Shep Hyken's Blog, page 56

When Sales and Customer Service Collide

Lately, I’ve been thinking about how sales and customer service combine to create an experience – hopefully a positive one. And then, by coincidence, one of our loyal subscribers, Heidi Reslow, shared a story about someone buying a new car. As I read the story, I realized the salesperson didn’t just sell a car. She created an experience for her customer. This is where sales and customer service collide. And by the way, you will enjoy this story even if you’re not in sales. 

Here’s the short version. Brian Knight, a professional speaker on team performance, posted the story on his blog. It opened with this statement: “I bought a new car yesterday. It almost didn’t happen but for an extraordinary effort from a woman named Suzanne.” 

Brian and his family needed a car. After doing some online research, he found a dealership (the Genesis dealership in Littleton, Colorado) that had what he wanted. After visiting the dealership and talking to Suzanne, the salesperson, it was too late to make the deal. But even though the next day was Suzanne’s day off, she said she would come in to do the paperwork. Unfortunately, Brian couldn’t leave home to meet her at the dealership. Without missing a beat, Suzanne said she would come to the house with the car.  

Some might say she was a hungry salesperson who would do almost anything to get the sale. That may be true for some, but at the time, there was a shortage of cars. The dealer just needed to stay open, and customers would come in and buy. Suzanne could have said, “I’m sorry. If you can’t come in tomorrow, I can’t guarantee someone else won’t come in and buy the car.” And, by the way, that is what probably would have happened.  

But Suzanne wanted to take care of her new customer, not just sell him a car. Suzanne created an experience – one that Brian wanted to share with the world. And he has.  

The demand for cars hasn’t always been this crazy. Just a few years ago, it took great effort to get a customer to come in and buy a car. Dealerships would advertise and negotiate to make a sale. And here is where the story gets better. 

When Brian was in Suzanne’s office the first time, he noticed a massive trophy with her name engraved six times – next to the years 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021. Brian asked about the trophy, and Suzanne confidently said, “Salesperson of the year. I’ve never lost.” And it’s Brian’s prediction that she’ll win again in 2022.   

The point is that sales and service are so tightly intertwined that they combine to create an experience. Customer service is not what happens when things go wrong. It happens throughout the entire experience, from the moment a customer just thinks about doing business with you until they do. Then it starts all over again when the customer comes back. And that’s what selling with service is all about. Create the experience that gets customers to not only buy today, but will also say, “I’ll be back” tomorrow. 

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, keynote speaker, and New York Times, bestselling business author. For information on The Customer Focus customer service training programs, go to www.thecustomerfocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken

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Amazing Business Radio: Gregorio Uglioni

Winning the World Cup in Customer Experience

The Link Between Soccer (Football) and Customer Service

Shep Hyken interviews Gregorio Uglioni, a customer experience specialist, host of CX Goalkeeper, and author of Customer Experience 4 (CX4). He shares how customer service teams can implement lessons and best practices that organizations can learn from soccer teams and their fans.

 

 

 

Top Takeaways:Customer service is a team sport where different experts and teams empower and learn from each other to provide an amazing customer experience.What can customer service teams learn from soccer teams? Turn customers into fans. Fans are emotionally invested and will defend their teams no matter the game’s result. When companies provide great experiences, they will earn “fans” who will continuously choose them over their competitors and become brand ambassadors who recommend them to everyone they know. Customer service teams should have one common goal. Each team member has their own role, but they work towards a common goal – winning the match. In customer service, different teams, such as the customer support team, the social media department, and the sales team, have their individual roles. Still, the goal must be unified to win the customer over with an amazing experience. Players must be trained to improvise. During a soccer game, players don’t ask permission from their coach before making a move. They are already empowered by their training, strategy, and team support even before stepping into the field. Customer service representatives must have the tools they need, from knowledge bases, coaching, and training to make empowered decisions on how to best serve the customer.Plus, Gregorio talks about how organizations can create a customer service architecture that can help teams provide a winning experience. Tune in!Quotes:

“The company, like a team, has two additional sources of feedback. The employees who give positive or negative feedback will help the team grow. Then, fans or customers will give feedback through comments, surveys, and brand loyalty.”

“It’s not B2B or B2C. It’s human to human. We are human to human environments where empathy is the most important key to interactions.”

