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Ask the Panel • Service Starters • Spotlight Awards • Web Extras - Customer Communicator • Web Extras - Skill Sharpener

Gathering Feedback to Improve Service and Eliminate Frustrations

  By Sarah Benardos Service Starters

May 10, 2018 — Being on the frontline and dealing with customers on a day-to-day basis makes customer service reps the ideal source for gathering some, but not all, types of customer information. John Goodman, vice chairman of Customer Care Measurement & Consulting spoke with Customer Communicator about the four types of information that frontline reps should…To read more — login/sign up

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Award Winning Reps Share Their Stories

  By Sarah Benardos Service Starters

April 26, 2018 — Every other month, Customer Communicator shares the story of one extraordinary frontline rep. Together, their experiences form a picture of exactly what it takes to provide exemplary customer service. In the past few months, Heather Cruit has shown how stepping outside of the box leads to creative solutions for customers. Shannon Butler talked…To read more — login/sign up

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May 2018

  By Sarah Benardos Web Extras - Skill Sharpener

Support your reps’ efforts to obtain customer feedback — John Goodman, vice chairman of Customer Care Measurement & Consulting (CCM&C), and author of Customer Experience 3.0, shares two recent documents to help managers obtain, understand, and use customer feedback. They include:

• An article on “Taking Your Voice of the Customer Program to the Next Level.”
• A summary of highlights from CCM&C’s 2017 Customer Rage Study.

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May 2018

  By Sarah Benardos Web Extras - Customer Communicator

Back to basics with voicemail — It’s always timely to brush up on basic communication skills. Here are tips on using voicemail effectively.

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Solutions for Stressful Situations

  By Sarah Benardos Service Starters

April 12, 2018 — Customers, coworkers, and personal demands — those are the top three sources of stress for today’s busy customer service professionals. Managing each type of stress requires different strategies, and it’s well worth the effort to fine-tune your stress management skills, says Genella MacIntyre, author of 5 Steps to Reducing Stress. In an…To read more — login/sign up

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Spotlight Award Winner

  By Sarah Benardos Spotlight Awards

Heather Cruit
Team leader
BioSolutia

Stepping outside of the box helps Heather Cruit help customers. When a difficult issue came up regarding the cost and insurance coverage for a customer’s medication, Cruit decided that a three-way call was needed. Bringing together the patient (her customer) and the doctor helped ensure that the customer was completely satisfied.

Learn more about the award

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Self-Motivation: Keep a Positive Attitude

  By Sarah Benardos Service Starters

March 15, 2018 — Is your service staff maintaining a positive attitude despite the negativity that inevitably arises in the workplace? If not, then keep in mind that March is “Optimism Month,” and the perfect time to work on improving those attitudes. Reps, like everyone else, will benefit from guidance and suggestions for keeping a…To read more — login/sign up

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April 2018

  By Sarah Benardos Web Extras - Skill Sharpener

There’s much that managers can do to alleviate stress in the workplace — Service expert Genella MacIntyre recommends that managers help their teams by monitoring stress levels, providing back up, offering praise, and setting up a quiet room. These resources provide additional insights:

• Tips and techniques for setting up a quiet room

• Five steps to help managers reduce stress, a leadership article from Genella MacIntyre.

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April 2018

  By Sarah Benardos Web Extras - Customer Communicator

The “Little Tramp” reminds us to smile — Humor can be useful during interactions with customers because it helps to diffuse anger and initiate problem solving. But, be sure to avoid the Four Nots of humor.

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Moving Between Phone and Online Service

  By Sarah Benardos Service Starters

March 2, 2018 — Online channels are playing a larger and larger role in customer service. Not only are customers buying more online, they are taking their service issues online as well, via email, text, web chat, and other online channels, including social media. And customer service reps need to be ready to handle those…To read more — login/sign up

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Question: How do you “take ownership” of customer issues?

  By Sarah Benardos Ask the Panel

Answers from frontline reps —   In my experience, taking ownership involves several different elements. The first element is to empathize with the member’s situation. Showing empathy can be a great ice breaker, which allows the conversation to flow from a business conversation to more of a personal one. In my opinion, once you have built a…Continue reading

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March 2018

  By Sarah Benardos Web Extras - Customer Communicator

Keep a positive attitude! — A positive attitude helps to reduce stress and to build customer relationships. Here are some ways to keep that positive energy going.

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