Shep Hyken's Blog, page 225
June 16, 2014
5 Top Customer Service Articles for the Week of June 16, 2014
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.
Actions Trump Discounts In Newest Customer Loyalty Trends by Cheryl Conner
(Forbes) When it comes to retail loyalty programs, nothing inspires like a discount, correct? Not any more. New data from COLLOQUY, a Cincinnati, Ohio-based customer loyalty research firm, shows customers are increasingly favoring programs that reward activities other than purchase.
My Comment: This is an interesting concept. Loyalty programs have traditionally been about dollars spent, frequency of visits or use – things that have to do with spending money or using the company’s products. This is quite unique. Insurance companies offer students “good grade” discounts. If a restaurant asks me if I worked out today and as a result, gave me an extra punch on my loyalty card, I’d find that pretty intriguing. Could this be a sign of things to come?
How Disney Creates Magical Experiences (and a 70% Return Rate) by Gregory Ciotti
(Help Scout) Disney’s ability to “wow” its fans and captivate customers for decades is explored in depth in Be Our Guest, a veritable handbook for Disney magic. I’ll highlight some interesting and unique takeaways that the Disney Institute was willing to share in Be Our Guest.
My Comment: Disney is a customer service icon. Whenever I see an article about how to deliver Disney style customer service, I read and study. This article didn’t let me down, sharing a number of ideas that Walt wanted to instill in his theme parks. I don’t think I ever get sick of reading how Walt creates, not just loyalty, but magic for his guests!
Make the Time to Create Positive Customer Experiences by Matt McConnell
(Bank Systems & Technology) Agent training and coaching is vital in the new world of banking.
My Comment: Even though this article is written in a financial services, this article shares a great approach for just about any business in any industry. When I first read the title I thought it was about taking extra time with the customer. No, instead it was about taking extra time with employees, which is even more important. The customer service experience starts on the inside with people. Take time to train, mentor, coach, give feedback and more. To put it in financial terms, it pays dividends and has a high ROI.
18 Incredible Things You Didn’t Know About Trader Joe’s by Sam Stryker
(Buzz Feed) Clear stomachs, full wallets, can’t lose.
My Comment: Trader Joe’s is one of those companies that can teach other businesses some great lessons. They are an excellent role model. While I enjoyed some of the stats and facts about Trader Joe’s, there are some great reminders included in this list (such as easy return policies and employee appreciation) that can help us deliver an amazing customer service experience.
My Father (and Bob Seger) Taught Me How to Win Customers’ Love and Loyalty by Sloane Barbour
(Forbes) What was my dad’s secret? Growing up, I knew I wanted to go into sales. So I set off for Chicago to take my first sales job, but before I did, my dad gave me some advice. He told me a story.
My Comment: This is a powerful story with a number of great messages. This story proves that there are companies out there that value the relationship with a customer above just about anything else. It turns into sales, repeat business and success. One of the lessons that I pulled from this article that might not be quite so obvious is to trust your customer.
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
(Copyright ©MMXIV, Shep Hyken)
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June 13, 2014
Guest Blog: Customers Deserve Better
This week on our Friends on Friday guest blog post, my colleague Lisa Ford writes about what the customer hears when they pick up the phone to call a company. I love her suggestions and I think you will too! – Shep Hyken
When customers call a company, they deserve the best treatment. However many organizations continue to abuse their customers with poorly thought out phone handling. The guilty companies range for the largest to the smallest. The reality is many of those companies do not want the calls. Their desire is that the customer checks the website first, to engage in live chat or communicate via social media. Most customers have tried one of those options and as a last resort pick up the phone. So when the experience is daunting, customers get even more frustrated.
It is time to do a review of what customers go through when calling. I recommend a small team, including a director level person, to check your roadblocks and make the needed changes. Here’s where to get started –
Act as if you are the customer. Listen closely and experience the call process. I know you have done this before – do it again.