“In sports and customer service, we must prepare for every match to win the championship.”

About:

Gregorio Uglioni is a Business Transformation, Innovation, and Customer Experience specialist. He shares his expertise on his podcast, CX Goalkeeper, and books, including his latest, Customer Experience 4 (CX4).

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

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

What is customer service architecture?What is the link between soccer and customer service? What can customer support teams learn from customer service teams?How can customer feedback benefit a business?Why is empowerment important in customer service?

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5 Top Customer Service Articles of the Week 10-3-2022

Each week I read many customer service and customer experience articles from various 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 Statistics: 7 Formulas You Need to Know by Brianna Langley

(CMSWire) As a customer experience professional, do you have to be a trained statistician?Thankfully, no. But it is important to have at least a foundational understanding of statistics. As we all know, statistics play a big role in measuring customer satisfaction and tracking progress over time. And formulas are how we develop our own parameters to capture those statistics.

My Comment: In the past few weeks, I’ve suggested articles on ways to measure customer experience/CX. I ran across this article that featured a couple of different ways to do so. Not all measurements are appropriate for every company, but you should know and understand the different options available to you.

One in Three Would Prefer to Reach Customer Service via Whatsapp by SME Web

(SME Web) One in three people would prefer to contact customer service via SMS or WhatsApp, new research shows, highlighting the need for businesses to employ a fully omnichannel presence. Despite call centres being a traditional means of communication between brands and their customers, this is now the preference for under half of the UK population (43%), according to a survey of 1,000 Brits by telecommunications provider Esendex.

My Comment: There are many ways customers can reach out for support. Our customer service research shows the phone is still number one. However, apps (like WhatsApp) are increasing in popularity. Do you need to be on WhatsApp or any other channel? You do if your customers are there. The research in this article claims that WhatsApp is becoming a popular way for a consumer to connect with a brand.

Pepsico Foodservice Exec Talks Unattended Retail by Elliot Maras

(Retail Customer Experience) PepsiCo Foodservice, looking to keep a pulse on consumer attitudes to these various solutions, conducted a consumer survey last year to gain a better understanding of what consumers are looking for when it comes to unattended retail. The company surveyed 1,000 consumers through an online questionnaire.

My Comment: When the executives of iconic brands, like Pepsi, share their opinions on consumers’ shifting trends and attitudes, we should pay attention. Self-service solutions in retail are being referred to as unattended retail. Pepsi surveyed more than 1,000 consumers and found “consumers prefer unattended retail more than ever because they want to shop at their own pace.” Technology is driving this trend. What started it, and is it here to stay?

How to Create Authentic Relationships and Build Customer Trust by Matt Bertram

(Entrepreneur Media) Brand equity, loyalty or affinity are really just terms used interchangeably to describe trust. While all brands strive to build trust with their customers, trust is earned and not given. According to a recent survey by Edelman, 88% of respondents stated that trust was an important factor in buying decisions, one percentage point less than the financial value of the products.

My Comment: There is no loyalty without trust. This article includes a power finding from a recent survey by Edelman: 88% of respondents stated that trust was an important factor in buying decisions, one percentage point less than the financial value of the products. BOOM! And there are five strategies in this article to help you and your organization create that trust.

4 Tips For Engaging With Customers’ Online Reviews by Forbes Councils Member

(Forbes) Reputation management has become a crucial element in any business’ sales strategy. Word of mouth is paramount as customer reviews are a crucial driver in consumers’ decision making. In fact, a 2021 Northwestern University Spiegel Research Center study shows that nearly 95% of shoppers refer to online reviews prior to making a purchase.

My Comment: This article focuses on how to respond to online reviews. That includes both negative and positive reviews. I’d add a fifth idea: to respond not only to negative reviews but also to positive ones. If a customer takes the time to say something nice, at least thank them!

BONUSHow to Recession-proof Customer Experience by ServiceNow

(ServiceNow) In an uncertain economy, companies need to put customer experience even more squarely in their sights. The pandemic showed that customer expectations increase in tough times, and to their credit, many companies stepped up—a global survey of 1,000 C-level executives showed that 70% have a growing focus around digital CX practices.

