Social Alignment: Ensuring Marketing Engages and Customer Service Serves

By: Rob Barnhart, Director of Marketing
Astute Solutions
@robbarnhart

In our November-released blog post, “Who Owns Social, Customer Service or Marketing,” I made the case that changing customer expectations have brought customer service and marketing together in a collaboration of Relationship Marketing where the customer dictates their engagement.

I was fortunate enough to spend some time last week in Chicago at the Word of Mouth Marketing Association’s WOMM-U event. The folks who attend WOMMA are a pretty talented group of marketers and talked quite a bit about social, brand, customer/ consumer engagement and, obviously, the impact of word of mouth.

The word I heard most often was engage. Marketers want customers to engage with their content, to have their content engage with customers, and to have their customers engage with each other. Social just happens to be a perfect channel for these messages to get distributed.

A recent infographic from the social marketing firm SocialBakers even illustrates social engagement in this formula for a Facebook engagement rate:

Engagement and Customer Service are Very Similar - Yet Very Different

Marketing’s ultimate goal is clearly engagement; with you and your brand. Marketers have figured social out and it’s all about creating buzz. The more likes, fans, follows, clicks, etc, the better.  The more VIRAL the better. Social Relationship Management solutions are a perfect tool to measure this engagement and “get involved in the conversation.”

But there is a significant difference between engagement and customer service. When you walk into a retail store, for example, engagement (does the store merchandising draw you in, do you take the promotional flyer…basic marketing functions) and customer service (processing a return, working with an angry customer) can be two totally different experiences. It’s no different in the social world, but what often happens is ownership, then, is falsely placed on social in general instead of on how individual posts can be best handled allowing brands to effectively deliver the experience (engagement or service) their customers want. The result is significant and costly gaps in the customer experience.

More than half of service related tweets are ignored

According to socialmediatoday.com, 58% of tweeters who tweeted about a bad experience have never received a response from the offending company. This really can’t be all that surprising. Marketing has been the driver for most social relationship management technology expenditures and we know their primary focus is engagement, not necessarily service.

But what happens when a customer has a complaint? Conversely, what is the impact of a happy customer? What about influence? Influence is a great indicator of engagement and certainly helps with delivery of your message…but influence can also stop a brand dead in its tracks.

When customers view social as a way to get resolution to their issues, the real question is how do we engage a customer socially while concurrently serving them? How do we find influencers who can help our campaigns extend their reach while, at the same time, respond to folks with equal influence who have an issue with a product? Both are critical to the social brand health of a company. Both have tremendous value. But most companies haven’t figured out how to do both.

Here are two examples:

Marketing sees tremendous value in this and rightfully so. Social Relationship Management tools that can find these conversations, aggregate them, and provide analytics related to campaigns for keywords are sufficient and can effectively measure engagement and influence. But what happens when you get a tweet like this?

Assume this person has 1,000 followers. Their influence is certainly significant and the negative nature of this tweet can have a lasting impact on future business. When all social interactions are routed to the digital marketing group or PR, are customers getting the follow up they need?

Marketing markets; Customer Service serves

We’re living in a social monitoring world that is pretty “one-size-fits-all.” Unfortunately “one-size-fits-all” doesn’t provide customers the experience they crave. The ability to send social interactions to the most appropriate “responder” is often extremely limited; at least in an efficient manner (is emailing a post to a service representative really a best practice?). You then have a solution that is probably solely configured for marketing needs or for customer service needs, but not both.

And if you can find a tool that sends posts to the appropriate agent, it is likely limited with which CRM or other business systems it can integrate so you’re stuck getting one you may not want. Like in the early days of CRM, for example, it isn’t enough to simply know who people are. It’s about getting them connected with the right person in the company to address their needs; whether that’s marketing or customer service.

Integrating social with other business systems, and routing interactions to the brand, marketing, or service representatives that makes the most sense shouldn’t be viewed as a “nice-to-have,” it’s mission critical. Then, you can finally move past who “owns” social and Relationship Marketing can flourish!

For more information, check out our newest infographic “The Recipe for Happy Customers and Raving Fans.”

Change is Calling...Are You Ready to Answer?

Written by: Chris Garrity, Director of Customer Experience
Astute Solutions
@cwgarrity

We’ve all felt the winds of change.  In fact in today’s business environment, it feels like change is the new normal.   As customer care and contact center professionals, how can we effectively embrace this reality to stay ahead of the curve?  It’s a pressing question that leaders cannot avoid.

First, it’s important to recognize that there are two types of change with which we must navigate.  The first is “generational” change and the second is “technological” change.   

Generational change is fairly well defined.  And it’s important to understand the evolution of the generations as it’s highly likely that your customers – and your employees – represent multiple generational cohorts.  So how do the experts define the different generations?

• 1925 – 1945: the Silent Generation This generations is generally recognized as “the children of the Great Depression.” The impact of this historical event during their formative years had a profound impact on them.
• 1946 – 1961: the Baby Boom Generation Born after World War II, this generation tends to think of themselves as a special generation and very different from those that had come before them.
• 1962 – 1981: Generation X (also known as the 13th Generation and the Baby Busters) This generation was the first to see dramatic technological advancement from an early age.
• 1982 – 1999: Generation Y (also known as Millennials) This is the last generation of the 20^th century and bore witness to a dramatic change in the use of technology tools for both personal and business use. 
• 2000 – 2020:  Generation Z (also known as the Internet Generation or the Always On Generation)   This generation’s does not know a world without the Internet.  Gen Z has been brought up from childhood with a continuous connection to each other and to information.  They are nimble, quick-acting multi-taskers who count on the Internet as their external brain.  Experts categorize Gen Z as exhibiting a thirst for instant gratification and quick fixes, a lack of patience and minimal deep-thinking ability.

