Crack The Customer Code

With so many options on the market, it is easier than ever for customers who've had a poor dining experience at one restaurant to take their loyalty and hard earned cash to a different venue. That's a lot of pressure on restaurant staff to create positive customer experiences, every time. So, what is the key in the dining industry to keeping customers loyal? Expectations of Excellence The short answer is that everything in customer experience is an expectations game. Almost everyone has eaten out at one point or another, and in each case, we come in with certain expectations for the dining experience. This is contingent on the type of experience the customer is seeking, which often dictates where they choose to dine. Linen tablecloths, for example, tell a different story than a drive-through window. With so many moving parts and human touchpoints occurring in a very short time frame, one interaction with a rude sommelier within a three hour event may ruin the entire evening. How can the restaurant industry

Shep Hyken, the Customer Experience Expert and Chief Amazement Officer of Shepard Presentations, joins the podcast to talk about fusing disparate elements of customer service into one holistic whole. Realistic Customer Amazement Shep’s advice for a stellar customer experience? Foster moments of customer amazement grounded in realism. Any company can do this, Shep says, and you don’t have to create clever, fantastic, or over the top productions. “The amazing companies are just a little above average—all of the time.” In his book The Amazement Revolution, Shep outlines some of his favorite strategies to create those ‘wow’ moments. Want a taste? Shep’s favorite strategy is to foster a membership mentality, like a gym or country club membership. Create loyalty, Shep says. Create that VIP experience for your customers. Know who they are. Call them by name. Add personalization and connection. This will bond your customers to your brand and create loyalty. How can you shift the culture of your company to a custome

Superior customer experience is a non-negotiable facet of maintaining a thriving customer base. But how can you deliver an exceptional customer experience without an exceptional budget? Keeping Costs In Line Do you know what you want the experience to deliver? Do you have the team in place, and are they empowered to do the right thing at the right moment? Adam and Jeannie recommend connecting with your team on the front lines to ensure that they are able to communicate effectively with customers and create “small wow moments.” Allowing your customers to feel ownership in your brand doesn't have to involve distributing merchandise or other gifts heavy on the budget. Try crowd-sourcing or other options to reach out to loyal customers, turning them into willing ambassadors for your brand. Especially if you have a customer base already, efficiently tapping into that resource will induce low costs and high benefit. Listen in to hear how a historic soccer club in Argentina used clever experiences to build loyalty

A Superstorm of Change Shel’s latest book, Lethal Generosity, borrows its name from the concept that when a company is incredibly generous to their customers, competitors’ efforts to hijack the customer are preempted. Customers have more power than ever. Technology has put customers “in their rightful place at the heart of an organization, rather than on the outside”, and has created, as Shel puts it, a “superstorm of change”. Social media has empowered consumers to demand the experiences they desire. What does this mean for the future—of companies, communication, and the world? The future belongs to millennials, says Shel, and it is in their hands to make reparations and "fix the world." They are the first generation of ‘digital natives’ coming of age to a planet that has a lot of problems, and the technology at their fingertips will be the tool they use to network and solve problems. Shifting Business Models This limitless power of connectivity and communication offers millennials seemingly infinite resou

We all know that customer service is an essential aspect of customer experience can often be disconnected from profit. How can you improve customer experience while maintaining the health and profitability of your organization? Three Dimensional Customer Experience Everyone loves profit; the point of having customers is to have a viable, thriving organization or business. But the math behind how customers feel about your organization is often messy and doesn’t always make sense. It may be hard to judge why you have a high percentage of customers dropping off, and if you focus on the numbers alone you may miss the intuitive element of customer experience. You must take into account both the human, emotional aspect and the critical data when designing and delivering a customer experience strategy. “Identify the pressure points,” advise Adam and Jeannie, "and invest resources into the ones that matter, the ones that drive retention or defection." Bear in mind that these may become long term strategies. And it’

While you may think of call centers as a customer service vehicle of the past, new and improved ‘contact’ centers are alive and well. As technology trends direct customers and businesses to mobile, email, and chat platforms, how are these contact centers evolving to best suit both client and customer needs? Can You Hear Me Now? Call or contact centers are an essential customer service arena, but they tend to have a bad rap. The offshoring of call centers has had a negative impact on many centers’ reputations; but with updated technology and more robust, multidimensional offerings of communication, contact centers are weaving cultural understanding into customer experience. Jeremy’s company, FCR, operates entirely from onshore customer service locations based in Oregon. By approaching the work from a standpoint of culture, Jeremy has created a capable team that is fully equipped to tackle tough customer issues, and to fight for the customers that they work with. FCR prides themselves on their ability to matc

As customer experience experts, we have to focus on innovation in ways that others don’t. Our Customer Hero today has created a fantastic model to evolve, innovate, and better suit customer needs. Customization with Innovation and Ease Based in Brookline, Massachusetts, Pantry Market borrows the model of the curated meal from their online counterparts such as Blue Apron and Plated. However, Pantry shifts the principle to a brick and mortar location. They provide a recipe card and grocery list for a “curated shopping experience” in which ingredients are pre-portioned and pre-selected—and each recipe comes with suggested wine and beer pairings. This reveals fantastic innovation around tailored customer experience. Many of us want to cook and eat healthier meals and Pantry Market is filling this niche as well as considering ease, time, affordability, and creating less waste. So what is the intrinsic value proposition that gives Pantry Market an edge against their online competitors? Related Content www.Pan

