August, 2016

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Outrageous! How Tech Support Makes You Mad – On Purpose!

Beyond Philosophy

I’d do almost anything to avoid calling tech support for my local cable and internet company. You probably feel the same way. It’s widely regarded as a miserable, time wasting experience. But tech support’s poor customer service is no accident. The New York Times reports that certain companies create a telephone customer service experience that is guaranteed to frustrate, annoy and anger anyone who dares to dial that 800 number.

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Why Must I Repeat Myself Again and Again?

ShepHyken

Customer Support. Have you ever called a company’s phone support number, talk to their customer service rep, have that rep transfer you to another person, only to have to repeat the story all over again? It gets even worse when you get transferred or call back a third or fourth time. How about when you dial the company’s support number and the automated prompt asks you to put in your customer number.

Banking 227
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7 Ways You Force Your Employees to Quit

Steve DiGioia

you created an atmosphere where no one can be successful or appreciated. This original article was written by Steve DiGioia. The boss is never wrong. His/her decisions are right and for all the obvious reasons; he knows better, he has the experience and he was put in charge because he’s the best qualified person the company has. Come on now, you know that’s B.S.!

Morale 0
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5 Reasons Speech Analytics Is Critical in Call Center Collections

Callminer

Collections contact centers and accounts receivable management (ARM) firms face a constant challenge: balancing the need to maximize payments.

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Reimagine Your Communications With A Unified Platform

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.

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4 Reasons Why the Customer Is Always Right

Win the Customer

We’ve all heard the all saying that “the customer is always right”, but is the customer really always right? Of course! Here are four reasons why: The Customers Make the Business. One reason that many businesses still go by the “customer is always right” standard is that they know how important their customers are. A business without customers is just a group of people pitching a product to deaf ears.

Morale 131

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Artificial Intelligence: It’s Coming to a Mall Near You!

Beyond Philosophy

If you follow retail trends, you know that department stores are in trouble. As shoppers have headed online and to discount stores, traditional mall department stores are struggling to define their niche and halt falling profits. Many are now focused on creating a better in-store experience in hopes of motivating customers to shop in person. One of the most interesting customer experience initiatives is coming from Macy’s, which also announced last week that it is closing 100 of its stores.

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4 Tips for Ensuring Your Customers Are Treated Better

ShepHyken

Use Common Sense. My sister, Kim, lives in Park City, Utah. She moved from one home to another about two years ago. Four months later her water was turned off, and she found a notice on her door that she was in arrears with her payments to the water company. She knew there was a mistake. She was set up to “auto-pay” the water bill with her credit card, the same as she had done for her previous home.

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The Great Leader Right Under Your Nose

Steve DiGioia

Never take your existing employees for granted This original article was written by Steve DiGioia. The schoolyard created natural leaders. They were the ones that chose the teams. They were the first ones at bat, their friends sided with their opinions and they led the way with their rebellious streak. You can spot them a mile away. In business it’s not always that easy to find a leader.

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How to Use Engagement Analytics to Measure Customer Satisfaction

Callminer

By embracing and deploying customer engagement analytics, companies can overcome the shortcomings inherent to relying exclusively on surveys.

Analytics 182
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Strategic CX: A Deep Dive into Voice of the Customer Insights for Clarity

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.

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Top 5 Posts in August

Contact Center Pipeline

Curious about the most popular topics that contact center professionals were reading in August? Take a look at our top 5 posts for the month—topics included a speech recognition primer to help you decide whether a natural language system is right for your center; an inside look at Crisis Response Network’s culture of compassion; 5 […].

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Exceeding Customer Expectations Is Nice but Not Necessary

Customers That Stick

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Seasonal Promotions – Don’t Forget These 3 Elements

Beyond Philosophy

Who in marketing doesn’t like a promotion? Promotions produce profit. They are designed to give customers an improved experience, even if it is only “while supplies last.” They get customer’s attention. They keep your brand in their mind and influence their buying decisions. Summer is a popular time for seasonal promotions. But what makes a successful seasonal promotion and how can you incorporate your Customer Experience goals into them?

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We Can’t Do That

ShepHyken

Customer Service Training. It happens all of the time. A customer makes some kind of special request. It’s not that it is all that special. It’s just not the norm. And, the first response from the employee is, “We can’t do that.”. My wife knows that I love pesto sauce. There is a restaurant in our area that has a delicious meal with pesto. However, their pesto is a creamy pesto sauce.

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Contact Center Dialers Demystified

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.

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Has Common Decency Finally Become Obsolete?

Steve DiGioia

…You deserve nothing less from your customers This original article was written by Steve DiGioia. I never wanted others to think I was a jerk. Being an average kid, I spent my share of time in the company of other jerks. I hated how they acted and many of the things they said. I was NOT going to be like them! Then my 20’s came and it was full steam ahead into the dating years.

Morale 159
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3 Case Studies in Successful Social Media Customer Engagement

Win the Customer

Social media has become a major tool for marketers. But even though most small businesses use social media, it doesn’t mean they’re using it effectively. For instance, only 45 percent of marketers think their Facebook strategy is effective, reports Social Media Examiner. In addition, 92 percent of marketers aren’t sure which social media tactics work best, and 88 percent don’t know how to measure their return on their social media investment.

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15 Ideas for Showing Agents Appreciation: Ideas 6-10

Contact Center Pipeline

It’s the little things that you can do on a daily, weekly and monthly basis that make a huge difference in agents’ job satisfaction levels. There are many types of activities and simple gestures that show agents how much they’re appreciated. In my last post, I offered five ideas for showing your agents appreciation. Here […].

