MAINTAINING POSITIVE ATTITUDES AS CUSTOMER SERVICE AGENTS

More people now than ever before are working in the customer service industry, predominantly in telecommunications and other lines and programs of contact centre work. Some of these folks have worked in this industry for a while, while other people are newcomers and are still actively developing. The fact of the matter is this: your own company’s agents are the first impression, the first point of contact, and the start of the conversation that your organization will have with the customer. It is easy to forget that in talking to hundreds of people per week. Believe it or not, that can take a toll on someone’s mental psyche. At the end of a workday in a contact centre, many agents prefer not to talk on the phone during their off-time. Who would’ve thought?

We have a saying at Incept that coincides with our value Present, and, basically, it is that we must be present in our work lives when we are here at the office and strive to do our best to be mentally sharp, focused, and ready to produce results that have positive impact. It does also have an alternate meaning. It can mean to also strive to be present in your home life. When you are done with the workday, it is a value meant to encourage employees to always remember they have a life at home and of their own.

What does this mean to you if you are a contact centre Team Lead or part of management?

We have all heard, “Smile! The customer can hear it in your voice.” That is a true statement. Even if there is no face-to-face contact between the rep and customer, the customer can definitely get a sense of the rep’s attitude through the way they are talking. It isn’t always easy trying to be pleasant with everyone, as a customer service agent or representative, especially when you have troubles going on in your own personal life.

What You Can Do To Keep A Positive Attitude As A Customer Service Agent Despite Outside-of-work Problems

1. 1.     Focus on your job. Sometimes work can serve as an escape from our problems at home. One of my Vice President’s, Dave Walter, had some of the best advice for our own Conversational Marketing Experts (CMEs) who might be experiencing trauma in their personal lives that carries over to their professional work. He said, “Focus on leaving your problems at the door and relax. Your problems are going to still be there when you clock out and go home.” This is true. For some people, work can actually be a sort of getaway from the circumstances of our home lives and, ultimately, an environment in which we can better ourselves without focusing on what it might be that is bringing us down.
2. 2.     Talk to your H.R. manager about what is bothering you. At Incept, we truly have a human resource department that goes above and beyond in helping our employees. Sometimes all it takes to feel better about a situation is an open ear to let it out to. A third-party perspective is always good to hear. Human resource managers and directors are often also sources of legitimate guidance. If you are stressing about money problems and money management, they can guide you towards groups and give you information on how to handle monetary problems. If you are having personal issues, such as domestic violence or other similar situations, they can also serve as a third-party who can help you resolve your immediate issue in a private manner. If you feel like you need mental counselling due to outside work circumstances, many H.R. managers have the resources to point you in the right direction towards receiving help. I write about this with our own H.R. director in mind, as Lee-Ann Zackiewicz has served many of our own employees with a helping hand over the years.
3. 3.     Listen to music on your breaks or have some quiet time to think to yourself or meditate. Music has a healing effect on many people. It has the ability to convey what people feel when they lack the ability to find the words to describe what it is they are feeling. Take some time on your lunch or a break to simply get some time to yourself and listen to a few uplifting tunes. You’d be astounded at what the right song can do for your mood.

These are just a few suggestions towards taking an active stance on maintaining a healthy attitude and mental state in the workplace. What are some other suggestions? Leave your comment or suggestions in the comment box.

Post Credit: Brian Dodson

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Wakanow Leaves Hundreds of Nigerians Stranded in Sao Pauolo

The hope of over 600 Nigerians that they would watch the World Cup clash between the Super Eagles and Argentina was dashed Wednesday, when wakanow.com, official travel partners to the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, failed to transport them to Porto Alegre, venue of the match.

Wakanow had promised to move the fans from Sao Paulo to Porto Alegre Wednesday morning, in time for the kick-off, but the promise went unkept.

“Most of us left Nigeria believing that we were going to Porto Alegre. We were surprised to be brought to Sao Paulo. Many  are alleging that this has all the tell tale signs of a scam,” said a bitterly disappointed fan.

The disappointment was heightened by a lack of information from Wakanow which, only at the last minute, got tickets for about 50 people to go to Porto Alegre, leaving others stranded.

