Callminer

SEPTEMBER 5, 2017

Call center QA and monitoring teams are responsible for ensuring the quality of interactions between call center representatives and consumers. It goes without saying that this is an incredibly complex undertaking, particularly in large organizations with thousands of call center agents having many thousands of interactions with consumers every day.

Call Center 665

Call Center Best practices 665

ShepHyken

SEPTEMBER 15, 2017

This week we feature an article by Lindsay Tjepkema who writes about how artificial intelligence marketing (AIM) is becoming more important to our success in engaging with customers. Recently I have read and written a lot about AI and as technology improves and acceptance grows AI will have a strong role in customer service. – Shep Hyken. Artificial intelligence (AI) and all of its many uses have seen massive amounts of growth throughout the last year.

Marketing 483

Marketing Advertising Big data Personalization 483

Contact Center Pipeline

SEPTEMBER 20, 2017

“They are just temps,” said one contact center manager describing his seasonal agents. “They will be gone in a couple of months!” That condescending attitude was reflected in the seasonal team’s environment. They were crammed into an abandoned conference room filled with computers, phones and wires. This “seasonal contact center” was separate from the “normal […].

Contact Center 392

Contact Center Management Call Center 392

Beyond Philosophy

SEPTEMBER 4, 2017

Walmart is debuting a towering new kiosk that makes it easier to pick up online orders in your local Walmart store. Early reviews of Walmart’s “pickup tower” give it a thumbs up. In about 20 Walmart stores, you can scan a barcode on your phone at the bright red 16-foot-tall tower in the front of the store. A door opens, your item appears, and you’re done.

Consulting 396

Consulting Consulting Technology Customer Experience 396

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Cut complexity and boost efficiency while empowering your customers with Nextiva's unified communications platform. Nextiva streamlines workflows and centralizes customer interactions, all while simplifying business collaboration, increasing productivity, and reducing employee burnout.

Call Center Weekly

SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

By Erica Mancuso Treating others as you would want to be treated is a practice of empathy. The golden rule is such a simple, timeless principle, and yet I’m constantly amazed at how little it’s practiced any more. On my recent family vacation, I encountered two situations where simply putting this into practice would have resulted in entirely different outcomes.

Customer Service 327

Customer Service Airlines Morale Contact Center 327

Myra Golden Media

SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

When I hear an excellent, and genuine, expression of empathy from a company, I make a note of it. I’ll tell Siri to capture what I heard, or I’ll just type it out. I save ridiculously good empathy statements so that I can share them with my clients. In customer service workshops, like the one I delivered Friday in Columbus, I challenge my clients to use the empathy I’ve heard (and felt) to inspire them to come up with their own empathic responses.

Customer Service 284

Customer Service Customer Experience 284

ShepHyken

SEPTEMBER 8, 2017

This week we feature an article by Belle Balace who talks about what you need to know about answering support tickets. There are different types of customers and it’s important to know how to deal with each one. – Shep Hyken. I have to be honest, answering support tickets or doing customer service isn’t the most thrilling job on earth but if you’re part of a startup or small business and you lack resources, you have no choice but to do it.

Airlines 396

Airlines Advertising Big data Marketing 396

Contact Center Pipeline

SEPTEMBER 26, 2017

In the era of “five nines” of reliability, contact center leaders didn’t worry too much about the resiliency of their technology: It was always up. But with all the changes and permutations of technology, reliability can’t be taken for granted. You need to intentionally seek, implement and manage solutions to achieve your goals. Simple availability […].

Contact Center 374

Contact Center Technology Management Service level 374

Beyond Philosophy

SEPTEMBER 20, 2017

RyanAir, Europe’s largest airline, in my view are the epitome of a poor Customer Experience. Over the last few days, they have proven this yet again as the airline has begun cancelling hundreds of flights. Hapless travelers are stranded in far-flung cities or stuck at home when they expected to be on holiday. Ryanair announced last Friday that it would cancel 40-50 flights per day for the next six weeks.

Airlines 384

Airlines Consulting Consulting Customer Experience 384

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Reports of the death of in-store shopping have been greatly exaggerated. This year’s retail survey found that more than 60 percent of consumers start and end their journey by visiting a store. Retail customers value price above everything, but the importance of other factors varies for different brands. In-store shopping is valued highly by grocery and home improvement customers Technology retail customers place less importance on in-store experiences – for them it only ranks sixth Digital exper

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360Connext

SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

I’m often asked how or where a company should start improving CX. While the answer may be a little different for everyone, it’s critical to start out right! However, very few leaders take a realistic approach. Consider this way-too-typical scenario: Marcus decides one day to stand in front of his employees and request in no uncertain terms how everyone needs to be more customer-focused. “Help customers love our company and brand more!

