Shep Hyken's Blog, page 221

5 Top Customer Service Articles For the Week of September 15, 2014

TOP CUSTOMER SERVICE AND BUSINESS ARTICLES

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.

DiGiorno Is Really, Really Sorry About Its Tweet Accidentally Making Light of Domestic Violence Reminder to always check the context on hashtags By David Griner

(AdWeek) DiGiorno Pizza has become one of the top brands on Twitter thanks to its quick wit and good ear for real-time conversations, but one careless tweet last night put that reputation at risk.

My Comment: Social media is a powerful customer service tool. However, sometimes a company can make a mistake. Digiorno Pizza is a great case study about how respond and turn around a major blunder. Kudos to Digiorno for stepping up, taking responsibility and restoring the confidence of their customers.

Leadership Lessons From Walt Disney: Perfecting the Customer Experience by Bruce Jones

(Disney Institute) At Disney Institute, we were recently reflecting on the phrase, “simple is the new smart,” and it reminded us of a leadership philosophy we share with our clients and training program attendees – keep it simple so that everyone understands.

My Comment: Walt Disney’s leadership lessons seem to always be focused on employees and the guest/customer experience.  It’s not a coincidence!  The root of any company’s customer experience starts at the top with leadership defining and getting the company to execute on the vision and strategy. Disney is a case study on the connection between leadership and the customer experience.

3 Mind Blowing Tips for Delighting Your Customers by Susan Tucker

(Get Susan Marketing) There are four pillars to the inbound marketing methodology: attract, convert, close and delight. When thinking about growing your business, it’s easy to focus on the first three. Who doesn’t want more business? But, did you know it actually costs 6-7x MORE to acquire a new customer than it does to keep a current customer?

My Comment: When it comes to customer service, common sense is not always so common. Yet if (when) anyone reads this article they will not only say this is common sense, they will also say this is simple. Don’t let the simplicity fool you. Sometimes simple is powerful. The ideas in this article should be considered by every company.

Businesses Like McDonald’s And Sears Are Getting Complacent — Here’s Why It’s A Problem by Fran Tarkenton

(Business Insider) All the stereotypes we associate with Big Government can just as easily be applied to Big Business. And increasingly (and unfortunately), those same traits can also be applied to Small Business. I want to talk about how we can change that.

My Comment: Fran Tarkenton reminds us of how some of the problems in bigger businesses are potentially problems for small business, too. I think they apply to just about any business. And Billy, the 14 year old, is a great example of the type of engaged employee every business would like to have.

What Customer Service People Really Wish They Could Say to You by Sajeel Qureshi   

(Huff Post Business Canada) Here’s a few things a support person wants to tell you, but can’t.

My Comment: This article is a fun look at what customer service reps would like to say to “certain” customers in confrontational situations. The explanation behind what causes CSR’s to feel this way are worth using as examples in a training class.

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, professional 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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Guest Blog: 7 Tips to Impress Millennials with Your Customer Service

This week on our Friends on Friday guest blog post, my colleague Alleli Aspili shares helpful tips on how to successfully provide customer service to millennials and earn their loyalty.  - Shep Hyken

Millennials are quickly becoming the largest and most powerful customer demographic in our present day. This social media savvy and techno-dependent new generation of consumers is considered the “game-changing force” in customer service.

Growing up in a digital world, millennials are deemed impatient, demanding and seekers of instant gratification. These young customers bring to the market an entirely new set of expectations, requiring a different customer experience and unique style of customer service.

Providing nothing but the best to match their wants is surely the goal of every business. But how do you make it happen? Here are seven helpful tips on how to succeed in winning the hearts of millennials with your customer service.

Make your transactions automatic and process-based.

Millennials cite technology more than any other factor as defining their generation. Because of their identification with technology, they especially demand appropriate innovations in customer service – automated and process-based operations.

A millennial customer isn’t willing to call you to find out whether and when her order has been shipped; she wants to proactively receive an automated, instant confirmation in her inbox or on her phone. Serving millennials means carefully plotting out the very best implementations of customer-serving digital technology.

