Customer Service Training, Tips, Articles & Videos with Myra Golden
Cupcake Bakery Has a Spirit of Service
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Last night we had my son’s 9th birthday party. He loves Red Velvet cake so I ordered a dozen Red Velvet cupcakes from my cousin. She’s just started a baking business from her home and from what I saw in this transaction of Red Velvet cupcakes, she’s off to a smart start.
My cousin delivered the cupcakes to my home in rush hour traffic to get the cupcakes to us right before the 6pm party. She didn’t even charge a delivery fee. The cupcakes were packaged in a beautiful dusty pink, sturdy box. The packaging WOWed me. Her shirt matched the color of the box and had a large cupcake made out of jewels on the front. She told me she made the shirt herself. My cousin’s packaging was as professional as I have ever seen for a bakery. She was friendly and had a true spirit of service. As my cousin walked out the door, she asked me if I would give her feedback on her cupcakes. I said, “of course.” She said, “Thanks. I really do want your feedback.” I could tell she meant it.
And the cupcakes…Oh my goodness! They were moist, sweet, and a real delight in every bite. One of our guests ate 3 cupcakes!
Making a great impression with first-time customers is important and my cousin, Kimberly, gets this. Take a lesson from my cousin and ensure your packaging is top shelf. Packaging includes everything from your website, physical location, employee wardrobe, product package, and any and everything your customers see. Make sure you present the best possible image. Add to packaging a true spirit of service and you’ll be a smashing success.
Set Your Ducklings Free [EMPOWER Your People]
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Last Saturday my family and I enjoyed a fabulous lunch on the river and after lunch we strolled along the river and watched the ducks, geese, and boats. My mother joyfully motioned for me to look down under a shade tree. I looked and saw a mother duck and 5 ducklings. The ducklings were simply adorable! The mother duck watched carefully, yet not intensely, over her little ones. I was rather surprised to see a couple of the ducklings venture out and swim. They swam several yards away. They were so very tiny and I worried that they might swim too far and maybe get separated from their mother. The mother duck seemed confident that they’d be fine and she was unmoved by the fact that her tiny ducklings swam so far away.
On and on the ducklings swam. Soon, the other ducklings ventured out too and in a different direction. Mother duck stayed put. Her ducklings were fine because ducks were born to swim and they knew how to find their way back to mama. As I watched the ducklings swim to the other side of the river and downstream, I thought about a manager and employees and empowerment.
In order to thrive and to create the most value to companies and customers, employees need the freedom to venture out and “swim.” If you’ve hired the right-fit employees, it is their nature to take care of customers and to use good judgment when making decisions about how to resolve any issues customers encounter. Managers need to confidently let employees go and take care of customers, knowing that they will do right by customers and the company. And if they get into a pinch, employees know how to come and find you.
Zappos has a Confident Mother Duck Mentality. Zappos employees are empowered to do what it takes to fix problems customers encounter. Employees are free to send customers flowers, chocolates, or a product replacement. Mother ducks at Zappos don’t shadow their ducklings. There is no set dollar amount for empowerment. Employees are trusted to do what is right by the customer.
Are your ducklings free to venture out and do what they feel is right by customers? Or do you impose strict rules to keep them caged in? Consider letting your ducklings set sail. Trust that when they do what’s right by the customer, they’ve done what’s right by the company. When you set your ducklings free, you’ll find that customer satisfaction increases, the customer experience improves, and employees’ job autonomy shoots through the roof. Set your ducklings free!
How to Make the Most of the Bench Position – in Basketball and Business
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(My daughter sits on the bench during a family game of basketball. She doesn’t like this picture because she’s not smiling, but I think it’s cute.)
Many of you know that I’m a die-hard Oklahoma City Thunder fan. We’ve had a great season so far and with Sunday’s victory over the Bulls, we secured our spot in the playoffs. The Thunder’s Big 3 are Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden. Durant and Westbrook are starters. Super-talented Harden is a bench player. Without question, Harden is talented enough to be a starter and he probably would start if he was with another team. But as a bench player, he’s a KEY role player with the Thunder. Perhaps you have the experience, expertise and enthusiasm to be a supervisor, manager, or executive, but for now you are serving as a bench player for your organization. Don’t despise your role. You’re likely far more critical to your organization’s success than you realize.
