Communication is important in customer service

Aileen Bennett recently wrote a blog post at theadvertiser.com looking how communication changed her experience with a certain local store. She was very impressed with the in-store customer service, but was not impressed with the lack of communication that ensued after she left. There was a void in communication, leaving the customer in the dark when it came to finding out information that was not in the store.

What do you think? Communication is important, and customer service occurs more places than just in person at the store. How can companies ensure that they're effectivly communicating with their customers both in and out of stores?

Delta Arms Customer Service Reps with Red Coats (Again)

Facing a high rate of customer service complaints, Delta Airlines will reequip its customer service representatives with red coats. This move will hopefully enable flyers to easily locate customer service representatives to assist them with their travel.

Charisse Jones of USATODAY reports that, "the agents returned to New York's JFK airport last summer and made their debut this month at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson. By summer's end, 600 agents will be walking the concourses and gate areas of 14 airports, including LAX, Orlando and Washington's Reagan National. The return of the elite agents is perhaps the most visible sign of an airline ramping up personal customer service rather than reducing it at a time when self check-in is the norm and passengers often have to pay extra to have an actual person book their flights."

What other efforts, fashion aside, could Delta do to enhance its customer service teams to better serve its flyers?

What does your business use Twitter for?

This post on USA Today discusses how many companies are taking advantage of real-time capabilities of Twitter to foster customer service. Comcast, PepsiCo, JetBlue Airways, and Whole Foods Market are some of the companies which have begun to take advantage of twitter and opening up direct communication with customers.

Elissa Fink, vice president of marketing at Tableau Software mentions, "The more ways you provide customers to contact you, you're more likely to satisfy them."

Consumers have become increasingly frustrated with wait times in call-centers, maybe it's time we took another look at the traditional call-center and incorporate social media strategy in some of these older-styled companies.

Customer service expectations changing with generations

Recently at the Kansas City Star, Steve Rosen recently wrote about the expectations that different generations have when it comes to customer service. His generation is used to kind customer service where employees are ready to help upon entrance to a store. But today's youth looks to sales team as people who are there to check them out. He pointed to a survey done in 2007 that found that some companies actually discourage customer service due to the fact that customers will spend more with their company if they aren't available through medians such as telephones.

What do you think companies can do today to change the attitude of the younger generation's view of customer service? Will this generation be able to change their views of customer service as a hassle in the future?

Free Web Seminar: Defending the Loyalty Function: Lessons from Chief Customer Officers

Defending the Loyalty Function: Lessons from Chief Customer Officers

Loyalty is elusive, and justifying ROI for loyalty initiatives is even more difficult. Yet, many companies have placed such a premium on customer loyalty that they’ve created a new C-Suite role called the Chief Customer Officer (CCO) to serve as the definitive and authoritative view of customers across the company and to drive customer and corporate strategy at the highest levels of the company.

During this session, you'll learn how to:
1. Quantify the impact disloyal customers can have on your business
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4. Enlist the help of the CFO in championing loyalty

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https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/263968281

Customer service beneftis a company

At The Mercury, Chris O'Brien looks at why customer service can benefit a company as well as its customers. Providing great customer service can provide powerful moments to learn, interact and gratify customers. It's a powerful way to interact with your customers and learn what they want. O'Brien goes on to tell of his powerful interactions with Apple customer service, where he did not have to sit on hold nor argue with service agents to solve his problems with his products.

Is good customer service a reason you'll go back to a company over and over again? Are you providing the type of customer service that will bring customers back to your company over and over again?

Is Attire Important in Customer Service?

Greg Kratz of Deseret News shares a few insights that he's received over appropriate dress and conduct for customer service representatives. Kratz, after receving a few emails, notes that, I believe it's true that a crisply dressed employee gives a first impression of respectability and competence. However, if that isn't followed up with helpful, friendly service, I may storm angrily out of the store and forget all about how nice someone looked.

How about you? Does attire really matter with customer service? We'd like to hear your thoughts.

Keeping customers in difficult economic times

An article at RetailWire suggests that as economic woes continue, it's going to be harder to keep customers coming through the door. Building loyalty will be difficult, but pricing and rewards are a way for retailers to keep loyalty today. Also important is to give you customers a dynamic brand that presents a character they will remember. Read the full article here.

Social customer service

Although many companies are diving into the world of social networking customer service, it still remains to be seen whether or not companies need to set up formal contact centers with these mediums. The survey done by Datamoniter found that using these tools for customer service really depends on the company. The company should have social networking tools already at work in their company, and foudn that it's often more useful for small companies. Find out more here.

Meetings Drive Business

This is why companies need to continue to invest in business meetings. Not only will those who attend gain new and fresh perspectives from other attendees, but they'll hear from top companies who have lived by the same philosophy. Investment in yourself and innovation are the key to your business. What have you done recently to invest in your business?

Are you thinking of attending NACCM: Customers 1st this year? What would you expect to gain from the experience?

