Shep Hyken's Blog, page 235
December 2, 2013
5 Top Customer Service Articles For the Week of December 2, 2013
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.
What irritates customers most? The top five irritations revealed! by Ian Golding
(IJGolding) I am delighted to reveal the findings to the question ‘what irritates us most’. A question that potentially leads to the ‘opening of floodgates’, I experienced mixed emotions reading the 240 responses. I found myself switching from laughter, to sadness, to anger, to empathy as I immersed myself into the pain and frustration of others – pain that I myself have experienced all too often. So in order to avoid running the risk of irritating you, the reader, by rambling on, let me reveal the results.
My Comment: It doesn’t matter if you’re a B-2-B or B-2-C company, any of these five “irritations” will erode your customers’ confidence and loyalty. Make sure you’re not guilty of committing any of these “offenses.”
The great customer service debate by Business Technology
(Business Technology) Gartner analyst and customer satisfaction guru Ed Thompson explains how trust, touching and team spirit are at the heart of every genuine service-led company
My Comment: Here is some very sage advice and information from Gartner analyst Ed Thompson. Customers are smarter, willing to complain more (to the company and the public). It seems that customer service would be at the top of the list of important strategies and initiatives. (Yet, as Mr. Thompson points out, experts say this is nothing more than lip service.) Excellent information!
The Evolving Role of the Chief Customer Officer by Jennifer LeClaire
(CIO Online) While the activities a chief customer officer might engage in are legion, there are seven that are most common and important regardless of company size, industry, or chief customer role. Even if your company doesn’t have a chief customer officer, to become truly customer centric, an executive needs to be held accountable for customer activities.
My Comment: It is refreshing and exciting to see how the Chief Customer Officer’s role is evolving. What used to be the function of someone in charge of customer service, it now includes a number of important roles that include analytics, processes and more.
5 Ways to Use Mystery Shopping to Improve Your Business by Silvia Planella
(Business2Community) Mystery Shopping exercises allow businesses’ owners to get a quick, reliable and quality feedback from the customers perspective. It is an invaluable tool in aiding the evaluation of teams customer care performance levels, training budgets and company mission statements delivery to core customer sector.
My Comment: While most people think that mystery shopping is for the retail industry, I believe there are many advantages to mystery shopping just about any type of business. Here are some compelling reasons a business should consider a mystery shopping program.
Omnichannel customer service report by Zendesk
(Zendesk) How are companies around the globe doing in implementing omnichannel customer service and sales strategies to meet consumers’ expectations? Loudhouse, an independent research agency, surveyed 7,000 consumers in seven countries (U.S., U.K., Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, and Japan) to find out.
My Comment: My friends at Zendesk partnered with Loudhouse and created an information packed report on omni-channel customer service. As customers are more comfortable getting customer service (and buying) across multiple channels, it is our best interest to keep up with the latest and greatest. This report has some very valuable information to help you understand how communication with our customers is changing. Go to the Zendesk site and download the PDF.
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 ©MMXIII, Shep Hyken)
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November 29, 2013
Guest Blog: The Top 4 Essentials for Exceptional Customer Experience
This week on our Friends on Friday guest blog post, my friend and colleague Idit Aloni-Halfon talks about four ideas for providing an exceptional customer experience. Focusing on every crucial point in the customer journey is key. – Shep Hyken
In a recent blog post we discussed the importance of brands understanding their customers’ individual journeys, and being there for customers during their make-or-break moments in a way that is personal and memorable. Some might even say that providing an individual customer experience will quickly become a strategic advantage in an otherwise identical service market.
So, what do organizations need to do in order to provide a personal customer experience and win over their customers? Here’s our checklist for providing exceptional customer experience.
Make Them Feel Unique: Focus on Each Individual Customer Journey
There is no denying that each customer has the need to feel special. Customers will take notice of enhancements in products and services and will greatly appreciate the more personalized experience that they are receiving because it speaks to them as individuals.
By using Big Data technology, organizations can examine all customer interactions and transactions. Over the course of time, patterns will become identifiable, and organizations will be able to use this information to better understand trends in customer needs and to decide how they can be proactive in meeting those needs.
