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Uplifting Service Cultures for Sustainable Competitive Advantage. Generally, companies try to stay on their best behavior all year long by applying these Customer Service Tips.

Uplifting Service Cultures for Sustainable Competitive Advantage

But during this holiday season—with decked halls, crowded malls, shrinking bank accounts, and frayed nerves—providing great service is even more critical than usual. Much like Santa, customers have their own “naughty or nice list,” and they won’t hesitate to give you the business equivalent of a stocking full of coal (i.e., taking their business somewhere else) if you make your way into the wrong column. There’s no better time of the year than the holiday season to uplift your customers with highly effective Customer Service Tips. Unfortunately, there’s also no easier time of the year to do or say exactly the wrong thing. Often at the holidays companies find themselves overbooked and short staffed.

These practices are precisely what land companies on customers’ naughty lists. ProCustomer - Customer Service Blog Brought to you by Pro Mach. Top 10 customer service blogs — AmazingServiceGuy.com. This is the March 2010 edition in my series of Top 10 Customer Service lists.

Top 10 customer service blogs — AmazingServiceGuy.com

Every month I’ll present my top 10 list of resources that can help you improve customer service and increase customer loyalty. To keep the lists readable I won’t go into a lot of detail on each item. But each resource listed will have a link to more information. ** Keep in mind these are just my opinions – no crowd-sourcing or other survey techniques have been used here.

And, as always, I welcome your opinions in the form of comments, questions and additions to the list (hey I’m not perfect!). Customer Service Blog, Customer Service Article, Insights. Below are blog posts, articles and tips focused on customer service and experience.

Customer Service Blog, Customer Service Article, Insights

To view just the articles (typically longer than a blog post), click here. December 10: Sarah Petty on Being Worth Every Penny. Shep Hyken talks with Sarah Petty, owner of Sarah Petty Photography Studios, author of “Worth Every Penny: Build A Business That Thrills Your Customers And Still Charge What You’re Worth.” Sarah shares marketing techniques like the “dog whistle”, “slug bug”, and how building your business like a boutique can give you a competitive advantage.

How to make your customers know you are worth every penny. A list of top 50 Customer Service blogs by Blog Rank. The only purpose of 'customer service'... Is to change feelings.

The only purpose of 'customer service'...

Not the facts, but the way your customer feels. The facts might be the price, or a return, or how long someone had to wait for service. Sometimes changing the facts is a shortcut to changing feelings, but not always, and changing the facts alone is not always sufficient anyway. If a customer service protocol (your call center/complaints department/returns policy) is built around stall, deny, begrudge and finally, to the few who persist, acquiesce, then it might save money, but it is a total failure.

The customer who seeks out your help isn't often looking to deplete your bank account. The best measurement of customer support is whether, after the interaction, the customer would recommend you to a friend. Institute of Customer Service - News & Blog. Customer Service at its finest! The STELLAService blog covering great customer service, great products, and great retailers. Customer Service & Tech Support Blog - All Companies. Improve support for you and others - How Posted by GetHuman - Fri, 24 May 2013 7:19pm Time to momentarily change it up in this space and focus on the little guy.

Customer Service & Tech Support Blog - All Companies

Much like most of the companies on GetHuman, many of the blog posts on GetHuman pertain to some of the largest companies in the country. Well, for Memorial Day we're going to switch it up and exercise a little creative lib... Disney Speaker. The Art of Customer Service. 50 Facts That Will Make Businesses Rethink their Customer Service.

5 Ways Customer Service Is Changing in 2013. How to Give Great Customer Service: What I Learned At UserConf 2012. At SEOmoz, we're always trying to improve our customer service by making our customers as happy as possible. Last month, my colleague Nick and I went to San Francisco for the inaugural UserConf , a conference all about "keeping your customers (happy). " You can remove the parentheses, though; UserConf focused entirely on keeping customers happy. Customer retention was just a serendipitous outcome. Welcome to the Stevie Awards. There's No Excuse for Bad Customer Service in 2013. Time Magazine recently ran an article about how 2013 could be the year that customer service improves – at last!