Get rid of the instructions that inform the customer, “Listen carefully as our menu has changed.” Most of your customers do not call you often enough to have the menu memorized. We don’t know or care that it has changed. Just give us the choices, the fewer the better. Also give us the one chosen most frequently upfront, like press 1 not 6. For example, physician’s offices are the worst offender of this one – “to make an appointment press 5”. I don’t think pharmacies call more often than patients yet that option is always stated before the patient focused ones.
Stop telling the customer, “Your call is very important to us, the next available representative will be with you soon.” Say it once. The more you repeat the same script the more it angers the customer. Change up the recording – some script, some music, some information about products and services. And please don’t tell the customer to go to the website, it is very likely they’ve tried it already and even on it while listening to the recording.
Listen to the customer representative scripts. Is it time to let the team be more respectful and engaging? Customers are exhausted with the programmed scripts. They do not create a real conversation. The customer called to speak to a real live person – not one with a script and limited options. Remember the customer thinks their situation is unique, so listen well and engage them.
Customers will love you when you hire smarter, train well and coach often. Your team will love working for you and in an empowered environment. You will get loyalty from customers and employees. Your phone handling is part of the customer experience. If the customer has to call you, give them what they deserve – easy to access real people with real answers.
Lisa Ford is the author of best selling training series, How to Give Exceptional Customer Service. She is a speaker and an author who helps companies create customer-focused cultures.
For more articles from Shep Hyken and his guest contributors go to customerserviceblog.com
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June 11, 2014
Free Can Be A Great Customer Service Strategy
Customer LoyaltySometimes one of the greatest ways to provide great customer service is to give something of value away for free. It doesn’t have to be anything big or expensive. It can be something small. Really small. It just has to be valuable to the customer.
Think about the owner of the restaurant that buys his regular customers a drink or a dessert. Actually, that’s not small enough. I’m talking really small. Something that costs a dollar or two; maybe less.
What prompted me to write about this was an email from Ron Baker, president of Gracey-Backer, who saw me speak several years ago. The short version of the story is that Ron was pulled over by the police one night for having a burnt out brake light. The police officer didn’t give him a ticket because Ron promised that he would get it fixed immediately. He went to the closest full-service station, and the mechanic quickly replaced the bulb. Ron asked, “How much do I owe you?” The mechanic said, “This one’s on me.”
Ron was dumbfounded and at the same time delighted. Ron said, “I wasn’t even his customer, but I am now! I used to buy gas at the discount gas station a few blocks away and save a penny a gallon – maybe 20 cents on a tank full. Not anymore. I now get my gas at the Exxon station.”
Ron’s story reminded me of Chris Zane, who owns a bike store in Connecticut. Known for his amazing customer service, one of Chris’s tactics is to not charge the customer for anything that costs less than a dollar. For example, a customer who needs a master link, which is a small part that holds the chain together, doesn’t have to pay for it. Zane says, “The cost to me is virtually nothing. We’re not going to chase the pennies — we’re looking at the long-term effect of giving someone a master link. And you should see the look on people’s faces.” It turns out the tactic of free costs Zane less than $100 annually. A small price to pay for loyal customers who are worth thousands of dollars over time. By the way, you can read about Zane’s philosophy about this in his book, available on Amazon.com.
Sometimes there is no monetary value at all. It’s just a little effort, taking time out to do something nice for a customer, or a potential customer. I’m reminded of one of our newsletter subscribers who sent in a story about how he had car trouble and was stranded on the road. A limo driver was passing by and asked if he could drop him off at a service station, at no charge. He was just being a Good Samaritan. It paid off because the gentleman with the car trouble owned a company that now hires his new friend to drive him to and from the airport.
Sometimes free can be a great customer service strategy. It adds value, promotes good will and builds trust with your customers. All good things that can eventually lead to customer loyalty!
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
(Copyright ©MMXIV, Shep Hyken)
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June 9, 2014
5 Top Customer Service Articles for the Week of June 9, 2014
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.