Seize the Moment: Leverage Real-Time Analytics for Real-Time Actions
Brands are starting to take notice of the importance of being there for customers during their “decisive moments” – the make-or-break moments when a customer is in need for the organization to act.
Organizations can identify decisive moments in the customer journey by combining real-time data with historical data, and can then determine whether a specific action or contact is required. Actions based on smart decisioning engines, agent guidance and process automation, will have to be taken based on real-time capturing and analytics. At that point, the organization may choose to move the interaction to another channel, change the context of the conversation on the current channel, or create a new interaction altogether. By knowing when and how to act, organizations can provide proactive, satisfying experiences that are fundamental to brand loyalty.
Empower your People: Prepare the Organization
With changing times and technologies, customers are becoming better educated about products and services that interest them through their own self-discovery and research. As customers become increasingly accustomed to serving themselves, they also have much higher demands for sales associates and agents. Customer-facing employees must feel empowered to take on this challenge.
Organizations need to ensure that the right agents are on the front line, with the training and motivation to succeed during these decisive moments. Using real-time guidance, they can ensure that agents do not miss a thing in this multifaceted environment – be it an opportunity to delight customers or capture sales.
Stay Restless: Instill Enterprise-wide Improvements Using Inside-Out and Outside-In Data
Each customer has his or her individual journey and, as this journey generates varying experiences, there is a lot to be gained from “closing the loop” by analyzing interactions and resulting customer feedback for operational and customer service uses.
This enables organizations to collect a wealth of customer input and use it to generate insights, on different aspects of their operation. These insights can be leveraged to deliver a more meaningful and memorable experience for the customer, and an efficient, effective and scalable service capability for the organization.
So, how does your organization stack up to the challenge of providing exceptional customer service?
Idit Aloni-Halfon is a passionate Customer Experience professional, at NICE Systems
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Idit has spent the last decade consulting and leading CX initiatives in large organizations in Israel and at Vodafone New Zealand. As she works with industry influencers, her passion is finding new ways to build exceptional Customer and Employee Experiences. Follow @NICE_Enterprise
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November 27, 2013
Social Customer Service Equals Positive Experiences
Reactive Customer ServiceI recently had the privilege of working with Hy-Vee, a grocery store chain based in the Midwest. What an amazing, customer-focused operation. Visit their stores and you will be impressed with their amazing employees and their excellent service.
After my speech to the store directors, I met one of Hy-Vee’s executive vice presidents. He was very proud, and deservedly so, about how they use social media to enhance their customer service. He shared a story, which is an excellent example of how any company can use social media to take care of the customer.
By the way, this is an example of reactive customer service. A customer complained and the company executed the reaction perfectly.
A customer was standing in the checkout line and Tweeted: Whenever I come go to Hy-Vee’s Chinese Express Department, they are always out of what I want. Mad!
Hy-Vee has something they call the Listening Room. This is where employees monitor – or should I say listen to – their customers sharing comments on various social media channels: Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Reaction time in the Listening Room is important. The employee who was “listening” immediately tweeted back to the customer to step out of line and wait in Aisle One. Within moments the manager found the customer, introduced himself and was able to get the customer what he wanted.
The story ends on a positive note when the customer, who had a short wait in line to check out, Tweeted that he loves Hy-Vee and how they took great care of them.
Great story here, with a few lessons:
Your customers will talk about you, potentially broadcasting their experiences, good and bad, to the world using social media channels. Don’t fight it. Embrace it.
Companies need to monitor, or as Hy-Vee says, “listen to,” these social media channels for any customer comments.
If the comments are negative, act quickly. Response time is one of the keys to a successful resolution. Great companies respond within a few minutes. In the Hy-Vee story, it was literally a few seconds after reading the Tweet. Very impressive!
Companies need to resolve negative issues quickly; the faster the better – and more impressive.
A positive outcome to a negative situation can ideally end with the customer going back to their social channel of choice and broadcasting a complementary statement that turns into positive PR for the company.
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 ©MMXIII, Shep Hyken)
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November 25, 2013
5 Top Customer Service Articles For the Week of November 25, 2013
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.
