“Rock Your Customer Service Job” – My handouts from today’s presentation

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Becoming a Customer Service Rockstar, CSR Training, Customer Service Training, Myra Golden handouts

I just wrapped up an energizing presentation for the International Contact Center Academy. Today’s presentation was, “Becoming a Customer Service Rockstar.” I gave my participants 4 tips for rocking their jobs so they can stand out and move ahead. I’m making public my slide deck from this presentation right here. View it. Share it. Learn. Grow. Do. More. Get the slide deck now to rock your job —>  Rocking Your CSR Job

We are best known for our classroom training – and it is amazing! Our customer service training is led by the industry’s best trainers…experienced, engaging, and energetic. If you poke your head into a Myra Golden training session, you know this training is different. Participant involvement is astonishing. People are having fun and they are completely engaged. Most importantly, the participants are learning real-world strategies that will absolutely empower them to deliver exceptional customer service. Every one of our customer service training sessions is custom designed to meet our client’s objectives and every session delivers a measurable return on investment.

We also offer train-the-trainer (T3) programs to equip your corporate trainers to deliver our renowned customer experience training in your organization. Please call us at 918-398-9368 to discuss bringing our T3 program to your organization. Learn more:
Customer Service Training – Classroom

Customer Service Training – Online (LMS)

Customer Service Training – Webinars

 

My Starbucks Barista Is Fully Empowered and Your Employees Should Be Too

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caramel macchiato, Customer Service, customer service team, Customer Service Training, Employee Empowerment, Starbucks Customer Experience, Starbucks Empowerment, Starbucks Hazelnut Macchiato, true empowerment

My daughter and I have this Starbucks thing. We go into Starbucks on Friday mornings before school to browse mugs and music and we both get a drink. This morning I ordered the Venti Caramel Macchiato with skim milk and no whip. The Barista asked, “Have you tried our new Hazelnut Macchiato? If you like the Caramel Macchiato, you’ll love the Hazelnut flavor!”

Just as we were walking into Starbucks, I was telling my daughter that I had a coupon for a free Tall Hazelnut Macchiato. But I left it in the car and besides, I wanted the very large Venti size today. So, I say to the Barista, “I actually have a coupon for free Tall Hazelnut Macchiato. Can I upgrade that to a Venti and pay the difference and then I’ll run out to my car and grab the coupon?” Get this, this completely empowered employee says, “I’ll tell you what. Don’t worry about the coupon and I’ll give you the Venti Hazelnut Macchiato for free.”

The Starbucks employee was completely willing and empowered to honor the coupon that I didn’t even present and he gave me a drink 2 sizes larger than the coupon would have granted. This is true empowerment and it’s part of what makes for a warm and delightful customer experience at Starbucks. (Contrast the Starbucks empowerment with my encounter with a completely un-empowered donut shop employee.)

Train, empower and trust your employees to make decisions on the spot. True empowerment makes for a faster, more delightful and wonderfully memorable customer experience. A lack of empowerment results in a slower and more frustrating customer experience and it actually lowers employee morale. The choice is yours. What will you do?

Need help training or empowering your customer service team? Consider our Customer Service Training.

We are best known for our classroom training – and it is amazing! Our customer service training is led by the industry’s best trainers…experienced, engaging, and energetic. If you poke your head into a Myra Golden training session, you know this training is different. Participant involvement is astonishing. People are having fun and they are completely engaged. Most importantly, the participants are learning real-world strategies that will absolutely empower them to deliver exceptional customer service. Every one of our customer service training sessions is custom designed to meet our client’s objectives and every session delivers a measurable return on investment.

Explore our customer service training now!

Myra Golden’s Slide Deck from Foodliner, Inc. Keynote

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Customer Experience Speaker, Customer Service Training, Empathy, Empathy in Business, How to Convey Empathy, Myra Golden, Myra Golden Keynote Slides, true empathy

In a couple of hours I will be delivering a very special keynote entitled the Empathy Experience for a new client. I am excited about this keynote because I truly believe empathy is a fundamental business skill. Empathy helps us establish trust and credibility. It helps us get more done through people. It makes us more likable. Empathy creates a workplace of high trust and high morale.

I am just over-the-moon excited about helping my new client cultivate a culture of true empathy. Many of you know I teach through stories. My client today will get rich stories that lay a foundation for empathy and they’ll walk away with 4 keys for cultivating empathy. At the end of my keynote, each participant will set 3 goals for going forward. I can’t wait!  As always, I am posting my slides from today’s keynote for the reference of my client and for the education of my blog readers. Enjoy!