The challenges of customer lifetime value by Marketing Week
(Marketing Week) Working in silos and managing multichannel are stopping brands from realising the full value of a customer over time.
My Comment: There is a lot of great information here. It’s easy for smaller companies to determine the CLV (Customer Lifetime Value). However larger companies have a difficult time because of multiple locations, different divisions, etc. The secret is to integrate as if the company is one. Simple in concept, but difficult to achieve. This can be done through the IT department, the way data is collected, handled and shared and other tactics to break down silos. I found this to be an interesting read.
Nursing Customer Service Initiative by Daniel Budusan
(Advance Healthcare) The Customer Service Initiative (or CSI) is a program devised by ED nurses at Grady Memorial Hospital, an urban, safety-net academic facility in Atlanta that sees in excess of 10,000 patients every month come through the doors of their department.
My Comment: Even though this article appears to be written for nurses at a hospital, as I read through it I couldn’t help thinking that these exercises in this training program would apply to other employees in the hospital – and even other business not related to the medical industry. Then toward the end it was revealed that other departments and employees were invited to participate, even referred to as “Universal and Adaptable.” These ideas are worthy of consideration of all types of businesses.
Mark Cuban is Right: Never Listen to Your Customers by Art Turock
(Art Turock) Cuban contends that asking customers what they want doesn’t improve a company’s competitive positioning. Customers make comparisons with existing products and service. They rarely offer insights for conceiving innovative solutions to compromises that everyone reluctantly tolerates. There’s an enormous gap between comparing what exists and inventing one-of-a-kind innovations.
My Comment: While I’m not sure if you should “never” listen to your customers, Art’s comments make some sense. And, the “Pretend I’m Mark Cuban” exercise is definitely worthy of consideration. We want our customers to have an amazing experience. We want our employees to function like an elite team – be it the sport of business.
6 Ways Social Media Can Drive Customer Experience by Daniel Newman
(Millennial CEO) So for those 75 percent that of businesses that did NOT rank social media as the most effective channel for customer retention, here are six reasons to get on board.
My Comment: You can’t ignore social customer service. The six ways social media drives customer service that are mentioned in this article remind us that it is a powerful two-way communication channel. Sure, customers can complain, but the company can also use social channels to communicate great value to their customers.
Customer Anger Management, Do’s and Don’ts by Marta Wadsworth
(Userlike) Angry customers. Aggressive, hysterical, unreasonable, angry customers. Everyone with experience in customer service knows that dealing with these people is an inherent part of the job, yet so few know how to respond in the right way! What are the best practices to deal with angry customers? We’ve asked the experts.
My Comment: It’s not a matter of if you’ll ever have an angry customer. It’s when. Here are some great ideas that are worthy of sharing with all employees about dealing with angry customers. (Works for internal customers too!)
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
(Copyright ©MMXIV, Shep Hyken)
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June 6, 2014
Guest Blog: Vendor Didn’t Have the “Bench Strength” to Satisfy Their Sophisticated Customer
This week on our Friends on Friday guest blog post, my colleague Ann Amati writes about the importance of customer feedback and understanding what the customer is communicating. – Shep Hyken
Even a seasoned supplier makes mistakes. In this case study, a decades-old vendor over-reached, won the chance to expand into a new market, then fell flat on its face. A formal candid feedback project gave the customer a chance to spell out his expectations. The vendor implemented improvements and escaped early termination. Their contract was simply allowed to expire with no discussion of renewal.
This is one in a series of case studies highlighting “Key Questions and Course-correcting Quotes” taken from 20 years of B2B customer insight projects. All names are fictitious, but the situations are real. Case studies paint a picture of how important it is to learn what your B2B customers think-but aren’t saying. These are real-world examples of how soliciting and acting on customer feedback has helped companies hold onto customers longer, grow relationships bigger and pick up new business faster.
Case study: Vendor was “average.” Customer wanted “special.”
Key Question (asked of a CEO at a 7-figure account): “Is this vendor performing at a ‘partner’ level?”