While it’s difficult to pigeon hole everyone into these predefined generational buckets, the point is that our customers and employees innately have a unique set of values, behaviors and expectations based on when they were born, and business professionals must recognize that a one-size-fits-all approach to serving this diverse customer and employee base is not likely to yield maximum results. 

The other type of change that must be kept top of mind is technological change.

Do you remember black & white TV?  Phone booths?  Boomboxes?  Dial-up Internet connectivity? Depending on which generation you fall into, you might recall these “technology innovations”… or if you are in a younger demographic, these might only be relics you read about in history books.  Regardless, we live in a society where the population is mixed between those who watched technology evolve before their eyes, and those who only lived in a technologically advanced world.  But even the later will soon see dramatic technological changes. 

So, in a multi-generational world, with technological advancements emerging at what seems like light speed, how can we harness the benefits of these two realities to create a successful roadmap for the contact center of the future?  Well, it might seem like a daunting task, but it’s clearly achievable. 

First, it’s important to recognize the structure of the “classic contact center.”  The classic contact center is not likely to become extinct in the foreseeable future.  The classic contact center is one that responds to customers via the traditional communications channels of the 20^th century, such as snail mail, phone and email.  Customers’ response-time expectations were not immediate.  Typically, the older generations are more likely to prefer the classic contact center channels, as well as be tolerant of a minimally delayed response time. 

But the more recent generations are likely to have a different preference and point of view.  The younger generations expect a contact center to provide 24x7 accesses, they desire real-time, first-call responses and are comfortable using a variety of 21^st century communications channels, such as chat, social media, mobile, and text.

So, to accommodate everyone, the contact center of the future must have at its foundation the classic components, but also be equipped to offer customers the new communications channels as well and possibly re-think its approach and SLAs to response times.  Staffing models, workflows and technology must evolve to address the varying and changing needs of today’s customers. 

For today’s contact center professional, this convergence of generations and technology creates multiple new challenges, including staffing, training, employee motivation, resources/tools, response time, and customer satisfaction/retention.  Fortunately, these challenges are not impossible to overcome with the right vision and understanding of the changes that are now part of our daily lives.    

A good starting point for the contact center professional is to find their sweet spot – the right balance of people and technology – while thinking about now and the future. 

Finding the right sweet spot will vary based on an organization’s goals and priorities.  But, consider these possible scenarios.  If an organization focuses too heavily on the human aspects (leaning more toward the classic contact center) with limited channel touch points and technological advancements, they will be inefficient, cost the organization more money and potentially lose customers. 

On the flip side, if the organization focusses too heavily on technology and channel openness they could lose focus and lose sight of the still-needed human touch.  A recent Consumer Reports survey revealed that 71% of consumers became irritated when they did not have access to a human if needed.  Furthermore, Forrester reports that inefficient deployment of self-service technology tools will simply force customers to use the more expensive human touch point channels, such as phone, email and chat. 

So what is your organization’s human versus technology sweet spot?  If you haven’t asked yourself that question recently, it might be a good time to create a strategy that best meets your business needs.  Conversely, not addressing this important question will likely leave you in the dust of the change revolution.

For more insights into the contact center of the future, see Astute Solutions infographic entitled, The Contact Center of the Future. 

DeLoreans Hover Boards and Contact Centers

By: Rob Barnhart, Director of Marketing
Astute Solutions
@robbarnhart

The future – especially 2015 – isn’t far off and it’s not really that difficult to predict with some level of accuracy what we’ll see there.

When Doc Brown flew the DeLorean time machine into Hill Valley to pick up Marty McFly and Jennifer Parker and warn them about trouble with their future kids, he took them to the “distant” future of October 21, 2015.

In 1989, the Back to the Future II version of the future with flying cars, clothes that fit themselves, shoes that tie themselves and hover boards was incredible, both in imagination and innovation. Did it occur to anyone that people in the year 2015 would have a strange fascination with the ‘80’s or that a future where fax machines are still the preferred means of communication would have been an indictment on our society’s ability to innovate?

There are technologies coming that will become a staple of customer service efforts. I’m sure, if Marty McFly’s hover board was recalled, he probably used video chat to connect with the Hover Board Company customer service rep. So, let’s jump in the time machine, fuel up the flux capacitor and peek into the (near) future of the contact center.

SMS Chat – You don’t need a time machine to know people are texting. A lot. In fact, more than 82 million people text regularly. A large number of these are using their phones more for SMS than for placing calls. So why shouldn’t consumers be able to connect with the contact center via text? Particularly for issues that are not important enough to place a call. Imagine standing in the aisle of a grocery store wondering about whether or not the product you want is glutin free. Wouldn’t a simple text to the contact center for an answer result in a greater customer experience? Contact centers of the future will be equipped to make this happen.

Customer Service using Video –A young Flea ( of Red Hot Chili Peppers fame) playing the character of Needles engaged “Middle-Aged Marty” in a video chat that eventually costs Marty his career. Video sort of got a bad rap in the movie…the video stalking boss, Ito T. Fujitsu, was kind of invasive…but in reality video is becoming a major asset in the contact center of the future. For instance, cable companies and their notorious inability to troubleshoot box issues, should be able to quickly spin up a video chat session to allow consumers to show their problem and have the agent respond by showing a solution. As camera technology in mobile devices grow and more available wifi coverage continues consumers will come to expect this service which truly connects the company and consumer.

