Does a customer access strategy sound like something that would be nice to have? Actually, it’s vital. Just ask anyone who’s part of the University of California’s Retirement Administration Service Center (UC RASC). The University of California is the world’s leading public research university system, with ten campuses, five medical centers, three national labs and a network of researchers and …
Herb Kelleher, co-founder and former CEO of Southwest Airlines, once said, “We have a strategic plan. It’s called doing things.” He makes a great point. Developing strategies shouldn’t be an overly academic or formal exercise, with the result being a plan that’s really not put to use. Avoid these five common pitfalls, discussed in my LinkedIn Learning Course “Customer Service …
Sam Del Rowe recently wrote an article for www.destinationcrm.com titled “The Top Customer Service Trends: Building Better Service Beyond Voice.” In the article, Mike de la Cruz of Directly and I provide insight into artificial intelligence (AI), omnichannel strategies, and agent involvement in the future. If these are issues on your mind for the future of your customer service center, …
Is there a secret to ensuring that your customer service strategy is effective? Are there common denominators among organizations getting the best results? I’ve observed four key factors that you can use to take inventory and get a good sense of how well your strategy is performing. These four factors are explained in the video below, “Gauge the Effectiveness of …
Recently I had the opportunity to visit the Australia Zoo, which is owned by the family of the late Steve Irwin. Irwin’s documentaries on wildlife and conservation helped make the zoo a popular tourist destination. As they describe it, “the Australia Zoo is a team of passionate conservationists working around the clock to deliver an animal experience like no other.” …
Too often, I’ll see a vision or mission statement on an entry wall, but then observe very different priorities in day-to-day operations. We put our customers first, but keep the time you spend with them to three minutes. Or we deliver world class service, but we sure don’t have the resources we need on Mondays. In the most successful organizations, …
On a recent trip to the Bahamas, I was reminded of the importance of an effective service strategy. As a customer service professional, it’s easy to get caught up in the daily details and lose sight of what ties it all together. There are many ways to approach strategy, but there are some common characteristics among organizations that have the …
Ensuring that your organization is making required investments is an essential step in developing your customer service strategy. You will need to define, at a high level, the investments and funding necessary to support your vision. In my recent LinkedIn Learning course “Customer Service Strategy,” I explore four key principles that can help with this step. Make the required investments …
Many contact centers have been through consolidations or restructurings that are really just cleanup efforts for lack of having or using an effective customer access strategy. For example, I recall helping an insurance company with agent group “consolidation.” Their sales team would sell an account to a major client and, if pressed by the prospect, would agree to provide a …
As a primary customer touchpoint, the contact center has enormous potential to provide other business units with valuable intelligence and support. This can include input on customers, products, services and processes — information that, when captured, identified, assimilated and turned into usable knowledge, can literally transform an organization’s ability to identify and meet customer expectations and demands. The benefits can …