High Expectations Customers are getting more and more savvy about what loyalty means to their preferred businesses, so expectations are high. What can businesses do to ensure that they maintain their most loyal customers and win the loyalty of new ones? First, Jill encourages companies to identify how their specific customers define value and then setting up products and services in those terms. This is not as easy as it sounds because customer value definitions are in constant flux, however, Jill points out three types of value: Basic ValueExpected ValueUnanticipated ValueIf you are unable to deliver on the first two of these value promises, you will have trouble hanging on to customers. In fact, advises Jill, unless you incorporate all three of these value systems into your business identity, you will be unable to engender long term customer loyalty. In today’s world, not only do you have to take into account a customer’s definition of value and their mindset, you must spark some emotion in them. It’s this

While it may be fun to be a disrupter, it’s not so fun to be the disruptee. What happens to organizations that have their entire industry shaken up? What can these businesses do to prepare for and respond to disruption? Jeannie and Adam tackle industry disruption, customer experience, and loyalty. We've Got a Remedy for That Having a happy, loyal, dedicated customer base is one of the best remedies to industry disruption. While customer loyalty alone won’t save a brand from sinking, coupling it with infrastructure and technological improvements may, and this strategy is better in the long term than seeking legislation to hold onto your once glory days (we’re looking at you, cable). Your competitors are setting customer expectations in your industry. If your business can’t deliver on the newly-formed expectations stemming from innovation in the industry, you will find customers increasingly more likely to defect. If your industry is being disrupted there are many things customers do to keep competitive advan

Good customer service can give your company a competitive financial edge. Lori Jo Vest, co-author of Who’s Your Gladys joins the podcast today to identify key customer service strategies to take your company from simply stable to thriving and prosperous. Customer Service Gives You a Cutting Edge Advantage The key to growth through customer service, says Lori, is referral and repeat business. By creating an exceptional, thoughtful experience for your customers, those people will make sure that they reward your efforts by making you their go-to for repeat business. They will also encourage their friends and family members to support you based on their experience, creating dedicated zombie loyalists, if you will. Thus, instead of stable sales, your business will experience an increase in sales. But how do businesses make customer service a part of their company identity and manage this advantage long-term? Join Adam, Jeannie and Lori to find out. About Lori In addition to being the co-author of the best-sell

Changing your brand identity? You’re not alone. Jeannie and Adam tackle how to identify when the time is right to rebrand, but watch out! This week they're taking on a customer zero. Evolution vs. Revolution Jeannie and Adam have noticed a trend. When companies rebrand, they often imply that this indicates an evolution in their customer experience as well. Changing the logo of your company is a useful, sometimes necessary move—a reflection of research in usability or color studies, an evolution in brand identity, etc. However, rebranding does not automatically solve ingrained customer service issues. How can marketers invest more time and resources in customer service and identify when it’s an appropriate time to rebrand? Related Content Jeannie's Blog post, Customer Experience Isn't Marketing  Sponsor Message Customer Experience is hot… but are you taking advantage of its huge potential to make your services business more prominent and profitable? Join Service Strategies for an informative Customer Exp

Marilyn Suttle is an expert on customer service culture change and developing emotional intelligence to foster breakthrough success. Her book, Who’s Your Gladys, reveals key methods to change the psychology around handling difficult customers. What's a Gladys? A Gladys is a demanding customer who has high expectations and may pose a challenge for you or your team. Despite these potential difficulties, these customers can give valuable feedback or illuminate aspects of your service that may need to be revamped. We've all encountered a Gladys at one point or another, and the situation can be emotional. After all, your company is your baby and criticism can be difficult to hear. How can you and your team take in the experience in a constructive way? Marilyn suggests reminding yourself that hearing criticism is a necessary part of customer resolution. Examine the psychology of the situation. What triggers does this Gladys present that bother your team? Do they appear to be demanding or cold? Recognizing the jud

Intelligent and compassionate entrepreneurs often get caught in the magical world of the ideal customer experience. But what happens when things go wrong? Join Adam and Jeannie as they discuss how to be prepared for worst case customer scenarios. Fewer Ruined Days You’ve created the ideal customer experience, your business is ready to roll. Suddenly something happens: your technology fails, a child gets lost in your store, someone vomits on your roller coaster. Do you have a plan? What do you spend your time and resources preparing for? It sounds like a deceptively simple issue, but dealing with worst case customer scenarios gracefully is essential for a successful business model. After all, according to the Peak and End Rule, if a customer's last memory of your service is a bad one, they probably won't return. If you’re concerned with high probability and high impact issues, this is the podcast episode for you. Join Adam and Jeannie as they take on customer experience and worst case customer scenarios to