My Comment: I was recently interviewed by ServiceNow about how to recession-proof the customer experience. In tough financial times, many companies make the mistake of cutting in the wrong places – the places customers notice. I hope you find some insights here you can implement.

Top 10 Customer Experience Podcasts You Should Listen To by Justin Sheil

(Kustomer) Not only should businesses be considering podcasts as part of their own marketing strategies, but they should also be utilizing the wealth of insights in podcasts to evaluate and improve their own customer experiences. Customer experience (CX) professionals have to make a concerted effort to keep up with the ever-changing CX field. Podcasts are a tried and true way for these professionals to not only learn but to keep listeners up to date with technological advances within the industry.

My Comment: Thank you to Kustomer for including my podcast, Amazing Business Radio, in their top ten CX podcasts. Such an honor to be included with some other rockstar CX experts!

[image error]Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, professional speaker, and New York Times bestselling business author. Go to The Customer Focus to learn more about our customer service training programs. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken

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Guest Post: How To Get Customer Service, Sales & Marketing Teams On The Same Page

This week, we feature an article by Dmitry Dragilev, Founder of the keyword and SEO tools, TopicRanker.com, JustReachOut, and Chief SEO Geek. He shares how to get your customer service, sales, and marketing teams in sync.

One of the most overlooked struggles for any business’s customer experience is getting every team on the same page. 

I saw this at my startup JustReachOut. Teams struggled to share information, which damaged how customers saw us. Since every department plays a role in the customer experience, poor communication in just one department can affect the rest. 

But we found a simple solution that made everything work together and actually improved customer satisfaction. 

This wasn’t just a problem with my business, though. It’s a common problem for any organization with separate departments, especially customer service, marketing, and sales. Thankfully, there’s a solution that can get everyone on track and improve how customers perceive your brand. 

Are Your Teams in Sync? 

If you haven’t carefully planned a way to ensure your teams communicate well, they’ve probably fallen out of sync. At JustReachOut, this led to customer confusion and frustration. 

For example, a current customer would submit a help ticket and start getting help on how to fix the problem. But because customer support wasn’t sharing information with our sales team, the customer would also get sales messages trying to upsell on the next tier. 

 Or a prospect would visit the site and send an email with questions about the product, then later start a chat conversation. But since neither knew what the other was doing, the conversations were disjointed and redundant. 

The root of the issue is that our out-of-sync teams developed information silos. These collections of data often happen, intentionally or not. And when departments hoard information, the problem only gets worse. 

It’s easy to blame this on the teams themselves, but it’s usually not a people problem. The issue lies with the systems and software that help your teams share information. And by changing how your teams share information automatically, this problem often disappears. 

The Solution to Silos: Unified Communication 

Chances are your departments use different types of software to do their job. Messages, questions, tickets, and sales inquiries come in, are dealt with, and archived by the same department. This may be simpler, but it leads to the kind of redundant communication issues we saw at JustReachOut. 

One of the best solutions to improving cross-team collaboration is unified communication. In this system, all the communication channels across your entire team are integrated into one platform. 

Phone, email, chat, support tickets, and sales outreach all come together and sync up. By tying together several tools into one platform, your teams can work efficiently with each customer, see their previous conversations, and understand their specific needs. In some cases, it can even help your team predict future challenges and take a proactive approach to the customer experience. 

Perhaps the easiest way to make this work is by choosing all-in-one platforms that can handle several of the same capabilities. For example, modern business phone systems include built-in features like phone, chat, video calls, SMS texts, and more in a single system. Help desk software can pull together live chat, email, help tickets, and more. 

If you don’t have an all-in-one tool to use—or need to add extra capabilities—you can tie several tools together using an app to import and export data as need be. This allows you the flexibility of using as many platforms as you need while ensuring everyone has accurate, up-to-date information. 

For example, at JustReachOut, we use Zapier to connect Help Scout (our customer support software) with HubSpot (our CRM). Whenever we update customer information or have a conversation in Help Scout, it automatically appears in HubSpot for the rest of the team to see. This means better conversations, more relevant communication, and a seamless experience that’s focused on our customers.  

This kind of system doesn’t take very long to set up, but once it’s ready to implement it makes everything smoother. 

Concluding Advice 

Making improvements in cross-team collaboration will lead to improvements in customer experience. The better your teams can work together, the better they’ll help your customers, and the better experience you’ll deliver overall. 