It seems like all I’ve done lately is post slides from keynotes! I’ve had 3 keynotes this week and I’m feeling like a real road warrior. But  next week I’m in town all week and I’ll get back to sharing customer experience value posts.

Just click here to view or download my slides from this keynote.

Related: 

My Keynote Speaking Topics

How I Build a Keynote Presentation

What a Myra Golden Training is Like

Ways I Engage My Audiences

Never Be Boring: 5 Ways to Never Be Boring as a Keynote Speaker

Are you a corporate trainer who is looking for customer service training to deliver to your team?

How to Handle Difficult Customers Video Training

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Call Center Training, Customer Service eLearning, Customer Service Training, customer service videos, How to Handle Difficult Customer, How to handle difficult customers video

HOW TO HANDLE DIFFICULT CUSTOMERS Video Training

Get the full story on the Golden Method right here.

 

Customer Service eLearning by Myra Golden

 

Rachael Ray Tries to Stump a Zappos Rep

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Call Control Tips, Call Control Training, Contact Center Agent Training, Contact Center Training, Customer Service Training, Long-winded caller, Myra Golden, Rachael Ray, Rachael Ray calls Zappos, Zappos, Zappos difficult customer

Word on the street is there is no stumping a Zappos Customer Service Representative. Rachael Ray decided to test that out. Rachael Ray is the infamous long-winded caller nobody likes to get. Watch how the Zappos  Representative handles this “challenging” customer.

Would you have handled Rachael with such poise, openness and professionalism? If not, I need to work with you (and maybe your entire team) for some exciting customer service training. You can check out my customer service training solutions right here.

Related posts:

Polite Ways to Get Long-winded Callers to Cut to the Chase

My Keynote at the 2012 Contact Center Association Conference

Videos from My Zappos Presentation to ICCA

Zappos Clever Marketing at Airports

Starbucks Surprised & Delighted Me…Again

Starbucks on my Patio, a photo by Myra Golden on Flickr.

I went to Starbucks one afternoon last week. I ordered a Pumpkin Spice Latte and the Roasted Tomato and Mozzarella Panini. Yes, it’s an odd combination, but I like the two. The friendly voice over the drive-thru speaker said, “I’m sorry. We’re out of the Roasted Tomato and Mozzarella Panini sandwich. I can give you any one of our breakfast sandwiches on us though.”

WOW. Without even a second of hesitation, the Starbucks employee made things right by not only offering a substitute sandwich, but by giving me that sandwich for free. This immediate offering ensured that I, the customer, didn’t have time to feel upset or disappointed. The fix was offered immediately and resulted in my surprise and delight.

Are your employees equipped to fix problems this quickly? When I’m designing a better customer experience for my clients, one of the things I insist on is empowerment of the front line. The front line has to be empowered with the solutions, dollar amount, and total freedom to take care of customer problems on the spot.

Empower your frontline to be able take care of problems on the spot. When you do, you’ll surprise and delight customers and you’ll keep customers from even thinking about going to the competition (or spreading negative word of mouth advertising, tweeting, blogging, etc.).

Related Articles

Aubrey at Starbucks Impressed Me This Morning

Telephone Call Flow/Strategy for Contact Centers

Starbucks Customer Service

Identify Customer’s Needs by Asking “What does a man in the desert need?”

Cheesecake Factory Forgot My Key Lime Cheesecake…But then they made me smile!

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Cheesecake Factory, Cheesecake Factory Customer Experience, Cheesecake Factory Customer Service, Customer Recovery

Cheesecake Factory Customer Experience, a photo by Myra Golden on Flickr.

On Saturday afternoon my daughter and I swung by the Cheesecake Factory for a to-go dinner in between a spa appointment and my son’s football scrimmage. I got my favorite entrée, Jamaican Pepper Shrimp, and she got a chicken dish. Because I believe in loving myself, I also ordered a slice of key lime cheesecake.

We were in such a hurry that I didn’t check to ensure our complete order was in the signature Cheesecake Factory bag. I just assumed everything was there. I was heartbroken to get home to find my key lime cheesecake was not in the bag. Our schedule was too crammed for me to go back to the restaurant and I didn’t even have time to call. I did, however, enjoy every bite of my Jamaican Pepper Shrimp dish.

