Top 5 Customer Service Articles For the Week of June 1, 2020

Each week I read a number of customer service and customer experience articles from various 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.

3 Things That Will Boost Your Reputation For Great Customer Service by Mark Armstrong

(Business2Community) I’ve been a freelance illustrator for 30 years. I’ve dealt with a lot of different people. These days, there are three things I focus on when it comes to customer service.

My Comment: We start this week’s roundup with a very short article (two-minute read) about three simple ideas to increase loyalty; keep customers informed, no surprises and good follow-up. Sounds like common sense, doesn’t it? Take a couple of minutes to read this and then remind your people about these three simple ideas that will help you be even more successful.

3 Customer Service Lessons from Pella Corporation by Elena Constantinescu

(Smarter CX) This article shares how Pella improved their strategy, technology, and metrics to deliver exceptional experiences.

My Comment: Another article with three ideas, this time from a world-class organization, Pella (the door and window company). I always love learning from great companies, and Traci Scott of Pella shares three interesting strategies they use to deliver great service. She reminded me of a favorite quote at the end of the article: “If you want to see where a company is at, look at their sales, but if you want to see where a company is going, look at their service.”

How to improve call center performance when there is a staff shortage by Krishna Charan

(Freshworks) From this blog, you can find out actionable workarounds for staff shortage to improve call center performance.

My Comment: If you are in a customer support/contact center, then this article is a must-read. What happens when there is an increase in customers reaching out for support? How can you predict or forecast? How do you scale up? Here you’ll find some “workarounds” for those times you are short-staffed and want to maintain your support center’s reputation for excellent service.

Improving Customer Experience By Creating An Omnichannel Experience by Cameron Weeks

(Forbes) Technology makes it simple to connect to the world without moving an inch. So, why does connecting with the companies that we buy from feel more difficult?

My Comment: Multichannel and omnichannel may not be the most exciting topics in the world, but they are very important to your customer (even if they don’t know it), and even more important to you. Cameron Weeks, co-founder and CEO of Edify, shares some ideas on the difference between the two, customers’ expectations and tips on how to get the best out of an omnichannel strategy.

Rebuilding the Economy Around Good Jobs by Zeynep Ton

(Harvard Business Review) In countries hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, customer-facing service businesses don’t just face a tough two to three months; they face a tough two to three years. Because people will still be nervous about catching the disease until a vaccine is widely available, demand is likely to be depressed, while costs — due to measures needed to keep employees and customers safe — will be higher.

My Comment: We close out this week with a Harvard Business Review article on the rebuilding of our economy with good jobs – versus bad jobs. In short, bad jobs equals bad performance. Part of the author’s suggestion is higher pay. That works in some cases, although I’m not entirely comfortable with her explanation. But, consider why it’s important to have good people in good jobs doing good work. The stat in the article from the retail industry is a good reason to pay to get your best people doing their most productive work. In the US, there are 24.5 feet of retail space per person versus 16.4 feet in Canada and 4.5 square feet in Europe. The author nails it. “This is certainly too much and the mediocre, the ones that don’t make their customers want to come back, will not survive.”

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, professional speaker and New York Times bestselling business author. For information on The Customer Focus™ customer service training programs go to www.TheCustomerFocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken