Top 5 Customer Service Articles For the Week of April 3, 2017

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.

Customer Service Track Shines at Social Media Marketing World by Dan Gingiss

(Winning at Social) Although it is, at its essence, a marketing conference, the annual Social Media Marketing World gathering in San Diego is constantly adapting in step with the ever-changing world of social media. In 2016, the conference organizers added a Customer Service track to the list of 20 or so other tracks. This year, attendance at several Customer Service sessions reportedly doubled from last year.

My Comment: The Social Media Marketing World 2017 conference concluded just over a week ago, and one of the major tracks was the social customer care track, headed up by Dan Gingiss and Daniel Lemin. This is a hot topic and Dan wrote a short, but very informative summary of some of the overarching concepts. I was honored to speak at the conference (Thanks Dan and Daniel!), and while there is a short summary of my presentation, he also highlights some of the takeaways from Jay Baer and Blake Morgan, two other experts in the industry.

Improve your work relationships by stealing a page from customer service by Lisa Quast 

(Seattle Times) Whether you work with external customers or internal employees, now is the time to put your customers at the center of everything you do.

My Comment: When employees are treated the right way, they treat the customers the right way. The concept of internal customer service is important, yet it is often overlooked as part of the customer service and experience strategy. This short article makes the case for why internal service is important and teaches us a few questions we should be asking our fellow employees (internal customers).

10 Traits of a Great Hotel Front Desk Agent by Rupesh Patel

(SmartGuests) How do we know if the front desk person we just hired is the right fit for the job? Do they have hotel experience? Did they come from another hotel? Are they bringing negative vibes or bad habits from their last job? In this article, I share the ten things that can make your front desk agents stand out.

My Comment: Here is a short article with ten tips from hotelier Rupesh Patel. One of the most powerful ways to think of customer service is with a “hospitality mentality.” There is a lot that any company in any industry can learn from the hotel and hospitality industry.

Want Loyal Customers? Prioritize Your Customer Service With These 4 Tactics. by AJ Agrawal 

(Entrepreneur) What makes a brand strong in 2017? If you’re thinking top-notch social media strategy and cutting-edge product development you’re not wrong — but you’re still overlooking a critical component: customer service.

My Comment: This excellent article has four insights you must consider if you want to deliver better customer service. Develop customer insights, get feedback, be transparent and create a welcoming environment – simple and time-tested concepts that will help any company drive more customer loyalty.

Customer Experience Spring Cleaning: Your 5 Best Investments by Blake Morgan

(Forbes) Customer experience is something many of us take for granted. We don’t really think about it until someone points it out. Then we see it everywhere. Good or bad. I feel like someone who has been to the dark side. I’ve seen too much. I know too much. So everywhere I go it’s all I see. Whether customer experiences are abominable or amazing, I spot them right away.

My Comment: Customer experience expert, Blake Morgan, shares a list of five trends impacting customer experience. It’s a quick read and may give you the idea you need to take your organization’s customer experience to the next level.

BONUS

New Guide for Customer Service: How to Exceed Expectations of the Modern Consumer by Jenny Roy

(Gladly) With a competitive marketplace and a consumer base that is making an array of decisions each day, brands need to prioritize customer service and ensure that they’re offering their customers the best possible experience. By failing to exceed customer expectations, brands are making themselves vulnerable to losing business.

My Comment: Our friends at Gladly shared a short article and some slides with quotes from some fellow customer service/experience experts (including myself). The focus is on personalization, which is a hot topic in customer service.

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.

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