Smart CRM – Unless you somehow get your hands on an almanac from the future, chances are your contact center agents won’t know everything they need to know to assist every consumer they will communicate with. This can create significant inefficiencies. Technology will play a major role in creating a more intelligent contact center in the future. Smart CRMs that provide agents with the answers they need to assist consumers, when and how they need it, will create a considerable improvement in the consumer’s experience.

More Social Channels – When Marty finally changes history we get a sneak peek into a future of real-time news updates. Of course due to a change in the space time continuum, the newspaper reported the news as it happened (as we see when Griff screams he was framed while the newspaper Doc and Marty hold immediately reports). Now, of course, we know that events are in fact recorded in real time. It’s just that we are reporting them ourselves, socially. Facebook and Twitter are clearly the giants in the room, but as other channels constantly pop up, how do customer service professionals stay up to date? For instance, how many people (truly) knew what Pinterest was a year ago, and how to service customers there? The contact center of the future should be able to serve consumers on any social channel...even the new “hot” ones most people haven’t adopted (or heard of) yet.

Unified Queue – How simple is the Marty McFly version of the future by the way? A robotic dog walker? Fresh vegetables from your ceiling? Pizza Hut pizza in 3 seconds? That future looked really consumer friendly, right? In reality, the contact center of the future should be just as friendly to its agents. The CRM of the future should support chat from any source. It should also support CTI and pretty much anything else. Ideally the CRM of the future should provide a simple tool for agents to manage multiple types of interactions from multiple sources from their desktop. Just like a 3 second pizza, you should be able to bring your own software and get an integrated solution.

Though the future of 2015 seemed like an eternity away in 1989, the innovation that went into some of the luxuries we could expect was exciting. While most of us are still going to be waiting on the flying car in roughly two years, the future of the contact center is happening now and it’s exciting. The consumer is in control of their experience and while in 1989 that might have been a terrifying thought it’s now an exciting prospect. Those companies that choose to embrace the challenges and technologies are going to win. And will not even need a DeLorean.

To find out more about the contact center of the future, check out our new infographic "The Future of the Contact Center: Things to consider to better serve customers today and tomorrow" or visit astutesolutions.com.

Unconditional Customer Loyalty: Lessons from My Dog

By: Rachel Workman
Senior Director, Professional Services
Astute Solutions

Some days, life is just so predictable – thank goodness! Every night, no matter what has happened during the day, when I pull into my driveway, there’s my floppy-eared Dane, smiling his doggy smile, waiting to race my car to the house with his ears striving for a Dumbo-like take off. Yes, even in the rain. And the snow. No matter what. Okay, so you may not be a dog lover. Substitute the smiling face of your child or the loving embrace of your significant other (maybe without the Dumbo ears) instead. If you think of it, you can see it – feel it – and the knowledge of that unwavering loyalty is an awesome feeling. You never want to be without it, and you strive to be near it whenever you can.

So what does this have to do with customer loyalty? How can I compare the unconditional love of a best friend – be it canine or human – with the love of customers for a brand or product or company? Easy. It’s the same. Yes, there are different levels and intimacies involved, but – when all is said and done – to earn loyalty, to make people want to be near you and your brand and your company, be a great friend!

#1 - BE THERE

It’s simple. Be there when you are needed. If I have a bad day or a sad moment, my floppy-eared dog is always there to sit next to me, throw a paw up on my lap, and just – be there. I can talk … or not. I can cry, laugh, or scream. He’s always there.

So be there for your customers when they need you - or when they just want to talk. Be accessible. Make sure there is a live answer available when your customers want it. If you can’t have it 24x7, work with industry experts to make sure you have it when your customers are most likely to want it. Get your speed of answer down as far as possible so your customers don’t have to wait for you. Make all channels available – email, chat, text, social. These days everyone has a mobile phone or a tablet or a laptop. If you want to be there for your customers, be there how they want you to be there. There are simple, cost-effective ways to do this, so work with your technology partners to get this in place! Make it easy to be your friend.

#2 - DON’T JUDGE

Who knows why I accidentally put on one brown and one blue stocking? Maybe I was distracted, or maybe I’m not seeing as well as I used to. One thing I know is that my Dane doesn’t care one way or another. He still greets me with the same excitement, wags his tail at my voice, and follows me as I do my chores – no matter how inconsistent my footwear coloring.

So suspend judgment. It doesn’t matter what got the customers to the point where they needed to contact you. Maybe you wouldn’t have done things EXACTLY as they did. Maybe you have absolutely no idea what would make someone behave like your customers are behaving. It doesn’t matter. Greet them with the same smile in your voice that you would if you completely understood. Make them feel important and accepted.  Who knows, maybe they are distracted, or maybe they’re not seeing as well as they used to.

#3 - LISTEN

Actually listen. When I talk to my Dane, he looks at me as if the meaning of the universe were in my words. Give that courtesy to your customers. Yes, it is important to handle calls efficiently and effectively, but that doesn’t mean robotically. Work with your technology partners so your call handling can be flexible – so you don’t have to interrupt what your customers are saying to bring them in line with your script. There are ways to get the information you need while listening actively and attentively without interrupting. Work with your industry and technology partners to find those ways! For emails and chats and texts – work with your partners to implement ways to serve up consistent, approved responses – but with a personal touch. Customers can tell if the answer to their email is not directly related to what they sent you. You wouldn’t answer a friend’s email with a completely stock answer, so don’t do that to your customers. There are cost-efficient, effective ways to give personal responses that are still brand consistent and corporate approved. Work to find them!