Be present in every channel possible.

Be everywhere. Millennials have lived their entire conscious lives immersed in an Internet and Wi-Fi–smartphone enabled world. They want to reach your business in which ever communications channel they choose. Companies must prepare themselves for all types of interactions.

Millennial customers prefer many customer service channels including voice, email, online chat, social media channels, text message and mobile. The more channels available, the more they get satisfied.

Multi-channel communication allows millennials to get service while multi-tasking on their multi-devices and communicating at their convenience.

…including SMS/text messaging and mobile apps.

If companies want to know what millennials want, they need to engage with them. Text messaging and mobile apps are “now” technologies that this generation is in tune with.

While many companies are spending their dollars in traditional advertising and customer service, perhaps companies should also spend their money developing social customer experience initiatives, including text messaging and mobile apps, to get with the kids these days.

Speak their language.

Millennial customers are exceedingly informal and have different words and methods of communicating.  According to Jay Coldren, VP of Lifestyle Brands of Marriott International, “Millennials want to converse in their own language, according to their own rules. They speak in tweets, texts and Facebook posts. If you want to reach them, you have to speak in their native tongue. And you have to be completely authentic.”

Be quick, accessible and efficient.

For millennial customers, speed, efficiency and accessibility are the utmost importance. Whether it’s an email exchange or telephone conversation, millennials expect an instant response. As for Twitter, Facebook or online chat, millennials expect the same level of service as experienced on other channels.

Millennial customers are notorious for being “convenience consumers.” They want access to the right information, right products, and right channels anytime and all the time. Thus, customer service needs to be accessible, efficient and fast. If there are barriers or delays, millennials will happily move their business elsewhere, and tell their friends about it along the way.

Show that you’re listening.

Young people are often happy to share what they want or need, especially if they feel that their input will help you personalize and enhance your business. Hear their sentiments to better your products or services. If your customers are most concerned about convenience or reliability, then immediately improve those qualities. Show them that they’ve been heard.

Bring your best game.

You need to bring your very best customer experience game to these young customers because millennials will settle for nothing less.

Millennial customers share what they like, including great customer service experiences. It’s important for companies to provide engaging and compelling customer interactions. Customer service providers need to focus on helping customers discover and enjoy experiences, not just on getting them. Making customer experiences sharable has the potential to boost brand sentiment, potentially leading to new customers.

I hope these tips will help you in delivering the best customer service to the biggest customer generation ever – the millennials!

Alleli Aspili is a Senior Specialist for Business Development in Infinit Outsourcing, Inc., an ISO-certified BPO company that caters SMEs. She is responsible for maintaining Infinit-O, Infinit Contact, Infinit Healthcare and Infinit Accounting online brand and content. While out of work, you can still see her in front of her computer – learning more about marketing. She’s an internet and social media geek.

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

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Enhance Customer Service Experience Using Self-service

Customer Service Add On

Back when I was in college I worked at a self-service gas station. I’m probably dating myself, but this was at a time when gas stations were just converting over from full-service to self-service. Our stations went from pumping the gas for the customer, checking their oil, and washing their windows to just collecting their money and saying, “Thank you.”

Now, when I say, “collecting their money,” that’s exactly what I mean.  Our stations hadn’t yet caught up with the technology of the new self-service gas stations, where the employee sat in a kiosk and customers came up to pay at the window. No, we collected the money on the drive. This meant I had a metal coin changer hanging on my belt, carried enough bills in my pocket to make the right amount of change, and we manually reset the pumps so the next customer could pump their gas.

Now that I’ve painted the picture for you, here is the story. It was an unbelievably cold day where the chill factor put the temperature at double digits below zero. A frail-looking elderly woman, who I had seen in our station before, drove up and stepped out of the car to pump her gas. I immediately went over to her and asked her to sit in her car while I pumped her gas. She was very appreciative.

