Top 5 Customer Service Articles for the Week of December 3, 2018

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.

How the leader in the cockpit builds a brand by Alaina Love

(SmartBrief) As any business road warrior will tell you, air travel these days is far from a relaxing experience.

My Comment: The captain of the airplane doesn’t just fly the plane – at least not this captain. On a recent flight, the author of this article met “Captain Adams,” who not only flew the plane but set the culture, empowered the crew and was the perfect example of a leader focused on the customer experience. There is a lot to learn from this short article about a commercial airline captain that recognized his job was to do more than just fly the plane. This is the way everyone should think.

4 Negotiation Strategies for Managing Difficult Retail Customers by Dean Kaplan

(Retail Customer Experience) Difficult customers can cause stress for employees, damage to the bottom line, and thanks to social media, harm to the reputation of your business. These four strategies will help you negotiate with even the most unreasonable customer.

My Comment: While this article’s title claims to focus on the retail industry, the four tips in this article could apply to any industry. Here are four reminders of what to do with that angry and upset customer.

Customer retention is 5X cheaper than new acquisitions, but is it worth it? by Manish Nepal 

(Freshchat) In essence, retention is a network effect that leads you to a sustainable growth trajectory. Retaining your most favorable customers is the best survival skill your business needs to fight churn and defy all odds in the market.

My Comment: The acquisition of new customers is important to any business, but doesn’t it make sense to keep the customers you already have? (That’s a rhetorical question.) This short article has some great reminders on how to keep your customers coming back, again and again.

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.