When we implemented this system at JustReachOut, the results have spoken for themselves. We’ve improved our customer experience and built better, more robust systems for everyone across all departments to share information quickly and efficiently. 

And it isn’t difficult. With a few simple adjustments, you can build an automatic system that ensures every customer gets the quality service they deserve. 

Dmitry Dragilev is the founder of the keyword and SEO solutions, TopicRanker.com, JustReachOut, and Chief SEO Geek

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

Read Shep’s latest Forbes article: I Don’t Like Your Politics: How Political Views Can Hurt (Or Help) Your Business

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Posters on the Walls

I’ve been working with an amazing client. We have helped the client create a customer experience vision and define five behaviors everyone must exhibit to bring the vision to life. This makes me very proud of the work we do.  

Communication is one reason that their vision is coming to life. The CEO has sent out videos, regularly schedules town hall meetings, and shares best-of-the-best examples of how team members are creating amazing experiences and Moments of Magic® for their colleagues and customers. In addition, throughout their halls, you can find posters and signage with their vision, their five behaviors, and other motivating and inspiring messages that bring their customer experience initiative to life. 

During a recent call with the client, we talked about the posters on the walls. I commented, “What’s on the walls and what happens between the walls must be congruent.”  

In other words, don’t let the posters be eye candy without action. The success of the program doesn’t come from simply displaying the ideas we created with them but from the actions taken by the team members. 

All of this is happening inside their organization. Their customers don’t know about this initiative. They don’t know about the hours of training the employees are going through. All they know is that the experience is working. Once again, I share one of my favorite concepts: What’s happening inside the organization is felt on the outside by customers.  

And while the customers are experiencing the benefits of this company’s efforts, they don’t really care how it happens. They just want it to happen, and when it does, they want it to happen again and again – every time they do business with this company. The reward these customers give isn’t in the form of accolades, although feedback is a gift. It is in the form of repeat business and positive word-of-mouth. 

The point of this lesson is simple. Words on a poster or even spoken out loud mean nothing if there is no action to support it. If you spend the time and effort to create a vision, don’t let it die. Don’t let it become a “flavor of the month” that is replaced by next month’s or next year’s theme. Employees will figure it out and not take it seriously. If it’s really important, don’t tape it to the walls, engrave it on the walls. If it’s what you want, make it come to life. It’s not about what’s on the walls. It’s what happens between the walls that counts!  

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, keynote speaker, and New York Times, bestselling business author. For information on The Customer Focus customer service training programs, go to www.thecustomerfocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken

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Amazing Business Radio: Mita Bedi

Customer Delight as a Survival Strategy

How Customer Experience Can Save Businesses in the Current Economy

Shep Hyken interviews Mita Bedi, CEO and Co-founder of Resonate Solutions, a customer experience management platform. She shares how customers are rethinking every relationship and how leaders can make a business valuable enough to remain profitable.

 

 

 

Top Takeaways:Delighting your customers adds value to your business because it is hard to replicate.Customer delight is systematic. It is not just driven by one aspect like fast delivery or a good product. It means that a customer can interact in many ways with any employee or branch of the company and walk out with the intangible feeling that they got more than expected.90% of customer service people want to do a good job and delight their customers. However, most leaders are not providing them with the right tools to make it happen.Good leaders will shine in an economy that is short on skill and capital. They know how to manage people and create a better employee experience, which in turn creates a better customer experience.Customers are rethinking every relationship. Businesses can no longer take a customer for granted because customers are evaluating their discretionary spending and deciding what is important to them.Plus Mita Bedi shares what customers are talking about during “BBQ conversations.” Tune in!Quotes:

“Businesses are won and lost at the front line. The customer service person is the one that delights the customer.”

“Customer delight should be in the DNA of the company. It is the culture, vision, and purpose rolled into one. It is like a good orchestra with all the instruments working beautifully together.”

“Investing in customer experience can create a great employee experience. Employees want to work for a company that customers love because it gives them purpose.”

“Customer service excellence and customer delight will be every business’ survival strategy in the next two years.”

“A business leader who can create strategies and processes that can accelerate customer delight is a leader who can create lasting value.”