Inadequate customer service keeps rearing it’s ugly head. The good news is that any company of any size can do something immediate to make their service better. Enter Peter Shankman, the New York Times dubbed “PR all star”, to discuss how being super-excellent may be as easy as “being a little better sometimes”. It's Nice to Be Nice Peter attributes his success to “trying to be nice”. In today’s customer service economy, many people expect to be treated “like crap”. Since customer experience is trending as the main thing driving revenue, ensuring that your customers truly feel like they are a part of the company and taken care of must be a driving goal. Peter’s latest book, Zombie Loyalists takes this idea and runs with it. A zombie loyalist is someone who is in love with your product and who drives much of your business by fighting for your brand. By consciously creating a single positive experience for that customer, you have created a loyalist. They will stick with your brand and fight to refer you, brin

Job seeking is a necessary process that we've all experienced but is there anything that can relieve the stress or helplessness of submitting your resume, as Jeannie puts it, “into the black void of eternity”?  With mobile marketplaces taking over a significant portion of the job market, the short answer is, yes. Today on the podcast we have an innovative Customer Hero, an app called Jobr. Jobr is based on the Tinder model of swiping left or right, and connects potential talent with employers seeking to build their company culture with like-minded, qualified individuals. The innovation of Tinder and other similar models is gaining footing in the mobile marketplace, especially with qualified millennials seeking employment. The way in which employers attract talent has a huge impact on recruitment methods and HR, and thus, on the type of talent that responds and business leaders are seeking talented employees who will deliver on their enterprise’s customer promise and will do so long term. This is easier to

In honor of the 50th episode of Crack the Customer Code, we've selected 50 customer service sound bites across a wide range of concepts. From designing and delivering great customer experience to overused clichés, these tips run the gamut, and we are excited to share them with you! What You'll Hear In This Episode 50 fantastic sound bites of customer service wisdom and advice. Sponsor Service Strategies offers a wide variety of Consulting Services for Support, eService, Field Service and Professional Services operations for technology companies. We have helped industry leading service and support operations enhance operational efficiency and drive world class levels of performance, while improving customer satisfaction and loyalty. Join Service Strategies at their Service Industry Summit event, which brings together leaders from companies like Cisco, Dell and others to discuss the challenges of a changing service landscape. As part of the event, an informative Customer Success Workshop will be held on Oct

We’ve all encountered scripted customer greetings at one point or another in our lives. Are these greetings an effective strategy when crafting customer experience? The Benefits of Customer Greetings Customer greetings are the introduction to your business and a reminder of excellent service as a customer leaves. As we all know, first and last impressions are fantastic points of reference for customers when calling your business to mind. These greetings can offer consistency and identity for your brand. In addition, customer greetings add structure and guidance for your team, allowing them to understand your customer experience mission and how to interact with consumers in a way that supports rather than detracts from your company identity. The key to the effectiveness of a greeting lies in it’s purpose, context, and sincerity. As Adam points out, "put the customer ahead of the customer experience checklist." Want to learn the methodology of crafting customer greetings that support your brand promise and

John Warrillow, the founder of the Value Builder System and bestselling author, joins the podcast this week to introduce strategies entrepreneurs can use to create loyal customers based on subscriptions. How can business leaders identify their subscription models? Millennials are more concerned with acquiring the rights to products and services rather than stock-piling assets. With the advent of the sharing economy and services such as Netflix and Spotify ruling the online subscription world, how can business leaders get customers to bed in with a specific company subscription? In addition, how can business leaders determine the subscription model that best suits their needs? With both business to business product models and business to consumer product models, entrepreneurs have very specific options, and the wrong model may hurt projected outcome. John is a strong advocate of a subscription’s ability to change a customer’s behavior. By implementing subscription models, businesses build relationships base

Customer satisfaction ratings haven’t improved since the 1970’s, in fact, they've declined. With so many tools and resources at our disposal, why does customer service still stink? In a recent study performed by Consumer Reports, 80% of people surveyed had some issue with a recent transaction—they had returned merchandise, questioned a bill, or simply left the store without making their intended purchase. Now digital sales present a new round of challenges for marketers. Customer experience on mobile devices or an entrepreneur’s website can lead to devastating statistics (for example, 60% of users abandon their intended purchase when a website’s load time is too slow). Metrics may reveal an issue, but not the basic fabric of why the issue exists, and in our fast paced, social media based world, customer expectations are evolving quicker than ever. How can entrepreneurs keep customer empowerment at the forefront while identifying potential customer satisfaction issues before they are blown out of proportion

Tom Schwab describes how business leaders can implement NPS and inbound marketing to focus on customer satisfaction and offer them the products and services they need. Tom Schwab: Inbound Expert Tom Schwab is an entrepreneur, a consultant, a writer, a Navy Vet, and an expert at inbound engineering and strategy. He empowers business owners to implement and understand digital tools, build sales, and create marketing machines that amplify their business model by taking them beyond a single efficient transaction to building a lifetime brand. Connect with Tom: LinkedIn Twitter www.tmschwab.com/ctcc www.tmschwab.com Listen To This Episode! [iframe style="border:none" src="http://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/3751156/height/25/width/320/thumbnail/no/theme/standard-mini" height="25" width="320" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen] Sponsor Message The Service Capability & Performance (SCP) Standards establish the Global Benchmark f