Transforming Customer Service into a Growth Engine with Ty Givens

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This episode of Amazing Business Radio with Shep Hyken answers the following questions and more:

1. How can frontline customer service representatives be empowered to act as the face of a brand? 
2. How does training impact the effectiveness and efficiency of customer support teams? 
3. What are the main benefits of proactive customer experience versus reactive customer service? 
4. How can technology, such as AI, improve resolution times for common customer issues? 
5. How can businesses educate customers to use digital support channels for faster issue resolution? 

Top Takeaways:

• Every employee interacting with a customer becomes the face of the company. Train employees on their role to represent and support the brand. When someone calls with a problem, regardless of who is at fault,  it is their responsibility to make things right and create a positive experience for the customer.  

• When you start using customer service as a listening tool, it stops being a cost and becomes a way to improve processes for employees and experiences for customers.  

• Feedback can be silent. Pay attention to what your customers are saying and what they are not saying. Sometimes, customers hint at underlying problems without saying it. Picking up on context and clues can help solve issues faster and even improve services in the future.  

• Customer service becomes proactive by paying attention to feedback and patterns that allow you can fix issues before the next customer gets upset. Pay attention to what features or products your customers love to use. Identify the features customers don’t interact with so you can either improve them or focus your resources elsewhere. 

• A simple mistake, such as leaving an item out of an order, can lead to angry calls, extra costs to fix the problem, and even lost customers. Training employees to understand how their actions affect the entire customer journey helps reduce errors. Even small improvements can save costs and keep customers and employees happier. 

• Investing in your employees expands their capabilities in helping customers. Even thirty minutes spent learning a new skill or understanding a customer’s needs, once every month or two, can save time and money in the long run.  

• Plus, Shep and Ty discuss more ways a call center can drive growth and revenue. Tune in! 

Quotes:

“In most companies, the customer service team is the only function that has direct, one-to-one conversations with customers. This makes them a powerful source of insight, not just from what customers say, but from what they don’t say. Teach your team to actively listen, read between the lines, and recognize opportunities to improve the customer experience.” 

“Teach the customer how to solve simple issues digitally, but make sure they know they’re welcome to call anytime. It’s about empowering them with choices without making them feel bad for reaching out.” 

“Get ahead of what your customer wants. Pay attention to touchpoints that your customers have with your business so you can anticipate needs, not just react to the issues they tell you.”

About:

Ty Givens is the founder of CX Collective. She helps leaders turn inefficient processes into reliable, human-centered systems that boost team productivity and customer loyalty. 

Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and host of Amazing Business Radio.