The next afternoon I went to CheesecakeFactory.com and completed the Contact Form. I complimented the restaurant for a great entrée and expressed my disappointment in my missing slice of cheesecake. Yesterday afternoon I got a call from the restaurant manager. He had a contagious energy vibe that instantly made me smile and I returned the energy vibe. The manager offered a heart-felt apology and made a great personal emotional connection with business-friendly small talk. He invited me to come back in for my slice of cheesecake and if that wasn’t convenient, he said he’d put a gift card in the mail.

I opted to go to the restaurant because it’s just a couple miles from my home. When I got there, I was greeted by Mark, a warm and friendly night manager. Mark apologized and we talked about his wife’s name, which is similar to mine. Mark and the manager I spoke to on the phone handled my missing slice of cheesecake so well that I am actually glad I experienced the mishap. I’m glad because I got to see Cheesecake Factory absolutely shine at the moment of a problem. They completely restored my confidence and managed to strengthen my loyalty.

What can you learn from Cheesecake Factory’s Problem Handling?
Take my experience with Cheesecake Factory and compare it to the way your business handles mishaps and service failures. What do you like most about Cheesecake Factory’s handling of my problem? What takeaways from Cheesecake Factory might improve your service recovery efforts? Problems are really opportunities for companies to make emotional connections with customers, restore confidence and strengthen loyalty. Take a tip from the Cheesecake Factory and make the most of problems your customers experience.

7 Phrases That Convey Empathy to Customers

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Call Center Training, Customer Service Training, How to Get Reps To Express Empathy, Myra Golden, Myra Golden Customer Service Training, Myra Golden Keynote

On July 3^rd, right before I was heading out for my holiday with family, I got a desperate call from a manager of a large contact center. The manager told me that recent satisfaction surveys revealed a real problem with Rep attitude and the perception of rudeness over the phone. This afternoon I meet the Reps of this contact center and I will launch phase one of my customer service transformation plan for this company.

My one goal for the Reps today is to equip them with skill, confidence, and desire to convey empathy and genuine concern to customers over the phone.  We will listen to phone calls, engage in exercises, role-plays, and discussions to accomplish this goal. I will give them feedback and they’ll set goals for personal improvement. One of the skills we’ll practice is how to acknowledge customer concern. That is, how to make the customer feel heard, respected and understood when they share a problem or complaint.  Here are some example phrases I will share in today’s training:

7 Phrases That Convey Empathy to Customers

• “I can understand how frustrating it is when your Widget breaks down.”
• “I realize how complicated it is to…”
• “I cannot imagine how upsetting it is to…”
• “I know how confusing it must be when…”
• “I’m so sorry to hear that…”
• “I hate that you had to make this call today.”
• “I’m glad you called today so that we can take care of this right away.”

So often when a customer voices a complaint, we go right into information gathering. We ask the customer for her name, date code, invoice number, date of purchase, and perhaps a half dozen other questions. The problem with this approach is it sounds like an interview or worse, an interrogation. You can drastically improve the customer experience by taking a few seconds to build rapport by simply expressing genuine empathy.

Before jumping into problem solving and before asking any questions, take a moment to acknowledge concern through genuine empathy. When you do, you’ll put the customer at ease, establish rapport and improve the perception of your personal customer experience. Now, off to my customer service training….

Interested in working with me to improve your employees’ ability to convey empathy and concern? We need to talk. Take a look at my Empathy Training outline or simply  Visit my website and take a look around. Then call my Assistant, Jamal, and we’ll see if I’m a good fit for you.

Related:

How to Get Customer Service Reps to Express Empathy

Myra Golden’s Empathy Training web seminar

How I Build a Keynote Presentation

My Keynote at Lambeau Field in Green Bay on “Super Bowl Customer Experience”

Aubrey at Starbucks Impressed Me This Morning

What a Myra Golden Training is Like

Customer Service eLearning by Myra Golden

Our flagship program is comprised of 6 online customer service training modules with video, interactivity, downloadable handouts, and quizzes. Customers have the option of enjoying our interactive online training on our Learning Management System (LMS) or through SCORM modules for their own LMS. Learn more

How to Establish Rapport with Callers in 6 Seconds Flat (These tips just might help save your job)

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Call Center Agent Training, CSR Training, customer service tips, Customer Service Training, How to Establish Rapport with Callers, Myra Golden, Myra Golden Media, Myra Golden Training, Telephone Techniques, telephone tips

Pretty regularly I get emails from customer service representatives who have just received a negative performance review, just come out of a tough coaching session with their supervisor, or they are on probation for poor service performance. It breaks my heart. I, or someone on my team, will always take the time to provide one on one coaching for these proactive reps who call or email for help. Sometimes we’ll give them complimentary admission to my 6-course eLearning suite. I give a lot of them a free recording of my famous Becoming a Customer Service Rockstar webinar. Other times, I’ll take them under my wing for intensive coaching.

