How To Kick Your Customer Service Up A Notch!

Welcome to the inaugural issue of Human Tech Tips -- Tip #1. How do we take your customer service and kick it up a notch?

This is a big question so where do we begin?

As an overview, it's a given that the answer is three-fold: People, Process, and Technology. Let me say right from the start, my bias is on the people side.

My questions for you to ponder are:

1) Do you collect and measure any data? After all, what gets measured gets managed, and what gets managed gets better.

2) Do you have customer satisfaction statistics? And if yes, how and where are you getting them?

3) Do you have ongoing training in place - not sales training - not product training - not protocol or rules and regulations training but true relationship building skills training?

Let's address the first question. Just because your system has metrics available to you doesn't mean you need to use all of them.

My advice is to start at the end. What are you trying to achieve and what measurement would absolutely reflect that achievement? Then that's what you want to measure. The first time you measure gives you a baseline, a benchmark, to use for charting your progress 1 month, 3 months, 6 months down the line. You're not comparing yourself to any one but yourself so it's fairly accurate. Yes, there are environmental or economic or seasonal issues, but you're getting a pretty truthful snapshot.

As an example, lots of companies measure length of call. Yes, this is a useful statistic. But if you are committed to customer service, then I would suggest first call resolution is more important than length of call. Southwest Airlines is committed to quality customer service and they don't even calculate length of call.

We'll cover question #2 in the next Tip and so on.

If you have questions or tips you'd like covered, please feel free to email me at rosanne@HumanTechTips.com. To receive your own copy, email subscribe@HumanTechTips.com.

ROSANNE D'AUSILIO, Ph.D., industrial psychologist, President of Human Technologies Global, Inc., specializes in human performance management for contact centers, providing needs analyses, instructional design, and customized, live, world class customer service skills trainings. Also offered: agent/facilitator certification through Purdue University's Center for Customer Driven Quality.

Known as 'the practical champion of the human, she authors the best-sellers, Wake Up Your Call Center: Humanize Your Interaction Hub, 4th edition (hot off the press), and Customer Service and The Human Experience and soon to be released, Lay Your Cards on the Table: 52 Ways to Stack You Personal Deck.. Reach her at Rosanne@human-technologies.com, sign up for her complimentary monthly e-newsletter in its 7th year, and check out her new virtual store. Sign up for her newest endeavor Tips at http://www.HumanTechTips.com. This is not the same newsletter as at http://www.human-technologies.com.

In The News:

pen paper and inkwell


cat break through


Customer Service - A Sweet Essence

First let us specifically define customer service. It is the... Read More

You MUST Sweat the Small Stuff

It's The Little Things That Make or Break a Small... Read More

5 Ways Customer Service Managers are Implementing to Increase Customer Focus

According to a Forum Corporation survey of commercial customers lost... Read More

What Every Manager Should Know About Seeing the World from Where the Customer Is Standing

It is important to remember that the customer doesn't necessarily... Read More

Small Business Customer Service Can Work Against You

Is the special treatment you designed specifically to keep customers... Read More

Call Center Software - Your Tool of Choice in Customer Relations

The call center represents your first line of communication with... Read More

Difficult Customers - Theres No Such Thing

A couple of years ago I had a call from... Read More

Customer Service Consultants

When all else fails in your company to meet the... Read More

What Every Employee Should Know About How to See Customers Problems from Their Creative Side

Customer Service is a blessing and a curse; a blessing... Read More

Everyone talks in code!

How often have you left a meeting with a customer... Read More

Top Ten Strategies for Delivering 5-Star Customer Service

Customer satisfaction is valuable, but customer loyalty is priceless. In... Read More

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

However, in the world of business, this cliché may not... Read More

Losing Angry Customers

This article offers five ways to help you deal with... Read More

4 Tips Toward Overcoming Bad Customer Service

Customer service is the pits, you say. You are not... Read More

Under Promise & Over Perform: The Art of Managing Customer Expectations

I'll always feel warmly about Conrad's restaurant, in Glendale, California.On... Read More

Take Care of Yourself Before You Take Care of Your Customer

One of the most important questions people ask when they... Read More

The Drawback of Hacking Off a Blogger Through Weak Process Gaps and Pathetic Customer Service

With all of the recent data theft in the financial... Read More

In the Villa of the Sick Cat -- A Lesson in Customer Care

If you're a pet owner, you know the stress of... Read More

Debt Elimination Scam

May people these days have a problem with mounting debt.... Read More

Moments That Matter

Many years ago, I was a first year apprentice assigned... Read More

Make Your Customer Your Friend

The simplest way to describe a 'durian' (pronounced doo-ree-ann) is... Read More

The Sellers Creed

I will not make sales. I will make Customers.I will... Read More

And The Difference is... Attitude

I returned a rental car at an airport yesterday. As... Read More

Your Voice Print

"Mountains are built one pebble at a time and climbed... Read More

What To Do When Youve Blown It

It's bound to happen sooner or later ? yes, even... Read More

Automating Your Help Desk Workflow

Do you know you can open, answer, close and report... Read More

7 Bits Of Critical Information You Cant Afford NOT To Know About Your Customers

If you think customer relationship management is just a piece... Read More

Dissatisfied or Rude Customers Can Be Satisfied Customers

On a recent airline flight I was an upset... Read More

How To Use Your Current Customers

Jay instructed a customer of his to offer a rare... Read More

Minimize The Pain of Check Recovery

$350 million in bad checks are written each and every... Read More

Is Your Food Establishment Clean?

Is your restaurant, bar or hotel clean? I mean really... Read More

Transforming Disgruntled Customers into Your Biggest Advocates

"I am writing to complain about the widget I bought... Read More

Five Tips to Calm Cranky Customers

1. Tis the SeasonRecognize that everyone is frazzled during the... Read More