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21 Ways to Not Make a Good First Impression with Customers

Customers That Stick

We've Moved! Update your Reader Now. This feed has moved to: [link] Update your reader now with this changed subscription address to get your latest updates from us.

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ABM Evolution: How Top Marketers Are Using Account-Based Strategies

In times of economic uncertainty, account-based strategies are essential. According to several business analysts and practitioners, ABM is a necessity for creating more predictable revenue. Research shows that nearly three-quarters of marketers (74%) already have the resources needed to build successful ABM programs.

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Why Arianna Huffington’s Move Is Good for Customer Experience

Beyond Philosophy

I was intrigued by Arianna Huffington’s announcement last week that she is leaving the Huffington Post to concentrate on her new health and wellness startup. Her new company, Thrive Global, is a corporate and consumer platform aimed at reducing stress, exhaustion and burnout and putting an end to the idea that burnout is a necessary price of success.

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Guest Blog: How Small Software Companies Can Provide Awesome Customer Support Without Going 24/7

ShepHyken

This week on our Friends on Friday guest blog post my colleague, Jack Plantin, writes about the importance of customer support and options we can offer for around the clock support. He shares some excellent self-help ideas. – Shep Hyken. 24/7 customer support is great to have, but it can expensive and time-consuming for small companies. Here are a couple ways to make your customers happy, while being lean on resources.

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Why Mom Was Right About Anticipatory Service

Steve DiGioia

But have no fear, you can learn it too! This original article was written by Steve DiGioia. Ever have a customer come into your business and later ask you about where they can find something at a neighboring business? Do you say “ I don’t know, I’m not from around here? ” Not exactly anticipatory service, huh? Here’s the scenario: While waiting in line at a major department store, I overheard the woman in front of me mention that it was her wedding anniversary next week.

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Stop Building Your Competitive Advantage and Start Building Your Customer Advantage

Amity

Competitive Advantage isn’t Sustainable. Power has shifted from vendors to customers. Using everyday digital technology, customers have ready access to information, people, and resources. These empowered customers have higher expectations and lower loyalty than just a few years ago. The competitive advantages businesses have developed to serve customers in the past are neither competitive nor advantageous today.

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The Rise of the AI Coaching System: Powering the Empathic Enterprise

Contact center leaders understand that frontline agents need in-call guidance to manage complex calls and drive higher levels of employee and customer experience. Real-time agent assist technology is enabling leading contact centers to accomplish these goals.

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15 Ideas for Showing Agents Appreciation: Ideas 1-5

Contact Center Pipeline

August is a good time of the year to think about ways to recognize your frontline staff for the important role that they play in the organization’s success. National Customer Service Week (Oct. 3-7) is right around the corner, so many contact centers are already planning activities and events to show agents some extra love […].

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The Greatest Customer Service Statistic in the World

Customers That Stick

We've Moved! Update your Reader Now. This feed has moved to: [link] Update your reader now with this changed subscription address to get your latest updates from us.

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Uncovered: How to Implement Your New CX Program

Beyond Philosophy

Many companies are attempting to improve their Customer Experience focus on some of the right things and then ignore the others. Why? They don’t know what to do next. So while the vast majority of companies today know that putting the Customer at the heart of everything they do is important, when it’s time to do it, they are flummoxed. Here is a step-by-step guide to help you implement your new and improved Customer Experience.

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Amazing Business Radio: Ted Rubin

ShepHyken

Ted Rubin Reveals Tips on How to Build Customer Trust and Get a Return on Relationship (RonR). Shep Hyken speaks with brand evangelist, social marketing strategist, and keynote speaker, Ted Rubin about branding, customer service, customer experience and, most important, building trust (with both employees and customers). Ted is one of the most influential CMO’s followed on social media and he provides us with great tips and ideas to help strengthen your “Return on Relationships” (#RonR).

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The US Customer Experience Decision-Makers' Guide 2022-23

Business and consumer surveys carried out in the course of the research for this guide show that while improving the customer experience is high on the agenda for many organizations, most businesses are still a long way from where they want to be. In this guide, you'll find various findings and suggested strategies for maximizing the customer experience while improving profitability and managing cost.

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Customer Experience: Everything Matters

Steve DiGioia

Guest post by Roy Atkinson This original article was written by Steve DiGioia. Host of the popular weekly #CustServ chat on Twitter, Roy Atkinson shares some customer experience wisdom as today’s guest blogger. Thanks Roy! When it comes to customer experience, everything matters. The way a website looks and works, the way a brand’s service people talk with and treat customers, and certainly the way purchased goods and services are delivered.

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#GetCloser … With Sales and Service CTI at Dreamforce

Vonage

Are you heading to Dreamforce? It is one of NewVoiceMedia’s biggest annual events. In fact, we always seem to grow our Dreamforce presence year over year – bigger parties, bigger sponsorship and bigger customer showcases. And this year promises to be our biggest Dreamforce yet. We’ve kicked off our Dreamforce 2016 prep with a Gold Sponsorship, and we’ve officially launched our microsite , which details our party, booth information and meeting details.

Sales 86
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Welcome to Our Contact Center!

Contact Center Pipeline

You barely started reading this article, and you are already forming an opinion about it. Most importantly, you are deciding whether or not it is worth your time to continue. In a few short sentences, I know that I have to capture your interest and make you feel this with be worth your time investment. […].