Every person on a basketball team or a corporate team has a role to play. A basketball player may be a Scorer, Defender, Rebounder, Shot-blocker or Leader. When Harden comes off the bench, he brings excitement by driving to the basket and with his 3-point shots. He’s also the Defender who guards the star player of the other team and he can also very effectively lead the team. If you’re a Customer Service Representative, part of the role you play is to regain customer confidence after a service failure. You create warm experiences with customers and you build customer loyalty. Your role is vital to profits and growth. You’re just as vital to your company as James Haden is to the Thunder.
4 Ways to Make the Most of Your Role as a Corporate Bench Player
In the workplace, we can’t all be executives, managers or supervisors. Some of us are corporate bench players. If we play our bench position right, we will be as critical to our organization’s success as James Harden is to the Thunder’s success. Here are 4 ways to make the most of your corporate bench position.
1. Support Your Team
Bench players don’t want to be bench players, but you’d never know it by watching NBA bench players. They support and encourage their teammates. I’ve never seen James Harden sitting on the bench looking bored. He’s fiercely focused on the game and he supports his teammates 100%. Good bench players support their team in every way. Good corporate bench players, while wanting a promotion or opportunity, are fully present during the action, even though they’re not on the front lines. They energetically support and encourage their teammates.
2. Fiercely Focus on the Game
A good bench player keeps his head in the game. He’s not holding his head down, letting his mind drift or shooting the breeze with other bench players. No, he’s paying attention to what offense and defense the team is running because he has to be ready at a moment’s notice. Just the same, when you’re on the sidelines for your corporate team, you have to pay attention. You must know the project objectives, the competition’s edge, and the company’s long-term goals. On the court or in the office, you must keep your head in the game.
3. Use the Bench Perspective to Identify Gaps…and Be Prepared to Fill in the Gaps
Maximize your position by taking in everything you see. From the bench, you have a broader perspective of the game (situation) through observation. While on the bench, survey the situation. What should the team being doing differently? What do they need more of? What are they missing or overlooking? What can you bring to the table? When you’re called off the bench, you can use your vantage point to position yourself to shine.
4. Keep Your Skills Sharp and Be Ready to Shine
By now you all know the Jeremy Lin story. When Jeremy came off the bench for the first time for the Knicks, he put 25 points on the board, had 5 rebounds and 7 assists. Jeremy Lin kept his skills sharp in spite of the fact that he was undrafted after college, was repeatedly sent to the D League and spent most of his NBA career on the bench. Had Lin had a mediocre game the day he came off the bench, you and I wouldn’t know his name. Read, network, take on projects, get a mentor and do whatever it takes to keep your skills tack-sharp. When your moment arrives, you need to rock it just like Jeremy Lin.
The bottom line: No NBA team can effectively play with just the 5 starters. The team needs the bench. While you’re on the corporate bench, support your team, fiercely focus on the “game,” keep your skills sharp and be on the lookout for ways you can fill in the gaps. When you do these things, you’ll shine and prove yourself as invaluable to your team as James Harden is to the Oklahoma City Thunder. You’ll shine and you’ll get the recognition you deserve. #Thunderup!
What You Can Learn About Customer Service From My Nail Tech at Xtreme Nails
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So I got a manicure yesterday. It was pouring rain and late and I didn’t want to drive out to my usual salon. So I stopped at a little place a couple of blocks from my office called Xtreme Nails. I arrived right around 6:45pm. I was surprised to not see any customers in the salon. But then, it was raining cats and dogs. Since there was no wait I got both a pedicure and a manicure.
I was greeted with a smile and my pedicure was underway within 3 minutes of my arrival. After a great relaxing pedicure, I was ushered over to the nail area. After the nail technician had been working on my nails for a few minutes, I asked what time they closed. She said, “We close at 7pm.” I was so embarrassed! They closed at 7pm and I arrived 15 minutes before closing and ordered the Ultimate (amazing, but lengthy) pedicure and a deluxe Shellac manicure. My usual salon closes at 9pm and I assumed Xtreme Nails had similar hours. It was now 7:25 and my nails weren’t even halfway done.