I just got off the phone with a wonderful lady who is in fear of losing her job over quality monitoring scores. I coached her on how to establish rapport with her callers so that she starts calls off right. Today, I thought it might be helpful to share with you the 4 tips I shared with this beautiful-spirited lady today. I hope these tips help you and her deliver a better customer experience over the telephone.

1. Greet the customer enthusiastically (w/a smile in your voice).Intentionally put energy in your voice and work to sound as friendly as you can. To get in the best frame of mind for opening calls, think of how you’d act and speak if you were opening your front door to greet guests to a party in your home. You’d be happy, friendly, energetic, genuine and warm. This energy would be present from the first ring of the doorbell to the last. Be a great “host” on your phone calls and you’ll nail every call.

2. Listen without interrupting. Try not to interrupt callers within the first 6 seconds. Even if you know right away that you’ll need to transfer the call, let the caller finish his or her thought. Interruptions come across as rude or cold, even if the interruption is a necessary transfer. After letting the customer complete their thought, politely explain the next steps.

3. Try to make an emotional connection.One of the best ways to establish rapport with customers is to make emotional connections. If you hear a dog barking in the background, you might comment on the dog. You could ask a customer about plans for the holiday or talk about the weather or sports. Emotional connections are powerful and they always improve the customer experience.

4. Use gentle/soft “ahs” and “ums” to let the caller know you are listening. Convey to your caller that you are fully present and interested by interjecting warm verbal cues. So often, customer service reps listen to customers silently and that can make the customer feel that the rep isn’t listening. Go above and beyond with warm ahs and ums.

If you’re looking for ways to quickly improve your customer experience over the telephone, adopt and apply these 4 techniques. When you do, your customers and supervisors will definitely notice a positive difference.

Customer Service eLearning by Myra Golden

Our flagship program is comprised of 6 online customer service training modules with video, interactivity, downloadable handouts, and quizzes. Customers have the option of enjoying our interactive online training on our Learning Management System (LMS) or through SCORM modules for their own LMS. Learn more

We all want to feel known: “The Norm Principle of Customer Service”

Tags

Cheers, Customer Service, myra golden customer experience keynote speaker, Myra Golden Keynote, Starbucks Customer Experience, Starbucks Customer Service

We all want to feel known, a photo by Myra Golden on Flickr.

I sit down with all of my clients before a keynote address and I ask them to define 3 things they want the audience to walk away with after my keynote. Yesterday I sat down with the CEO of a Chicago company and listened with great fascination as he described his top 3 take-aways from my presentation. He called one of his take-aways the “Norm Principle.” The “Norm Principle,” he said, is from the sitcom “Cheers.”

CEO: “You remember Cheers, don’t you, Myra?”

Me: “Of course I do.”

CEO: “When Norm walked into the bar, everyone knew his name. People looked up and acknowledged him when he walked in. The bartender already new what he was drinking. Norm was ‘known.’ That’s the main idea I want you to get across in your keynote. Everybody wants to feel known. Everybody wants to feel welcome. I want the audience to go out and make their customers feel ‘known.’”

I LOVE the Norm Principle! The CEO was right on target and what a memorable concept: the Norm Principle. I will deliver that charge to my audience when I speak at my client’s conference this fall. In the meantime, I challenge you to work to make your customers feel KNOWN. How do you make customers feel known? Consider the following example from Starbucks.

Last year when I pulled up at the Starbucks drive-thru, the employee said, “Good morning. Welcome to Starbucks. Are you having your usual today?” Baffled, I asked, “How do you know what my usual is?” The gentleman said, “I recognize your car.” Apparently that Starbucks location has cameras at the drive-thru ordering speakers. (I was at the first window, not the second.) Not only do they have cameras, but also they take the time to remember what regular customers order. Starbucks made me feel known. Get creative and think about how you might make your customers feel known and welcome. When you do, you’ll create a warm and memorable customer experience.

Interested in having me deliver a customer service training or a customer service keynote at your company? We need to talk. Visit my website and take a look around. Then call my Assistant, Jamal, and we’ll see if I’m a good fit for you.

Related:

How I Build a Keynote Presentation

My Keynote at Lambeau Field in Green Bay on “Super Bowl Customer Experience”

Aubrey at Starbucks Impressed Me This Morning

What a Myra Golden Training is Like