Major companies like MTN, Naija Bet, DStv, 360 Bet Clean soap and  Tecno, which sponsored promo winners and customers to watch the World Cup were left bemoaning their fate.

The fans who are scattered around San Paulo spent a sleepless night waiting for a flight that never materialized.

“First they told us 2 pm. Later, we were told 4pm, then 5 pm. They kept shifting the time untill they told us they couldn’t take us there anymore,” another fan said dejectedly.

Culled from PM News

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CUSTOMER SERVICE LESSONS FROM LADY GAGA

With over 60 Million Facebook “Likes”, Lady Gaga gets Social Media.

Her fans check the Facebook updates, follow the Twitter feeds, and watch the YouTube videos almost religiously.

So how does she do it? Emotional Connection. Lady Gaga, even with her celebrity status, builds a direct relationship with her fans by sharing “real” stories about herself and her values. Fans can relate to her as a person. But that’s not all. She connects directly to the fans, her “Little Monsters”, by inviting them to be a part of her career.

How can your business do this?

Be Real.

Personality matters. Does your business have one? Celebrities are people with public lives so it’s easy for fans to figure out their personalities. With your business, it’s important to create a personality so that everything you do, from sales to customer service, is tied to that personality and brand. It’s not just about selling a widget. If you want to be known for incredible service, for example, then every single customer interaction has to result in a personal “wow” moment. No exceptions. Give your customers an authentic experience and have them share that experience through your Social Media.

Don’t Sell. Have a Conversation.

Nobody likes a hard sell. Especially when they’ve taken the time to visit your Facebook Page or read your Twitter Feed. It’s annoying, and a turn off. Instead, have a conversation that engages your customers. Lady Gaga, for example, once asked her fans to upload videos of themselves dancing to her latest songs which she then compiled into a cool video that appeared on Saturday Night Live. Ask your customers to share photos of them enjoying your product, or hold a contest for best product re-design. Make it interesting and do this often. This builds community and ultimately, a community is the best referral network you can have.

Unique Content

Offer your customers fresh, creative stuff on your Social Media. There is nothing worse than a stale Facebook Page, or a dead Twitter Feed. Update regularly. Share your thoughts about product design. Ask your customers what they would like to see, instead of just promoting your product. And be different. If you are a small business owner, for example, have someone interview you about your passion for your product or service. Post it on your Facebook Page or YouTube channel. This is unique content which gives your customers a chance to connect with you directly.

Lady Gaga has created a powerful “voice” through her Social Media. The recipe is simple. Be real, engage your customers, and create a loyal community. The sales will follow.

Credit: mbury.

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6 CUSTOMER SERVICE LESSONS FROM THE WORLD CUP

Whether or not you’re a fan of soccer, chances are good that you’ve at least heard or seen a bit of the World Cup. The FIFA World Cup was first played back in 1930, and since then it has become the largest single-event sporting competition in the entire world. While the World Cup only rolls around once every four years, here are valuable customer service lessons that are to be learned from the game of soccer.

There Is Always Competition and Only One Winner

While you might not be up against the 208 member associations of FIFA, you undoubtedly have your share of competitors. No matter what you’re selling or what industry you’re in, customers only choose one vendor which means there is only one winner. Make sure that you’re always providing and using awesome customer service to your advantage to make your customers stand and cheer you on.

Operate as a Team
No customer service employee should ever be abandoned on an island, no matter how good they might be at their job. Not only will your employees need the best support possible, your customers will to. Never forget that working in a team is more productive than working on your own as the lone ranger.

Pass the Ball When the Time Is Right
Sometimes doing what’s best for your team and your customers is admitting when something is beyond your abilities. Don’t be afraid to pass a customer along to another team mate or tell them that you’ll get back to them in a short while with a more informed answer. The customer will appreciate your honesty even if it takes bit longer. Lying is a sure fire way to fail at turning customers into advocates for your business.

