CCNG
JULY 12, 2020
CCNG is working through our network of colleagues and resources to help share information, insights, and ideas on maintaining strong customer care, employee support, and business continuity during this challenging period. These articles and resources offer specific starting points we hope you’ll find helpful. We will continue to update this contact-center-centric resource as new information becomes available.
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Callminer
JULY 30, 2020
No company wants to receive complaints about bad customer service, but even companies that strive to create exceptional customer service will occasionally disappoint a customer. In many cases, those complaints first reach the ears of a call center rep. That’s why patience, empathy, and active listening skills are among the most important skills every call center rep should have.
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In 2025, contact centers aren’t just changing—they’re being rebuilt by AI. This no-fluff, executive-ready guide shows you how to capitalize on the transformation. Inside: proven ROI calculators, workforce optimization tactics, deflection strategies, and a 90-day AI deployment plan. Built for CIOs, COOs, CX leaders, and contact center strategists, it goes beyond buzzwords into play-by-play implementation.
Toister Performance Solutions
JULY 23, 2020
"I won't give you that report." The report tracked the percentage of successful credit card offers made by each sales rep in our contact center. The initiative was created by the marketing department, and a marketing manager controlled access to the report. This was more than twenty years ago, when large reports were printed and distributed as physical copies.
Customer Contact Central brings together the best content for Contact Center and Customer Service professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
ShepHyken
JULY 29, 2020
Call me boring, but I want the same thing every time—at least when it comes to customer experience. I want it to be good. I want it to be consistent. I want to predict the experience I’m going to have with the people and places I do business with. If you ask the CEO of a big company or the owner of a small business, I bet they would say the same. We want our customers to always have a good experience with us—one they can count on always happening every time they do business with us.
ShepHyken
JULY 31, 2020
This week we feature an article by Ashwini Dave , a digital marketing expert at Acquire. She explains the difference between customer service and customer experience and shares how implementing both into your business creates success. Customer experience and customer service are often used interchangeably and are the buzzwords for businesses in the age of instant gratuity.
Fonolo
JULY 21, 2020
Lots of conversations happen daily at your contact center. But do you know what’s being left unsaid? An open, communicative work environment is the key to a healthy and vibrant work culture. Saying you have an open-door work policy is easy; making sure that your contact center agents feel comfortable voicing their concerns to management is much more challenging.
Call Design
JULY 7, 2020
Written by Michel Niere. In our third instalment in the WFM and New Normal series, we talk about the impacts of increased handle times. As a lot of contact centres have quickly had to adopt work from home strategies to maintain BAU status, there have been some things to be wary of, and increased AHT is one of them. Some of the causes of increased AHT might be due to: Technical issues like the internet not being fast enough, therefore taking longer to load information and as a result increasing t
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What does customer service excellence look like in 2024? According to our report with insights from CX expert Shep Hyken, customer expectations are at an all-time high, and there’s a bigger shift toward self-service and leveraging AI capabilities.
TechSee
JULY 21, 2020
Many enterprises struggle to deliver excellent customer care and suffer from a range of operational inefficiencies due to a lack of inter-departmental communication and cross-functional collaboration. Their agents and technicians are effectively siloed. A rep may promise a customer next-day service but then field service cannot provide a technician.
Joe Rawlinson
JULY 5, 2020
The retention of customers and employees is correlated to a point. A customer that has worked with a specific client manager or staff member will have a rapport with the employee. Constant turnover can make it difficult to build that rapport that is so important in customer retention. Boosting employee retention can require quite a few changes to company policies and hiring processes.
ConvergeOne
JULY 28, 2020
According to our research with Avaya and CatalystMR, there are two main areas contact center challenges fall within: customer support and data/technology.
C3Centricity
JULY 20, 2020
Although I love quotes, especially about how to succeed, I love success even more. Do you? One of my favourite quotes on the topic of success comes from Winston Churchill during his address to the Harrow School (UK) during WWII in 1941. It was one of his shortest speeches but probably one of his most quoted. He said: “Never give in, never, never, never, never” If you are interested, you can read his full speech – which is not a lot longer!
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Harness the True Power of your Contact Center In today’s fast-paced business environment, selecting the right contact center solution is critical for enhancing customer experience, improving operational efficiency, and optimizing costs. This comprehensive guide will walk you through the essential factors to consider when choosing a contact center software that aligns with your business needs.
PeopleMetrics
JULY 20, 2020
After writing my book, Listen or Die , which outlined 40 lessons that turns customer feedback into gold, I often got the question: "what are the small handful of strategies that provide the biggest impact or provide the most insight on driving CX excellence?". Here they are! Measuring the customer and employee experience is a continuous process, not an event.
Beyond Philosophy
JULY 2, 2020
Some people watch things happen, some make things happen, and some say, “what happened?” Some organizations out there concerning the pandemic (and maybe other things, too) are falling into that third category. In this issue, we will discuss how to avoid being one of them. There’s a silver lining in everything, even this pandemic. We discussed this subject in a recent podcast.
