February, 2019

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A Roadmap to Success with Speech Analytics

8x8

Whether you’re heading to a new restaurant on the other side of town or taking a road trip across the country, a GPS helps get you there. Gone are the days of combing through maps, taking notes and picking what you think is the best route—only to be blindsided by traffic delays and detours. But a GPS needs precise guidance before starting out. You wouldn’t want to get halfway to Springfield, Missouri when you intended to go to Springfield, Massachusetts.

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Improving Contact Center Operations: Happiness All Around to a “T”

Contact Center Pipeline

The contact center environment can be hectic—you probably have don’t have much time or patience for a third-party outsourcer telling you how to “transform” your call center operations. Right? You’re thinking: “Give me a break. I’m hard-pressed just to staff the third shift, much less transform it.” I get it, having run brick-and-mortar call centers […].

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Customer Experience ROI: How You Prove You Understand Customer Experience Strategy

Beyond Philosophy

Customer Experience as an industry is at a crossroads. As I have written before , the results that we should be seeing are not there. It’s time to put up or shut up. If we as an industry do not turn it around, we might see our budgets and headcounts reassigned somewhere else. In our recent podcast, we had a guest Bob Thompson, CEO of Customer Think Corp., an independent research and publishing firm focused on customer-centric business management and the founder and editor-in-chief of CustomerTh

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Five Ways to Say Thank You to Your Customers

ShepHyken

Valentine’s Day is tomorrow. This is the day where we send our spouses, partners, and loved ones a gift. Often it is out of obligation. I have plenty of friends who tell me if they don’t get their spouse some flowers and a card, they will pay for it. So we feel obligated to express our love and appreciation to those close to us. I’ve written several articles about this before, and my favorite one is called The Valentine Obligation.

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The 2023 Verint Experience Index: Retail

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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Reality Check: Are your customers channels or people?

CX Global Media

I’m cursed. Are you? For years I fell into a trap that I see many in the contact center industry fall in to. It’s the trap of managing workflow for efficiency. I need to be careful not to manage queues of interactions because that’s how it’s always been done. My reality check is to remember, those are people in queue. Not efficiency metrics or channels to be managed.

More Trending

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Contact Center CX: Next Issue Avoidance

CX Accelerator

Last week, Brittany Naylor (Vice President of Customer Support for Service Direct) queued up a wonderful topic in our CX Accelerator slack channel. It was "Next Issue Avoidance" and how support leaders are bringing this critical concept to life. For those not familiar, the idea of "Next Issue Avoidance" was introduced as part of "The Effortless Experience " in 2011.

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Hear from the Experts How AI Drives Better Customer Experiences

Callminer

Using artificial intelligence to evaluate and understand past contact center conversations shows businesses what to expect and gives them the opportunity to be proactive in the future.

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The Framework You Need to Survive in Retail

Beyond Philosophy

Organizations cannot afford to be operationally driven. A Customer Experience focus is a necessity of survival in today’s hyper-competitive and disrupted retail market. That said, not every organization realizes this fact yet, which I find disappointing. I was talking to the C-Suite of a retailer (who shall remain nameless) about Customer Experience.

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Make Your Company’s Name Your Brand Promise

ShepHyken

Earlier this year, I had the pleasure and honor of being the keynote presentation for River Valley Bank, soon to be Incredible Bank , as they merge the names of their brick-and-mortar banks and their online bank. I love that word, incredible , almost as much as my favorite word, amazing. If someone told you the customer service at a bank was incredible, you would only think positive things.

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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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12 Ways To Show Some Love To Supervisors

CX Global Media

80% of contact center agents leave because of their relationship with their immediate supervisor. But with all relationships, it’s much better to give first – so that you shall receive. Follow these tips for building a better relationship with your Supervisor. She’ll likely love you for it! Your Supervisor today is like that elementary school teacher that you are still in touch with and will most likely be in touch with for the rest of your life.

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6 Reasons Why You’re a Rookie At De-escalating

Myra Golden Media

Inflammatory words and an aggressive tone heat up an interaction like an oven heats up a room. The five biggest mistakes I see customer service professionals make when talking to upset customers are: Aggressive tone – A direct or authoritative tone will quickly lead to an escalation in aggression or to a supervisor. Making threats – Spitting off, “Calm down or I can’t help you” will assuredly not make a customer calm down.

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The 5 Things You Need to Know About Great Service

Steve DiGioia

While celebrating my daughter’s 20th birthday at a local steak restaurant – yes, the chicken finger & fries meals are a thing of the past, I was reminded that great service and experience doesn’t happen by accident. There must be a series of steps planned for and actions taken to allow for great service. Here is my list of 5 things you need to know about great service.

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How Contact Center Agent Self-Assessment Improves Results

Callminer

Contact centers are just looking for love. They want their customers to adore them, striving to provide the best customer experience so these customers will return month after month.

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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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How To Measure Authentic Customer Emotions In Real Time

Beyond Philosophy

There is a big challenge when measuring customer emotions as you are asking customers how they felt in an experience, as this is done retrospectively, a while after they had the experience. Many times, Customers don’t remember how they felt or, for several reasons, they don’t want to tell you. Using technology, you can now measure customer’s emotions in real time!

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Core Values are Decision Filters

ShepHyken

I’m honored to be the keynote speaker later this year at Office Pride , a franchisor of commercial cleaning service companies. All of the franchisees will be attending their annual meeting to network and learn about the latest and greatest opportunities happening in their industry. My job is to talk to them about customer service. As part of my homework, Todd Hopkins, their CEO, shared the Office Pride Culture book.