Understand Your Team’s Strengths and Weaknesses

While you may like the idea of being a jack of all trades, your customers probably won’t. It’s better for your business and your customers to be assisted by employees who know where their strengths lie and when they should allow someone else to take care of a support request. Rather than “winging it” when a customer calls about something that you’re unfamiliar with, transfer them and make a note to learn more about their inquiry so that you can be better informed for next time.

It’s Important to Have Both Defence and Offence
Not only should you and the rest of your support team be in place to take care of customers when they call (defence), you’ll also want to get in touch with customers to see how they’re doing before they call (offence). Take a minute and think about how reassuring it feels knowing that you’re supported by your customer service team mates. Make your customers feel the same way.

Don’t Go Out of Bounds
While it might be tempting to use any means necessary to win the customer service game, always play by the rules and refrain from playing dirty. Even if you don’t get caught the first time or even the third time, you never know when the truth will catch up to you.

Credit: Ben Puzzuoli

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CUSTOMER SERVICE TONE IN ACTION

Email copywriting has all of the hallmarks of classic direct response mailings. It’s the channel of choice for marketers who want to make sales, not #hashtags.

It could be interesting, then, to test whether or not a “customer service tone” might work with a channel that usually allows fairly aggressive pitches and selling. That’s what Active Network, a large event management software provider, did in an exceptional case study posted on MarketingExperiments.

They wanted to know how they could improve total lead inquiries from prospects who abandoned the free trial sign-up process. They saw this as a big leak for the company, and they recognized the opportunity to improve with their follow-up broadcasts.

The test, unsurprisingly, consisted of a change in tone that put the following two conversational styles against each other:

• Treatment #1: “Prospects who abandoned the free trial sign-up were sent an email that focused on the value of the software.”
• Treatment #2: “Prospects are engaged by addressing the elements of anxiety, or what lead them to abandon the sign-up process.”

In other words, the second treatment had a “customer service tone”—focusing on “What didn’t you like, what can we help you with?” over a more traditional sales pitch. Frankly, the results of the test surprised me:

“The direct response tone in Treatment #1 gives you a good reason to start now and the second one is a helpful tone that’s focused on reducing your anxiety,” Flint said. The marketers at Active Network saw a 349% increase in lead inquiry rate by addressing customer anxiety through the tone of the email copy.


 
 

While you shouldn’t throw away your copy of Breakthrough Advertising anytime soon, it’s certainly interesting to see how an email that eschewed hard selling in favor of a personal, helpful style could perform this well.

The success of this test lead me to look into other ways this casual customer service tone might be used in communicating with customers.


Think about the companies you love to interact with—there’s a good chance they’re putting this conversation style to use already.

Culled from Helpscout

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HOW ARIK AIR STEALS FROM US

This customer's service experience was culled from Premium Times Nigeria.

Please read below and your comments and contributions will be highly appreciated.

" Nwafor went on a short vacation to Johannesburg on October 24, 2013. She boarded the Abuja– Lagos-Johannesburg flight with the airline using its Boeing 737-800 plane for the W3103 international flight.

Immediately she arrived Johannesburg and retrieved her briefcase from the luggage section, she noticed its lock had been broken.

On noticing the broken lock, Ms. Nwafor said she approached the Arik Air desk in Johannesburg to inquire if there was security check on her bag.

“When I picked up my luggage, I noticed that the padlock of my briefcase had been broken. So I went to the Arik desk in Johannesburg to file a complaint and find out what had happened; probably they must have broken it for security check although I did not see any sticker to indicate that,” Ms. Nwafor said.

To her surprise, the man on the desk informed her that there was no security check on her bag as such checks were not done by the airline in Johannesburg, and any such checks would have been done in Lagos.

However, he gave her a complaint form to fill; should she “discover any items missing from my suitcase.”

Ms. Nwafor told PREMIUM TIMES she decided to keep mum on the incident as she had no time to check through and be sure there were missing items in the bag.

“I wasn’t going to say anything about it,” she said. “But when we arrived in Lagos on our return flight, I boarded the shuttle bus with a number of people; about 20 of them and it turned out that nine had had the same experience and things were actually stolen from them.”

While Ms. Nwafor was lucky nothing was stolen from her bag, several other passengers on a similar flight three days later had worse experience.