#4 - BE RELIABLE

Just as I know my Dane will be waiting for me by the end of the driveway, he knows that his bowl will always have food, his water dish will always have water, and I’ll never return from a trip to the grocery store without rawhides or chewy bones. We both find comfort in this.

So be reliable. Set expectations and follow through. If you say you will be available, be available. If you say you will respond to an email within 24 hours, do it. If you tell a customer you will call them back and let them know what the lab findings are, do it. Don’t make them chase you. Keep your word. Work with your partners to develop processes and put technologies in place that allow you to be predictable and reliable to your customers. Always come back with rawhides!

#5 - GIVE THEM SPACE

Just as important as being accessible is knowing when not to engage. When my Dane curls up for the night, I know he doesn’t want to be bothered. And when I tell him to lie down because I’m working on my laptop, he lies down until I’m done. (Okay, maybe he gives me some looks out of the corner of his eyes or sighs a few times to remind me he’s being ignored, but he waits nonetheless.)

So give your customers the same courtesy. Develop 360 degree views of your customers and work with your technology partners to make sure they are at your agents’ fingertips. Include how (and if) your customers prefer to be contacted, and respect their requests. You don’t want to be the annoying friend who calls at the wrong times, or calls too much, or sends too many emails about funny cats dressed up for Halloween. You want to be the friend they know will be there when needed, who will listen without judgment, who will do what they say they will do, and who will respect their privacy.

Be a great, loyal friend, and your customers will want to be around you.  Just try and stop them!

Practical Tips to Increase Customer Loyalty in the Contact Center

By: Chris Garrity
Director of Customer Experience
Astute Solutions

What’s the value of a truly loyal customer?  Most business professionals would probably say “priceless.”  But according to many research studies, each year the average company loses a percentage of their customer base.  While most companies invest a great deal to attract new customers to their brands, many neglect to have the right systems in place to ensure that existing customers don’t defect to a competitor.  In many cases, a competitor is just a mouse click away!  A solid, loyal, satisfied customer base is the bedrock of any sustainable, successful business. 

According to Business Week, 60%-80% of defecting customers describe themselves as “satisfied” or “very satisfied” just before they abandon a brand.  Similarly, research cites that as many as three fourths of defecting customers leave a company not because of product or price, but because of an employee-initiated service failure.  Clearly, these customers are not loyal to the brand… or worse, they were once loyal, but an employee or employees pushed them into the waiting arms of a competitor.    This situation can be compared to that of a “leaky bucket.”  While a company spends a great deal of effort to fill the bucket to the top with new customers, a percentage of existing customers who are dissatisfied and un-loyal escape through cracks in the bottom of the bucket.  This should cause concern for most business professionals as it costs as much as 10 times more to attract a new customer as it does to keep an existing one. 

Most customers who become dissatisfied with a brand do not take the time to complain; they simply defect.  (They slip through the cracks in the leaky bucket.)  So, when a customer does take the time to let you know they are on the verge of leaving your brand by contacting your contact center, here are a few practical tips to use to regain their trust and loyalty.

• Route customers efficiently and intelligently.  If you use an IVR for call routing, make it easy to navigate and always give the option to speak to a live representative.  Also, a well-planned IVR will use skills-based routing to direct the caller to the most appropriate agent who has the experience and skills required to handle the customer’s situation.  Getting “trapped” in an IVR with no way out is a sure way to further irritate an already upset customer.  It also communicates that you are a company that is not overly easy with whom to do business. 
• Train, coach, and monitor your customer service agents.  Many contact center managers think they do this, but are they doing it enough?  Implement a tracking system to ensure that every customer service agents is being monitored and coached on a regular basis.  While technology tools today enable faster e-learning options to get customer service agents up to speed quicker, there is no replacement for live human monitoring.  This will ensure that your team is providing the world-class experience that your brand requires.  Lastly, take the necessary time to ensure that each and every customer service agent fully recognizes the vitally important role they play in representing the company and in many situations being the difference of whether or not a customer remains loyal or defects. 
• Likewise, ensure your front line agents are empowered to take care of the customer.  Customers want to know they are speaking with someone who can help them.  If customer service agents are not equipped, trained and empowered to truly assist customers, then they are adding very limited value to the customer relationship. 
• Regardless of what technology tools your contact center uses – weather the tools are used by customer service agents or for customer self-service – ensure that the tools are easy to use, kept up to date and can be administered quickly. 
• Build a useful and current knowledge base.  While the majority of customers are likely to contact the company with similar and routine problems, it’s the customers with the out-of-the-ordinary situations that are the toughest to satisfy, which can prolong their frustrations.  The best-run contact centers ensure that their customer service agents have immediate and accurate access to the information they need to handle all customer situations.  This fosters both employee satisfaction and builds customer confidence.  A positive customer experience strengthens loyalty while a negative one weakens it. 
• First call resolution is a good indication of both caller satisfaction and contact center efficiency.  According to research by Gartner, callers who get the answers they need from on their first contact are less likely to consider hold times longer than a minute as a serious problem.  Other research suggests that customer satisfaction drop by 15 percent with each call back.    
• The quest for first-call resolutions does not end with the call itself.  Voice of the customer reports must be used as part of the organization’s continuous improvement process.  Often times, these reports can identify issues and trends that cause customer dissatisfaction.  When the organization is able to address these issues quickly, overall customer satisfaction and loyalty increases. 
• Take a holistic view of customer feedback.  Many companies receive customer feedback via two methods: solicited, which includes comment cards, surveys and mystery shop programs; and unsolicited which includes 800 numbers, web forms and social monitoring.  But not every company marries the two sources of customer feedback to obtain a full view of the customer experience.  Treating different feedback channels as silos will not allow the company to fully learn how to improve and grow customer loyalty.  When a company takes a holistic approach, they are able to produce more insightful enterprise reports and discover more reliable correlations, ultimately building a better relationship with their current and future customers.  Whatever voice of the customer metrics are used, they should be linked to actual business results, such as sales and transaction growth, market share, cash flow, gross margin, shareholder returns, and employee turnover.   
• Lastly, celebrate failure.  That might sound very odd.  But it is typically the customers who complain who are the most loyal customers.  They take the time to complain because they’d rather not switch brands… they genuinely want the company to address whatever issue the customer experienced.  In fact, research has shown that a customer complaint handled well can actually result in the end with a customer who is more loyal than they were before they experienced an issue. 

