13 Recent CustomerServiceLife Accolades and Updates
Every so often we like to take some time to recap articles we’ve contributed to and awards and accolades we’ve received. It’s been a while since the last such update so we have quite a few. Here are 13 updates for you.
1. Follow the Leader on Call Center Weekly
Call Center Weekly is a fantastic blog and I was thrilled to answer the question, “What is an effective way to collaborate with other departments to improve customer experience?” My approach to this question is fairly simple. Focus on building relationships throughout your organization and avoid saying no and instead focus on finding solutions for others. That will make it easier when it comes time to collaborate and improve the customer experience.
2. 6 customer service lessons by successful online sellers
I joined several other thought leaders in this article by xSellco to discuss ways ecommerce companies can deliver better customer service. We talk about the importance of empowering agents, understanding trends, being organized, being prepared with an answer, personalization, and a focus on retaining customers.
3. Would you recommend NPS?
This was a fun compilation from Lumoa of customer experience thought leaders who were asked if they would recommend Net Promoter Score (NPS). NPS is of course a survey question that asks if you’d recommend the company to a friend or colleague so it’s funny to gauge the NPS score of NPS. I ended up being passive on the topic, caring less about the survey question and more about the action we take on the customer feedback.
4. Voice of the Customer: Are You Really Hearing What They’re Saying?
Speaking of customer feedback, here’s a guest post I wrote for Kustomer about a complete approach to listening to the voice of the customer. Tools like Kustomer incorporate AI to understand customer sentiment and even help bring together all customer interactions regardless of channel, giving agents a full picture of the customer history. While you’re at it, check out this conversation I had with my good friend, Nate Brown and the folks at Kustomer.
5. Panviva’s picks: Top 25 CX Influencers to Follow
It was an honor to be named to Panviva’s list of the Top 25 CX Influencers to Follow. I’m part of some fantastic company — all of which are worth a follow on Twitter.
6. The power of FOCUS helps Infusionsoft and Zendesk stand out
This is a great update from Customer Think Editor, Bob Thompson. Of greatest interest to me was Zendesk’s announcement of their omnichannel announcement and it was an honor to weigh in with my own thoughts on the matter.
7. Webinar: New Trends Affecting the Future of Enterprise Contact Centers
Check out this compelling conversation on contact center trends hosted by Mike Aoki. It was fun to be joined in the discussion by Marty Tracey from LANtelligence and Vafa Akhavan from Nuebridge.
8. Outsourced vs. In-House Customer Service
I also had the opportunity to contribute to this article by Mike Aoki as he weighs some of the pros and cons of outsourcing versus keeping your support team in house. Of course my preference is that you outsource with FCR.
9. How to Provide a Delightful Customer Service Experience
In this article on ProProfs.com, several experts shared their method for providing great customer service. Here’s what I said:
Rather than giving my customers the “right” answer, I aim to give them the “best” answer. This means taking the time to answer every question the customer asks and even the ones they might not know or think to ask. While it might take a bit more time in the moment, it saves our customers the valuable time and frustration of having to contact support again in the future.
10. Best Customer Service Blogs 2018: Top Experts
CustomerServiceLife.com was honored to be listed by CreditDonkey as a best customer service blog! This is a massive resource with a ton of other great blogs listed. Check it out.
11. Top 50 customer experience blogs and influencers
While we’re at it, Lucep listed our blog at #45 on their Top 50 list of customer experience blogs and influencers.
12. Dumbed Down CX: Just Make It Easy, Stupid!
This article from Bob Thompson of CustomerThink.com is worth your attention. When he talked about delighting customers, I shared my own opinion on the matter:
“Wowing customers in a way that goes viral is a nice thought but I’m not sure it’s sustainable when agents interact with hundreds daily.”
The key to delighting customers consistently isn’t to go after the big wow moments but instead to focus our activities on what we can sustain.
13. The Best Tools and Resources for Customer Support Professionals
This is a cool resource from Michael Folling and we’re happy to be listed among the top customer service blogs.
And that’s all she wrote for this update. Thanks for listening/reading.