3 Customer Service Lessons Learnt From Other Retailers’ Mistakes by Kelly Atkinson
(Business2Community) We took the key findings from the annual Global Consumer Pulse Survey and turned them into 3 lessons you can use to go one better than the competition.
My Comment: Sometimes we can learn from other’s mistakes. In this case, we get three simple, yet important, customer service lessons that we can use in any type of business, not just retail. My favorite of the three is about respecting your customers’ time.
7 Tips for Delivering Great Customer Experiences Over Live Chat by STELLAService
(Happy Customer) 7 lessons for those who have implemented live chat software, or those who are considering it as a customer service channel.
My Comment: Live Chat is becoming a mainstream channel for customer support. If this is a technology your company is currently using, here are seven excellent tips for creating a better Live Chat experience with your customers.
Two More Customer Experience Facts and Suggestions You Can’t Ignore [INFOGRAPHIC] by Bob Hayes
(Business Over Broadway) For me, these two new facts help summarize the infographic. I’m also providing a couple of suggestions based on those facts. What do you take away from Keepify’s infographic.
My Comment: There is a lot of information packed into these two customer experience facts and suggestions, and even more impressive is the infographic about customer loyalty. Many companies focus on customer acquisition. The stats and facts included here really make the case for the importance of customer retention.
5 Ways to Keep Customers Knocking on Your Door For More by Rebekah Epstein
(Entrepreneur) While the pair spends a lot of time talking about analytics, their impeccable branding plays a big role in BaubleBar’s success. There is a lot to learn from Yacobovsky and Jain, so let’s take a look at why their customers are so loyal.
My Comment: This is a great list of five ideas to get customers to come in and come back. Customer service is marketing. Take care of the customer and they come back, talk about you to others, which in turn gets new customers to start doing business with you. If that’s not marketing or branding, I don’t know what is.
The effects of a good and bad customer experience [INFOGRAPHIC] by Nicola Brookes
(NewVoiceMedia) Check out this infographic to discover the real impact of poor customer service, taken from independent research NewVoiceMedia carried out recently.
My Comment: There is so much information out there that makes the case for delivering great customer service; customers spend more for it, come back more often for it, etc. What is the cost of bad customer service? This infographic, created by NewVoiceMedia in the UK, has some pretty interesting information that all businesses should consider.
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 ©MMXIII, Shep Hyken)
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November 22, 2013
Guest Blog: How To Engage with the Customer at the Point-of-Experience
This week on our Friends on Friday guest blog post, my friend and colleague Jason Hish writes about how important it is to engage with the customer at the point-of-experience. I agree that we must always be using unique ways to gather customer information. – Shep Hyken
Customer engagement strategies are increasingly challenging, especially for brick and mortar retailers. Not only is there competition between other brick and mortar locations, there is also competition with online retailers. Therefore, the importance of engaging with a customer base is ever-important. Even more important, is how to engage with the customer at the point-of-experience. Too often retailers default to the standard form of engagement; for example, intercept surveys, online surveys, mobile surveys, and so on.
Traditional methods of gathering feedback and engaging with the customer yields some benefits, however they normally do not yield a high percentage of customer responses. Traditional methods generally result in low response rates of 1% – 2%. Although these methods dive into a deeper understanding of the customer’s experience, they fall short on a few elements. For one, they do not represent a large enough customer base to truly represent enough segments in order to properly and accurately make corrective operational decisions.
Businesses need to offer a survey method in the store at the point-of-experience. This method also needs to make the feedback experience quick and focused for the customer. By asking one pertinent question at the point-of-experience and allowing for an anonymous response can lead to ten times the gain or more over traditional response methods.
Customers are busier than ever these days. Therefore, it is important to engage with them at the point-of-experience and in a fun way. This methodology will lead to more accurate and timely feedback, as the experience is fresh in the customer’s mind. In addition, this will also lead to an increase of responses due to the inviting, easy and pertinent manner in which the survey is displayed and implemented.
Another thing to keep in mind is to keep it simple. Utilizing technology can sometimes lead to adverse results. Keep this in mind when you are selecting a method to engage with your customers. To attract and gain feedback from all demographics you need to deploy a method that is inviting to all. Stay away from the complicated kiosks with tablets and multi-layers of questioning. You will only detract your customers from engaging and providing feedback with these kiosks.
These days it is more important to engage in a more simplistic and inviting manner. Looking at ways to gain instant customer feedback and strengthening your social media messaging are essential in today’s challenging environment. How do you engage with your customers?
Jason Hish is the president of Xavier Solutions, Inc., a consulting firm servicing the retail and commercial markets. For the last 12 years, Jason has worked with many organizations to provide simple, affordable and effective solutions.
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November 20, 2013
Exploit the Unique Talents of Your Employees
More Engaged WorkforceThe Kimpton hotel chain continues to impress and amaze me. I just had a wonderful stay at their Alexis Hotel in Seattle. The staff was nothing short of amazing. I did some “mystery shopping” for this article by engaging with several of the employees to find out a little about their culture.
One of the first things that impressed me was the longevity of the employees. One of the front desk people had been there for 13 years. Another since the hotel had opened. The concierge had been with Kimpton for a number of years and had transferred to Seattle. One of the servers at their restaurant, and I’ll get back to him in a moment, had only been there three years, but gave me the same answer that the more tenured employees had given me about why they love working at the Kimpton.
The general answer the employees gave me is that they love to service customers and Kimpton has given them the freedom to do so. The lesson here is that Kimpton has created a culture that encourages their employees to meet and exceed their guests’ expectations. Sometimes that means a little extra effort and even spending a little extra money to do so. Service doesn’t always come cheap, but if the result is creating a loyal customer, the investment into the guest’s experience pays off with large dividends.
Carlos is the server in the restaurant I mentioned above. I overheard one of his colleagues complementing him on a video. I asked him about it. He said he loved to create videos. His manager, Jenne Neptune, encouraged Carlos to create a Kimpton video. She gave him permission to film at the hotel and post it to YouTube. Carlos said it meant so much to him that his manager would respect his passion enough to let him use it to serve the hotel.
This is the perfect example of a culture that exploits the uniqueness and the talents of its employees. While hired to work in the restaurant, Carlos was given the latitude of using his talents and passion as part of his job. As he told me his story, you could tell he was beaming with pride over his video project. As a result, Carlos is more appreciative of his job, has great respect for his manager and has an overall sense of fulfillment.
Let’s take a lesson from another very cool company, Google. Google wants its engineers to take 20% of their work-time – that’s one day a week – to focus on company-related projects of their own design. They actually refer to it as “20% Time.” This gives the employees a powerful sense of fulfillment deriving from their lead role in the new concepts being developed. I’m not suggesting that every employee be allowed to work a certain amount of time on self-chosen projects, but this may be very appropriate for some of the people in your organization.
The concept of letting people do what they love and what they’re good at is powerful. It doesn’t have to be 100% of their job, although that would be nice. But there should be a part of everyone’s job that allows them to do what they love to do, exploiting their unique talents along the way. The result is a more engaged workforce that will work for your company, and most important, your customers.
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 ©MMXIII, Shep Hyken)
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November 18, 2013
5 Top Customer Service Articles For the Week of November 18, 2013
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.
Eleven Ways To Create Real Employee Engagement From Ground Up by Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey
(Young Upstarts) Here are 11 tactics to help business owners create and increase employee engagement in their organizations (Warning: They may require some major overhauling).
My Comment: I love common sense ideas, and that is what this article is filled with. Employee engagement doesn’t need to be rocket science. It is all about treating employees with dignity and respect. They in turn will take care of business – and your customers! This is an outstanding list of simple, common sense ways to develop employee engagement.
Starbucks Beats Competition in Building Customer Loyalty By Nate Matherson
(The Street) I want to highlight three keys steps the company (Starbucks) has taken to ensure its customer loyalty into the distant future.