There's No Excuse for Bad Customer Service in 2013

( Could 2013 be the Year that Customer Service Gets Better? ) The article implies a general ambivalence on the part of major companies and CEO's who appear to be clueless about the importance of customer service. I disagree with the idea that companies are oblivious to the customer service problem. Instead, most companies I speak with are trying to tackle the problem, but struggle with making meaningful progress. 6 Must-Read Blogs About Customer Service. There is a lot of information about customer service and customer experience on the Internet now: advices, trends, tips, and more.

6 Must-Read Blogs About Customer Service

We have found a few must-read blogs for you that can inspire your team for great service and help you build a customer-oriented company. Dukeo.com Blogging Better to Better Customer Service. I want to win customers.

Dukeo.com Blogging Better to Better Customer Service

I love learning what other people and organizations are doing to build massive audiences of loyal customers. To do that, I read a lot. Comment and best practice around multi-channel online customer service. Barbara Khozam's Blog. Why Nice People Shouldn’t Work in Customer Service. In Share 33 Employers love to put nice people in customer service positions. Especially if they’re authentically nice people—I’m talking about the kind it’s impossible to get mad at because they’re just naturally so dang polite and pleasant. It’s obvious they genuinely want to solve everyone’s problems, and they’re working really hard to make it happen.

This setup makes sense ( put nice employees in front of clients = a no-brainer) and works out well for all involved—except you, the sweetheart professional. For you, the arrangement is stressful and trying and leads to major job dissatisfaction. Nice people are sensitive Customers are loud, abrasive and impatient. The main problem with this is that you internalize the insults and absurd accusations and take it all personally. How To Use Social Media As A Customer Service Tool - Social Media Management Tools & Tips Blog. The @Helpjuice Customer Support Blog. In the previous startup I founded, the user experience was almost perfect..except, we created a bug during launch date. I’m kinda glad we did. This small bug generated a lot of phone calls and emails. Luckily, all we had to is hit one button, and the customer’s issue would be fixed. One of the ways you can tell if someone cares about you, is, how quickly they implement/act upon your need for help.

Do you remember the last time you sent an email and got a response back, within a minute saying, “FIXED. We responded to the emails/calls/chats because we really cared about our customers. Blog: ‘Don’t know how, I want it now’. Customer Service is now Social and Instant. Exemplifying Superior Service Through Every Action and Interaction. Infographic: Bad Customer Service. Despite every company in the market understanding the importance of providing excellent customer service, many companies are struggling to meet customers’ needs.

Infographic: Bad Customer Service

In a recent report , Forrester Research, Inc. described: “As organizations strive to succeed in the age of the customer, business and IT professionals responsible for customer service struggle to understand changing customer behavior, re-engineer end-to-end business processes, acquire and deploy the appropriate supporting technologies, and lead and sustain the organizational changes required to make the transition to new ways of working.” At the heart of the customer service issue is the fact that many organizations are playing catch up with customers and the new ways they want to connect with their favorite brands.

As a result, customers are frustrated (many are loosing their cool) with the lack of support and seamless integration across multiple communication channels. Embed The Infographic On Your Site (copy code below): Customer Service 101. I often tell people who are making inquiries about adding Olark live chat to their site who are worried about convincing their boss to spend money on mere customer support, that getting Olark Chat can be the best marketing money you can ever spend.

Customer Service 101

The Wonders of Japanese Customer Service. Japanese customer service is amazing. The biggest culture shock I get when I go back to the States is when I go into a store or restaurant and the staff there don’t even know that I exist. Or even worse, when they act like I’m destroying their lives by forcing them to do the unthinkable – their jobs! It starts at the airport (especially if it’s San Francisco International), ends at the airport going home and is usually pretty consistent throughout the trip. I have to say, though, that people are a bit nicer in the South where I come from. I know that people’s jobs suck. Why the rant? Tips on Providing Excellent Customer Service. People To People Service: Customer Service Blog, Customer Service Tips. Customer service tips and best practices.

