Posted by Hoyt Mann on Sat, Nov 07, 2009 @ 09:56 PM
Here we are at the beginning of November. Such a time signifies different things to
different people. Some start planning
their calorie infused Thanksgiving feasts, others forget about the Thanksgiving
period and start their countdown to Christmas; but for children, the first few
days of November signify the careful delegation of post-Halloween candy—what to
eat first and when, a careful separation of the wheat from the chaff. Most of their concentration goes on the
what-to-eat-first. When is somewhat more
fluid, unless Mom dictates otherwise. Nonetheless,
the first tasty morsel to be devoured is most commonly chocolate, unless some
great, benevolent philanthropist of a neighbor hands out homemade cookies.
In the world of business, our customers are the
post-Halloween trick-or-treaters going through their candy options, a.k.a.
business offerings. They are looking for
the tastiest option on the table, and in a world full of the mediocre and the
“pretty good,” you need to be better than that.
You need to be the exceptional.
You need to be the homemade cookie among the chocolate and bubble gum. How do you accomplish this? Amazing customer service.
Great customer service is not just how you deal with the
customers when something goes wrong, but it is something that you give at every
minute of every day. The customers
should have first priority. They need to
be satisfied every time they do business with your company. The level of service cannot change if they
walk in just wanting to browse or are seriously looking for something in
particular. The amount of service and
the spirit in which it is offered must be the same no matter what the
customers’ intentions are. Whenever they
walk through your door, they deserve your utmost attention which should be
given with a positive, gracious attitude and a welcoming tone. However, customer service makes the most
difference when something goes wrong, which is the prime opportunity to be the
cookie.
The first and greatest commandment: give them multiple methods of getting the
information they need. No one likes to
stay on call waiting for over an hour just to ask a simple question of, “What
do I do now?” Should you still offer
customer service via the phone? Yes, but
give them so many other, better options that a phone call won’t be
necessary. Provide a knowledge base
online that contains the history of past problems and their solutions. Have an online self-help forum where customers
can interact and answer each other’s questions. Those forums can be like a constantly growing FAQ page. Other communication options include e-mail
links and live chat rooms with company agents.
In the end, if you want to stand out from the lollipops and peanut butter cups, be the cookie. Give great customer service.
Posted by Hoyt Mann on Tue, Jun 23, 2009 @ 09:38 PM
So there I was, sitting on my couch, listening to such magnificent compositions as could only be played in those most coveted of places: elevators and corporate call-waiting. My ear was getting sweaty from being pressed up against my tiny cell phone for so long. Forty-five minutes prior, I had attempted to use the form offered to register for, well, one of those things you have to register for, but what should have been a simple process turned into such a major production it could have won an Oscar. Something went terribly wrong with the registration process and I ended up being scheduled for duplicate services.
I called their customer service hotline, played the "Press 1 if..." game, and finally got referred to a real person because I couldn't decide which number to push. Then I was bounced from person to person; nobody knew where to send me next. I even got bounced to a few of them twice. Add in holding between thirty second conversations and time just slips away. I should have been working, not sitting on the phone waiting for Mr. or Ms. Right Answer.
People everywhere go through the same experience when dealing with insurance matters, computers, credit cards, etc. We spend hours of precious time listening to bland elevator music waiting for someone to help with a relatively simple problem. That time spent on the phone can never be regained. Productivity and money are lost. To stop this madness, many companies are offering on-line Self Service to make the process of finding an answer more convenient.
Some might say that Self Service Portals push customers away from the business, but look closely at what a Self Service Portal offers: forums where customers can get help from others with the same experience, FAQ pages for those benign yet repetitive issues, announcements about important items, ways to submit and track an incident, and much more. Some customers may have more meaningful contact with the business through Self Service, not to mention receiving answers with more detail than practicable over the phone. Self Service makes getting answers quicker and deflects expensive support calls.
So do your customers a favor. Offer Self Service instead of the third rendition of "Muskrat Love". You'll save their ears, your money, and everyone's time.
Posted by Hoyt Mann on Sun, Jan 25, 2009 @ 07:49 PM
According to a Computerworld annual forecast survey, help desk and technical support skills are very much in demand. So much so that it was forecast as one of the 9 hottest IT skills in 2009. The need is greatest for excellent customer interaction skills paired with a depth of expertise.