A few minutes later I went inside the building to warm up. The manager of the station looked agitated.  I remember the conversation going something like this:

He asked, “Did I just see you pump that woman’s gas for her?  We’re self-service, you know.”

I defensively responded, “She is a very old woman. I’ve seen her in here before. I was just being nice.”

The manager snapped back, “Well, what do you think she will expect the next time?”

I was shocked at his attitude, and said, “Well maybe she’ll come back and buy our gas instead of at the station across the street.” I then ran out to help the next customer.

Helping the woman seemed to be common sense to me.

Just today I was at the airport and had difficulty checking in at the self-service kiosk. For some reason, the machine wasn’t reading my credit card. Within a matter of seconds there was an airline employee there to help me. I didn’t have to ask for help. The person was there, looking for opportunities to help customers.

Self-service should be something that enhances the typical customer service experience. It should be about making it easier, faster, more efficient, and in some cases, even less expensive for the customer. A self-service solution doesn’t mean you don’t offer customer service. On the contrary, self-service is a way to enhance customer service.

 

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5 Top Customer Service Articles for the Week of September 8, 2014

TOP CUSTOMER SERVICE AND BUSINESS ARTICLES

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.

Customer Experience Matters Most When The Economy Is Doing Well by News Staff

(Science 2.0) Unless you are part of the 1 percent with your stock portfolio climbing, you are probably not an American who factors your experience into which price you pay these days.

My Comment: When (economic) times are good, some companies can get a little too comfortable or complacent. Price becomes less sensitive to the customer, so the company may raise the price. That’s fine, but on the other side, you must keep up with the value proposition, which usually comes from the customer experience. I’ll argue that in tougher times, when customers are more price sensitive, service becomes even more important to differentiate yourself from the competition. And, in good times, service becomes important to create the loyalty needed, so when times are tough again, the customer stays with you.

How to provide great customer service through social media by Daniel Scheltinga 

(Startup Smart) Because the consumer—not the brand—wields the most power over a brand’s image on social media, the bottom line is that neglecting conversations that occur on sites like Facebook and Twitter can have staggering consequences.

My Comment: It still surprises me that more companies aren’t taking social media customer service more seriously. Once you discover a customer service issue via a social channel, it’s how you respond that not only wins back the customer, it also shows the rest of the customers “watching” how good you are.

How to Hire the Right People for Customer Service by Mary Shulzhenko

(Provide Support Blog) Do you agree that exceptional customer service begins with the hiring process? Having the right people on board to do the customer service job is the first step towards delivering outstanding customer service at your business.

My Comment: Once a company decides they want (or want to continue) to deliver excellent customer service, it becomes up to the people to execute. You can’t do it without the right people who have been properly trained to do so – and have a certain aptitude for customer service. This article is an excellent reminder of the basics we need to be thinking about when hiring people to fit into a customer-focused culture.

Customer Service as Product Experience by Tatiana Mejia

(Business2Community) To stay com­pet­i­tive and com­mand a pre­mium, brands need to sell a cus­tomer expe­ri­ence, not just a prod­uct. Cus­tomer ser­vice is at the heart of this effort. Increas­ingly, cus­tomer ser­vice is con­sid­ered part of the brand promise, the prod­uct, and the mar­ket­ing that helps sell it.

My Comment: This excellent article reminds us that customer experience is more than just customer service. To many customers, they mean the same thing. The best companies understand that a good product, by itself, isn’t the answer. And, great customer service won’t make up for a lousy product. It takes both.

Why I’m Going All-In On Customer Service by Joshua Steimle

(Forbes)  If you’re selling lemonade and your neighbor starts selling lemonade as well, you’ve got to make yourself better by being different, otherwise you’ll split your revenues with your neighbor, at best.

My Comment: This is a great article that emphasizes three of the biggest benefits of delivering excellent service and maintaining a customer focused culture: It’s your best marketing, it increases revenue and helps retain your best employees. Who, and what company, wouldn’t want to be “all in” with customer service?