To grow customer loyalty, one of the biggest business growth opportunities today is to focus on engagement.  Companies who view customer engagement fundamental to their business have a huge advantage over their competitors.  Companies that engage with their customers typically are more profitable during hard times and grow faster during good times. 

In today’s super-competitive business environment, a truly loyal customer is possible, and once you have them, they’re priceless. 

Astute Solutions President Gary Ross Charts an Enhanced Company Vision

Gary Ross joined Astute Solutions on February 1, 2012 in the newly created position of President. 

In his first two months at Astute Solutions, Gary has been moving quickly with his team to position the company for increased growth and higher customer performance:

1. Has embarked on a journey with Astute associates to clarify the company strategy and get everyone aligned in the new direction.  The focus is on creating raving fans within its customer base, and within our customer’s consumers.  This will also include developing, over the next 2 years, a 360 degree of every Astute customer.

2. Building a globally capable company.  Working to enhance global sales, services and support and expansion of Astute’s capability to support global customers as they expand.   Along this line, the company has recently launched a 24x7 customer support initiative – more on this will be released soon.

3. Restructured Customer Support and Professional Services executive team to position each for increased performance.

4. Are in the midst of building progression opportunities in every department so that Astute associates have a clear path for advancement and skills required for other roles in the company.

5. Completed an associate survey that will help Astute’s leadership to not only to retain its associates, but to motivate them.  By creating raving associates who serve Astute customers, performance will improve and the company will win new customers.

6. Intense focus on innovation.  The company is launching several new products in 2012 and has specific product roadmaps and is defining a new launch process.

7. Continue to invest in the Software as a Service (SaaS) Astute hosting center including a 2012 rollout of a stronger disaster backup and recovery solution.

8. The Astute website is getting a makeover.  The redesign will make the site more customer friendly, and to make easier navigation for accessing new content recently developed.

9. The company is aggressively adding new sales people and new partners to drive new business and new markets.  Already this year, the company has added a new sales rep, and signed new partners in both the U.S. and Europe, and had defined a plan for expansion in Asia.

Gary brings to Astute Solutions a lengthy career of success in the global software and services industry.  Most recently, Gary served as President of Cott Systems, where under his direction he helped lead the Cott organization into one of the leading software and services providers to local governments across the country.  Prior to Cott Systems, Gary was President of Emerson Electric’s European Services, and then their North American Services, a $150M division with 600 people.

According to Gary, “Astute Solutions is a great company already, and we are going to make it even better!  We will create momentum by ensuring our current customers have a world-class experience with their Astute Solutions’ products and services, as well as by winning new customers.  Satisfying current customers and winning new ones happen by creating raving customer fans, and nurturing raving employee associates to serve them.” 

The strategic framework for Astute Solutions includes a rock-solid foundation that focuses on providing every customer with gold-level customer service, employing talented and forward-thinking associates, achieving innovation targets and creating raving customers.   The key points that differentiate Astute Solutions from other vendors include a keen 1:1 customer focus; niche functionality and thought leadership; personable and responsive culture; and agility and speed.

To support this vision and execution plans, Gary will be supported by the following direct reports:

• Alex George, Chief Technology Officer and VP  of Product Management and Development
• Chris Kiminas, VP, Worldwide Sales and Marketing
• Rachel Workman, Senior Director, Professional Services
• Jodi Curran, Senior Director, Customer Support and SaaS Operations

Astute Solutions has been a leader in serving the customer care professionals since 1995.  And as consumer needs and expectations continue to change and evolve so will Astute Solutions.  Gary clearly sees the full potential of the company and is highly confident that his team – and every Astute Solutions associate -- will meet and exceed customer expectations and continue to grow its leadership position in the software and services space. 

Gary can be reached at garros@astutesolutions.com. 

 

April is International Customer Loyalty Month

It’s a bird.  It’s a plane.  No, it’s a culture!

By: Chris Garrity
Director of Customer Experience
Astute Solutions

While that headline is a play on the classic TV series “Superman” the analogy is intended to put a spotlight on the topic of customer loyalty. 

