Inside Customer Service

SEPTEMBER 14, 2023

A customer walked into Nordstrom with two tires and asked for a refund. Nordstrom doesn't sell tires, so the customer clearly didn't buy the tires from that store. Yet the associate gave the customer a refund anyway. The story became a legend. You need legendary stories of your own if you want to deliver legendary customer service. This guide will show you three things: What makes a great customer service story.

Start-ups 227

Start-ups Customer Service Customer Survey Customer Feedback 227

Inside Customer Service

AUGUST 10, 2023

You want your team to grow their customer service skills. The challenge is finding the right skills to focus on. There seems to be a million different ideas out there. Which ones are the most essential? My advice is to focus on three fundamentals: Rapport Listening Problem-solving These skills are the foundation of consistently great service. Each of them has endless permutations and combinations, so they can be adapted to any situation.

Customer Service 199

Customer Service Start-ups 199

Inside Customer Service

JULY 13, 2023

Building relationships can take more effort when you aren't located in the same office. You don't have those natural moments to strike up a conversation in the break room, the hallway, or at lunch. It's not hopeless. Some remote customer service professionals have built great relationships with coworkers. My 2023 burnout study found that remote contact center agents are just as likely to have a good friend at work as agents who work onsite.

Contact Center 187

Contact Center Customer Service 187

Inside Customer Service

JUNE 8, 2023

Why do we subject employees to role playing? Managers often request it for customer service training, but participants don't like it. Here are just a few comments from a discussion on LinkedIn Live : "It's always awkward and stressful." "The interactions are just not natural." "It's unnerving." It would be one thing if role playing was a highly effective customer service training technique.

Customer Service 168

Customer Service Contact Center Start-ups 168

Inside Customer Service

MAY 25, 2023

If you want to solve a customer service problem, go and see it. That's a performance observation. It's a process for observing employees doing their work to understand how they currently do things and what can be improved. It's a go-to technique for improving performance, designing training, or identifying best practices. You might worry employees won't be truthful if you observe them.

Contact Center 175

Contact Center Start-ups Customer Service 175

Inside Customer Service

MAY 11, 2023

You've sent your team through customer service training. People seemed to like the training. It even feels like the team has a bit more energy than before, though you can't quite say for sure. But you face a nagging question. Did the training really work? Those post-training surveys don't seem like enough. Kirkpatrick's four levels of evaluation sounds interesting, but your executives don’t care about levels.

Mystery Shopper 182

Mystery Shopper Customer Service Mystery Shopping Start-ups 182

Inside Customer Service

APRIL 27, 2023

Do your customer service goals inspire the team? If not, the FIT model might be the cure. It helps you write goals that give your team clarity, inspire teamwork, and encourage the right behaviors. The FIT goal model also makes costly incentives, prizes, and leaderboards completely unnecessary. In fact, the model works by getting rid of all that nonsense.

Customer Satisfaction 206

Customer Satisfaction Customer Service Customer Survey Technology 206

Inside Customer Service

APRIL 13, 2023

Why are customers loyal to certain companies? People buy from Amazon because is it consistently solves one problem quickly and conveniently: "I need to buy __." You can fill in the blank with nearly every product imaginable. Whatever it is, Amazon has made it as easy as possible to get it fast. Starbucks has legions of loyal customers because it offers the most convenient way to get a caffeinated coffee drink.

Transportation 166

Transportation Customer Experience 166

Inside Customer Service

MARCH 30, 2023

You want to build a service culture. Naturally, you think of training. This guide shares everything you need to know to get started. It includes step-by-step instructions for designing and delivering your training program. I've also included my best advice on who should do this training and when. And, I'll also explain why you should never hire an external trainer to deliver the training.

Construction 182

Construction Customer Service Customer Experience 182

Inside Customer Service

MARCH 16, 2023

Remote work is polarizing, especially for contact centers. Team Onsite believes communication and teamwork improves when everyone is working in the same place. And Zoom fatigue is real, y’all! Team Remote touts the cost savings, flexibility, and improved quality of life that comes from having agents work remotely. Here’s some good news for Team Remote: your agents report having better bosses.

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Contact Center Customer Service 171

Inside Customer Service

MARCH 2, 2023

This blog is a participant 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. Is burnout gripping your contact center? A worldwide survey of contact center agents revealed 59 percent are at risk of burnout, including 28 percent who face a severe burnout risk.

