Top 5 Customer Service Articles For the Week of October 7, 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.

12 Customer Service Quotes to Hang on Your Office Wall by Carla Gates

(Acquisition marketing) But I believe that even inside emerging companies, are ideas and practices about customer service that are just as paradigm-shifting. To that end, I interviewed the leaders at d50 Media, an advertising agency in the Boston area, to find those nuggets of customer service wisdom that are important, actionable, and should be hanging on our office walls.

My Comments: I’m reading these quotes on Monday, October 7, the first day of National Customer Service Week.  These are great to get us inspired to create a better customer service experience, but not just for the week.  How about all of the time!

How to replicate Disney’s first-class customer experience by Gary Edwards

(Retail Customer Experience) By following Disney’s example, paying attention to the many little details that matter, retailers can develop customer experiences that wow consumers and differentiate their brands in an increasingly crowded retail marketplace.

My Comment: I’ve always been a huge fan of Disney. Personally, I’ve visited Disney theme parks over 50 times. Professionally, I’ve taken a number of the business courses Disney offers through Disney Institute and have taken their “backstage” tour five times. I always learn something new. I love this article and the five lessons we can take away from it. Any company can use at least one if not all of these to implement a first-class Disney style experience.

Customer Experience From the C-Suite, With Dan Hesse by Bruce Temkin

(Customer Experience Matters) The webinar with Dan provided a great opportunity to hear Sprint’s inspirational CX story and offered a glimpse into the mind of a CEO who really “gets CX.” Dan’s efforts at Sprint highlight many elements of Temkin Group’s four customer experience core competencies.

My Comment: The interview with Sprint CEO Dan Hesse is exactly what everyone, not just the C-Suite, needs to understand to deliver a great customer experience. The nine “takeaways” from the interview are excellent. My favorite is to “never waste a good crisis.” Take advantage of a customer crisis by turning the situation around to be favorable, and most important, leveraging the crisis internally as a learning opportunity.

Is Your Business Customer-Centric? by Debbie Laskey

(Business 2 Community) Is your company customer-centric? Does your leadership team know what that means?

My Comment: Even though I love the Nordstrom tire story, I’ve always had an issue with the person who gave the gentleman the refund for the tires. That said, the story created the legend – and the standard – for the level of customer service that Nordstrom would deliver. No doubt we treat some customers better than others based on how much business they give us. Yet, the minimum standard should always be to treat the customer better than average, always making the customer feel valued and appreciated, regardless of how much or little is spent with us.

Product and Price Step Aside, Personalization is King by Anna Papachristos

(1 to 1 media) Retailers can no longer depend on price and product quality to entice customers. Future success depends on retailers’ abilities to enable the omnichannel experience.

My Comment: Personalization can give a company an incredible advantage over the competition.  It helps build the relationship – a potentially loyal relationship. Great information and statistics in this article that supports this concept.

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)