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Walmart is debuting a towering new kiosk that makes it easier to pick up online orders in your local Walmart store. Early reviews of Walmart’s “pickup tower” give it a thumbs up. In about 20 Walmart stores, you can scan a barcode on your phone at the bright red 16-foot-tall tower in the front of the store. A door opens, your item appears, and you’re done.
Call center QA and monitoring teams are responsible for ensuring the quality of interactions between call center representatives and consumers. It goes without saying that this is an incredibly complex undertaking, particularly in large organizations with thousands of call center agents having many thousands of interactions with consumers every day.
When I hear an excellent, and genuine, expression of empathy from a company, I make a note of it. I’ll tell Siri to capture what I heard, or I’ll just type it out. I save ridiculously good empathy statements so that I can share them with my clients. In customer service workshops, like the one I delivered Friday in Columbus, I challenge my clients to use the empathy I’ve heard (and felt) to inspire them to come up with their own empathic responses.
National Customer Service Week is coming up the first week in October. This is a time to appreciate employees for doing a great job taking care of customers. There are many ways companies are celebrating. Everything from an employee appreciation event, like a lunch or dinner, to fun games that are about team building and comradery. And, of course, there is showing some love and appreciation to your customers.
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.
As technology advances, we all have that utopian dream of having all our problems answered at a click of a button. No matter the difficulty. No matter the medium.instant solutions and quality experiences. Many believe that for customer service, Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is the future of customer service and maybe the disruption of the entire call center industry.
Are you capturing prospective customers effectively, or simply letting fate take its course, hoping to close new business using traditional approaches and metrics? How about retaining existing customers? Are your traditional methods keeping up with customer needs and changing demographics? Proactive engagement is proven to not only improve new sales closure rates but to also […].
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Are you capturing prospective customers effectively, or simply letting fate take its course, hoping to close new business using traditional approaches and metrics? How about retaining existing customers? Are your traditional methods keeping up with customer needs and changing demographics? Proactive engagement is proven to not only improve new sales closure rates but to also […].
Asking strategic questions helps you understand your Customer Experience (CX), determine a focus for your efforts, and deliver a successful CX outcome. However, one question is the most vital to success with your CX strategy, and it isn’t about them; it’s about you. Forget to ask it, and you can forget about delivering on your CX objectives. The question is this: How much do you embrace customer irrationality?
My course, “Delivering Bad News to a Customer” for Lynda.com and LinkedIn Learning is now live! If you struggle with how to deliver bad news to customers, you’ll want to take this class. Here’s a description of the course: Customer service is about providing the best experience to a customer—yet, a lot of the time customer service reps find that their hands are tied and that what the customer wants is not something the rep can deliver.
There’s an old proverb that says, “Outward appearances are not a reliable indication of true character.” In other words, you can’t – and shouldn’t – judge a book by its cover. One of my favorite examples of this is from the movie Pretty Woman starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. This classic movie from back in the 1990’s was about a wealthy man, Edward Lewis, on a business trip in Beverly Hills who falls in love with a prostitute, Vivian Ward.
AI adoption is reshaping sales and marketing. But is it delivering real results? We surveyed 1,000+ GTM professionals to find out. The data is clear: AI users report 47% higher productivity and an average of 12 hours saved per week. But leaders say mainstream AI tools still fall short on accuracy and business impact. Download the full report today to see how AI is being used — and where go-to-market professionals think there are gaps and opportunities.
By Ana Simões I left the contact center in April of this year to embrace a new role at a start-up company as an IT Recruiter. Please note, my prior experience in the contact center is a reality for many in my region of Portugal. In my experience, the agents were usually treated as numbers, and were made to feel as if they are expendable. When you leave, you will quickly be replaced.
I think it’s safe to say that millennials are a force to be reckoned with. Often referred to as “Generation Disruption,” their influence on the modern workplace is hard to deny. In recent years, millennials’ expectations have been reshaping the workplace into more flexible, collaborative and transparent environments. These types of changes will only become […].
RyanAir, Europe’s largest airline, in my view are the epitome of a poor Customer Experience. Over the last few days, they have proven this yet again as the airline has begun cancelling hundreds of flights. Hapless travelers are stranded in far-flung cities or stuck at home when they expected to be on holiday. Ryanair announced last Friday that it would cancel 40-50 flights per day for the next six weeks.
I met up with Justin Robbins at the opening Demo Hall Bash at the CCDemo in Las Vegas to find out about the top trends in contact centers today. “What are the top 3 trends in contact center today?” Click to Tweet. While there are several topics that are on the agenda for the event like Workforce Management, Metrics, Voice of the Customer, and Management – I asked Justin to share with me what he is experiencing as the top three trends.