A team of victims

Prince Sajere, who led a nine-member contingent, including the Miss Ambassador for Peace 2013, on a trip to Johannesburg said the flight was a very sad experience for his team.

He explained that having had his bag broken into and property stolen on a previous Arik flight, he only felt bad for the young women he travelled with as most of them were on that route for the first time.

“It was a sad experience. I led a team of beauty pageants from Lagos to Johannesburg on the October 27; the flight was by 10:45pm.

“Before we boarded the flight that very day, they called the attention of one of us that her bag was torn, immediately I saw it I knew it was Arik that tampered with it because one time I travelled with my family on Arik (Lagos to Johannesburg), they stole my iPad device.

Mr. Sajere said he asked the lady to check for any missing item in the bag. She didn’t because of her eagerness for the trip and because people had started boarding the plane.

The situation, however, worsened upon arrival in Johannesburg.

“Immediately we arrived, a particular girl started complaining that her iPad was gone from her bag. The girl that her bag was torn then realized that her clothes and jewelry were stolen; my perfume and shoes were also stolen from my bag. Every one of us had one or two things missing from our bags,” Mr. Sajere said.

Just like Ms. Nwafor, Mr. Sajere and his team complained to the airline’s desk in Johannesburg, but were referred to Arik Air’s headquarters in Lagos.

Mr. Sajere told PREMIUM TIMES that Arik Air officials in Johannesburg blamed their Lagos colleagues for the theft. They also told him that they had received many such complaints from Lagos passengers.

“We complained at Arik office in Jo’burg and they said we have to get back to Lagos to make a complaint, that it must be the Arik people from Lagos. They also said that a lot of complaints have been coming from their direction,” he said.

Any hope that Mr. Sajere and his team would get a redress at the Lagos office of the airline was dashed a few days later.

“Immediately I got to Lagos with the team, we went to the Lagos Arik office on November 1 (2013). I was speaking with the station Manager; a Yoruba guy, I can’t recall his name. He was nonchalant over our complaint and later two guys came as if we were in a court asking us what happened, when and how it happened and so on. Then they said we should go online to fill a form which can easily be denied and meanwhile there was no form online to be filled out,” he said.

When the team boarded the transit bus from the international terminal of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport to the local terminal, they realised they were not the only victims of the theft on the Arik flights, they met Ms. Nwafor and other passengers who suffered similar fate. All had returned on the same flight to Lagos from Johannesburg and shared their experiences.

“Immediately we boarded a transit bus in Lagos international airport to local, I was just trying to talk to the lady beside me about what happened,” Mr. Sajere said. “Immediately everybody started complaining about the same issues. It’s a pity that this happens here often, where our litigation doesn’t work, nobody cares.”

One of the members of Mr. Nwafor’s team, Queen Irene, was too angered by the loss of her white mini-iPad that she declined to speak further on the matter.

Another passenger on the same flight, Etim Emoh, told PREMIUM TIMES that two pairs of shoes were stolen from his bag on another flight to Johannesburg.

Aviation officials react

Several Arik officials spoken to at the Lagos airport by the victims and PREMIUM TIMES reporter blamed aviation officials who manage luggage handling for the theft.

But the spokesperson for the aviation agencies, Yakubu Datti, told PREMIUM TIMES that it was totally irresponsible for any airline operative to blame the aviation agencies for its inadequacy.

“We don’t get involved in their searches and they should be able to own up,” Mr. Datti said. “It’s a lazy argument for anybody to blame other people for their ineptitude. We create a plane ground for all users of aviation services and if one out of 10 airlines are blaming us for their inadequacy; it’s a rather lazy argument.

“We believe that any airline not only Arik should sit up to their responsibilities to the passengers because whoever pays to expect some services by these are airlines have the Passengers Bill of Rights protection.”

He noted that all Nigerian air travellers’ right must be respected as contained in the Passenger’s Bill of Rights.

“The Nigerian passenger’s right must be respected as it is done internationally, that is why we do not condone any action in form of disrespect to any passenger flying Nigerian airlines.

“The Passenger Bill clearly states the sanctions and in every airport there is the Consumer Protection Commission, [CPC] desk headed by a Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, staff, where passengers can lodge their complaints,” he said.

