Customer Service Buzz

This post draws from a story first presented by our sister program, the Marketing Leadership Council, in their blog Wide Angle.

The U.S. is in a kind of tough place right now.

• Unemployment is hovering around 10%, not only idling millions of workers but keeping millions more stuck in jobs they don’t like
• It’s shaping up to be the hottest summer on record in many parts of the country
• To top it all off, traffic is getting worse as local governments run out of money to invest in public transit and new roads.

Add these (and many, many other) factors up, and it’s no secret why your average American is a little on edge these days.

So when JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater made a dramatic exit from his job recently, delivering an expletive-laced tirade to passengers over the intercom before grabbing beer from the service cart and sliding down the plane’s emergency chute, it wasn’t surprising when he became something of a cause celebre. A Facebook fan group established after the news broke now has more than 200,000 fans, and there’s talk of a legal defense fund (Slater was cited for public endangerment). Slater has been hounded by reporters and paparazzi since being released on bond, and his relatives have made the talk-show rounds. Read More »

By Hannah Hellebush

In speaking with members we hear that many service center professionals are interested in the merits of rep-level certification programs. There are a lot of programs available—most offer an online course for frontline reps who become “certified” after the completion of a test. The courses take a few weeks to complete and are priced per individual rep.

Certainly, rep-level certification programs could potentially help in skills training and upskilling.  But many companies we talk to say it’s hard to measure the gains from these programs in terms of direct rep performance gains.  And of course, CCC has long held that coaching (not training) is by far the best skill development lever you can pull. 

So, I’ve got to wonder – if the jury is out on rep-level certification programs to drive performance, what are some other benefits the programs could have? Read More »

I’m heading off on vacation shortly, and from the recent conversations I’ve had with members it sounds like I’m not alone in getting geared up for a summer getaway.  While I’m definitely taking a break from work (and away from my iPhone), I’m also planning on a lot of quality reading time on the beach. 

So, what’s in my beach bag?  I thought I’d share what I’m currently reading that’s related to customer service (some more directly than others, but all fuel my thinking in the space).  Read More »

There is a simple governing fact that occurs during all service interactions: our companies are merely a means to an end for the customer. Customers don’t contact us to troubleshoot a television set – they call us so they can enjoy the latest sports event from home. They don’t log on to transfer funds, they log on to consolidate their down payment for their first home.

While this simple fact is often taken for granted during service interactions, acknowledging and understanding the customer’s situation and their end-goal presents a tremendous opportunity to improve the service experience.

For the past week, I’ve been working from our London office, and this morning I briefly visited with one of our European members. During that time, we discussed creative methods to make frontline reps’ jobs more fulfilling, engaging, and far less transactional. The conversation evolved into a discussion of the “customer puzzle” – the idea of determining the context, the situation, and the end-goal of the customer and tailoring the experience accordingly.

Read More »

The CCC research team is about a month into our upcoming research study on quality assurance (QA).  One of the biggest trends we hear companies talking about is a major shift from a checklist-based approach to a subjective QA scorecard.  In other words, moving away from a “did you do it, check yes or no” audit to a “how WELL did you do it” audit.  The reasons for this shift could become a separate blog posting…but that’s for another day, another time.   

Today I’m focusing a little downstream from this objective–>subjective shift to talk about one of the potential implications of a subjective QA approach. Read More »

Moment of honesty: when was the last time you stopped and considered if you were a good or a bad boss? Not whether your organization was hitting its goals and your MBOs were in good order, but whether you’re truly a great boss.

In a recent HBR blog post, Robert Sutton argues that most bosses believe they are far more effective than their teams perceive. 12 Things Good Bosses Believe is a sobering read, and I’d strongly encourage you to take a look if you manage any staff, period.

Sutton explores many counterintuitive views he believes great bosses embody. Among them, good bosses believe their success – and their team’s success – depends on mastering mundane tasks over breakthrough ideas. Or, bad is stronger than good – eliminating the negative has more impact than emphasizing the positive.

One rule in particular stood out to me given its relevance in service operations where bosses are several layers removed from the action. Sutton claims that many bosses live in a “fool’s paradise” but great bosses accept that they have a flawed, often skewed, sense of what it is like to work for them. They accept staff members having a far more accurate view of reality.

Read More »

During Washington, D.C.’s recent “Snowmaggeddon” blizzard, I (like many of my colleagues) found myself working from home.  It was great for a day or two, and I felt very productive. But by day five, I felt, well…isolated.  I think this was different than your run-of-the-mill cabin fever…the isolation I felt was connected to my workplace engagement.

This naturally led me to think about contact center reps who work from home full-time.  Whenever I speak with companies who are considering a work-from-home program, people are aware that it is tricky to keep remote staff engaged, but no one knows how to get over that hurdle effectively. Read More »