Well, have you ever tried to be your own customer?

My Comment: Have you ever tried mystery shopping your own company? In a perfect world, if you did you would have a wonderful experience. But, we don’t live in a perfect world – and sometimes that experience will be a revelation of flaws with the CX and opportunities to improve customer experience. Steve DiGioia shares some nice ideas about the importance pretending to be your own customer.

The Future of Social Media (And How to Prepare For It): The State of Social Media 2016 Report by Ash Read

(Buffer) Imagine being able to predict the next big thing on social media, knowing what social media will look like in 2017 and beyond and how will brands use social platforms to connect with their audience.




My Comment: Buffer has shared their insights on the current and future state of social media marketing. I’m surprised at how many companies have not yet embraced social media for marketing and customer care. Read this report to get a better understanding of the importance of using social media as a way to connect with your customers.


The NPS Handbook to Analyze the Drivers of Loyalty by CustomerGauge



(CustomerGauge) A unique attribute of Net Promoter is the simplicity; everyone understands the concept and how to calculate the score. However, companies without analysts often see analysis as the complex part of the Net Promoter process due to the use of statistical tools. In this guide, we will not only explain the statistical side of Net Promoter, but also how to do driver analysis with simple math that doesn’t require any statistical knowledge.

My Comment: CustomerGuage has released an “eBook” about the power of NPS (Net Promoter Score). It’s short – about 21 pages with a lot of pictures – but is packed with information you’ll need to know to get the most out of NPS and how to properly survey your customers. Don’t let the fact that you’ll have to give them your email address deter you for downloading the eBook. It’s worth it.

Salesforce Survey Shows Customer Experience Now Job No. 1 by Chris Preimesberger

(eWeek) Priorities of sales teams are facing mandates for change, thanks to intense new competition online among vendors of all types.

My Comment: Salesforce has released a report that customer experience (CX) is now “Job Number One.” This short article by Chris Preimsberger highlights some of the key findings from the report and gives you a link to download the entire document. While the focus is on sales, it emphasizes that the customer experience, overall, is becoming the key performance  metric that cannot be ignored.

7 Tips For Fostering Loyalty In Your Customers by Sophie Andrews

(Huffington Post) It is well known in the business world that it costs a minimum of five times more to gain a new customer than it does to keep one. While the time, effort, and resources may be worth it from time to time, it is more prudent to foster loyalty in your customers.

My Comment: Let’s close out this weeks “Top Five” list with an article that lists seven ways to create customer loyalty. While we all may find much of this common sense, pay close attention to number seven, which reminds us to focus not only on our customers, but also our employees. Remember that what is happening on the inside of an organization is felt on the outside by the customer.

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

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

The post 5 Top Customer Service Articles For the Week of November 21, 2016 appeared first on Shep Hyken.

Guest Blog: How Retailers Can Earn Millennial Moms Loyalty

This week on our Friends on Friday guest blog post my colleague, Timi Garai, discusses the power of millennial moms and how to gain their loyalty. This article shares some powerful statistics that will make you sit up and take notice. – Shep Hyken    

If you have any doubt why millennial moms are worth focusing on for your business’s growth, then here is a stat for reinforcement: the whole millennial demographic currently holds $2 trillion buying power globally. And among them, there are currently 9 million millennial moms who are decision-influencers when it comes to purchase. And their numbers are constantly increasing. Convincing, right? So let’s take a look at some smart tactics that can help you earn their long-lasting loyalty!

Be there, when millennial moms need help

Think with Google found that 80% of mothers turn to the Internet to search for answers to specific questions, like what kind of toys can improve certain skills when a child plays with it. And 3 out of 5 moms turn to online videos for answers. What’s the take-away here? Moms want inspiration and they want to see how exactly a product will help. Furthermore, 58% of moms don’t have a certain brand in mind when they are looking for product. So here’s your chance! BE THERE when they are searching for the best products for their kids!

Getting there is simple: create content. But please, forget about stock images! Millennial moms want real evidence in the form of photos or videos about exactly how the product looks and works. Sure, if your budget allows for it, you can create cool videos like H&M does for each new line of kids clothing they introduce. But you can also ask influencers, like vloggers or bloggers, to test your products out in a video or post. It’s great for SEO, builds trust towards your products, and increases your exposure.

Reward millennial moms with great deals

Did you know that 68% of millennials would consider changing where they shopped if they knew they could get more rewards elsewhere? Besides this, a loyalty program allows you to give moms another reason to return, because by purchasing more from your store, they can get future discounts. And if you’re interested in adding even more value, there’s a special loyalty feature that you can use. Just see how Childrens Place’s rewards program does it: when a child’s birthday is approaching, they offer a 20% discount for the Mom. Why does it work? Because mothers everywhere are searching for the best deals. Once you catch their attention, you have to work to encourage them to keep coming back.