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.
True nobility isn’t about being better than someone else. It’s about being better than you used to be. Wayne Dyer said that. Always speak in complete sentences. Don’t say, “Zip code?” Say, “May I have your zip code, please?”. Let upset customers vent for a few seconds. And while customers vent, offer simple reassurances, like “Um hmm” or “I see.”. Bridge into questions, like this, “To determine what has happened, I will need to ask you some questions.” Strive to respond to emails wit
This week we feature an article by Lindsay Tjepkema who writes about how artificial intelligence marketing (AIM) is becoming more important to our success in engaging with customers. Recently I have read and written a lot about AI and as technology improves and acceptance grows AI will have a strong role in customer service. – Shep Hyken. Artificial intelligence (AI) and all of its many uses have seen massive amounts of growth throughout the last year.
This original article was written by Steve DiGioia. Well I think it’s very easy to answer; face-to-face communication is definitely more difficult. When you’re dealing with somebody face to face you’re not just listening to the words they are saying, you are also judging them by the actions of their entire body. You’re looking at their eyes and their hand gestures.
“They are just temps,” said one contact center manager describing his seasonal agents. “They will be gone in a couple of months!” That condescending attitude was reflected in the seasonal team’s environment. They were crammed into an abandoned conference room filled with computers, phones and wires. This “seasonal contact center” was separate from the “normal […].
Start building the AI workforce of the future with our comprehensive guide to creating an AI-first contact center. Learn how Conversational and Generative AI can transform traditional operations into scalable, efficient, and customer-centric experiences. What is AI-First? Transition from outdated, human-first strategies to an AI-driven approach that enhances customer engagement and operational efficiency.
Effective communication is the lifeblood of any relationship, whether it’s between individuals, informal groups, within companies, between leaders and the people they govern, and, of course, between companies and their customers. We’ve all seen what can go wrong when communication breaks down – anything from divorce to declarations of war; but in a business context, what does it mean?
Over the many years of my teaching compelling conversation skills, I have come to appreciate that an effective conversation is much like an inspiring song. We all have favorite songs that we enjoy listening to. if you have heard a cover to that song performed by a “less than” talented or skilled singer, you might … Continue reading "THE MUSIC OF CONVERSATION".
Because customer service is a top priority for organizations, escalation management is an important process to have in place to ensure customers’ calls are addressed efficiently.
The words you say, the way you act, and your attitude toward your job and your customer are sometimes the difference between satisfactory and amazing. This became evident as I was having lunch with Tracy Nieporent, one of the partners at Myriad Restaurant Group. They are the successful owners of the famous Nobu restaurants , Tribeca Grill , and several others.
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.
By Sean Hawkins You know that moment when you take a call, only to be greeted with less-than-friendly (or even offensive) words from a frustrated, angry customer? How do you react? Do you: A. Hang up the phone, clock out, and leave your badge on the desk. B. Adjust your tone and attitude to match that of the customer. C. Reassure the customer you are committed to helping them.
In the era of “five nines” of reliability, contact center leaders didn’t worry too much about the resiliency of their technology: It was always up. But with all the changes and permutations of technology, reliability can’t be taken for granted. You need to intentionally seek, implement and manage solutions to achieve your goals. Simple availability […].
When you are making decisions, you carefully consider all the facts and factors that present in a logical and orderly process, right? Not so fast. You rarely make decisions this way—and neither do your customers. The truth is that psychological principles often influence the decision-making process; you might even say take over. But don’t feel bad that you didn’t know.
I got a job once when I complained about poor service. I was 17, and my mom and I were ready to check out at JCPenney. We couldn’t find a person anywhere in the juniors department. We walked over to lingerie and finally found someone in the boy’s department. That someone was a middle-aged man in a suit. With the boldness of a brash teenager, I said, “What do you have to do to get service around here?
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.
Call center supervisors must continue to monitor metrics, measure results, and tailor ongoing training to ensure that agents’ needs are met and that call center activity is in line with objectives.
Matt Peterson Shares Tips on Delivering Amazing Service. How would you like to know how to set yourself apart from the rest of your industry? Shep Hyken interviews Matt Peterson, CMO and co-founder of Jive Communications, a worldwide cloud based communication company that offers VoIP, video conferencing, and contact center support. Featured Interview: Shep begins the interview by talking to Matt about NPS (Net Promoter Score) and he made that an important focus in his company.
…if so, here’s 5 simple ways to fix it This original article was written by Steve DiGioia. I watched the customer’s eyes scan the area, first to the left then to the right side of the store. He hoped to make eye contact with the sales woman but alas, no luck. Apparently she had more important tasks to do than tending to the customer. What was so important that she had to give statue service ?
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