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, professional 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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Guest Blog: Effectively using Product Knowledge with Your Customer

This week on our Friends on Friday guest blog post, my colleague Doug Sandler writes about how to communicate with your customer, anticipating the information that they need and want.  - Shep Hyken

I’ve spent 30 years building a business and I would say I know more than anyone about the services I provide. And I definitely know more than the vast majority of my customers do about the services I offer as well. As a matter of fact, I bet I could list the top 25 most important questions, concerns and potential issues that my customers would ask about. I hope you agree, you should know the same about your products and services too. Why am I telling you all of this? Simple — none of it matters to my customer and it doesn’t matter to your customer either. It only matters to you.

Your wealth of product knowledge is useless if you spend all of your time telling your client the great benefits your products offer but neglect to ask your customer what is important to them. Stop talking, start listening, ask questions when appropriate and provide only the information your customer is asking for. My dad used to call it puking product, and it has to stop if you want your customer to be happy and not bored by you. A bored client will leave you for your competition. I know it’s challenging to listen to your customer ask questions about the problems you are about to solve by providing your services, especially when you’ve heard all this before. You’re excited because you see a good match for your customer and you want to tell them. Now. Eager for your turn to chime in, you want to stop them from talking because you could probably finish the sentence for them. But don’t be so eager to interrupt them. Let them finish what they are saying. Your job is to make them feel important. They are important, they are your customer. Take a moment before you answer, and talk to them like a human being. Here’s your chance to complement them. Pace yourself, stay calm, listen closely to what they are saying. And when they pause, give yourself a moment to contemplate the question, even if you know the answer immediately.

Let’s look at a good way and a bad way to answer the same question. Question – “Does your product come in blue?” Right way to answer – “That is a great question Sam, I’m glad you asked that. Sure our product comes in blue. It sounds like that might be important to you? Is there anything else that’s important to you about our product?” Listen to how that sounds when compared to the puking product version of the same question. Question – “Does your product come in blue?” Wrong way to answer – “Does it come in blue? It sure does! It also comes in red, yellow, purple, orange and green. The green one is amazing too because it comes with 3 other features including tilt, spin and pan. You are going to love this product. One other thing worth mentioning is the great carrying bag that you get if you decide to buy one of these today.” I don’t know about you, but the wrong way sounds like a typical salesman and the right way sounds like someone who genuinely cares about the question the customer is asking and wants to know more about the customer and his questions.

Often times, the issue is not our customer, the issue is us. That’s okay though, because we can change us. We are one hundred percent in control of our behavior and zero percent in control of our customer’s behavior. So let’s not try to change our customer. Make a conscious effort to leave our product knowledge in our brain and not all of it in our conversation. You may be thinking that to have all this product knowledge is great and it’s important to use it. I would agree, having all the product knowledge in the world is great. But knowing when to use it is even greater. I promise, your customer will appreciate you checking it at the door.

Doug Sandler, aka Mr. Nice Guy, created Nice Guys Finish First in an environment where too often people accept average as the norm when it comes to customer service; and way too often companies accept average from their sales and customer service departments.  Doug is a speaker, author and blogger specializing in exceeding service expectations and he can prove to you why nice guys (and girls) finish first. You can get a free download of his e-book “5 Biggest Mistakes Made By Sales and Customer Service,” by clicking here.

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

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Sell the Customer Service Experience, Not the Journey

Positive Customer Experiences

Companies have figured out that customer service is marketing. It’s the reason customers come back. It’s the reason customers talk to their friends about the company. It’s the value that can drive your business. Smart companies promise a positive customer service experience; and they deliver.

Recently I read an article that Walmart is going to keep all of the cash registers open during the holidays.  I assume this is so that customer won’t have to wait in long lines, which apparently has been a problem in the past. Of course that’s the reason! And I appreciate that they are doing so.

By the way, I’m a fan of Walmart, and appreciate that they are doing right by the customer. I also believe that the customer is going to get the message. However, there is a valuable lesson here as it applies to customer service and marketing. In the end, I don’t really care about how many cash registers are open. What I do care about is not having to stand in long lines. So, why don’t they just tell me – or sell me – on that fact? Sell me on the experience versus what goes into making that experience happen.