Course-correcting Quote:
CEO: “No. The people in the top two positions are pretty impressive, but that’s the case anywhere. It’s at the next level down that we have found them somewhat lacking. For example, account management is weak and reactive. We need formal meetings, formal reviews, good follow-up, etc. We brought that to their attention. I’m not sure they would have gotten there on their own, and that’s disappointing. Our best vendors hire, develop and retain good people top to bottom. We can’t grow relying on average vendors. We need ‘special.’ These guys are average.”
The Client’s Quandary:
This was a cold glass of water in the vendor’s face. They knew their customer was frustrated, but they thought they had a simple communication problem. They thought they had overcome the worst of it but reached out for customer feedback just to be safe. After they read the customer feedback report, they knew they were still in trouble.
Conclusion:
They were in over their head: Their customer was sophisticated, the market was unfamiliar to this vendor, and they didn’t have the bench strength or the strategic vision to deliver in line with their customer’s standards. They won the business based on a strong presentation by the senior executives, but the customer soon realized their account hadn’t been staffed with a seasoned team. In the end, their contract wasn’t renewed, but to their credit it wasn’t terminated early. This impartial evaluation of where they stood allowed them to make what changes they could to improve their performance over their final 15 months.
I categorize projects as assessments, investigations, treasure hunts or rescue missions. This project was an investigation because the client’s question started “why?” “Why is this customer so hard to please?” Customer dissatisfaction hadn’t yet escalated to the point of requiring a rescue mission. At that stage the question is, “Can this marriage be saved?”
Ann Amati, Principal, Deliberate Strategies Consulting, helps companies use guidance from their current and past customers to grow future sales. She has a 20-year track record of using deep-dive interviews to create positive turning points in her clients’ relationships with their customers. Contact Ann Amati when you want to know what your customers think. You’ll start making faster, more confident decisions.
For more articles from Shep Hyken and his guest contributors go to customerserviceblog.com
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June 4, 2014
Amazing Customer Service Story: The Human Bench
What’s Your Amazing Story?
Every once in a while a company has an opportunity to create an over-the-top customer service experience. They don’t happen every day, or they wouldn’t be special. The right story can become customer service legend to be shared with employees – and even customers. I am going to tell you a great “above and beyond” type customer service story that does just that.
Cesar Larios is a student at the Art Institute of Florida and works part-time for College HUNKS Moving and Hauling. College HUNKS does typical moves as well as trash pick-up, donation pick-ups and more. They are all about delivering an amazing customer service experience, and Cesar proved it.
So, the short version of the story is that Cesar was working a move in an assisted living facility and was in an elevator with an elderly woman when the elevator got stuck. The woman mentioned to Caesar that she could not stand for extended periods and needed to sit. Rather than letting her sit on the floor of the elevator, Cesar bent over on his hands and knees and let her sit on his back until the elevator was fixed, about thirty minutes later.
Nick Friedman, the co-founder of College HUNKS had this to say: “I thought this was a great example of old-fashioned service and helping your fellow neighbor. Our company mission is to move the world, both literally and emotionally, and this is an example of our brand coming to life.”
What I love about this story is that it ties closely to the company’s mission, which is very simple and just a few words long. The company is focused on creating a stress free experience for their customers and building leadership skills for their college student employees. Cesar delivered on the mission.
And, the company’s name ties to their brand promise. No, the HUNKS in College HUNKS doesn’t mean you get big, good-looking guys to move your “stuff.” While that is what most people might think, the word HUNKS is actually an acronym for Honest Uniformed Nice Knowledgeable Students. The brand promise is built into their name. Pretty cool!
H is for honest and is about trust.
U is for uniformed which is about neatness.
N is for nice and that’s about customer service.
K is for knowledgeable which creates confidence.
S is for students, who are the typical employees who work for College Hunks.
How many companies have their brand promise statements built into their name? That in itself is an interesting lesson. I’m not suggesting we change our names. However, once I learned what HUNKS stood for, I started thinking about the clarity of our brand promise.
