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Inside Customer Service
JUNE 16, 2022
"I want them to be more proactive." The vice president was talking about his company's customer service team. His primary concern was customer retention. He worried that employees were too transactional and didn't work hard enough to retain customers. He shared a number of examples.
Inside Customer Service
JUNE 23, 2022
My first customer service interaction didn't end well. I was sixteen and had been on the job for 15 minutes. An irritated customer approached and I said the wrong thing. He stormed out of the store. It was a terrible feeling to see a customer literally walk out the door.
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Inside Customer Service
APRIL 21, 2022
I recently had to contact technical support. My external hard drive was failing, and I wanted to recover the files. The rep clearly had to follow a script. Unfortunately, none of his scripted troubleshooting steps fixed the issue. Then, it got awkward.
Inside Customer Service
JANUARY 6, 2022
Paul Harvey was on the radio in my house a lot when I was a kid. Harvey was famous for a segment called "the rest of the story" where he shared a forgotten story or little-known fact about a famous person or event. Each ended with with a surprise twist and his famous phrase, "And now you know.
Speaker: Rebecca Notté, Product Operations Manager and Hannah Chaplin, Director of Product Marketing at Pendo
In this session, Hannah Chaplin and Rebecca Notté will detail the challenges of managing feedback between product and customer success teams and share their best practices on how to combat these challenges.
Inside Customer Service
MARCH 10, 2022
Last December, I visited three bicycle shops to search for a new bike. I wanted a hybrid bike that was easy to maintain and fun to ride. The employee at the first shop immediately focused what they had in stock, which wasn't much. He didn't ask any questions and barely answered mine.
Inside Customer Service
DECEMBER 2, 2021
There's something amazing about being served by an employee who loves the brand they represent. My wife, Sally, and I experienced that recently at the Dr. Martens store on Newbury Street in Boston. We walked in the store and Sally quickly zeroed in on a pair of shoes she liked. Scratch that. Loved.
Inside Customer Service
JUNE 9, 2022
Several customer service professionals have recently requested advice on asking their boss for a raise. The timing is good. Unemployment is low, wages are rising, and companies are struggling to fill key customer service roles. Meanwhile, many customer service professionals still feel underpaid.
Inside Customer Service
NOVEMBER 4, 2021
Note: Lessons from The Overlook is a periodic update on lessons learned from owning a vacation rental property in the Southern California mountain town of Idyllwild. It's a hands-on opportunity to apply some of the techniques I advise my clients to use. You can find past updates here.
Inside Customer Service
MAY 12, 2022
Imagine you wanted to meet a friend for coffee. Your friend suggests a place they think you'll like that's located in a nearby neighborhood. You've never been there before and don't know the address. How would you get there?
Speaker: Emily Tate, Managing Director at Mind the Product
In this talk, Emily Tate, Managing Director at Mind the Product will unpack how we can quickly make deeply-researched decisions on multiple topics that will positively influence your product development process.
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Inside Customer Service
SEPTEMBER 9, 2021
Note: Lessons from The Overlook is a periodic update on lessons learned from owning a vacation rental property in the Southern California mountain town of Idyllwild. It's a hands-on opportunity to apply some of the techniques I advise my clients to use. You can find past updates here.
Inside Customer Service
MARCH 3, 2022
"You're p **g me off!" The one-sentence email came from the company president. He was upset that the phones had been ringing all day, and blamed me for what was happening. Our phone lines rang throughout the office whenever a customer was holding for more than a minute.
Inside Customer Service
MAY 26, 2022
Carol was a camper. That's a term for someone who is content in their current job and doesn't want to get promoted, add new responsibilities, or move to a new company. Carol showed up every day, did her job, and went home. She didn't want to "get ahead." Carol just wanted to do her job.
Inside Customer Service
MARCH 25, 2021
Domino’s helped me survive college. My school had a deal with the local Domino’s franchise where you could use your meal plan to order a pizza. The meal plan even covered the delivery driver’s tip. It was way too convenient for a student who was strapped for cash.
Speaker: Nickey Skarstad, Director of Product at Duolingo
Join Nickey Skarstad, Director of Product at Duolingo, as she discusses why it’s important to actively gather customer feedback, how to build customer feedback loops into your product planning, the best ways to decipher different types of feedback, and different frameworks for how/when to apply feedback processes.
Inside Customer Service
JUNE 24, 2021
Which fast food burger chain is better: Whataburger or In-N-Out? The debate rages. Texans loudly proclaim their allegiance to Whataburger. Californians quickly tell you that In-N-Out is the best. Other states might feel caught in the middle. So just for fun, I devised an objective test.
Inside Customer Service
AUGUST 12, 2021
Advertising disclosure: This blog participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. "We We have totally lost control."