Meetings Drive Business

Dairy Queen launching new program to measure customer loyalty

In the RFID Update yesterday, they report that Dairy Queen testing a customer loyalty program that uses text-based messaging coupon system. Customers can sign up in their area and provide their name and phone number, and receive code via text message and redeem it via an RFD labels attached to their phones.

The discount code can be used in any time frame, and therefore can track redemption rates and overall program performance. The coupons are also given out on an individual basis, tracking past purchases and giving out coupons according to those sales. Read the full report here.

Frontier Airlines Nixes Social Media for Customer Service

Frontier Airlines won't be the ones "tweeting" you back @frontierair if you tweet a compliant when stuck in an airport. That Twitter user name is run by former Frontier Airlines enthusiast, Andrew Hyde, who when stuck in an airport for 6 hours on standby decided to take matters into his own hands by creating a clearinghouse of grievances against the air carrier.

Frontier, however, isn't taking the bait for social media and will not use the vehicles to connect with its customers.

In a statement, Frontier Air said, "We know many companies, including major airlines, have moved on to direct engagement with their customers via blogs, Twitter and other social media. Those companies have also raised the expectations of Twitter users to a level that can sometimes become unmanageable, even with the best of resources. We don’t want to disappoint our customers by introducing a communications tool we can’t properly support. We also have a lot committed to our more traditional customer service tools. Any introduction of new programs now would end up taking resources away from existing channels."

Will Frontier's decision to stay out of the social media sphere completely, deflate customer service worries for the air carrier?

This article referenced "Frontier Airline's customer service fail" by Meghan Keane

Don't wait on hold, they'll call back

Southwest, a company already well respected for the way it treats its customers, now has a new option for those calling in to their service center. The company has begun using Virtual Hold, a service that allows customers to call the service centers, and if the wait is too long, will call the customer back when the next customer service representative is available. Sitting on hold is a pet peeve of many customers, and Southwest has already been praised for this new initiative.

The new offering has reportedly earned the airline high marks from customers – some of whom twittered about it.

“Companies: In an age of cell phones, don't make me sit on hold. Call me back when it's my turn, like Southwest just did,” one customer “tweeted” on the popular social networking site, according to the release.

Read the full article here.

Medical Tourism and Customer Service

Tonya Walton, is the founder of Blue Morpho Medical Travel, she represents Gooch and Associates as Manager of Latin American Business Development. In a recent article posted on Medical Tourism Magazine, Walton discusses the need for understanding what your customers think. Though Walton is an expert in medical tourism, we found her customer service insights to be particularly relevant for our Customer 1st audience.

Walton offers five tips and techniques for successful customer service and customer experience:

• Feedback is the Breakfast of Champions
• Is a Satisfied Patient (Customer) Good Enough?
• Processes, People, Trust and Loyalty
• How Do I Get Feedback?
• Communicate the Results

We encourage you to check out Tonya Walton's thoughts. What else is imperative for successful customer service and customer relationships?

6 Reasons Your Customer Service Needs Twitter

Kevin Stirtz of AmazingServiceGuy, writes six reasons why you should implement Twitter use in your customer service.

1. It will bring you closer to your customers.
2. It will make you smarter.
3. It can put you ahead of your competitors.
4. It’s cool.
5. It’s free.
6. It’s new.

Stirtz expands on his reasoning at his original post, which we encourage you to read.

If you are or aren't using Twitter, how do you think the micro-blogging technology with enable businesses to better connect to their customers?

Take Your Customer to Work Day

If you haven't noticed, today is Take Your Customer to Work Day. This post does a great job of discussing why it is important to open up your doors and invite customers into the workplace to meet employees and better understand how your business works.

Bringing your customers to work builds trust, and it also demonstrates the respect your company has for your customers. Customers get to know the company better and the company gets to knows its customers better as well. It's a win-win!

So invite your customers to your shops and stores!

NACCM Customers 1st 2009 Full Conference Details Just Released

Hello:

I'm excited to announce that the 7th annual NACCM Customers 1st 2009 Conference full program details have just been published. It's taking place Nov. 2-5, 2009 at the Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak in Phoenix, Arizona. NACCM Customers 1st is the most comprehensive customer-centric conference covering everything customer strategy under one roof. Speaking companies include Dell, FedEx, Southwest Airlines, Marriott International, Mastercard Worldwide, Travelocity, Zappos.com, JetBlue Airways, CIGNA, The Hartford and many more. The event has over 40 sessions, 45 corporate practitioner speakers, 3 Chief Customer Officers, 2 Chief Marketing Officers, 2 Chief Experience Officers and 5 visionary authors...the program is more hands-on and results driven than any other customer event.

For more information and to download the conference brochure, visit www.iirusa.com/naccm. The earlier you register, the more you save. Register today to save $400.

Feel free to contact me with any questions or feedback on the event. I may be reached at apowers@iirusa.com.

I hope to see you there!

All the best,
Amanda Powers
Senior Conference Producer
IIR, NACCM Customers 1st Team

Everyone Works in Customer Service

John Caddell of PennLive.com, has a theory. He thinks that in order to do a proper business, everyone involved in an organization should participate in customer service.