ShepHyken
JULY 22, 2020
These are the kind of people—and the kind of company—you want to do business with. First, a little background. I was having a conversation with a colleague and came up with the idea that you shouldn’t have to fight with a company to get your problem resolved or for them to make you happy. They should want to make you happy. Just a couple days later I saw this idea in action, but with a twist.
Myra Golden Media
JULY 1, 2020
I hope you’re safe and well. I’m sitting on my patio bursting with excitement to be telling you I’ve partnered with Microsoft and LinkedIn to help millions of jobseekers reskill to pursue customer service roles. Do you realize that right now, there are over 1.8+ million job openings for customer service positions (customer service specialist, customer satisfaction, CRM, and Admin analysis)?
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Incorporating generative AI (gen AI) into your sales process can speed up your wins through improved efficiency, personalized customer interactions, and better informed decision- making. Gen AI is a game changer for busy salespeople and can reduce time-consuming tasks, such as customer research, note-taking, and writing emails, and provide insightful data analysis and recommendations.
Callminer
JULY 21, 2020
Marketers, analytics pros, and CX experts named these the most innovative ways companies are leveraging predictive analytics to improve customer experience.
Steve DiGioia
JULY 2, 2020
What do you do when you think no one is watching? Are you chewing gum, twirling your hair, or resting your foot on the wall behind you? Do you tell off-color jokes because you think no one can hear you? Is your posture one of confidence or submission? Is your face warm and welcoming to others or stern and stand-offish? Would a customer feel comfortable approaching you or rather seek out someone else for assistance?
CX Accelerator
JULY 1, 2020
Written by Nick Glimsdahl. We find ourselves in unprecedented – certainly, the word of the year – times. While America and the globe continues to #stayhome for the health of our fellow man and woman, we all would do well to reflect on and capture lessons learned. One question asked repeatedly in this season is, “When will we return to normal?” But, in the rush to return to normal, let’s all take time to consider what is worth hurrying back to.
Beyond Philosophy
JULY 16, 2020
I’m obsessed with memory. I love the subject and discussing the behavioral sciences that explain it. Today, we decided to address memory and how crucial it is to enhance your customers’ recollections of their experience with you. We discussed this concept on a recent podcast with guest Zoey Chen, assistant professor of marketing at the University of Miami School of Business.
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Step-by-step instructions on how to use AI for growth in your contact center Learn how AI can transform your contact center operations. In this ebook, dig into the different AI technologies, then see how each can help automate tasks, streamline service, and turn your contact center from a cost center to a profit house. Plus, we’ll give you practical tips on choosing the right AI tools, getting them up and running, and measuring their impact.
ShepHyken
JULY 1, 2020
I recently wrote an article in Forbes about how three out of four customers are more loyal to your employee than your business. This research came from OnePoll on behalf of DaySmart Software. They surveyed 2,000 Americans and found that in many businesses, customers are more loyal to the employee—so much so that almost half (48%) will follow their favorite employee if they leave to work at a competing business.
Myra Golden Media
JULY 1, 2020
Customer Service Specialist is one of 10 jobs identified as having the most significant number of job openings*, have had steady growth over the past four years, pay a livable wage, and require skills that can be learned online. Here is a no-cost learning path with four of my LinkedIn Learning classes , to help you 1)build rapport, 2)control conversations, 3) create positive conversations with challenging customers, and 4) de-escalate intense interactions.
Callminer
JULY 19, 2020
Contact centers often utilize APIs to create an agent dashboard that combines sales and service information in one central location, introducing gamification initiatives.
Steve DiGioia
JULY 30, 2020
First off, what’s a “pet peeve”? Well, according to Merriam-Websters dictionary, it’s “something that annoys or bothers a person very much” Are your pet peeves putting your job in danger? I hope not. You know, let’s be honest… Each of us knows someone that drives us nuts. That crazy uncle that tells the worst jokes, that neighbor who’s always sticking her nose in your business, or how about that coworker that constantly tries to “one-up
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Customers expect to be able to interact with your organization whenever and however they want. They also expect your agents to have insights into their journeys so that they don’t have to repeat themselves as they move through various channels. And, if they’re not able to, they just might find one of your competitors who will offer the flexibility they are looking for.
Contact Center Pipeline
JULY 15, 2020
The impact of the coronavirus pandemic has been multilayered, creating widespread fear and stress over health and safety, income, finances, child care, elder care and the economy. In just a matter of weeks, lifestyles were dramatically altered, businesses shuttered and global markets tanked. Contact centers abandoned carefully structured strategies and processes in the scramble to […].
Beyond Philosophy
JULY 9, 2020
A genuine effort to understand your customers’ emotions is essential to your Customer Experience design. Also, when you can segment based on customers’ behavior and the needs the behavior indicates, you can customize your experience to appeal to each segment. Today, I have a new form of segmentation that I have been working on to help people during the pandemic.
ShepHyken
JULY 15, 2020
I recently wrote about taking the extra step to deliver amazing service. There were three steps: pay attention, care about your customers and put forth extra effort. For this article, I want to focus on the first step—paying attention. Paying attention is more than just the first step. It may be the most important step. One of our readers, Scott Anderson, shared a story about staying at a resort in Mexico.
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