Top 5 Customer Service Articles For the Week of May 6, 2013

Top Customer Service and Business Articles

Each week I read a number of customer service articles from various online resources. Here are my top five picks from last week. I have added my comment about each article and would like to hear what you think too.

7 Customer Loyalty Lessons from Lady Gaga by Jackie Huba

(Convince & Convert) Lady Gaga didn’t become the success she is today based solely on her talent. She did so by engendering immense loyalty from her fans through her music, her message, and the community she has built around them. To anyone in the business community, this sounds like a classic case of loyalty marketing and customer cultivation. Here are seven lessons for building this kind of loyalty in any organization.

My Comment: Jackie Huba’s new book, “Monster Loyalty” arrived on my desk this week.  This article is a very brief overview of what you can learn in the book.  I enjoyed the book and using Lady Gaga as the role model is just brilliant.  Every business should figure out a way to create “Monster Loyalty,” and here is a good place to start.

Value in Customer Service Creates Lasting Customer Loyalty by Flavio Martins

(WinThe Customer!) April is International Customer Loyalty Month, and what have you done to show your customers your appreciation for keeping you in business?

My Comment: April may be International Customer Loyalty Month, but it’s now May.  So what?  Loyalty shouldn’t be for just one month.  It should be every month – actually every day and every hour of every day.  This short article helps reinforce the importance of creating customer loyalty.

How to Avoid the Seven Sins of Customer Experience by Sharon Daniels

(ChiefExecutive.net) Exceptional customer service produces loyal customers who buy more, refer friends, resist special offers from competitors and forgive the occasional mistake. Our newest research report on customer experience sheds new light on the “seven sins” of customer experience – key missteps that make organizations stumble when it comes to customer interaction.

My Comment: Sometimes, the best strategies and tactics in customer service (or any part of a business) is to not do something.  These seven “sins” of the customer experience are exactly what you don’t want to do.

How to Create Customer-Driven Employees by Service Quality Institute

(Service Quality Institute) There are six skills all employees need to master to improve the customer experience. Knowing these skills and execution is the difference between winning and losing.

My Comment: Here are some customer service basics.  And, while the focus seems to be on frontline employees, there isn’t anyone in any company that couldn’t benefit from reading through these six “must have” skills.

ROI Revealed for Customer Experience Strategy by Ron Wince

(Peppers & Rogers Group) What will make senior management stand up, take notice, and empower customer-facing employees to get behind the concept of customer centricity? ROI, of course. So here is some financial ammunition around customer experience strategy that you can take with you to the next board meeting or frontline training session.

My Comment: Customer experience (and customer service) doesn’t cost. It pays! Be it an increase in business or an increase in the stock market price of a company, the companies that deliver the highest level of customer service win.

Professional speaker and New York Times bestselling business author. For information contact (314) 692-2200 or www.hyken.com. For information on The  Customer  Focus™ customer service training programs go to http://www.thecustomerfocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken

(Copyright ©MMXIII, Shep Hyken)