Not too long ago one of the major retail box stores came to St. Louis (where I live). Everyone was excited to visit this cool store with huge selections and low prices. The public feedback was focused on a problem; long check-out lines. The store immediately started advertising a promise to keep lines under five minutes. I gave them a try, and they were true to their word.

What matters is what the customer will experience. When I watch a commercial about taking a vacation to Hawaii, they sell the destination, which is about palm trees and an ocean. They don’t sell me by telling me about how many seats are on the plane that will get me there.

Walmart should take the position that they will open as many as registers as necessary to keep the customers’ wait time in line down to five minutes, or whatever time they think is reasonable. It doesn’t matter if that means two registers or ten registers are open. If a customer asks how Walmart plans to do this, then tell them that if necessary, every check-out lane will be opened to ensure that the customer gets out quickly.

This ties into the old sales and marketing adage about selling benefits and not features. Even when a customer buys into the benefit, especially when the benefit is customer service, that doesn’t mean the customer will care much about the details that drive that benefit.

In other words, sell and market to me on the experience, not the method behind the experience.

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, professional 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  http://www.thecustomerfocus.com . Follow on Twitter:  @Hyken

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5 Top Customer Service Articles for the Week of September 1, 2014

TOP CUSTOMER SERVICE AND BUSINESS ARTICLES

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.

A Sorry Apology? 3 Little Words Customers Tire of Hearing by Chad Brooks

(Business News Daily) The more times you tell your customers you’re “sorry,” “thank you” or “please” when they come to you for help, the angrier they tend to get, new research finds.

My Comment: More wisdom from Zendesk. It seems counterintuitive to think that saying, “I’m sorry” could have negative impact on the customer. I mentioned this in my top five list 2 weeks ago that had the full report. This article does a great job of summarizing a couple of the very important points of the full report.

‘Thank You’! The two most important ‘Customer Experience’ words of all by Ian Golding

(IJ Golding) ‘Thank You’. Two little words. Two words containing a total of eight letters. As a parent you spend most of your life teaching your children to use the words regularly. As a child, you are constantly reminded of their importance. It is unlikely you have ever looked up the dictionary definition of ‘thank you’ – so I have done so for you – you can thank me later.

My Comment: In just about every customer service presentation I deliver, I always include the concept of appreciation and saying thank you. I don’t like to limit it to just the customers. There are also our internal customers; the people work with and/or who depend on us in our own organizations. They also need appreciation. This article is a great reminder of just how important those two words, “Thank you!” are.

Good Customer Service – Tips for Doing it Right by Joy Busse

(Busse Design) Remember how in the not so distant past you could speak to a real person who would actually help you with your customer service needs? You picked up the phone, dialed a number and within moments a perfectly congenial and helpful representative was taking care of you. Five minutes later your problem was solved and you were back to your life. It was easy. What happened to that?

My Comment: Great tips for any business to build confidence by providing an excellent customer experience. Some of the ideas are simple, but that doesn’t mean that everyone or every company does them. But they should.

7 rules for real customer relationships: Zendesk founder Mikkel Svane by Mikkel Svane

(BRW.) Customer service interactions are becoming your primary means of creating true customer relationships. To be a successful business today, you must understand how relationships actually work, and how to build them. While the ways in which you do this work may be specific to your business, there are some fundamentals about relationship-building that are universal.

My Comment: Zendesk is a great company and Mikkel Svane is a very smart guy. Here are seven universal customer service “truths” that can turn an average interaction into an experience that creates loyalty and confidence.

Help Your Employees Experience The Sort Of Service You Want Them To Deliver by Adrian Swinscoe

(Forbes) Personally, I think there is an opportunity for many firms to go further and think differently about how they help their employees understand the sort of service that they want them to deliver.

My Comment: Great article about treating employees like customers. They should experience the same level of service. It’s not very effective to treat employees poorly and then expect them to treat the customers better. My favorite saying about this is what I refer to as the Employee Golden Rule, which is to treat employees like you want the customer treated – even better.