Good Customer Service. Church of the Customer Blog. Reporting on Poor Customer Service. Customer Experience vs. Customer Service: What’s The Difference? Think about the last time you received great customer service. You probably expressed that experience to others by describing it exactly as such – “that company gave great customer service!” But what you’re most likely talking about is your overall experience with the company. Adventures in Client Service. Generating enthusiasm for the customer one experience at a time! Yesterday, my son left school early complaining of itchiness and blurred vision in his right eye. I immediately suspected conjunctivitis (commonly known as “pink eye”) since his mother had just recovered days earlier from the highly contagious infection. I phoned our health care provider, Kaiser Permanente , before noon to inquire about setting an appointment for our primary care physician (or another doctor) to see my son that afternoon at our local clinic in order to diagnose his illness and prescribe a remedy.

The Kaiser representative I spoke with said that for suspected cases of pink eye (being that it’s highly contagious), “a nurse will phone you to conduct triage over the phone.” My initial reaction was that Kaiser’s process made a lot of sense. With something as common and observable as pink eye, it was prudent to allocate treatment over the phone and, with a physician’s consent, prescribe antibiotic eye drops to eliminate the infection. Does it itch? Thoughts on the World of Customer Service and Tips on Service for Businesses.

Keynote speaker blog: Author, professional keynote speaker Micah Solomon on business, customer service, marketing, innovation, social media. Call Center Blog & Customer Service Blog Posts. Everyday Customer Service Excellence. Delivering Happiness - A Path To Profits, Passion, and Purpose. Injecting the Fun Factor into Customer Service. Share Good customer service is difficult to come by these days, but even more elusive is fun service. Some companies like Southwest Airlines and Zappos rely on laughter to stand out from the competition. In fact, Zappos, famed for its customer service that goes the extra mile for customers, has created a company culture that instills having fun on the job. One of Zappos' core values is, "Create Fun and a Little Weirdness," which includes 10 principles , among them, "Deliver WOW through service," "Be adventurous, creative, and open-minded," and "Be passionate and determined.

" These values have underscored the unconventional company culture at the shoe company that keeps employees engaged, creates memorable customer experiences, and positions Zappos as an innovator in customer service. Deliver the World's Best Customer Experience. Funny & Stupid Customer Stories – Not Always Right. 5 Ways You Suck at Customer Service Without Realizing It. Very best service - customer service blog. Customer Service and Support Blog - IWantItNOW. Service Untitled.

Think customers: The 1to1 Blog. It's that great time of year when I finally get to talk publicly about our CX Forum East in New York at the end of June. If you've ever been to one of our events you know that we always have a theme, and this year that theme is "Why Good Is Not Good Enough. " Read more » Recently I went to one of my favorite stores in Manhattan with the aim of making a couple of purchases. But when I got to my destination, I found a padlocked door and barred-up windows. Another store had bitten the dust. Customer Loyalty Blog. Impact Blog! - on Customer Service and Sales. Top 10 Social Customer Service Blogs of 2012. In my six years with the customer service industry, the adoption of social media as a mainstream support channel has been the most exciting trend I’ve come across. Customer service and customer experience blog for call center professionals. We had a terrific webinar last week with guest Nate Sidmore, Web Analyst, from World Travel Holdings.

Nate talked about how he and his team used Fonolo to add smart click-to-call, visual IVR and virtual queuing to Cruises.com (one of the many online properties they operate). We were quite excited when Nate agreed to do this webinar because he’s really pushed the envelope of what’s possible with Fonolo. Cruises.com didn’t just embed the web widget; they really integrated it with their site.

Expert Customer Service Tips and Advice. Crow Information Design. How may I help you - stock illustration 22528125. iStock ID: #000022528125 Lady with headphones and name tag See Also: ON THE PHONE See Also: BUSINESS Lightbox Please do not close the window before finished. Operator Bubble - Stock Illustration. Operator winking - Stock Illustration.

Customer Service Representative Service Secretary Women Stock Illustrations & Vectors. Collaborative Team & Work Management Software - Comindware. Why I'd rather be punched in the testicles than call customer service.