Customer centricity 278

Customer centricity Metrics Consulting Consulting 278

Callminer

SEPTEMBER 25, 2017

Because customer service is a top priority for organizations, escalation management is an important process to have in place to ensure customers’ calls are addressed efficiently.

Management 182

Management Customer Service 182

Myra Golden Media

SEPTEMBER 5, 2017

My course, “Delivering Bad News to a Customer” for Lynda.com and LinkedIn Learning is now live! If you struggle with how to deliver bad news to customers, you’ll want to take this class. Here’s a description of the course: Customer service is about providing the best experience to a customer—yet, a lot of the time customer service reps find that their hands are tied and that what the customer wants is not something the rep can deliver.

Personalization 252

Personalization Customer Service Customer Experience 252

ShepHyken

SEPTEMBER 20, 2017

National Customer Service Week is coming up the first week in October. This is a time to appreciate employees for doing a great job taking care of customers. There are many ways companies are celebrating. Everything from an employee appreciation event, like a lunch or dinner, to fun games that are about team building and comradery. And, of course, there is showing some love and appreciation to your customers.

Customer Service 264

Customer Service Feedback Management 264

Speaker: Nicholas Zeisler, CX Strategist & Fractional CXO

The first step in a successful Customer Experience endeavor (or for that matter, any business proposition) is to find out what’s wrong. If you can’t identify it, you can’t fix it! 💡 That’s where the Voice of the Customer (VoC) comes in. Today, far too many brands do VoC simply because that’s what they think they’re supposed to do; that’s what all their competitors do.

Customer Experience

Contact Center Pipeline

SEPTEMBER 5, 2017

Many of you reading this are likely in the throes of it right now: the annual budgeting process. You are being pressured to “do more with less,” and you will be held accountable for everything you agree to during this period (and yes, even some things that you never agreed to). It’s a hectic period, […].

Accountability 340

Accountability Interactive Voice Response Contact Center Call Center 340

Beyond Philosophy

SEPTEMBER 11, 2017

Effective communication is the lifeblood of any relationship, whether it’s between individuals, informal groups, within companies, between leaders and the people they govern, and, of course, between companies and their customers. We’ve all seen what can go wrong when communication breaks down – anything from divorce to declarations of war; but in a business context, what does it mean?

Advertising 384

Advertising Consulting Consulting Government 384

Convoso

SEPTEMBER 8, 2017

As technology advances, we all have that utopian dream of having all our problems answered at a click of a button. No matter the difficulty. No matter the medium.instant solutions and quality experiences. Many believe that for customer service, Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is the future of customer service and maybe the disruption of the entire call center industry.

Call Center 213

Call Center Technology Customer Service call center solutions 213

Callminer

SEPTEMBER 12, 2017

Call center statistics cover a variety of other areas including technological change, changes in consumer attitudes, and competitive considerations.

Call Center 207

Call Center Technology 207

Speaker: Tim Buteyn, President of ThinkingKap Learning Solutions

💢 Do you find yourself stuck in never-ending review cycles? Are you wondering if your Subject Matter Expert actually got that last review request? Are you having trouble trying to decipher impractical or conflicting feedback? 💢 If any of these scenarios sounds familiar, you may benefit from a crash course on managing SME relationships!

Feedback

Myra Golden Media

SEPTEMBER 8, 2017

True nobility isn’t about being better than someone else. It’s about being better than you used to be. Wayne Dyer said that. Always speak in complete sentences. Don’t say, “Zip code?” Say, “May I have your zip code, please?”. Let upset customers vent for a few seconds. And while customers vent, offer simple reassurances, like “Um hmm” or “I see.”. Bridge into questions, like this, “To determine what has happened, I will need to ask you some questions.” Strive to respond to emails wit

Customer Experience 249

Customer Experience Construction Scripts Coaching 249

ShepHyken

SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

There’s an old proverb that says, “Outward appearances are not a reliable indication of true character.” In other words, you can’t – and shouldn’t – judge a book by its cover. One of my favorite examples of this is from the movie Pretty Woman starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. This classic movie from back in the 1990’s was about a wealthy man, Edward Lewis, on a business trip in Beverly Hills who falls in love with a prostitute, Vivian Ward.