Contact Center 212

Contact Center Start-ups Customer Service 212

Inside Customer Service

FEBRUARY 16, 2023

You've seen the half-hearted attempts at rapport. Employees say "welcome" with the enthusiasm of gray paint. They use your name like they're working through a checklist. (They are.) It feels so transactional. Rapport is essential to customer service. But here's the kicker—it has to be authentic. Asking a customer, "How's your day going so far?" with the sincerity of a robot can hurt the rapport you're trying to build.

Start-ups 238

Start-ups Customer Service 238

Inside Customer Service

FEBRUARY 2, 2023

Imagine you had to improve customer satisfaction. You are given limited time and a small budget. (Okay, you probably don't have to imagine those limitations.) What would you focus on to get the best results? Increasing service speed Reducing service errors Improving employee friendliness According to data from Intouch Insight , the answer is number three, friendliness.

Mystery Shopper 207

Mystery Shopper Customer Satisfaction 207

Inside Customer Service

JANUARY 19, 2023

Being friendly is a basic expectation in customer service. That's easy on some days. You're in a good mood. You enjoy helping people and things are going well. The products or services you support work well and customers are generally happy. Friendliness is more difficult on other days. You just don't feel friendly, warm, or upbeat. Customers are grumpy.

Customer Service 183

Customer Service 183

Inside Customer Service

JANUARY 5, 2023

Who is to blame for poor customer service? You can probably make a list of things that make it difficult to keep your customers happy and coming back again and again: Defective products anger customers and make service a chore. Bosses often fail to adequately communicate, train, or coach. Unfriendly policies get in the way. Yet, unless you have a giant ego , you need to take some responsibility, too.

Customer Service 188

Customer Service Outlook Start-ups 188

Inside Customer Service

DECEMBER 22, 2022

Imagine you had a customer service crystal ball. This crystal ball could magically predict service failures. It would give you just enough time to swoop into action and avoid disappointing customers. While I don't have a crystal ball, I can share three proven techniques that do the same trick. Each of these techniques can help you predict when something will go wrong and give you just enough time to prevent it.

Transportation 210

Transportation Construction Sales Customer Experience 210

Inside Customer Service

DECEMBER 8, 2022

Where did you learn your customer service skills? There's a good chance many came from experience. You might even remember specific customer interactions that taught valuable lessons. Sure, you might have taken a class. Perhaps you had a good boss or mentor. Yet those lessons often didn't sink in until you tried them out with a customer. That's my story.

Start-ups 223

Start-ups Retail Customer Service 223

Inside Customer Service

NOVEMBER 17, 2022

Accountability is difficult. Some managers want to avoid a confrontation. Others struggle with timing in a fast-paced environment. For a few managers, accountability discussions feel like the first step towards inevitably losing an employee. Have you tried replacing someone right now? It's hard. A LinkedIn post asked managers to share what they find most difficult about holding customer service employees accountable.

Customer Service 208

Customer Service Start-ups 208

Inside Customer Service

NOVEMBER 3, 2022

The original Shake Shack location is in New York City's Madison Square Park. The first time I visited, Al Roker was there. Roker was handing out samples of his new Roker Burger. It was a special burger he created with Shake Shack to raise money for No Kid Hungry , a nonprofit dedicated to ending childhood hunger. A Today Show crew was there to film the segment.

Customer Service 207

Customer Service 207

Inside Customer Service

OCTOBER 20, 2022

"Who was it?! Who's making us look bad?!" The employee was furious at her coworkers, and she let everyone in the customer service training class know it. I was facilitating the class. The night before, I had completed a mystery shop on five random employees at the client's request. The class was shocked when I revealed the dismal results. Nobody passed.

Mystery Shopping 215

Mystery Shopping Customer Service Start-ups 215

Inside Customer Service

OCTOBER 6, 2022

Average handle time, or AHT, is an important metric in contact centers. It measures the average length of a call. Many contact center leaders track AHT closely because shaving even a few seconds off the average call could allow the contact center to handle more volume without adding staff. A Customer Service Tip of the Week subscriber recently wrote to ask my advice on reducing AHT in his contact center.

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Contact Center Scorecard Start-ups Customer Service 195

Inside Customer Service

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022

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. Customer service is hard. It requires a lot of focus, calm nerves, and the ability to work through multiple distractions. All of that gets a lot harder when you have ADHD.

