Health Check: Do Your Customers Trust You?
What a nightmare trip to the doctor’s office taught me about “trust” and what your frontline can do to salvage it. I usually think of the annual doctor visit as a necessary evil, an expensive inconvenience that can just so happen to save your life. But this last doctor might have fallen more in the […]
4 Steps to Flawless Customer Experiences
We’ve all had our fair share of customer service trials and tribulations. Maybe you couldn’t purchase something because a website malfunctioned, or you ran into an unhelpful store clerk or you connected to robotic, disconnected “care” agent on the other end of the phone. Maybe you noticed an ad for something you’ve recently purchased that […]
Do you know who you’re talking to?
Do you know who you’re talking to? Good marketers at most companies know that the content and assets used by the “frontline” staff, those who interact directly with both clients and prospects, should be focused on the specific needs of customers. They work hard to ensure that key elements such as copy, layout, and user experience speak […]
Part 2 – Intertia is not a strategy
“The less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it” — Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Setting a strategic course for a company’s product or service by aligning marketing assets and frontline staff in a particular direction is critical, but it won’t alone yield success. Competitive […]
Sales Force Competence Directly Impacts Customer Confidence
Who are your salespeople? Do you know their names? Their background or previous experience? What about their expertise? Does your sales force have high turnover? Are they well educated on your portfolio? Do you really know if your sales force is effectively selling your products? With limited intimate knowledge of your sales force and their […]
What’s Your Desired Reaction?
Every organization wants or needs somebody to do something, and this something is that organization’s desired reaction. Desired reactions can vary dramatically from organization to organization, and from tactic to tactic within that organization. Sometimes, the desired reaction is for more people to walk into a store, go to a museum, or visit a website. […]
How to destroy 5 years of brand equity in less than 72 hours
About 5 years ago, I became fed up with trudging into my local corporate-owned mobile carrier store to purchase or receive technical support. Not that I didn’t enjoy being greeted by a newbie employee with a tablet device, who asked a bunch of superficial questions, typed slower than molasses, and directed me to wait for […]
All Customers Are People
For brands that sell consumer products, the statement of “All customers are people” is simply a reminder to keep a focus on the customer and his or her personal needs. However, this statement is just as important to companies that market to other businesses … just as important to organizations that are trying to effect […]
What Gets Measured Gets Mismanaged
“A call center may boast high productivity and low costs per call, but that’s irrelevant if most of its activity is mopping up customer complaints about poor service.” – Simon Caulkin With apologies to Peter Drucker, the famous phrase “What gets measured, gets managed” encourages managers to foolishly disregard subjective measures of performance. The proliferation […]
This Call May Be Monitored For No Apparent Reason
“Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” – Albert Einstein Most call center operations monitor call quality. Their purpose for monitoring calls is chiefly to manage compliance, i.e., confirming a customer’s ID, giving disclaimers, being clear and articulate about price and billing, etc. Those criteria may have […]