The real lesson is in the story. The story has been picked up by the press. It’s created a buzz and now College HUNKS has its legendary customer service story. Will it ever get as popular as the Nordstrom story about the customer who returned tires? Doubtful, but it does give the company a story to call their legend.
Every company needs a legendary story. It may not go viral on social media channels, but it still has to be good enough to share with employees and give them something to aspire.
What is your favorite customer service story? Share a story with me and I may use it an upcoming article.
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
(Copyright ©MMXIV, Shep Hyken)
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June 2, 2014
5 Top Customer Service Articles for the Week of June 2, 2014
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 Service Tip of the Day: How to Master Email Etiquette for Business by Joanna Jones
(Impact Blog!) To give us all a reminder, today’s customer service tip of the day will serve as a refresher for the rules of business email.
My Comment: A great reminder! More people should pay attention to the emails they send out. While email may appear to be less formal than a traditional mailed letter, it’s not. Many times email is an acceptable substitute for the traditional mail, and in most cases, should be treated with the same formality. The ideas shared in this article are a good start to preventing us from breaching email etiquette.
5 Things Elite Customer Service Teams Never Do by Jordy Leiser
(HappyCustomer) Whether your company is scaling rapidly or just starting to build a solid foundation for the future, don’t let your team fall into these common traps.
My Comment: We’ve seen so many lists about how to deliver great customer service (which I love), it is also nice to get a list of what not to do – or how to deliver lousy customer service. Unfortunately, I’ve experienced most of these, as I’m sure many of us have. Great reminders of what not to do!
How to create fanatically loyal customers by Ashita Aggarwal Sharma
(Business Standard) In this hyper-competitive world, where a consumer has a lot of options to choose from, brand loyalty is deemed non-existent. Is that really so?
My Comment: The difference between a satisfied customer and a loyal customer is an emotional connection. While satisfaction is a rating, loyalty is an emotion. And, who doesn’t want loyal – or fanatically loyal – customers! This level of loyalty doesn’t just come back to do more business with you. They evangelize on your behalf, telling others about the great experiences you provide them. This article has some great ideas on how to emotionally engage your customer to the point of fanatical loyalty.
Ask Your Customer Service Agents One Question by Mike Baron
(PSCertify) Here’s an easy way to measure your operational risk.
My Comment: Sometimes great things come in small packages. That is the case with this short blog post. What a simple, yet great, idea – to ask one question each week. This question helps you know what your people may or may not know. Great idea!
5 Common Mistakes That Lead To Customer Defections by David Miller
(31 West) The best way of retaining customers is to provide world-class customer experiences. Good customer experiences start at your call center—the epicenter of your customer service. Get it right there and customers come back again and again. Get it wrong there and you drive customers away.
My Comment: There are many reasons a customer would leave us. Here are five good ones. And, while the article may focus on the call or support center, I believe these five reasons are appropriate for everyone to know and understand.
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
(Copyright ©MMXIV, Shep Hyken)
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May 30, 2014
Guest Blog: CX is not equivalent to CS
This week on our Friends on Friday guest blog post, my colleague Gregory Yankelovich writes about the difference between customer service and the customer experience. I agree and Gregory does a great job of explaining that difference. – Shep Hyken
There are too many people who use the customer experience and customer service/support terms interchangeably. Even well respected authors and customer centricity consultants, like Don Peppers, occasionally slip into this ambiguous trap. Here are some basic definitions found on the web with a simple query:
Customer service is just one of the attributes that comprise customer experience, but it is most definitely not the same thing. For some businesses it could be the most important ingredient, and for others in could be completely inconsequential one.
Here are some examples to make the distinctions a little more clear:
You can have great customer experience without the participation of the customer service department at all, but sometimes even the best customer support efforts cannot salvage overall customer experience:
o The most attentive waiter can’t improve a poorly cooked dish, but a scrumptious meal can be remarkably experienced in self-served establishment.
o Expertly installed TV cable service does not guarantee quality entertainment.
o Customer Success Managers can only help to retain customers for a short period of time if the software does not perform as expected.