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Attrition Analysis & The Psychology of Disengagement

Call Center Weekly

Ron Rhodes Without a doubt, my most perplexing and profound observation from years of leading large organizations is a behavioral complex I refer to as the psychology of disengagement. In the back office BPO and contact center business, competition for labor is heavy and aggressive. The work can be repetitive, mundane, offering considerable risk to workforce stability.

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The One Word That Makes Customers Accept Your Word As Final

Myra Golden Media

If you say “because” when you’re telling a customer something, you’ll significantly increase the chance that they’ll accept your word as final. Here’s Why Saying “Because” Works. Research by psychologist Ellen Langer found that saying “because,” and then tossing out a reason as insignificant as a discarded rubber band, got people to agree.

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How to Stay Competitive in the Evolving State of Martech

Marketing technology is essential for B2B marketers to stay competitive in a rapidly changing digital landscape — and with 53% of marketers experiencing legacy technology issues and limitations, they’re researching innovations to expand and refine their technology stacks. To help practitioners keep up with the rapidly evolving martech landscape, this special report will discuss: How practitioners are integrating technologies and systems to encourage information-sharing between departments and pr

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Are You Ready, Willing and Able for Digital Access?

Contact Center Pipeline

Ready, willing and able is a self-explanatory idiom that describes an enthusiastic, well-prepared and eager response to change. Changes are abundant as we continue to move from 20th century approaches to the 21st in contact center management, infrastructure and technology. All indicators are contact centers must get serious about digital readiness that supports access to […].

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10 Valentine Blogs That Show Your Call Center Agents You Appreciate Them

Callminer

A call center employees job is not easy. But through technology, training and supportive management, employee engagement can thrive leading to a better customer experience.

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How Successful Retailers Win in Endless Disruption

Beyond Philosophy

Organizations do not have the luxury of focusing solely on operations these days. Over the past decade, retail as an industry has changed. To survive, retailers must put the customer at the center of everything they do. That said, not everyone believes it yet. <!–more–> Not so long ago, I was having a conversation in the C-Suite of a company about Customer Experience.

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Guest Blog: How One Experience Started My CX Passion

ShepHyken

This week we feature an article by Stacy Sherman who reminds us that brands must not compete on price alone and shares a great story to illustrate this point from Stacy’s Pita Chips. – Shep Hyken. My obsession for Customer Experience (CX) started when I received a package in the mail on a random afternoon. I was not anticipating the delivery of a large box with a label that said, “ To Stacy, From Stacy.

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The Innovator’s Guide to the Digital-first Contact Center

In the contact center industry, first-generation digital channels like email and web chat have seen significant adoption, along with video chat and co-browsing capabilities. However, customers are rapidly moving beyond these channels, seeking next-generation options. Social platforms are now becoming mainstream contact center channels. Download this guide today to learn how to help your business adapt to this evolving landscape and leverage the power of next-generation digital customer service.

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Top Themes from Think 2019

Peter Lavers

What were the key themes coming out of my coverage of February’s IBM’s showcase global conference Think 2019 in San Francisco? I was delighted to be invited by IBM Watson to Think 2019 in my role as an IBM Futurist. Think is IBM’s flagship conference designed to deliver all the technical training, strategic expertise, and impactful lessons that a company needs to compete in today’s changing world.

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Building a Successful Customer Experience Strategy

GetFeedback

Companies frequently designate customer experience (CX) as the most exciting opportunity for their business, according to the Digital Marketing Trends Report. Successful customer experience strategies will lead to greater customer satisfaction, higher revenue, and diminished customer churn. Indeed, American Express research shows that a better experience is worth a higher cost for 60% of customers.

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5 Ways to Screen Job Candidates for Positive Attitude

Contact Center Pipeline

As an initial point of contact with your brand, customer service reps must be able to provide an excellent customer experience and resolve problems fairly and efficiently while showing empathy to every caller. It’s clear that a positive attitude is paramount in customer service, but not just for the benefit of the customer. It’s also […].

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7 Things Contact Center Agents Know To Be Happy In Their Job

Callminer

Not every contact center is set up to make it easy to be a true problem solver and provider of excellent customer service.

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AI in Contact Centers: Navigating the Future of CCaaS with AI that Matters

Experience the transformative power of AI in customer service! Discover how AI-driven contact centers revolutionize interactions, streamline operations, and deliver hyper-personalized experiences. We will explore three different ways that AI can optimize the operations of a contact center: The Role of Conversational AI in Self-Service Supporting Contact Center Agents with Agent Assist AI Empowering Contact Center Supervisors with Performance AI We will also look to the future of AI in the contac

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How to Create A Financial Times Award-Winning Consultancy from Scratch

Beyond Philosophy

Beyond Philosophy won an award named one of the Best Management Consultancy Firms in the UK, by the Financial Times (FT). This was voted on by clients and peers, we couldn’t be more honored or proud. This bonus episode podcast explores how you can take your idea and turn it into an Financial Times Award-Winning consultancy, too. We share our 10-Step Plan for Success and ask our listeners, what would you do if you weren’t afraid?

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Doing the Right Thing: A Habit Worth Mastering

ShepHyken

When it comes to taking care of customers, sometimes people go a little further than expected. When asked why, they often say, “It was the right thing to do.” There’s no incentive other than the desire to care for someone else. In a sense, that is what customer service is about. While we may be paid to do a job, sometimes doing something that is not required – and therefore not expected – is what the next level of a good customer service experience is all about.

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5 things to look for in a customer experience tool

Centriam Customer Experience Lab

Managing customer experience has become increasingly difficult because an organization's experience is impacted by nearly every department. Plus, to get executive buy-in to invest in customer experience (CX), processes and technology are needed to track CX programs and quantify their impact on the bottom line.