April is International Customer Loyalty month.  While it’s quite a noble notion to devote an entire month to customer loyalty, it should not be viewed as a point-in-time event. 

Similarly, when many people think of customer loyalty, their first reaction is to envision the department that manages the organization’s customer loyalty initiatives.   Customer loyalty should also not be viewed as simply a department. 

Rather, customer loyalty needs to be viewed much more holistically.  Customer loyalty should be an enterprise-wide culture.

Companies who have successfully initiated a company-wide culture of customer loyalty – that goes beyond a catchy company slogan – are the ones who reap the best business results.  Whether you work in the manufacturing plant, the corporate office or on the customer-facing front lines, building customer loyalty must be viewed as every single employee’s primary job responsibility.    

Creating loyalty is a collaborative and continuous process that builds consumer confidence and creates not just satisfied customers, but true brand advocates.  Brand advocates not only are true company loyalists, but brand advocates help the company influence other buyers through “social marketing” and positive word-of-mouth testimonials.  Consider the facts:

• Recommendations from family and friends trumps all other consumer touch points when it comes to influencing purchases[i]
• People are making 500 billion influence impressions on one another about products and services every year[ii]
• 46% of people feel that they can be brutally honest on the Internet; 38% of them aim to influence others when they express their preferences online[iii]
• Word of mouth is the “primary factor” behind a much as 50% of purchases[iv]
• 74% of those who received advise from family and friends found it to be influential in their decisions[v]
• Word of mouth companies are 16% more profitable than those generated by conventional advertising[vi]
• 77% of American consumers say they are more likely to purchase a product or service recommended by someone they know[vii]
• 75% of people do not believe that companies tell the truth in advertisements[viii]

Product quality and value are the first steps -- and foundational elements -- to successfully enter the marketplace.  Once these are achieved, the most successful companies further enhance their products with exemplary service.  You won’t keep customers if you can’t support what you sell with great service.

Customer service is a never-ending role.  A company’s reputation is only as good as their consumers’ last experience with the brand.  Delivering great service once isn’t too hard. Doing it all the time is far more challenging. And, it is the consistency of great service that builds customer confidence in your organization, which in turn will eventually create loyalty.

Creating truly loyal customers and brand advocates is not an event.  Nor is it a department.  It is a clearly defined strategy and culture within the organization. 

How well do companies understand and execute on the magic formula of product quality + exemplary service = brand advocacy?  Well, according to the University of Michigan’s American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), not as many as you would think.   

According to the ACSI most recent report, customer satisfaction at the national level achieved a score of 75.8% for the fourth quarter of 2011.  This quarterly score is based on an evaluation of 44 companies located within eight industries:  supermarkets; department and discount stores; specialty retail stores; health and personal care (drug) stores; gasoline service stations; and Internet retail, brokerage and travel. 

Congratulations to Astute Solutions’ customer Publix Super Markets, Inc. who leads the pack in the super markets vertical with a customer satisfaction score of 84%!  Publix Super Markets, Inc. clearly has embodied the culture of customer loyalty as they have led their vertical with the highest customer satisfaction scores since 1994!

For more information on the American Customer Satisfaction Index, visit www.theacsi.org.

Regardless of what vertical you serve, executing a consistent and thoughtful customer loyalty culture throughout the organization will yield “super human” results!

US Airways & Customer Service - "Real or Rhett-oric"

Last month we looked at a comparison of two popular retailers, Kohl’s and Lucky Brand Jeans and we learned that the organization can set the tone for what an individual can do to provide a “Customer First” experience

In this second issue of Real or Rhett-oric we will look at an industry that many of us in the business world have the opportunity to interact with several times a month; Airlines. This industry provides one of the most abundant opportunities for organizations to be “Customer First.”

As a veteran “road warrior,” I, like most of us, could write a book about bad experiences associated with air travel. In this post, I am choosing to highlight the increasingly uncommon and infrequent positives. Unlike many businesses (restaurant, retail or CPG) where the company is the sole “owner” of your experience, air travel relies on many players and each can impact your perception of a trip. We will start off at the first point of contact; well…once you have your ticket…but that’s a different story for a different time.

Let’s start with your departure airport.  For me that is a small regional airport in Salisbury, Maryland with 2 gates and one primary airline, US Airways.  As a small, local airport the pace is certainly much different than what you find in a metropolitan area.  This means that as a regular most everyone knows who I am therefore I am accustomed to seeing the same dedicated people every week.  I have witnessed kind and patient treatment of all passengers. Again this goes beyond the airline itself to the TSA agents, parking lot attendants, ground crew and others.   Overall the crews at SBY are excellent and set the tone for a good trip. 

The person that can have the most direct impact on your travel is probably the flight attendant. No matter the airline, their most important responsibility is safety.  However their hospitality and attitude can help smooth over the delays, crowded waiting areas, over-sold planes and even the noisy two-year old behind you (I have 4 kids…so I can say that). 

I recently had the pleasure (yes pleasure) of flying from LAX to Philadelphia on US Airways with one their best flight attendants, Mark Gambino. Mark was the first class steward for a flight I recently took where I was fortunate enough to be upgraded.  He greeted everyone who boarded with a smile and jovial attitude. He was more than genuine in his attitude and, like the folks at SBY, set the tone for a great trip.  As he went about taking care of those of us in his charge he made sure we were comfortable and had everything we needed. 