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, professional 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  http://www.thecustomerfocus.com . Follow on Twitter:  @Hyken

 

 

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Guest Post: Customer Service Is All About the First Impression – 4 Tips for Prioritizing Appearance

This week on our Friends on Friday guest blog post, my colleague Courtney Buchanan writes about how crucial the first impression is in the service business.  I agree 100% that not only is the first impression important, I would say that equally important is the last impression.  - Shep Hyken 

Customer Service Speaker

When managers look for ways to improve their service operations, appearance and presentation may not be top of mind even though they have a significant impact on customer service. The truck and tech in his uniform are the first in-person interaction that a customer has with a company before the service is even delivered, so it’s time for techs to have a little fashion sense. Beside affecting the reputation of a company, a field tech’s appearance can create trust and reassurance among customers that the person at their door is the tech they’re expecting.

“In business, it’s important to look good. It’s not just a vanity, it’s how your customers – or potential customers – see you,” writes Susan Scher on Examiner.com. “This doesn’t mean you have to be beautiful. In fact, that is not always an advantage. But if you don’t look as though you care about your appearance, it can undermine people’s trust in you. This is true of your car, too, or van or company truck.”

Customers often interact with one field tech, and they form an opinion of the company based on that tech’s service, appearance and friendliness. That’s why it’s important to get every field tech on board with looking neat and clean.

Brian Carr, strategic creative manager at Safelite AutoGlass, says, “Many times, the technician is the only person at our company the customer meets in-person, so the impression he or she leaves will be what they use to judge the company as a whole.

Here are four tips for managers when talking to field techs about appearance:

1.  Educate about the importance of appearance. When techs realize that their appearance affects whether a customer has a good or bad service experience, they will make more of an effort to consider how they present themselves since techs focus on creating a memorable customer experience, Carr says.

2. Provide multiple uniforms. To curb techs from being uncomfortable (either too hot or too cold) in their uniforms, give them several options. Carr says, “We provide a variety of uniform options to choose from for our technicians to meet their specific needs, particularly as they often are working outdoors facing weather changes.”

3. Be clear about expectations. While wearing a uniform and driving a marked truck may be fairly standard, companies have differing opinions about tattoos being acceptable. Be loud and clear about the company’s stance.

Carr adds, “Currently, some of our market leaders are piloting new ‘professional image guidelines’ that require visible tattoos to be covered with black compression arm sleeves. Our Net Promoter Scores should help us identify if there is a change in customer sentiment.”

4. Listen to tech feedback. Techs may not be wearing a uniform because it’s itchy or doesn’t breathe, so it’s important to take their preferences into account when the company requires techs to wear the uniforms around the clock, Carr notes.

Often ignored, appearance is a simple, straightforward way to improve customer service. Uniforms and marked trucks create trust and peace of mind among customers when they open the door for an at-home service, and they market the company by turning people and vehicles into moving billboards.

Courtney Buchanan is a writer for The SmartVan blog, where she covers technology and management tips in the field service industry.

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

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7 Ways to Build Online Customer Trust

Increase Customer Confidence

It’s easy to build trust when you have the opportunity to connect with customers in person. You can look into their eyes, read their expressions, and interact at a more personal level. Even on the phone you can listen to a customer’s tone of voice and react accordingly. But, building trust online is a different story; not necessarily more difficult. Just different.

Certain companies have excelled at building online trust, such as Zappos, Apple, and Sephora. Their reputations are stellar. They are recognized in many surveys and studies as top ranked online retailers.  Interesting to note that Apple and Sephora are also topped ranked traditional retailers, known for delivering an amazing customer service experience.  That trust has crossed over into the online world. So, how do these companies build online trust?  Here are seven common sense ways to do so. Unfortunately, they aren’t always so common.