About:

Mita Bedi is a customer experience specialist, thought leader, CEO, and Co-founder of Resonate Solutions. With more than 20 years of international experience in business consulting, Mita has been part of leading programs that help drive revenue and competitive advantage using customer strategy.

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

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

How can companies accelerate customer delight?Why should you invest in customer experience?Why is CX investment essential in a recessionary phase?What stops employees from providing a great customer experience?How can businesses retain customer relationships?

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5 Top Customer Service Articles of the Week 9-26-2022

Each week I read many customer service and customer experience articles from various 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.

15 Qualities You Need To Get A Good Customer Service Job by James Spillane

(Business 2 Community) Are you interested in getting a customer service job? With countless jobs available, landing a good customer service job isn’t hard. If you have the qualities needed to get the job done, your chances of landing a descent paying job are high. Listed below are 15 qualities that will make you perfect for a job in customer service. Do you have these qualities?

My Comment: This article shares the traits and qualities of those looking for a job in customer service. As I read this, I thought, “This is a list of qualities of the people I would want to hire.” So as you read this, come at it from the other side. Do the people you are considering for the critical job of customer service, and support have these qualities? It’s a list to consider when you want to hire the best.

Are You Using the Right Customer Experience Analytics? by Imogen Sharma

(CMSWire) Gone are the days when a simple survey could tell you everything you need to know about your customer experience. Take a look at the future of CX analytics. Traditionally, decision-makers and marketers have relied on surveys to measure customer success. These customer experience analytics tools are useful — you shouldn’t throw them out the window just yet. However, backward-looking metrics have their downsides. And with large companies deploying the latest technology at speed, those who don’t maintain pace risk getting left behind.

My Comment: I’m often asked which metrics measure customer experience best. It all depends on the type of business, but you can’t go wrong starting with the standards, such as NPS, CSAT, and others. And according to the author of this article, there is more to consider than just customer surveys. It’s possible to get powerful insights by looking at different touchpoints, which include calls, websites, social media, reviews, and more.

Eight Tried-And-True Tips For Creating Effective Customer Retention Emails by Forbes Councils Member

(Forbes) In marketing, attracting new customers is only one half of the equation; businesses must also focus on how to keep those customers once they earn them. Sending customer retention emails is one way to help accomplish this. But simply asking customers to make another purchase likely won’t be effective—and could come off as pushy, which may turn off otherwise interested customers.

My Comment: Email messages are still valuable and powerful, especially when trying to get a customer to come back. The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) at Forbes compiled a list of eight customer retention email tips. The goal is to make the customer feel special with what seems like personalized messages and special access to information that is intriguing enough to get customers to stay or come back. Enjoy this list!

The Customer is King – So Treat Him That Way! Tips for Better Customer Service by Report Door

(Report Door) There’s no doubt that as a business, it’s important to provide great customer service. After all, if your customers are happy, you’re doing something right. And while there are many things you can do to improve your customer service efforts, this post outlines the top tips for making customer service great. From listening carefully to your customers to responding quickly and effectively, these tips will help you provide the best possible experience for your customers. So go ahead – treat your customers royally!

My Comment: Let’s get back to basics with a list of essential common-sense customer service tips that get your customers to say, “I’ll be back!” While there’s nothing new here, you’ll be reminded of what’s important. Whether you believe the customer is King (or Queen) doesn’t matter. All customers deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. This list is a great place to start.

How Amazon, Costco, Home Depot and Intuit Build Customer Loyalty by Prasad Sangameshwaran

(ET BrandEquity) Fred Reichheld is a Bain Fellow and founder of the consulting giant Bain and Company’s loyalty practice. In the second part of this interview series with ETBrandEquity, Reichheld, who believes that the power of referrals is underrated and often ignored by companies, says that it’s going to be a huge area of focus in his research the next 5-10 years. He also points out what successful companies like Amazon, Costco and Intuit are doing in their respective industries to build high customer loyalty.

My Comment: I’ve saved the best for last in this week’s Top Five roundup. This article is the second part of a series where Fred Reichheld, the creator of NPS (Net Promotor Score), shares his ideas on how to create loyalty. After reading this, I urge you to read Part One and be on the lookout for Part Three. I’m not going to share any more details about the article. Just the words “Fred Reichheld” should be enough to make you want to read it.