He also said there are telephone numbers available for air passengers to call and lay their complaints, saying it is only when such complaints are laid that the agencies undertake investigations."

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CAN EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE BE DELIVERED THROUGH EMAIL?PART TWO

2. Zappos Knocks out a Customer Dilemma

Zappos is a company well known for insanely good (and literally record breaking) customer service, but can the magic really last over a channel like email?

The Zappos team apparently answers with a resounding, “Yes!” and in what is perhaps one of the most notorious customer service screenshots of all time (originally shared on Reddit), a Zappos support rep named Paul responds to a customer’s unfortunate dilemma with a pair of ragged shoes order from the service.

How he handles the situation is nothing short of legendary:

View Larger Version

What makes this email so great can be summed up in one word: personality.

This email serves as one of the very best examples of support via email that you’ll ever see, and that is because Paul paints a very clear picture of why customer service over email doesn't have to be boring, bland, or lacking in personality.

Paul's style may not work for every support rep, but his enthusiasm for getting customers excited about even a simple email is something everyone in the support space should aspire too. Three cheers for Paul and the Zappos team for crafting for a customer what is undoubtedly one of the most creative customer service emails of all time.

3. FrozenByte Cuts the Red Tape

The gaming software known as Steam allows users to play purchased computer games via an account, with no need for a CD. Unfortunately, this can create a conflict when different versions are released through platforms like Amazon.

That's the problem Eduardo ran into when he purchased a game from Amazon and couldn't get it to work on Steam. He decided to email Frozenbyte, the creator of the game, to see what could be done.

This is a classic case of not letting red tape get in the way of a paying customer's satisfaction. With a single email, Joel from the Frozenbyte support team made things right for Eduardo by giving him a "Steam key" (to activate the game) for free.

He let this customer know that Frozenbyte is the type of company that plays fair with customers and cares more about selling to people who love their products than ringing each customer for all they're worth.

4. How Callaway Keeps Customers Coming Back

Any avid golfer knows about—and has likely coveted—a sleek new set of Callaway golf clubs. As a premium brand, Callaway is obviously expected to deliver on product quality, but as you'll see from this next example, many of their customers stay for life thanks to their top notch customer service.

As a new customer, George was distraught to find that his Odessey putter (a brand owned by Callaway) had begun to lose its grip. The model that he owned was discontinued, so he contacted Callaway's customer service to see where he could buy a new grip, saying that he would be "willing to pay a fair amount" since he was especially fond of the putter and didn't want to give it up.

A Callaway customer service rep named Sean received George's email and said that all he needed was George's address so that he could send him a new grip⎯free of charge.

View Larger Version

Less than two days later, the brand new grip for a discontinued putter was at his doorstep! George would later share the story on Reddit, saying:

“I want to buy more Callaway products.

Culled from Helpscout.net
 

Lots more.”

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CAN EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE BE DELIVERED THROUGH EMAIL?PART ONE

It's no secret that we as consumers love communicating through technology.

As a result customer service has adapted, and with each passing year begins to rely more heavily on channels like email in order to solve customer dilemmas.

Many might tell you that email is too impersonal to deliver the kind of quality service that customers remember—but is that really the case?

In order to answer that question, I ventured out to see if I could find examples of customer service over email that were so good that the customer just had to share his or her experience.

After all, if you can get a busy customer to screen-capture a single email and share it on the web, you must be doing something right.

I came across some excellent examples, and below you'll find 7 of my favorites that showcase how great things can be done through email when it comes to taking care of customers.

1. Timex Turns the Tables on a Bad Situation

For many folks, a Timex was one of the first watches they’ve ever owned, as they are known for being very affordable and quite durable for the price.

What you may not know is that Timex—despite selling a bargain product—is well known for their excellent customer service.

Consider this example shared ,while biking a while back, Mike had the unfortunate experience of being in a hit-and-run accident, in which he broke a collarbone.