A product plays the leading role in delivering customer experience, not efforts of customer-facing employees. If a product sucks, no heroics of the front line personnel can deliver excellent customer experience. From this perspective it is difficult to understand how product managers, and even more so product marketing managers, manage to avoid the customer experience responsibility spotlight. These are the people who interpret customer needs and wants into a product design. It is a best practice to have them handle customer support lines on a regular basis to learn firsthand how accurate were their interpretations.
Marketing is the group that creates customer expectations, and when these expectations do not meet reality of a product, customer experience suffers. Classical marketing is supposed to “learn” what customers need and translate this learning to product designers and advertising messages that attract the “right” customers to the “right” product. Instead, marketing is too often focused on “pimping” products designed by engineers overseas without any connection to actual consumers. Focus groups and survey are designed to figure out how to sell what they have got, rather than to make what customers want. No wonder the distinction between “market research” and “marketing research” is so blurry. Customer service can be very helpful to facilitate the return of an unwanted product and deliver great product return experience, but it cannot deliver a great customer experience.
Confusing customer service/support with customer experience puts an unfair and unbearable load on the shoulders of an organization that already is the second most stressed group, after sales, in the company. Even though its performance has relatively limited ability to influence delivery of customer experience, it is measured, dissected and optimized completely out of proportion. When you see that happen, it is the first sign that the company is focused on financial engineering – not on their customers.
Gregory Yankelovich has been involved with customer centric product management and marketing for over 25 years. He currently serves as Founder and CEO of Amplified Analytics. Their core competency is the extraction of Customer Experience marketing intelligence from social media, using proprietary opinion mining technology.
For more articles from Shep Hyken and his guest contributors go to customerserviceblog.com
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May 28, 2014
Is Customer Service Getting Worse?
Customer is Smarter than Ever“Customer service isn’t getting worse. Customer service is getting harder.”
This was the message that Barak Eilam, the CEO of NICE, a technology company focused on customer experience solutions, shared with an audience of customers at the recent NICE Interactions users conference in Las Vegas. How profound. And, he’s right.
Surveys in the customer service world are coming back and indicating that customers perceive customer service to be worse than last year. W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University finds that in 2013 customer problems climbed to 50% from 45% in 2011 and 32% in 1976. Yet, at the same time companies are marketing and bragging about how they provide great customer service.
Here’s my take. The customer is smarter than ever when it comes to customer service. The best companies are becoming benchmarks for others to aspire – not just in their own industry, but across all industries. Companies such as Apple, Amazon, Zappos, Ace Hardware, Ritz-Carlton, Nordstrom and others are consistently top performers in the world of customer service. They are very proud of it, and they tell the world about it, thereby educating the consumer on what really good customer service looks like. As a result, customers hope to get this level of service from all of the companies they do business with.
That just makes it harder for companies that aren’t quite as customer focused, and that is a good thing. Companies that really want to compete and stand out are being forced to raise the bar and give customers a better experience. It can only be good for customers – and good for business.
So, how does a company begin to not just meet, but exceed the customer’s expectations? How do they raise the bar? A good start is to identify the typical customer’s journey. Determine all of the main touch-points or front-line interactions. Think of each of these interactions as a link in a chain. If there is a weak link, figure out a way to strengthen it to eliminate or mitigate problems and customer complaints. Look at the strong links and determine what might be done to make them even stronger.
At the same time, take a look at what is happening behind the scenes to support these front-line interactions. The systems and people behind the scenes can make or break the front-line customer experience.
There is no doubt that some companies aren’t good at delivering customer service. But what about the ones that try, yet fail? Is it that they are bad or getting worse? Maybe not. Maybe they are failing because the bar has been raised and the customer is expecting more. Maybe it’s just getting harder.
