It’s time that we stop considering customer service as a cost and start focusing on the value it creates for our customers – and our business. Let’s look at how one successful organization does it.
“Do you feel in safe hands?”
For travelers who face an emergency in a foreign land, it’s a question that could mean the difference between life and death. Continue reading
Thanks to the explosion of information online, customers are more knowledgeable – and more demanding – than ever. Here’s how to make sure that “hyper-informed customers” also remain loyal, satisfied ones.
At the dizzying rate information accumulates online, we see a staggering rise of what I call “hyper-informed customers” – those who diligently scour social media, blogs, review sites and more to know virtually all there is to know about our products and services. Continue reading
Our organizations are obsessed with customer satisfaction. Maybe too obsessed.
It’s pretty clear why, judging from the research. Customers who receive the best experiences spend 140% more than those with who receive the poorest ones. And far from being cost-prohibitive, providing superior customer experience actually reduces the cost of serving customers by as much as 33%. Continue reading
By all measures, the company should have been out of business long ago.
But there I was, listening intently as its CEO explained how the online software firm he founded managed to defy the grim reaper not once but twice. Continue reading
Tinnitus is a ringing or buzzing in the ears that affects one out of every five adults. It’s more than just an annoyance; it can affect your performance at job.
Can you hear it?
That ringing in your ears. Or maybe it’s a buzzing, hissing, roaring or clicking sound….
Noises in your ears may be the telltale signs of tinnitus, a medical condition that affects more than 20% of the adult population. Continue reading
Want to be more productive on the job? Learn from the experts who know how to get the oxygen flowing and the blood pumping.
“Sit up straight!”
“Take a deep breath!”
We’ve received those pieces of advice many times during our lives. What we probably didn’t realize is that they can also help us do our jobs better. Continue reading
One in five of us are working in dry office environments that compares to Death Valley. It isn’t just bad for your health; it also reduces your productivity. Here’s how to fight back.
How would you like to go to work every day in the Sahara Desert?
Me neither. Blazing hot and crackingly dry, they’re no place to conduct business. Continue reading
In an environment where 80% companies say they deliver outstanding service while just 8% of their customers agree, organizations are turning to big data to provide a better, more personalized service experience.
We’ve all heard of “big data”. It’s the combination of powerful algorithms and vast troves of random data that enables us to predict hurricanes, prevent diseases, fight crime and do lots of other worthwhile things.
But using it to improve customer service?
Absolutely. Big data is the next frontier in customer service, and certainly a worthwhile one – especially since 80% companies say they deliver outstanding service but just 8% of their customers agree. Continue reading
Get ready for the next big thing in customer service: Virtual reality. By bridging the gap between self-serve and representative-based options, it promises to revolutionize the way we interact with tomorrow’s organizations.
In the near future, the person we turn to for help fixing our computer or how to assemble our IKEA furniture may not be a person at all.
It may be a computer-generated avatar – one that knows a whole lot about us and will be able to effortlessly guide us through complicated processes that previously required human interaction.
At least it appears we’re heading in that direction. Self-serve customer service is already here and knowledge bases are all over the Internet, which makes virtual reality customer service the next logical step. Continue reading
New technologies enable us to fix things we previously left to the pros. That means a new and exciting future role for contact centers: expert problem solver – the ones we call when we’ve run out of options.
I’ve seen the future of contact centers… reflected in my washer.
Trust me, I haven’t gone stark-raving mad. But I have been doing a lot of reading lately, including an article about the dramatic increase in people who, instead of calling a repair expert, are fixing their complex home appliances all by themselves.
This trend would seem to defy logic, since even a cursory glance at the newest models shows that they’re more complicated and feature-packed than ever. But it’s true. Continue reading