I apologized profusely to the nail technician and she was so pleasant about things. “This is no problem at all. I’m glad you’re here and your nails are going to look so pretty.” I could have hugged her (but of course, my nails were wet and all). She took her time with my nails just as if it was 4pm. That’s great customer service!
Want to create an amazing customer experience like my nail tech? Make customers feel good and comfortable, even when they are wrong (like I was). Be willing to take a customer phone call even if it’s 3 minutes before closing. Give your customers the same warm, attentive service at closing as you would at high noon. After all, your customers deserve it. You better believe I tipped my super awesome nail technician abundantly…and I’ll be going back.
If you’re a woman in the Tulsa area who loves amazing manicures and pedicures, try Xtreme Nails.
Take a Peek Behind the Scenes of PaySimple’s Customer Service Department
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I just love going inside Contact Centers and discovering how great companies manage processes to consistently deliver an outstanding customer experience. My customer service keynote presentations are made up entirely of benchmarks of real companies doing really fantastic things.
Today I want to share with you a look inside PaySimple’s Contact Center. In this short video, you will see how PaySimple ensures their customers have everything they need to succeed. PaySimple focuses on making their customer’s lives easier by delivering immediate and accurate answers. Watch this video and be inspired.
Bad Customer Service Really Ticks Me Off [Managers you must train and support new employees. Thanks.]
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So, I went to my bank today to make a routine business deposit. I was surprised to not recognize a single Teller in the branch, as I’m a regular there and know many of the staff. My Teller was clearly in training. She typed away on her keyboard for at least 2 minutes without making eye contact with me or even explaining what she was doing. It was taking so long that I thought something was wrong. After another 3 minutes had passed and no interaction had taken place, I asked if something was wrong. “No.” she replied. “I’m new and I just have to get some overrides.” With that, she disappeared into the back.
After a good 4 minutes had passed, I got the attention of a Teller walking by and asked if he could check with my Teller. I was in a bit of a hurry to pick my son up from school. Never imagined I’d be in the bank this long. The Teller came back to tell me my Teller was on the phone with another bank and she’d be out shortly. Ok. Weird.
Several minutes passed and finally my Teller walked out and explained, “Your check is good. I just called the issuing bank and verified funds. But since I’m new I have to have a manager’s initials. I can’t locate a manager after calling 4 branches.” And she handed me my check and deposit slip. I was seriously confused and I said, “So, you’re giving me back my check when I came to deposit it?” “Yes,” she said, “Because I can’t find a manager to initial this.” I asked what I was supposed to do and she literally told me to try another branch.
What went wrong here? This bank needed to have a mentor to shadow the new-hire to show her how to communicate with customers while waiting on the computer and on-hold on the phone. When several new employees are working at a branch/location/area, a veteran employee needs to be on stand-by to offer assistance. If management approval is needed for anything at all, managers must be standing at the ready to help employees help customers. It is absolutely absurd that an employee would not be able to reach a manager and that a customer would be sent to another branch across town.
The bottom line: Management must be onsite and immediately available to help employees help customers. When management is not available, employees need to be empowered to make decisions to help customers.
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Netflix, Gap lag in customer satisfaction online
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(Reuters) – Netflix Inc and Gap Inc were among the worst performers in customer satisfaction among the largest online retailers this holiday season, according to a survey released on Wednesday.
The online customer experience MATTERS. Make sure you monitor, survey and constantly improve your company’s online customer experience.
See the full story on the Netflix and Gap Customer Satisfaction standings.
How an Otter Used a Monkey to WOW Me. (OtterBox uses Survey Monkey to Get Customer Feedback)
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My cool OtterBox case for my iPhone 4s
Last week I contacted OtterBox for a problem with my fantastic Defender iPhone 4s Case. I was so Wowed by the Otter (customer service representative) I spoke with that I tweeted about it. My issue was quickly resolved and the replacement case is on the way to me. The email confirmation of shipment of my case included a link for a very good customer satisfaction survey through Survey Monkey. Two things about this survey impressed me and I want to tell you about my impression.