[image error]Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, professional speaker, and New York Times bestselling business author. Go to The Customer Focus to learn more about our customer service training programs. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken

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Guest Post: Five Ways to Create First-class Experiences for Customers

This week, we feature an article by Laura Bassett, Vice President of Product Marketing at NICE CXone, a complete platform for delivering an end-to-end customer experience. She shares five key tips for creating an exceptional experience for customers.

Customer experience is constantly changing and evolving. Processes that worked a year ago might not be suitable for a business today. One aspect that has remained constant throughout these changes is the influence of digital. Today’s consumers tend to turn to the likes of Google, YouTube, or Twitter as the first point of contact when trying to reach customer services. As a result, businesses need to be able to extend their ability to service customers beyond the boundaries of their channels to provide the customer with the experience they deserve.  

Knowing where customers are turning to for help is important. Using this knowledge to deliver a first-class experience will keep customers satisfied and build brand loyalty. Here are five key tips to consider when looking to create an exceptional experience for customers:  

Always compare yourself to others

Understanding the direction customer service and experience is heading in the market will always help brands stay ahead. To offer a leading experience and increase market share, however, businesses should also look beyond their boundaries to consider what customers need and value.  Identifying and adopting the top examples of customer experience, even if found in a different field, can improve customer satisfaction.  

By accurately understanding customers and creating an experience they value, businesses can set the bar to the level they need to perform. By focusing on your customer and recognizing them in your duty to deliver transparent information and support, you will build accountability as an organization and provide multi-channel experiences. 

Understand the customer journey for YOUR customers

Knowing what is happening within the wider market is essential. Keeping up to date with industry research can indicate where a business is tracking and upcoming trends. It’s equally important to look inwards and understand the customer journey. Businesses need to ask themselves the right questions, such as: What experience do my customers receive when they reach out for help? Is it informative? Does it take multiple tries and in different locations? Are they becoming frustrated during the process? Are my agents being properly trained? How much help are my agents providing, and are they able to provide the right help? 

This enables businesses to understand the exact pain points of their customers’ experience and address them to guarantee that the customer journey is seamless and simple.  

Simplify the ways that customers can achieve a resolution

Chatbots and virtual assistants have made self-service a natural first point of contact for many customers. Having them function correctly is essential as they can determine how smooth the customer journey will be, with many customers wanting to serve themselves from start to finish. Digital makes that possible, but the process needs to be simple. For example, if a customer starts with a chatbot but is then redirected to an agent to explain the question or issue again, it can be very frustrating. If that agent doesn’t have the background or training on how to solve the issue, it will cause unnecessary friction for a customer. 

This is where data and AI can help. The idea is to rectify any issues in as few steps as possible. By using AI solutions driven by customer data, agents have all the necessary information available, so customers don’t have to start from the beginning.  

Customer experience is everyone’s responsibility

Most organizations have a dedicated customer experience team. To deliver top-notch customer service, businesses must understand that everyone, not only the agents working closely with the consumer, has the responsibility of exceptional delivery. Regardless of if it’s the contact center, the social media team, the website development team, or the marketing team, every customer touchpoint is an opportunity to deliver a good service and a brand-elevating experience. Ultimately, all employees are brand ambassadors. Even if you’re not dealing directly with the customer, you’re either supporting somebody or you’re involved in the customer’s process. The key is to make it seamless. 

Empower contact center agents

While customer experience is everyone’s responsibility, contact center agents are at the front line of customer complaints and inquiries. They need to feel empowered and supported to do their jobs well. The first step is to change the mindset within the business to turn agents into executives. Armed with the right information and tools, agents are then able to make the correct decisions to resolve customer issues quickly and efficiently.  

Without the right tools to do their jobs properly, the customer experience is going to suffer. Preparing the agent with the right information and training will keep motivation and productivity high, which will have a knock-on impact on the customer and improve the business from the bottom up. 

Creating a seamless customer journey across assisted and self-service channels is the top priority for customer service leaders in 2022 (Gartner’s Hype Cycle 2022), not just because it provides a better experience but also because it’s what customers have come to expect. Getting it right isn’t a one size fits all solution. Following these steps can help create a better customer experience and improve your business. 

