Top 5 Customer Service Articles For the Week of January 21, 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.

How Do You Motivate Employees? [ANSWERS] by Ashley Poulter

(Hearpreneur) As any good CEO knows, keeping employees happy is a key to good business. Their productivity increases and the likelihood of them going farther and working hard for your company is increased greatly. When an employee is motivated in the right way, an entrepreneur can become the leader of a well-oiled machine. But finding the perfect way to motivate employees is the true hurdle. Below are some tips from business owners and entrepreneurs on how to motivate employees.

My Comment: This is a great list of ideas on how to motivate employees.  Herb Kelleher, the former chairman of Southwest Airlines, used to say that motivated and happy employees would work hard to make the passengers happy.  When the passengers are happy, they come back.  When they come back, that makes the shareholders happy.  He is right!  And, it all starts with motivated employees.

Forrester’s top 15 trends for customer service by Forrester

(Computerworlduk) It’s time to look ahead to 2013 and focus on the key trends that customer service professionals need to pay attention to as they plan for success this year .

My Comment: Forrester knows!  These 15 trends tell us what customers expect.  While not all 15 of the trends apply to every company, there is at least one (probably many more) that do apply.  So now that we have this information, we need to do something about it.  Great article!

Why Tomorrow’s Business MUST Be a Great Place to Work by Tom Mendoza

(Forbes) For the past ten years, NetApp has been recognized as one of the top places to work. Back in November, I wrote about how we achieved this consistent success. Many of you wrote to ask me to write more about our motivation. So…

Why do we do it? The answer isn’t as obvious as you might think.

My Comment: If employees aren’t fulfilled, how can they, with the right attitude and motivation, fulfill the needs of the customer?  These are some great takeaways from this article, specifically from the NetApp example, which ranks number three on the “World’s Best Companies to Work For.”  Any company, large or small and in any industry, can learn something from this article.

Southwest’s Founder Explains Why There’s No Secret Behind Its Great Culture by Max Nisen

(Business Insider) Southwest is one of the most admired companies in the country, respected in an industry that’s better known for delayed flights and bad customer service than a great corporate culture. Not to mention the fact that it’s remained profitable in a sector that rarely is.

My Comment: I’ve always admired Southwest Airlines.  Herb Kelleher, the founder of Southwest, shares some of the insights that helped create a culture that was first focused on the employee, which motivated the employee to focus on the customer (the passenger), which resulted in the customer coming back.  This short article is worth reading.  Actually, anything about Herb Kelleher is worth reading.

Creating Winning Customer Service Experiences That Matter to Customers by Flavio Martins

(WintheCustomer!) After each customer interaction, the greatest question is, was the customer experience enough to keep that customer doing business in the future?

My Comment: Excellent article reminds us of the importance of a consistent customer experience. Consistency creates confidence, which can lead to loyalty. A lack of consistency erodes confidence which can lead to customer defection.

Shep Hyken is a customer service/CX expert, award-winning keynote speaker, and New York Times bestselling author. Learn more about Shep’s customer service and customer experience keynote speeches and his customer service training workshops at www.Hyken.com. Connect with Shep on LinkedIn.

(Copyright ©MMXIII, Shep Hyken)