My Comment: Starbucks is one of the companies to admire, emulate and learn from when it comes to customer service, customer experience, and what this article focuses on, customer loyalty. They have a great product, great service and create an excellent experience that is copied by many. Their loyalty program isn’t just about marketing and perks. I believe customers would still go to Starbucks without the perks. The question I always ask my clients who create loyalty/incentive programs for customers is this: If you didn’t give them the free ________ (fill in the blank), would the customer still do business with you? There is a lot to learn from Starbucks.
Five Tips for Making and Keeping Happy Customers Judy Philbin
(Impact Blog!) How do you know you have a satisfied customer? Re-orders? No complaints? Perhaps, but not necessarily.
My Comment: Here are some great tips to creating happy customers, but there is a bigger message to the article: Be careful how you define a satisfied customer. My take on this is that satisfied customers aren’t loyal customers. There’s a big difference.
Customers From Hell – Top 4 Tips For Handling by Iain Swanston
(Iain Swanston) Whilst it may be impossible to completely eliminate Customers From Hell, it certainly makes sense to do as much as we possibly can, to reduce the numbers.
My Comment: This is a great list about dealing with difficult customers. I especially like number two, which is about “getting it right versus being right.”
The Future of Customer Service: 20 Expert Predictions for 2014 & Beyond by Tricia Morris
(Parature) Here are 20 expert predictions affecting the near future of customer service and the customer experience, with the first originally made in 2012, already realized.
My Comment: This is an amazing list. And I love that each item is linked to an article or source. It’s never too late to prepare for the future.
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 ©MMXIII, Shep Hyken)
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November 15, 2013
Guest Blog: 6 Ways Small Businesses Can Operate Like a Billion Dollar Juggernaut on a Shoestring Budget
This week on our Friends on Friday guest blog post, my friend and colleague Michel Falcon shares six strategies to make any small businesses successful. I especially like number 2 as I strongly believe training is a key to success.
Small business owners admire billion dollar brands for their operational strategies and programs similar to how young athletes admire Lebron James for his jump shot. However, small business owner’s admiration can quickly turn into “I wish we had the budget to…” after concluding that they don’t have the same infrastructure to create these programs. This is where I think most small business owners are misguided in their thought. Small businesses, in any industry, can reap the same benefits as these billion dollar juggernauts if they work smart and hard.
There are six areas where a small business can operate like a billion dollar brand:
1. Refined Recruiting: How are you hiring? Are you simply posting an ad on Craigslist, crossing your fingers and hoping for the best?
If so, this is a great opportunity to refine the way you are operating. Similar to how you carefully select who you invite to your wedding or house warming party you need to strategically think of who you are going to welcome to your place of business.
Tip: What type of questions are you asking candidates? Are they generic, easy to answer questions or ones that really make the candidate think and challenge their intelligence and thought process? Spend some time this week evaluating the questions you are asking.
2. World Class Customer Experience Training: What is your training and on boarding program like? Does your new team member have a designated period of time to truly understand the business?
One of the biggest disconnects in business today is the lack of investment in employee training. Now, you may have a nicely developed program but what does it consist of? If you’re still simply teaching your team to “be nice” or “look your customers in the eye and shake their hand” then you have an opportunity to improve.
Tip: We need to be teaching our front line employees, the people who create customer loyalty within our business, on the high level terms and strategies of customer experience such as: what is organic growth, what are the three customer personality types, what is brand admiration and how do you earn it.
3. Increased Customer Intelligence: Most business owners believe they know how their customers behave but having anecdotal thoughts isn’t enough nor is it accurate. How are you gathering customer data today, to increase revenue and profitability tomorrow?
We spend a lot of time trying to increase customer acquisition and completely ignore that we haven’t truly got to know our current customers. What do they love about us? What are their aversions? Try and understand your current customers better, I guarantee if you focus on them you will be able to develop strategies to increase the amount they spend with you and frequency of visits.
Tip: Use Survey Monkey to easily develop a formal customer survey. I personally recommend using the Net Promoter Score as I’ve seen it grow businesses if properly deployed.
4. Employee Recognition: Don’t reward your employees positive behaviors and actions by acting like their uncle: giving them cash.