Laura Bassett, Vice President, of Product Marketing at NICE CXone, a complete platform for delivering an end-to-end customer experience. Laura is NICE CXOne’s chief storyteller, leading a team of the industry’s most innovative and creative thought leaders.

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

Read Shep’s latest Forbes article: How To Avoid An Unamazing Customer Experience 

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Three Powerful and Easy Ways to Gain Employee Trust

Just a few weeks ago, I wrote about how to create trust with customers. No doubt, a customer who trusts you is more likely to do business with you. And while that is obviously important, creating trust with employees may be even more so. A company that is trusted by customers is first trusted by employees. 

With that in mind, here are my top three ways to create employee trust:   Let employees do the job they were hired to do. If this sounds like the concept of empowerment, well, it is. After you hire good people and properly train them to do their jobs, don’t get in their way! Don’t block their capabilities by micromanaging and not empowering them to do the job they have been hired to do. And by the way, when they do a great job, let them know it. Employees want to be recognized and appreciated for the work they do.   Get and act on employee feedback. Employees want to give feedback but often feel uncomfortable doing so. So, make it easy for employees to share their feedback. Some companies have a formal feedback program that makes it easy for employees to share ideas to improve virtually every area. And once you get the feedback, do something with it. If you want to kill the energy of a good employee feedback program, all you have to do is … nothing. If you choose not to acknowledge and act on feedback, it’s only a matter of time before the ideas and suggestions stop coming in. After all, why should someone take the time to share constructive feedback if nothing is done? Leadership must be approachable. A few years ago, I had an idea for a short film. It was a spoof on the movie Mission Impossible. It was a story about a front liner who had an idea he wanted to share with an executive in the C-Suite. He called for an appointment and was turned down. His emails weren’t answered. This idea was really, really good, but he couldn’t get leadership to respond. As the movie title implies, getting the leaders’ attention was an impossible mission. The point is that leadership and management must create opportunities that allow employees to engage with them. You want employees to have a connection with leadership.  

If you’ve been following my work, you’ll recognize this concept: What’s happening inside the organization is felt on the outside by the customers. How you treat, talk to, and trust employees set the tone for the culture that will permeate outward toward your customers. Employee trust fosters customer trust. The result is that employees stay, and customers come back. And what company wouldn’t be happy with that? 

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, keynote speaker, and New York Times, bestselling business author. For information on The Customer Focus customer service training programs, go to www.thecustomerfocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken

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Amazing Business Radio: Laura Bassett

How to Deliver an Amazing (Versus Unamazing) Customer Experience

How to Use Proactive Communication to Manage Increasing Customer Expectations

Shep Hyken interviews Laura Bassett, Vice President of Product Marketing at NICE, a complete platform for delivering an end-to-end customer experience. Bassett shares how customer expectations have changed over the years and how companies can provide amazing customer experiences through proactive communication.

 

 

Top Takeaways:

Customers are more demanding than ever because they’re learning what excellent service looks like from the best experiences they’ve had from other companies (not just in your industry).Proactive communication helps both businesses and customers. It will not only help the customers before they ask for help, but it also helps them get more value from the products. It will also help companies retain customers.How to convert an un-amazing situation into an amazing experience:Walk in your customer’s shoes and compare that to what you might expect for your own experience.Make your customer support agents (more) knowledgeable. Help them understand that they don’t have to go through a script when it is unnecessary.Empower your agents. Give them the tools, the options, and the information to actually solve the problem.Turn customer support agents into customer service executives who own the experience. Give them their own bot assistants and real-time knowledge bases that they can leverage to solve their customer’s problems.A NICE survey found that 80% of consumers will start with digital (website, app, Google search, YouTube, etc.) when they have a question, need, or want to buy something.

Quotes:

“Amazing customer service doesn’t have to have fireworks. Seamless and simple wins every time.”

“Companies should understand and predict when they can answer a question before customers even realize they have it.”

About:

Laura Bassett is the Vice President of Product Marketing at NICE. She has 20+ years of experience in consulting, development, and delivery. Bassett is an outstanding product marketer, gifted speaker, product ambassador, and strategic thinker.

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

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

How are customer expectations changing?What is proactive communication?How can you equip customer service agents to provide an amazing experience?What is digital customer communication?How can you convert an un-amazing situation into an amazing experience?

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