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Customer Service Start-ups Customer Relationship Management Gaming 130

Inside Customer Service

SEPTEMBER 8, 2022

"This is discrimination!" The passenger in the row behind me was throwing his second tantrum of the flight. The first one happened after he walked from the main cabin into first class to use the restroom. Three flight attendants were working in the front galley and one of them politely asked him to use the restroom in the main cabin. He raised his voice and cursed about it, but the flight attendants remained polite, calm, and professional.

Customer Service 177

Customer Service Contact Center Retail 177

Inside Customer Service

AUGUST 25, 2022

Several of my clients have wrestled with this issue. Some feel the overarching organizational mission doesn't clearly address the team's role. A department-specific mission might give employees more clarity. Others worry that creating yet another statement adds confusion. Employees already have enough corporate statements to memorize. Department mission statements are fairly common.

Innovation 169

Innovation Customer Service 169

Inside Customer Service

AUGUST 11, 2022

Sustainability is all the rage. Consumers increasingly want it. Companies everywhere promote it. Governments demand it with new laws mandating sustainable practices. The big trick is adopting sustainable practices without negatively impacting the customer experience. People want to save the planet, but they don't want to be inconvenienced. Single-use grocery bags and coffee cups are an example.

Customer Experience 171

Customer Experience Government Customer Service Start-ups 171

Inside Customer Service

JULY 28, 2022

"My employees are tuning me out." The customer service leader explained his company had a customer service vision that he talked about in every meeting. A customer service vision is a shared definition of outstanding service that gets everyone on the same page. Unfortunately, employees were starting to get bored. They'd heard the manager talk about the vision so many times that it had gotten repetitive.

Customer Service 147

Customer Service Entertainment Gaming Start-ups 147

Inside Customer Service

JULY 14, 2022

The data was shocking. Even hurtful. An employee who worked for another department was sometimes loaned to my team. A monthly payroll report showed a lot more hours were charged to my team than she had actually worked. This was a great employee. Someone who did good work and was well-liked. She was recently recognized as the employee of the month. I wanted to believe this was a simple error, so I shared the report with the employee's boss.

Customer Service 225

Customer Service 225

Inside Customer Service

JUNE 30, 2022

We've all had a mentor give us customer service advice. Some advice has withstood the test of time. My first boss stressed the importance of greeting every customer. A warm, friendly greeting sets the tone for a positive interaction. That advice still rings true today. Other advice hasn't aged so well. Like the old idea that companies should respond to customer emails within one business day.

Customer Service 130

Customer Service 130

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. In that moment, I vowed to learn everything I could to prevent that from happening again.

Customer Acquisition 162

Customer Acquisition Social Media Customer Retention Start-ups 162

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. Customer service reps didn't always see the big picture. They often failed to ask probing questions or use adequate listening skills.

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Customer Service Customer Retention Start-ups Customer Satisfaction 192

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. I've successfully asked for a raise several times. The same techniques worked well in prosperous times and during a recession.

Customer Service 130

Customer Service 130

Inside Customer Service

JUNE 2, 2022

There's a good chance you and your colleagues have had a tortured conversation about customer service surveys. What type of survey is best? How many questions should it include? Are the scores all fair? That last one is a doozy. Executives worry whether a customer upset about a defective product will “unfairly” give the customer service team a low score on its post-transaction survey.

Customer Service 147

Customer Service Customer Satisfaction Customer Survey Customer Experience 147

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. She liked it, and she was good at it. She had been in the same job for many years when I took over the department.

Start-ups 130

Start-ups 130

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. I was present, and didn't look at my phone, except to take a picture of my dog, Dublin, enjoying herself.

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Social Media Start-ups Customer Service 130

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? There are several ways you could find it: Plug the name of the coffee shop into your maps app. Look up the coffee shop's address and plug that into the maps app.

Customer Retention 147

Customer Retention Start-ups Customer Service 147

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? A survey conducted by Toister Performance Solutions in April 2022 aimed to find out. Over 1,500 consumers across the United States were asked about their experiences with companies.

Customer Experience 130

Customer Experience Transportation Sales Customer Satisfaction 130

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. Neutral: Employees who willing to go along, but weren't fully engaged. Hostile: Upset employees who used the class to air their grievances.

Customer Service 130

Customer Service 130