One of the most needed types of help desk/support worker is one who is extremely flexible, able to do phone support as well as fixing problems on the desk top.
As I have mentioned before (Invest in Customer Service It Will Never Decrease in Value , Four Ways to Ensure a Calm Customer Experience) the need for customer interaction skills cannot be overstated. These are the people at the front line, the face and voice of your company. How do you want to be perceived?
Considering many people will bolt for the door after one, just one bad customer support experience, isn't it worth it to hire the best you can?
Do I hear you saying,"But my support desk is a cost center. I can't justify the higher wages to get those kinds of people."
What if those same people who help your customers with any problems they have with your product were also taking the opportunity of offering further services? After all, the customer is on the phone already. When practicable, the agent can sell some more stuff!
That makes your support desk a profit center. I doubt there is any trouble justifying having extra money coming in.
Now you can afford to hire those people who can help grow your business. The ones who could calm an angry crowd of bees, trouble-shoot the problem, and then get them to buy honey from you. Maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but that is the type of person you need.
What are some of the so-called soft skills you look for in a support desk agent?
In the next post I will write more about these skills, but I really would like to hear from the front lines: what do you need to do to be an elite support desk agent?
Posted by Hoyt Mann on Tue, Dec 30, 2008 @ 09:32 PM
I apologize for the lateness of this post. The end of year craziness seems to have created a hole in the space/time continuum and I skipped right to this date (it seems like).
Now to an article that is the first in an occasional series of blog posts about various aspects of knowledge management and social media as it pertains to small business. I shall attempt to make practical suggestions based on white papers, journal articles, other blogs...wherever I find information that I think could be useful to you.
This first post about the three levels of knowledge is based on part of an article called "Making Knowledge Workers More Creative" from the Research-Technology Management journal. Authors: David H. Henard and M. Ann McFadyen.
They have offered a hierarchy of knowledge types and stated how each type contributes to the competitive differentiation of your business. While much of the research into knowledge qualities came from examples of large corporations, there is no reason the same ideas cannot be put into practice in the small to medium business realm. Plus, if you do, you will be exhibiting at least one of these levels of knowledge.
The first level of knowledge has been labeled "Acquired Knowledge". This can be thought of as knowledge accrued from previous experiences, training, learning, even conversations with others. This can also be thought of as a variety of common knowledge. Most people in the same area, such as a particular industry, have the same knowledge or they can easily access it. Not much competitive advantage in that, is there? If everyone knows "X" then "X" won't differentiate anything. This level of knowledge also tends to keep organizations doing things the way they have always been done. And really squelching creativity.
The second level of knowledge offers a better chance of differentiation. It is called "Unique Knowledge". This is knowledge that comes about from spotting connections between pieces of information or seeing something that fits into a previous line of acquired knowledge that makes the knowledge worker view the knowledge in a new way. To coin a phrase "they are thinking out of the box". It is new knowledge that is integrated into the base knowledge. Now some areas of differentiation become apparent. Unfortunately, it is possible for others to make the same connections you just did. So we need a type of knowledge that is extremely hard to copy.
The third level of knowledge is "Creative Knowledge". This is where someone takes their acquired knowledge and unique knowledge bases and uses them, not to think outside the box, but to think inspirationally. This is the type of knowledge found when a breakthrough idea, process or product is formed. This type of knowledge requires not just using what you already know or improving on it by discovering new links. It requires you to use those two types of knowledge to take new experiences and information, no matter where they are from, and see possibilities in them that someone who only uses their acquired or unique knowledge would not "get". Creative knowledge skills open the way for these ah-ha moments.
This last is the type of knowledge that will offer ongoing differentiation and advantage to your business because the dual nature of creative knowledge cannot be imitated by your competitors. Creative knowledge comes about through individual thought that is interwoven with the culture and information of your company. Your competitor could try to hire away your creative knowledge worker, but it won't be the same.
The take-away here is mostly that there are different levels of knowledge and that the skills for unique and creative knowledge can and should be enhanced and encouraged. To do so pays off in finding ways to beat the pants off your competitors. Especially if they don't have your newly found Unique Knowledge. (Which I hope you have because the ideas in this blog post have caused you to make new connections between pieces of information to improve your business.)
If you would like to expand on this topic by giving us your thoughts or relating your experience in using or honing your knowledge skills, please share. The rest of us would like to "acquire" some knowledge to help us on the road to creativity.