Yes, I love cash as much as the next person but I don’t believe it’s the right way to incentivize employees (if you’ve hired correctly). Team members that genuinely want to contribute and grow within your company want “meaning.” They want a reason to contribute that is beyond money because cash and gifts can be spent or lost ruining the experience of how they earned it.
Tip: As a small business owner or leader within your organization, set a recurring calendar meeting every week for 30 minutes. During this time your only responsibility is to find someone in your organization who is doing great work and take them out for coffee or lunch. Leave your phone and laptop at your desk and really get to know the people who are building your business. Do not cancel this meeting. Ever!
5. Leverage Your Advocates: “We need to increase the amount of our customers we have” says the small business owner. This is common in business, we wake up every Monday morning hunting for new customers.
Before you do this, what have you done to increase referrals? If you’re delivering a memorable customer experience your customers will be more than willing to help you grow your business. You just need to ask them, business is not a passive person’s game.
Tip: Determine who your most loyal customers are. Now, pick up the phone or put together an email thanking them for their business and simply ask them to think of 2-5 people that also might need your service or product. Your PPC or SEO campaign can wait because this works very well. Yes, it’s that easy!
6. No Customer Left Behind: As consumers, we get so angry when a company ignore our complaints or move like snails to handle them. But, wait, we do the exact same thing when we are in the position of handling them.
A customer who has had a complaint properly handle will become more loyal than if nothing went wrong at all. Plus, you will give them a great story to tell. After all, business has moved into the story telling game. Whatever company has the most amount of customers telling positive stories about their brands is winning.
Tip: Set a service level agreement (SLA) to handle customer complaints. Contact the customer within one business day and document the reasons why the complaint happened in the first place. Once you’ve gathered enough “customer intelligence” started creating initiatives to reduce these complaint reasons.
Addressing these six tactics isn’t a walk in the park. It will take time and effort but the beauty is that they are low cost initiatives. You may not be able to spend as much as a billion dollar behemoth but you can definitely work as hard as them. Sweaty equity is a beautiful thing.
Michel Falcon is a customer and employee experience coach and keynote speaker based in Vancouver, Canada. He works with organizations who want to develop strategies to strengthen their customer experience efforts and increase their revenue and profits. If you enjoyed this post, more of his thoughts and full bio can be found on his website www.michelfalcon.com. You can connect with him on Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/michelfalcon and Twitter https://twitter.com/MichelFalcon.
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November 13, 2013
Ten Ways to Create a Customer-Centric Culture
Customer Service CultureHow do you create a customer-centric culture? Start on the inside, with employees. I’ve written and blogged a lot about this, and if this subject is important to you, I hope you’ll read some of the articles on CustomerServiceBlog.com. In the meantime, here is a list that will help you create a customer-centric culture:
Define the customer service culture. This is where customer-centricity begins. Start with the end in mind. What does the perfect customer service experience look like for your customer? From there, determine what will deliver that experience.
Communicate the culture. Do your employees really understand or know what your culture/vision is all about? Make sure it is simple enough for all employees to understand – even memorize.
Hire to the culture. You have to have the right people in place; people who have both the skills and the attitude to take care of the customer. But there is more. You also need employees who have the personality that is in sync with the culture. That’s different than attitude. Don’t confuse the two of them.
Train to the culture. You may have hired great employees, but regardless of their amazing backgrounds, if you don’t train them to your company’s culture, you can’t expect that they will be great for your company. Start training right away, focusing on the soft skills; your customer service expectations and your core values.
Everyone must participate in the training. Everyone, and that includes the leadership of an organization, must participate in the training. Think of the negative message that might be perceived if leadership is noticeably absent from customer service training, especially if it is being touted as something extremely important to the company.
Model the behavior. Everyone must step up and be a role model for others to emulate, especially leadership. Treat each other with the same respect and dignity as you would the customer – maybe even more so.
Empower everyone to be a customer service leader. Once you define your customer service standards, don’t encumber your employees with rules that get in the way. Instead, give them the power to do what it takes to meet and exceed those standards.
Recognize others when they do it well. Let people know they’re doing a great job. The recognition may be the motivation they need to continue, or even better, to take it to the next level.