As we began the flight I read the welcome letter in the in-flight magazine from US Airways president Doug Parker, as I often do.  His title that month was customer first, which obviously got my attention.  This letter featured a story about the recent awards ceremony US Airways held for their top flight attendants. These awards are determined by compliment certificates (called Above and Beyond certificates) that any member of the frequent flier program can give to a US Airways team member.   This was a great article that brought attention to fact that a customer first attitude is something that is really a mindset and must be exercised at an individual level.  About 3 hours into our flight one of the other flight attendants announced over the PA system that we had a “star in our midst.” Mark was one of the individuals featured in the article I had just read.  It was obvious that he deserved the recognition he had received. 

So what makes an organization earn the reputation for having a Customer First attitude?

Is it special recognition or rewards for it team members? Probably not as every flight attendant has the same opportunity as Mark Gambino. 

Is it signs and slogans?  Not likely as Philadelphia is the city of brotherly love, but you won’t find the same kindness in the Philly airport as you do in Salisbury. 

Is it the CEO or President of your company saying “we want customer satisfaction to be our number one goal?”  It probably should be, but the halls of most companies have these mission statements posted about and it doesn’t always make a difference. 

My experience leads me to believe the answer is creating an environment where “Customer First” focused people can thrive and be free to provide the level of service that sets them apart.  Then it is a matter of hiring these talented customer facing team members and giving the “Mark Gambino's” of the world access to your most valuable asset; your customer.  US Airways does have real “Customer First” people everywhere. Maybe you will be lucky enough to meet Mark or someone like him soon…or maybe US Airways will work even harder to develop more associates with the “Mark Attitude”!

Have you had a great customer service experience or have you been the victim of rhetoric?  Let me know, I would love to hear your stories at Customerfirst2012@gmail.com.

Thanks!

Rhett Parsons
Industry Consultant
Astute Solutions

Customer First - Real or Rhett-oric?

Over the past 20 years I have heard many companies proclaim a “customer first” philosophy. But the truth is, some companies deliver on this and some simply offer up lip service.  During the next 12 months I will look at examples of both sides of this equation with a goal of helping all of us discover what it is like to truly put the customer first.  Please join me in this adventure, send your experiences, whether they be good or bad, to customerfirst2012@gmail.com. I will review a subject every month to decide what is Real and what is Rhetoric.

To start, let’s take a look at a couple of examples that define the right and wrong way to employ a “customer first” attitude. What does it mean for an organization to have a customer first attitude? Ultimately it is the desire to have every customer walk away from an interaction saying to themselves, “Wow, that could not have been a better experience!”
 
A great example of a company who creates these experiences every day is Kohl’s department stores.  Their tag line is “expect great things.”  And their management philosophy backs this motto completely. They know that service goes far beyond the merchandise, which is of excellent quality, the layout of the stores, which are bright and open, their commitment to environmental awareness, with 100’s of stores that are LEED certified and Energy Star rated, and support of cancer research.
 
”Expect great things” reaches the most important part of any business success and that is the front line associate.  At Kohl’s, these folks understand that their customers are the reason they exist and they treat every customer as if they are the most important one in the world. Every experience is an opportunity to wow the customer and Kohl’s makes sure it happens. This is what I call a Real Customer First attitude.

To contrast this Real Customer First Attitude is the Rhetoric of another popular retailer, Lucky Brand Jeans.  As the father of 4 daughters this is a very popular brand but as a self-described “miser” I could never,  with good conscious pay full price for their products. Outlet prices, on the other hand, are much more reasonable. Even though it is an outlet, I expect the same level of service I would get in a retail Lucky Brands store. Unfortunately the service at my local store in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware did not have a customer first attitude. For that matter, neither did corporate customer service.  Recently I returned 2 items that did not fit my daughter. They were purchased on Black Friday and returned the day after Christmas.  I was informed that the return policy was 30 days, unless I had a gift receipt.  I had the original receipt but not a gift receipt, so the clerk/manager refused to provide a refund.  We spent 30 minutes looking for a replacement item but then gave up and spoke with manager again. After a 10 minute “discussion” she relented and provided a refund.
 
Needless to say this encounter was far from a customer first experience. In fact she was one of the rudest people I have ever dealt with.  I followed up on this encounter with an email to the customer service department at Lucky Brands and received an acknowledgement that thanked me for my feedback but did not even offer an apology for the treatment I received at the store.  The corporate response reinforced the attitude demonstrated at the store, making it no surprise the clerk provided such poor service.

So how can 2 companies that work in the same general market space take such different views on customer service? What really makes the difference between the Kohl’s experience and the Lucky Brand?  I would suggest that employees at both retailers would agree that they would like to have the treatment that Kohl’s offers.  Since the Kohl’s philosophy empowers their front line to truly treat the customer as they would expect to be treated, while maintaining a customer first approach, the Kohl’s associate can take pride in their job and enjoy “wowing” the customer.  The associates at Lucky Brands are left to defend any resolution they might be bold enough to offer to a customer. Therefore, instead of seeing the return as an opportunity to wow a customer I was an inconvenience at best. There is a right way to build a Customer First Attitude and obviously Kohl’s embodies it.

Have you had a great customer service experience or have you been the victim of rhetoric?  Let me know, I would love to hear your stories at Customerfirst2012@gmail.com.

Thanks!

