Five for Friday

Happy Friday! As the Valentine’s week draws to a close, I wanted to share some of the articles that have inspired me. Hopefully you can also draw some customer service and contact center inspiration from these stories, just as I have:

1. A colleague of mine tweeted about an article from Dennis McCafferty, “Connected Customers Demand Better Service.” In the article, McCafferty cites a recent American Express survey that shows that tech-savvy shoppers are less forgiving when it comes to bad service. Statistics include:

- 52% of customers expect something in return after a poor customer service experience — beyond resolving the problem.

- 48% of shoppers use online postings/blogs to get others’ opinions about a company’s customer-service reputation.

- 98% cite personal experience as a top influencer when it comes to companies they do business with.

1. Drew McClellan demonstrates how his call to a national florist led to aggravation, frustration, and lost business in his blog post “Things are not rosy at FTD!” His experience sheds light on the need for companies to step back and examine their contact center processes, and understand how strict calling scripts impact the customer experience.

1. On the “Business is Personal” blog, we are presented with an example of how internal processes and rules can adversely impact customers and a company’s bottom line. How would you have handled the customer interaction depicted in the blog post “Service before the no-sale“?

1. Guest blogger Jeanne Bliss discusses the power of apologies from businesses on the 1to1 Media blog. In her post, “Companies Grow (or Shrink) Based on How and When they Apologize,” Bliss provides powerful examples of companies that proactively, and humbly, apologized to their customers when service was sub-par. How does your company handle errors? Do you wait for customers to complain, or does your company proactively resolve issues?

1. In her post “You Won’t Learn this During Customer Service Training or Business School,” Maria Palma discusses the role of psychology in business — especially as it pertains to empathy. Many contact centers evaluate agents on whether they display empathy to customers. But, as Palma points out, empathy is not necessarily a skill that you can train your employees on.

As this Valentine’s week draws to a close, how are you showing your customers and your employees love? Are you utilizing call recording software to identify areas for improved customer service training? Would your customer service team benefit from improved quality management processes?