Caddell writes, "EVERYBODY works in customer service. Think of it. Rather than a group of ground-down reps fielding all the complaints and questions, everybody takes a turn. It could be perhaps 10-15% of everyone's job--4-6 hours a week. Computer-aided telephony systems & CRM systems easily support flexible staffs of work-from-home agents and could manage the shift of calls from agent to agent."

Would it "fly" in the American corporate business structure? If everyone is working for the same goal--wouldn't the business succeed?

Customer service is such an important job, perhaps we should spread it around

Customer service in the airport

At the Jaunted Blog, they recently posted about superior customer service from the airline industry. A rarity in today's day and age, Omri tells about how by circumstance, he missed his flight. After dealing with the front desk and receiving less than satisfactory results when it came to getting on another flight, they entered the terminal, and the United Customer Service professionals exceeded their expectations.

At this point we were desperate and - figuring that the already-mentioned vodka would wash away any latent distaste from begging - decided to try our luck. What happened next was surreal: the woman who helped us turned out to be cheerful, competent, and helpful. In an airport, of all places.

She managed to confirm us on a flight that left before 10am. She managed to charge us half of the ostensibly mandatory $150 fee. And she managed to do it all in under five minutes. And then as we were leaving, she even asked if we still wanted to wait standby on the next flight.

The end of the article points out that if a customer find the right people to help you with their customer service needs, they will receive the service they are looking for. Now the question is, are you providing enough of these people for your customers?

Nanette Byrnes of BusinessWeek reports that The University of Michigan's American Customer Service Index is out and Fast Food has scored high marks. According to Byrnes' article, "Fast food, which has been climbing steadily since the mid 1990s, tied last year’s record high customer satisfaction figures “Overall they’ve done quite well in matching what they have, including price, to what a growing percentage of the population want,” says Claes Fornell, head of the index."

With the recession sweeping across the United States, many individuals are turning to fast food as a dinner out instead of traditional quick-serve restaurants like Applebee's, Chili's and Friday's. The new influx of customers may make customer service even more important to gain and retain the new fast food customers.

Byrnes reports that, "McDonald’s, with simple innovations like better coffee, does well by that measure these days. The burger giant was rewarded with a 1.4% climb last year to a score of 70. That’s better than both Kentucky Fried Chicken, which dropped 1.4%, and Burger King, which fell 2.8%, the biggest drop in the group. Burger King was late to recognize the consumer’s value focus. "

Fast Food Customer Service Scores

Netflix: Getting Customer Service Right

PC World recently wrote a post about how NetFlix is doing an excellent job responding to its customers and giving them great service. According to Edward Albro, he recently had problems with his streaming services on Netflix. He assumed it was issues on his end, such as his internet connection. But when he opened his email one morning recently, he had received and email discount for 2% on his current NetFlix bill. The company took responsibility for it's technology error, and let their customers know if the issue. There was no mess when dealing with the company. Do you know any other compnies who have stepped up and taken responsibility when an error was caused by their systems?

Banks using Twitter to develop relationships?

According to the MinnPost, some banks have turned to Twitter to help customer service. It points to this article at the USA Today which states that WellsFargo (Ask_WellsFargo) and Bank of America are just two of the banks jumping on the social media bandwagon to have better relationships with their customers.

Banking and social media may be a touchy subject. Although the banks are looking to develop a closer relationship with the customers, are mediums like Twitter the way to do it? What do you think?

Dish Network Disses Own Service; Stock Soars

Ideally, companies should tout how much better their customer service is over the competition; however, that wasn't the case with The Dish Network. According to TheStreet.com, here's what Dish had to say in its self-evaluation: "We have not always met our own standards for performing high-quality installations, effectively resolving customer issues when they arise, answering customer calls in an acceptable timeframe, effectively communicating with our subscriber base, reducing calls driven by the complexity of our business, improving the reliability of certain systems and subscriber equipment and aligning the interests of certain third-party retailers and installers to provide high quality service."

With the news of The Dish Network's self depreciation, their stocks soared.

What theories do you have on how this may affect their customer service moving forward?

Customer service is about finding a way to say yes

In the Ann Arbor News, they recently profiled Golden Limousine, which was started with two limousines in 1992 by Sean and Donna Duval. Duval learned the value of customer service from working at McDonalds for eight years, mostly in management. Seventeen years later, through the knowledge that great customer service can make any business work, they've developed an international executive leisure transportation company.

Sean provided some valuable quotes while being interviewed by this newspaper:
"Customer service is about an attitude. It's not about being servile or menial or beneath you. It's about finding ways to say 'yes.'''

How do you find new customers?

At Daily News, they recently took at look at how a business can keep bringing new customers in your door. Even though the list is meant for small businesses, everyone can profit from a few of the suggestions.

1. Develop a plan
2. Realize there is no one path to success
3. Work your local media
4. Infiltrate events
5. Followup
6. Give a little to get a lot
7. Work your personal network
8. Check out the competition
9. Use multiple ads
10. Ask for feedback

What have you seen work the best for you from the list above?