A sour situation, only made worse by the fact that his beloved Timex was also smashed in the process. Not looking for sympathy, but rather a solution, Mike emailed Timex customer support to find out how he could get the watch fixed, and how much it would cost.To his surprise, a Timex rep told him that “We are sure you have enough to worry about after your accident and getting your watch repaired shouldn’t be one of them,” offering to repair or replace it at no charge.

We give Judy a ton of respect for being able to empathize with a customer’s situation, and to Timex for being a company that ensures it’s support reps have the leeway to make things right for customers in unusual circumstances.

It seems they’ve won a customer for life in Mike, and hopefully they’ve served as an inspiration for all businesses to understand how to handle out of the ordinary circumstances like this over email.

We’re very happy to share this story with you for one other reason—I only found out about this situation by seeing a comment Mike left on one of my older articles. It’s nice to see great service happening for the benefit of the customer, and not for the pursuit of good PR.

In fact, the only public mention that I’ve found from Timex about this incident was their get well wish to Mike:

That’s customer service with some class.

Culled from helpscout.

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HOW TO MAKE CUSTOMERS FALL IN LOVE WITH YOUR BRAND

Let’s talk about a word that is not used regularly, or comfortably, in the corporate world. That word is LOVE. While it isn’t spoken, it is what all executives want: People to LOVE their brand. They want their employees to LOVE working for them. We all want our Customers to LOVE us. Think about the top brands in the world: people don’t buy from Starbucks, they LOVE Starbucks. People LOVE Apple, Zappos, Nordstrom, Chick-fil-A, and Amazon. Think about the companies you personally would never stop doing business with? You may LOVE your hairdresser, or your account executive, manufacturer/distributor; you might even LOVE your banker or lawyer (crazy as that sounds).  What makes you LOVE a service provider or business? What did they do to make you LOVE them? How many of your Customers would make heart-shapes about your brand? I LOVE the phrase out love your competition Out-Loving your competition is the most distinct competitive advantage a company can have. When enough Customers LOVE your business, you have just made price irrevelant .What do we have to do to make our Customers LOVE us and our businesses?

You have to LOVE them first – LOVE has to start at home.What is felt on the inside will be felt on the outside. All relationships begin with a connection. It may only be momentary  (your heart skips a beat) possibly originating out of the first three of the five E's(eye contact, enthusiastic greet, and ear to ear smile). It grows a little bit more when a conversation is had, executing on the final two E’s (engage and educate). Through this interaction, the Customer realizes it is not about the sale, rather you are truly interested in what’s best for them. Interest and trust has been created.  However, emotional connection isn’t made until the business demonstrates genuine care and interest in more than just their pocket book. Falling in LOVE with your brand is not possible until the Customer feels that it is all about them, that they are the most important person in the relationship. The business needs to take the time to learn about them, using Customer intelligence, their FORD — about their Family, Occupation, Recreation and Dreams.  Due to the relationship you have created, the Customer cannot recall how they ever got along before you were in their life and could not imagine a world without your business. You now have a brand evangelist.

What we need is LOVE - Let’s teach what kindness looks like, in business, in family, communities and schools. Have employees learn about caring for others with no hidden agenda to make a sale or profit. 

Credits:John DiJulius

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MY EXPERIENCE AT TANTALIZERS IN ABULE EGBA

A reader by name Fram Temple sent in her experience at Tantalizers food outlet in Abule Egba .

"I hate junk foods and I hardly go for it, but I was about joining a bus to ibadan and I was deeply pressed so I decided to make use of the eatery's toilet while at least patronising them. After using the lavatory, I ordered for burger nd meat pie, I was curious when d burger was put in microwave, but didn't question d lady bcs I was in a hurry, she was even telling me that she does not hv 270 naira which is my balance but upon my insistence, she reluctantly handedd over 200 naira while I let d 70 naira for her. I joined the bus at d park and settled for d meat pie, alas! The odour that came out of it after I took a bite was a rotten and sour like one, I threw it away, nd take d burger, but immediately I took a bite, I vomitted inside bus, d burger tasted like bread soaked in palm wine. I wl never patronise them again, the management of this outlet should improve or lock up d place".
I hope the msnagement of Tantalizers will respond to this,it happened on Saturday May 31st,2014.

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