Defend the culture when necessary. It is everyone’s job to defend the company’s culture. If someone is not acting in sync with the customer service standards, you have a teaching opportunity. Grab it and use it to help the employee grow to be more successful in the future.
Celebrate success. When it is all working, let your people know. Employees love to be appreciated and respected. Celebrate when they are doing a great job. That doesn’t mean a party every week. It may be recognition at a weekly meeting or a mention in the company newsletter. Or, maybe it is something big, like an annual awards dinner.
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 ©MMXIII, Shep Hyken)
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November 11, 2013
5 Top Customer Service Articles For the Week of November 11, 2013
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.
Can You Improve Customer Service By Empowering Your Team? by Alistair Niederer
(Huffington Post) Your business has clear ideas about how it should present itself to the outside world. This leads to rules and guidelines about how employees should communicate with customers and others on the outside. But when those rules become so rigid that they appear to prevent the employee from helping a customer in need then you will find that what is really needed is balance.
My Comment: This is a powerful article and the author makes a great point about the idea of rules and guidelines. I’ve always thought rules derail an employee trying to deliver a great customer experience. I’ve felt the word “guidelines” was a better choice of words, as it gives some latitude to the employee who wants to take initiative to help a customer. This article perfectly sums it up:
“Instead of creating mountains of guidelines, companies like Ritz Carlton define standards, the standards they expect their employees to reach. Then the employees are cut loose and allowed to help customers however needed – so long as the standards are maintained there is no need for formal guidelines on every single problem that might occur.”
Love this!
Top 4 Customer Service Tips Inspired by Danny Meyer by Natasha Wyatt
(Sparkcentral) In Danny Meyer’s book “Setting the Table,” he tells the story of how he became one of the world’s most famous restaurateurs. One reason Union Square Hospitality has churned out exceptionally recognizable restaurants is its relentless quest – and dedication – to serving the customers.
Danny’s hospitality philosophy can be applied and transferred to serving customers over social media as well. Let’s take a look at some of his tips.
My Comment: Danny Meyer is one of the people everyone should pay attention to when he talks about taking care of customers. This is a great article with four excellent lessons about delivering an excellent customer service experience.
Customer Service Quotes by Desk.com
(Desk.com) Some of the most successful businesses have one thing in common — great customer service. Unlike differentiators of quality, innovation or price, great customer service is a differentiator that can’t be bought; it’s a competitive advantage that can only be earned.
To keep things in perspective, here is a collection of the best, most inspirational customer service quotes.
My Comment: If you want to be inspired – or want your fellow employees to be inspired – then check out this Slideshare presentation with 50 great customer service quotes. Find the ones you like, print them out and hang them on your walls, put them in your newsletters, etc.
How Great Customer Service Leads to Great Customer Loyalty by Denyse Drummond-Dunn
(Business2Community) The number one challenge faced by marketers today is reaching their customers, which may come as a surprise in this multi-channel, always on, environment we live in. However, once you have reached them and convinced them to buy, you still have the, perhaps even tougher, challenge of keeping them. With so much on offer and the desire for novelty constantly growing, customer loyalty is declining. In fact, according to Bain & Co and Kantar Worldpanel UK Shopper Survey 2012 50 per cent of a brand’s ‘loyal’ users today will not be with them one year from now.
My Comment: Here is a simple list of three things that will help you connect with the customer and give a better experience. Sometimes it’s the simple ideas that make the most sense, which is why I’ve always believed that so much of customer service is common sense – that unfortunately is not always so common.
Create True Customer Loyalty: 10 Rules by Geoffrey James
(Inc) Customer loyalty comes from having a strong relationship with your customers. When they see you as a friend and ally, they’re reluctant to jump ship, even if it means they can get something a little cheaper.
My Comment: This is a great list of ten customer loyalty strategies and tactics. I especially like the first one that is about focusing on the relationship first. If you are more interested in taking care of the customer than making the sale, the sale will eventually come.
I also like number six, which is about the willingness to recommend a competitor. If the customer will be better served by recommending a competitor, then that is the right thing to do – which ties into number one, just mentioned above.
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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