Rhett Parsons
Industry Consultant
Astute Solutions

The A - B - Cs of E-writing

Linda Comerford, Comerford Consulting

Think back to when you were in school.  What was the first rule of writing?  Here’s a hint:

___  ___  ___  ___  ___  ___  ___  ___

Congratulate yourself if you answered AUDIENCE!  Keeping your readers in mind should always come first; that guiding principle from school has not changed.

 What has changed, however, is the scope of your audiences in the business world today.  The writing in your organization now reaches an audience that’s bigger, broader, and bolder than ever!  In the ever-evolving area of customer service, keeping your varied readers in mind is more important than ever. 

Years ago, you could safely assume the person in your salutation was the only one reading what you wrote.  Now, that assumption is downright dangerous.  One tweet can fly around the world!  Here’s a safe assumption:  unhappy customers will more likely write to others (with social media, everyone they know!) than those who are pleased.  Exceeding excellence with your personalized e-writing can help avoid that.

In addition to a growing importance regarding writing, technology and social media have widened the number of channels available to do that.  Ideally, your talent pool of skilled writers should be ever-widening as well.  However, since schools aren’t focusing on teaching writing and grammar, graduates with the ability to write well are dwindling.  This increases frustration for managers, customer service agents, and customers alike.

What’s the solution?  It relates to the first rule of writing:  your audience.  When you write, it’s not about you:  it’s about your readers!  Combine that with the second rule of writing, which is to convey your:

___  ___  ___  ___  ___  ___  ___

Did you answer PURPOSE?  What are you trying to accomplish for your customer readers?  Are you providing them with information?  Directly answering their questions?  Thanking them for their business?  Motivating them to buy your products?  Persuading them to continue buying your products when they’ve had an issue with one—or more than one?  

Consider the following equation to help all your e-writing match the excellence of your products or services: 

AUDIENCE + PURPOSE = E-COMMUNICATING

Did you know that the word “communicating” comes from the root word “caring”?  Your customers have a right to know you care about them, that they aren’t just dollar signs.  To accomplish that, install these four C’s as the cornerstones of your e-writing customer service policy:

• Clarity:  Your readers deserve clear answers to their questions, complaints, issues, even compliments.  Clear writing means that your recipient can understand your point after only one reading.  Start with your main point.  Granted, that takes more time than firing off a quick, canned reply, but the $aving$ are enormous! 

  Consider the customer who has three questions and gets only one answered.  Or requests an explanation but sees only “yes” or “no” in reply.  Or receives an answer about installing your product that would baffle one of your own installers!  Unclear responses like these are just a few examples that have customers preventably tweeting their dissatisfaction.

  Often, you are not the best judge if your response is clear.  Have someone unfamiliar with your product or service critique what you wrote.  Once you get words that work, save them for future template wording.

• Conciseness:   How much can you tweet with only 140 characters?  Other technological issues along with increasingly busy customers require concise wording. 

  Play a game with yourself:  pretend someone is charging you 50 cents a word for every extra word you write.  Reward yourself with the savings as you prune the wordy deadwood from your writing.

• Correctness:  Because your e-writing has the potential to reach so many others, make sure your points about your product, service, warranty, installation, etc., are correct.  Inaccuracies can come back to haunt you by requiring you to extinguish viral customer fires or even defend what you wrote in a court of law!

  Beyond that, your customers deserve writing that includes correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling.  Your image is at stake every time you hit <Send>.  Even while chatting, these conventions are necessary whether your customer observes them or not.  The Astute Solutions website has the following statement next to its Virtual Assistant:  “I work best when you use complete sentences.”  Everyone does!

• Courtesy:  Your customers deserve empathy regarding their situation.  Consider the value of empathy to be included in the purchase price.  Template letters are terrific timesavers, but those must be the best ones in e-PowerCenter.  And even those must be tweaked accordingly depending on the tone of the customers’ question and the level of support your customers’ seek.

  Your customers are thinking, “I’m annoyed, I’m frustrated, I’m hurting, but nobody cares.”  A reaction like that is the fastest way to send them tweeting their trials and tribulations!  Granted, the #1 reason customers with issues contact you is to have them resolved!  But do so with kindness and caring.  Show them with your words that you understand their situation and their reaction to it—you get it; you get them!  When you must say “no,” do so with the utmost regret.  Consider offering something extra to serve as your above-and-beyond aspirin for their pain.  View their situation as a challenge to turn them from your most irate customer into your most loyal fan.  Don’t just communicate—communicare!

• Common sense:   Here’s a fifth “C” for you to consider:  Customer service issues require common sense.  If you are chatting with a customer whose issues are complex, end the back-and-forths by offering to continue via phone.  If an irate customer is sending hate tweets, move to a one-on-one forum as quickly as possible.  If that irate customer keeps tweeting, doing nothing is the absolute worst course of inaction.  Do something—and do it quickly, acknowledging the situation and working to resolve it in a win/win manner.  Using the ostrich strategy and sticking your head in the sand leaves you painfully vulnerable.

These are principles you and your agents can easily master if you remember your PURPOSE:  making your AUDIENCE—your customers—glad they chose to do business with you.

Last question:  What is the #1 reason customers take their business elsewhere? 

___  ___  ___  ___  ___  ___  ___  ___  ___  ___  ___  ___

The answer is INDIFFERENCE.  The ultimate competitive edge is to follow the Platinum Rule:  Do unto others as they want done unto them.  E-communicare!

Editor’s Note: Join Linda at the 2012 Astute Solutions Customer Conference in San Diego, Feb. 26-29, as she delivers an educational training breakout session entitled E-Writing Made E-asy.