Remember that people do business with people. Even in the online world where customers purchase through your website, remember that the website was designed by people to be used by people. Make the site easy to navigate and simple to understand.
Be accessible through multiple channels. In other words, you may have a great call center, but you should also have support available through the other channels a customer may want to use, such as email, texting, Facebook, or Twitter.
Make contact information available on every page of a website. Make it easy for a customer to call, email, or connect with you instantly.
Keep telephone hold times to a minimum. It can be frustrating for a customer to have to wait for extended periods of time. It sends a message that the company doesn’t care enough to staff properly. As an alternative, consider technology that will let the customer know how long the wait time is with the option of an automatic call-back.
When a customer contacts you via social channels, respond quickly – which means minutes, not hours or days. Tweet If I wanted my question answered two hours from now, I would have waited two hours to ask the question.
Share social proof. Use testimonials from happy customers to help prove trust and increase a customer’s confidence to do business with you.
Ask your customers to post online reviews. This shows that you have confidence that you will take care of your customers by delivering a great customer service experience and taking care of any problems that may arise – in such a way that will earn you a glowing online review.

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, professional 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 http://www.thecustomerfocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken

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5 Top Customer Service Articles for the Week of August 25, 2014

TOP CUSTOMER SERVICE AND BUSINESS ARTICLES

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.

8 Common Customer Complaints and How to Fix Them by Barry Moltz

(Open Forum) The key to outstanding customer service isn’t always what you offer, but how you respond. Here are your best answers to the 8 most frequently heard customer service complaints.

My Comment: Perfection is not reality, but the goal of perfection is. So, when it comes to customer service, while it is good to strive for perfection, complaints are going to happen. It’s how they are handled that makes great companies great. This article has eight of the most common complaints. Any organization will find at least one or two (or maybe all eight) that apply to them.

How to Intentionally Build Your Company Culture (Rather Than Leave It to Chance) by Drew McLellan

(Entrepreneur) Whether you see it or not, culture is a big deal for several reasons.

My Comment: A clearly defined culture is the compass that points everyone in an organization in the same direction. It starts at the top, is communicated, trained, demonstrated and celebrated by leadership and employees.  This article reminds us that the culture shouldn’t develop by accident. It needs to be created and developed on purpose, and with purpose. 

Customer Experience Is Everyone’s Job by Dan McAuliffe

(CMSWire) Customer experience is a function of people. It’s fickle and fragile. It thrives on collaboration and is cultivated by the actions (both direct and indirect) of every employee at a company. It is a shared responsibility and vision. Any one person can help to improve customer experience, and, in the blink of eye, any one person can destroy it.

My Comment: One of my favorite sayings is that customer service isn’t a department. It’s a philosophy. It should be embraced by everyone, from the CEO to the most recently hired. This article does an excellent job of explaining why some employees have a difficult time grasping this concept.

Neighborhood Vendors: How hyper-local businesses stay in business today by Robert Lerose

(Small Business Community)Although outsized competitors may be better financed or give deep discounts to customers, many local merchants can leverage their position in the neighborhood to gain a decided edge.

My Comment: While this article has some great ideas for local businesses to compete against bigger (national and international) competition, there are great ideas for any type of business.  Sometimes national businesses struggle because they don’t “do local well.” The companies that can localize their business, regardless of them being local, national, or global, can have an advantage.

The Keys To Exceptional Customer Experience, From Visionary CMOs Of Travel by Robert Reiss

(Forbes) Connectivity has transformed the travel experience. Bruce Speechley, a leader in IBM’s travel industry practice recently summed it up for me, “Technology is now enabling people to experience the vacation before they arrive”. I wondered how the leaders of this new world of travel developed customer strategy to create loyalty, engage the Millennial Generation, utilize data, and prepare for the future.  So I assembled the heads of marketing for three travel companies best known for top service in sea, land, and air.

My Comment: There is a lot we can learn about customer experience from three executives in the travel industry. Any business can take on a “hospitality mentality” to enhance their customers’ experiences.

 

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, professional 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  http://www.thecustomerfocus.com . Follow on Twitter:  @Hyken

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