Sales 0

Sales Customer Service Personalization Management 0

Contact Center Pipeline

SEPTEMBER 27, 2017

Nothing can short-circuit an online class faster than “technical difficulties.” I’ve seen so many talented facilitators prepped and ready to deliver their carefully planned content—only to lose control of the classroom due to a glitch. To be a successful virtual trainer, it’s crucial to understand the interdependence of technology and content. Your plan must include […].

Technology 266

Technology Contact Center Call Center 266

Beyond Philosophy

SEPTEMBER 13, 2017

When you are making decisions, you carefully consider all the facts and factors that present in a logical and orderly process, right? Not so fast. You rarely make decisions this way—and neither do your customers. The truth is that psychological principles often influence the decision-making process; you might even say take over. But don’t feel bad that you didn’t know.

Consulting 373

Consulting Consulting Customer Experience Personalization 373

Dive into the realm of contact center dialers with our infographic! Explore the various types – Preview, Predictive, Automatic, and Progressive Dialers – and unravel their roles in boosting call center performance.

Contact Center

Call Center Weekly

SEPTEMBER 18, 2017

By Ana Simões I left the contact center in April of this year to embrace a new role at a start-up company as an IT Recruiter. Please note, my prior experience in the contact center is a reality for many in my region of Portugal. In my experience, the agents were usually treated as numbers, and were made to feel as if they are expendable. When you leave, you will quickly be replaced.

Customer Service 192

Customer Service Contact Center Consulting Consulting 192

Callminer

SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

Call center supervisors must continue to monitor metrics, measure results, and tailor ongoing training to ensure that agents’ needs are met and that call center activity is in line with objectives.

Call Center 182

Call Center Coaching Technology Metrics 182

CX Global Media

SEPTEMBER 26, 2017

I met up with Justin Robbins at the opening Demo Hall Bash at the CCDemo in Las Vegas to find out about the top trends in contact centers today. “What are the top 3 trends in contact center today?” Click to Tweet. While there are several topics that are on the agenda for the event like Workforce Management, Metrics, Voice of the Customer, and Management – I asked Justin to share with me what he is experiencing as the top three trends.

Contact Center 189

Contact Center Employee engagement Chatbots contact center solutions 189

ShepHyken

SEPTEMBER 13, 2017

The words you say, the way you act, and your attitude toward your job and your customer are sometimes the difference between satisfactory and amazing. This became evident as I was having lunch with Tracy Nieporent, one of the partners at Myriad Restaurant Group. They are the successful owners of the famous Nobu restaurants , Tribeca Grill , and several others.

Customer Service 236

Customer Service Customer Experience 236

Advertiser: ZoomInfo

Longer sales cycles. Increasingly discerning buyers. More meetings. Intensifying competition. Economic uncertainty. Go-to-market teams of every size, in every industry, are grappling with these challenges firsthand. Thankfully, there’s an answer. We’ve developed an entirely new way for GTM leaders to identify and execute proven, data-driven strategies that drive revenue.

Sales

Contact Center Pipeline

SEPTEMBER 21, 2017

Today’s mid-sized contact centers face many of the same business requirements as their larger counterparts, such as the need to drive sales, manage operating costs and deliver high-caliber customer experiences. But unlike large centers, they often address these challenges in an environment with fewer resources and a greater reliance on manual processes.

Contact Center 249

Contact Center Sales Customer Experience Management 249

Beyond Philosophy

SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

When you are improving your Customer Experience (CX), measuring your progress is crucial. Measurement tells you what you are doing right and, perhaps more importantly, what you are doing wrong. The analysis also helps you determine goals for your team and where to focus your efforts. It also helps you allocate proper resources. Fail to measure correctly, and you will have a tougher road to success—or miss the road altogether.

Consulting 302

Consulting Consulting Finance Metrics 302

Victor Midgley

SEPTEMBER 11, 2017

Over the many years of my teaching compelling conversation skills, I have come to appreciate that an effective conversation is much like an inspiring song. We all have favorite songs that we enjoy listening to. if you have heard a cover to that song performed by a “less than” talented or skilled singer, you might … Continue reading "THE MUSIC OF CONVERSATION".

Call Center 185

Call Center 185