First off, I’m impressed with any company that seeks customer feedback. Feedback truly is the breakfast of champions. Customer satisfaction surveys help companies determine what they’re doing well and what they need to be doing differently. The second thing that impressed me about the OtterBox survey is the strategic purpose for gathering this feedback. OtterBox is clearly right now trying to determine how to make their website more user-friendly so they can deflect agent calls through a comprehensive web self-service portal.
My survey asked such questions as Did you visit our website to obtain information or assistance prior to contacting Customer Service? and What type of information was missing from the OtterBox website that required you to contact customer service? Responses from questions like these will help OtterBox create a web self-service experience that meets the needs of their customers. Just for fun, here is the survey I took for OtterBox.
The bottom line: Make sure you capture customer feedback at every opportunity. Don’t just use a generic survey that gives you nothing. Identify your service gaps or gaps in contact center service metrics and go out and solicit feedback from your customers what will help you close the gaps.
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How to Get Buy-in and Create Ownership
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When I was overseeing consumer affairs for an international car rental company, I struggled with getting my team to deliver the level of customer service our customers expected and deserved. One day I sat down and typed an email to my staff that read: “We urgently need to fix our hold times, talk times and case turnaround times. I need your help. What is stopping us from meeting our service goals? How do we turn this around?”
Though I didn’t realize it at the time, emailing my employees for solutions gave my people ownership of the problem and automatically built buy-in for the solutions and changes.
That email started a thread of responses, reasons, excuses and ideas from my team. The email discussions led to the development of a task force made up of 7 of my employees who worked as a team to find ways to improve our service experience by tackling our biggest problems. Though I didn’t realize it at the time, emailing my employees for solutions gave my people ownership of the problem and automatically built buy-in for the solutions and changes.
My employees identified the root causes of our problems and they developed the strategies to attack the problems. I didn’t have to sell them on ideas or work to enforce change. Within 11 weeks of my initial email, my employees had figured out how to fix our blazing problems of long hold times, excessive talk times and delinquent case processing
The point. Go to your employees when you have customer-impacting problems to resolve. Your employees are in the trenches and they have the creativity and strategy to turn your service experience around…if they are trusted and empowered to do so. Letting your employees tackle service problems gives them ownership and creates buy-in.
If you liked this article, you might want to check out my new web event “Delivering WOW” where I help you create a culture where your employees consistently make emotional connections with customers and surprise and delight customers.
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You Get What You Celebrate (Customer Service Tip)
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One of my clients asked me to deliver a keynote to kick off their Customer Service Week celebration. Right before I took the stage, the company played audio testimonials from a few very happy and satisfied customers. The testimonials were very descriptive and quite emotional. Each of the testimonials was about an interaction a customer had with the company’s Customer Service Team. The entire company was in attendance so this was a golden opportunity for Customer Service to shine. People from all over the company got to hear first-hand the impact the customer service team had on customers, satisfaction and the brand perception. Audience members began to smile and nod during the testimonials. At times applause broke out. I got chills as I listened to the customers and watched the audience reaction.
What a great way to kick off Customer Service Week. What a great way to celebrate great customer service. One of my former employees used to always say, “You Get What You Celebrate.” I thought about her as I listened to my client’s testimonials. I knew that each of the employees who were responsible for those heartfelt testimonials had to be filled with pride and that they’d go on to deliver more of that awesome customer service. I also knew their co-workers would be even more motivated to go out and deliver an outstanding customer experience.
You want to improve your customer experience? Why not start by celebrating what is already great about your customer experience? Share testimonial emails and letters on a bulletin board. Forward email testimonials throughout the company. Recognize employees who stand out for delighting customers. Get creative. Think out of the box. Remember, you get what you celebrate.
I work with companies that are serious about delighting and keeping customers. My blog includes thoughts, articles, videos, and even rants about customer service. Thanks for stopping by. :)
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