Show millennial moms how well you know them

Remember how I mentioned that brands should strike the right balance between appealing to moms at home, and working moms as well? Well, if you target them, make sure you put some effort into getting to know them. For example, investigate what millennial moms care about the most. This is something a super cool mobile app, BabyList, has clearly done. The app allows moms to save money toward their child’s education. That’s an incredibly relevant issue in their lives! London-based Anita House took another approach. They let their customers fund medical research to help those in need. And this concept can be perfectly incorporated into a loyalty program! At Antavo we always recommend that our clients involve a charitable reward in their rewards program. It helps them build a truly emotional connection with their customers. Plus, it also showcases that the brand cares about the same issues as its customers do.

Conclusion

As a closing note, millennial moms spend 12 times more on mobile compared to other generations. Meaning that all of the tactics mentioned here, from creating content, to running a loyalty program should be accessible on mobile devices. And besides mobile, let’s never forget just how socially connected millennial moms are. They recommend and share products and brands 10.5 times in a month! That’s why satisfying their needs for helpful and relevant content, special loyalty program features, and rewards that inspire emotion can help you win them as customers for the long-run.

Timi Garai has been the Marketing Manager at Antavo Loyalty Software for 3 years now, a true eCommerce & retail sleuth! Over the years she has researched the loyalty strategies at top eCommerce brands and retailers. Fun fact: in her free time, she blogs about the manga and animé subculture. Follow Timi on Linkedin and Twitter.

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

Read Shep’s latest Forbes Article: Today’s Customers Demand Customer Service On Their Terms

 

Save

Save

The post Guest Blog: How Retailers Can Earn Millennial Moms Loyalty appeared first on Shep Hyken.

The Customer Experience Is Your Best Marketing

What is marketing? A quick Google search on the word marketing reveals this from the American Marketing Association (And, they should know!):

Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.

Great definition, but marketing has changed. Some say it’s about lead generation, creating demand, building relationships and engagement. I like that last word, engagement. Here’s a thought. Marketing appears to be about putting something out there, an advertisement, email campaign, promotion, etc., that will hopefully pull in business. Engagement is about interacting and attraction.

Both are part of the customer experience (CX). So, which customer experience would you rather create? One that is pushy and promotional or one that is about interacting and relationship building?

Websites are a great example to illustrate how marketing has changed. It used to be that a good website was really a brochure on the internet. It was static, no movement and never changing. Some creativity, great color and maybe even a little animation made it stand out. If it was good, it might prompt a customer to pick up the phone or email an inquiry. But, today a good website is about offering up new content, sometimes daily (or even more often), in the form of articles, white papers, videos and even games. Customers can post comments and interact. It’s all about engagement with the customer. A good website can turn into something more than the customer just reading words and looking at pictures. It turns into a positive and interactive customer experience.

This customer experience is what the new form of marketing is about. I used to preach – and still do – that customer service is the new marketing – some of your best marketing. Create an amazing service experience that gets customers to not only come back, but to also share that experience with their friends, colleagues and family members. That may be the best form of marketing there is.

But beyond the actual customer experience, the interaction and engagement that happens before the sale – which is part of marketing – needs to be considered as part of the experience. Smart companies have figured this out. It’s about engagement, interaction and relationship building… before the customer ever decides to spend any money with you.

I still believe that customer service is the new marketing. And taking it a step further, the entire customer experience is your best marketing.

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, keynote 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

(Copyright © MMXVI, Shep Hyken)

Save

Save

Save

Save

The post The Customer Experience Is Your Best Marketing appeared first on Shep Hyken.

Amazing Business Radio: Matt Wilbanks

Matt Wilbanks on How to Provide

Better Social Media Customer Care

Shep speaks with Matt Wilbanks, CEO and co-founder of HelpSocial, about providing a better social customer care experience. Matt shares his past experiences as a member of Rackspace Hosting’s social customer care team and how these experiences helped him find the need to create HelpSocial.  They discuss social customer service (social care) and how automated intelligence can help create better support in all channels. Social care isn’t a fad. It is a trend that is forever changing how customers interact with companies they do business with.

HelpSocial is the number one integration platform for customer care and social media. As a customer service innovator, Matt honed his support skills at Rackspace Hosting, recognized in their industry for fanatical customer service. During his tenure at Rackspace, Matt was an initial member of the company’s social customer care team. HelpSocial was developed inside Rackspace and eventually spun out with initial seed money funding from Mark Cuban in 2014. As CEO Matt is responsible for HelpSocial’s growth strategies, as well as ensuring the HelpSocial team has plenty of snacks and a working Netflix account.

 

“We’re not just competing in our industry with our service level, we’re competing against everyone, from credit card companies to car manufacturers, to anybody else delivering service.” – Matt Wilbanks

 

What questions will this episode answer?

What is social care and why is it important?
How do I provide better social media customer support?
What is HelpSocial?

Save

Save

The post Amazing Business Radio: Matt Wilbanks appeared first on Shep Hyken.