Inside Customer Service
AUGUST 26, 2021
Advanced techniques are one of the top requests I receive as a customer service trainer. Many people feel the basics are, well, too basic. If that's you, I have five advanced techniques to share. But first, a word from our sponsor: basic skills. The basic skills never go out of style.
Inside Customer Service
MAY 19, 2022
It started as a typical, busy Wednesday. Then a miracle happened. A half-day event got cancelled. Another meeting was rescheduled for a different day. My calendar was suddenly wide-open. It was tempting to fill that found time with more work. I took my dog to the beach instead. We had a lot of fun.
Speaker: Bruce McCarthy, Co-Author of Product Roadmaps Relaunched and Founder of Product Culture
Join Bruce McCarthy, co-author of Product Roadmaps Relaunched, as he discusses the best ways to innovate your product roadmap. So that it reflects your customers’ needs while simultaneously and accurately communicating your products strategy and vision.
Inside Customer Service
FEBRUARY 18, 2021
Advertising disclosure: We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Tell me if this sounds familiar. The CEO announces a service culture initiative.
Inside Customer Service
MAY 5, 2022
Today's customers are increasingly unhappy. The American Customer Satisfaction Index has steadily declined for the past four years. By the end of 2021, it had reached its lowest point since 2005. What's causing the decline?
Inside Customer Service
MARCH 11, 2021
This past year has been tough on contact center agents. The pandemic shifted more agents to working at home. Those who were at home already likely had their lives disrupted in some other way. Some contact centers endured unimaginable spikes in volume.
Inside Customer Service
AUGUST 5, 2021
"You shouldn't have to experience this." The words just blurted out of my mouth. A customer had called, upset about receiving the wrong item. I saw past their anger and empathized with the inconvenience it was causing them. I'm really sorry about the mistake. We need to do better.
Speaker: Liz Love, Chief Commercial Officer at ProdPad
Join Liz Love, Chief Commercial Officer at ProdPad as she details how product feedback can improve your product development process while mitigating stakeholder conflict, constant feature requests, failed launches, unexpected outcomes, unhappy users, and complexity.
Inside Customer Service
APRIL 15, 2021
The webinar software wasn't working. An important client was paying me to facilitate a virtual session for its employees. The client had juggled a lot of schedules to make sure everyone could attend. A lot was riding on this. I could feel a rising sense of anxiety.
Inside Customer Service
MAY 20, 2021
I've spent a lot of time at the post office lately and it's fascinating. My latest book came out in March, which means I've sent a lot of books to people I interviewed or who endorsed the book.
Inside Customer Service
APRIL 28, 2022
I once delivered the same customer service workshop over 200 times in a two-year period. Thousands of employees attended. Over time, I learned I could split the classes into three distinct groups: Motivated: Enthusiastic employees who were eager to learn.
Inside Customer Service
JUNE 3, 2021
Note: Lessons from The Overlook is a periodic update on lessons learned from owning a vacation rental property in the Southern California mountain town of Idyllwild. It's a hands-on opportunity to apply some of the techniques I advise my clients to use. You can find past updates here.
Speaker: Hannah Chaplin, Director, Product Marketing at Pendo and Esther Edel, Product Operations Analyst at Pendo
Join Mobile expert Hannah Chaplin as she shares best practices and real examples to help you improve your mobile apps with in-app guides.
Inside Customer Service
AUGUST 19, 2021
"We had $1 million in preventable returns last year." The executive who shared this shocking figure explained that his company had recently entered the consumer market for home improvement tools.
Inside Customer Service
MARCH 17, 2022
"How was everything?" The hotel associate asked this standard question as I was checking out. Most guests probably say, "fine" without even thinking, but I had some constructive feedback to share. Yet I hesitated. Three other hotel employees had ignored the feedback I gave them throughout my stay.
Inside Customer Service
APRIL 14, 2022
It's hard to build customer service skills when you can't practice. Perhaps you're a student, in-between jobs, or transitioning into a new career. Whatever the situation, you want to practice the essential customer service skills that will help you succeed in your new job.
Inside Customer Service
APRIL 7, 2022
Note: Lessons from The Overlook was a periodic update on lessons learned from owning a vacation rental property in the Southern California mountain town of Idyllwild. It was a hands-on opportunity to apply some of the techniques I advise my clients to use. This will likely be the last one.
Speaker: Rebecca Notté, Product Operations Manager and Hannah Chaplin, Director of Product Marketing at Pendo
This interactive session, Hannah Chaplin and Rebecca Notté will share their experience of building product roadmaps that align with company goals while also ensuring that customers are truly heard.
Inside Customer Service
MARCH 31, 2022
New hire training is under pressure. Executives want to shorten it. Training costs time and money. The faster new employees can get to work, the better. New employees want it to be longer. They complain about not getting enough support. Some quickly leave.
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