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 tohttp://www.thecustomerfocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken
(Copyright ©MMXIV, Shep Hyken)
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May 26, 2014
5 Top Customer Service Articles for the Week of May 26, 2014
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 Decade Later, Revisiting Kelleher’s Classic ’14 Ways to Be a Leader’ by Dave Wenger
(McComb Today) Ten years later, since retired from his leadership role at Southwest, Kelleher remains an astute and beloved commentator on life, business, and the principles of success. As commencement approaches for 2014, we’re pleased to present “Fourteen Ways to Be a Leader, Centennial Edition” with one modification (point No. 4), suggested by Kelleher in retrospect.
My Comment: When Herb Kelleher speaks, we should all listen. Be it today or ten years ago – or when Mr. Kelleher first started Southwest Airlines, his thoughts are a foundation for leadership success. His leadership philosophy is very employee and customer focused, which is one of his “secrets” of success. Even though I’ve read this before, it is worth reading again (and again).
Customer Service as a Differentiator: The “My Pleasure” Principle by Tricia Morris
(Parature) In customer service, words, when used consistently, can define your customer service delivery. They can also define your brand.
My Comment: Perhaps Chick-fil-A is to the quick-serve/fast food industry as Southwest Airlines is to the airline industry. We can learn a lot from both companies. I’m always impressed with Chick-fil-A’s amazing service and the consistency from one store/restaurant to the next. Thank you, Tricia Morris and Parature for posting this article. It was “my pleasure” to read it!
3 Tips to Make Your Customer Service NOT Suck! by Scott Span
(B2Community) However – not all businesses excel at great customer service. So what are some reasons why customer service sucks?
My Comment: Communication, competency and responsiveness… These are three key ingredients to delivering, as the author says, a customer service that “doesn’t suck.” While these three may not get you all the way to amazing customer service, they are a pretty darn good start.
Communication, competency and responsiveness… These are three key ingredients to delivering, as the author says, a customer service that “doesn’t suck.” While these three may not get you all the way to amazing customer service, they are a pretty darn good start.
Read more at http://www.business2community.com/customer-experience/3-tips-make-customer-service-suck-0890121#sD2HUe7xaDtLO8FW.99
Communication, competency and responsiveness… These are three key ingredients to delivering, as the author says, a customer service that “doesn’t suck.” While these three may not get you all the way to amazing customer service, they are a pretty darn good start.
Read more at http://www.business2community.com/customer-experience/3-tips-make-customer-service-suck-0890121#sD2HUe7xaDtLO8FW.99
However – not all businesses excel at great customer service. So what are some reasons why customer service sucks?
Read more at http://www.business2community.com/customer-experience/3-tips-make-customer-service-suck-0890121#sD2HUe7xaDtLO8FW.99
However – not all businesses excel at great customer service. So what are some reasons why customer service sucks?
Read more at http://www.business2community.com/customer-experience/3-tips-make-customer-service-suck-0890121#sD2HUe7xaDtLO8FW.99
Is your business customer-centric enough? by Douglas Ackerman
(Bdaily) Satisfied, loyal customers provide repeat business, recommend you to their friends, and improve the reputation of your company. With this in mind, is your business doing everything possible to focus on customers?
My Comment: Can a company be too customer centric? I don’t think so. The best companies put the customer first and decisions are made based on the impact to the customer. This excellent article discusses some of the roots of what it takes to be a customer centric company. And it all starts with the leadership. The must define the culture and then demonstrate it to the rest of the company – and the customers.
10 steps towards more human marketing by Customericare
(Slideshare) It looks like lots of companies have lost touch with the “human” side of marketing. They invest more and more into marketing automation and less into human interactions. This is a 10 steps guide to make your online marketing a little more human.
My Comment: There is a blurry line between marketing and customer experience. When you get to the “human” side of marketing, it is all about creating a culture that delivers an experience that makes customers want to come back and talk about you to their friends, family members and colleagues. If that’s not marketing, I don’t know what is. I love this SlideShare, as it has many tips that are well worth consideration of any organization.
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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