Author: Franz Malten Buemann

As we round the corner on the one-year mark of this pandemic, I want to take a moment to reflect on some of the key lessons that still hold true. Even as more people get the vaccine and we slowly edge into “normal life,” it’s vital for us not to waste this opportunity.
We must take the lessons of this last year and use them to shape how we lead our organizations into the future. Let’s take a look back on three of these critical lessons together.
Move How You Listen to Customers—From ASKING to UNDERSTANDING
Throughout the last year, I’ve spoken about the importance of shifting from validating the points we’ve predetermined to understanding our customers’ lives and how they’ve changed. In the next several years, this upheaval will continue and it’s critical that we stay nimble in learning what matters to our customers, how their lives are changing, and what they need.
Things won’t just go back to normal, so be sure that your team continues to learn and understand your customers’ pain points, their priorities, and where you can add value.
Read more in my original post here.

Weave Humanity Into How Companies Operate and Earn Greater Growth
I have loved seeing leaders shed their corporate veneer during this time, conducting town halls and listening sessions from their living rooms, with their dogs running around under foot. This humanity is critical–and it’s a shame that it has taken this crisis to truly make it central to how many leaders approach their work.
Even as we move forward, I encourage you to continue to hold onto that humanity and harness it as a central tenet of how you operate and shape experience for both your employees and your customers.
Read more about this topic here.

This time can become an opportunity for humanity to be woven into how companies operate and earn greater growth.Click To Tweet

Lessons From Leaders on Adapting During the Pandemic
Our community of experience professionals have been so giving and supportive during this time, and it’s been my honor to have so many incredible guests on my LinkedIn Live show, Daily Dose of Optimism, as well as on my podcast.
In these interviews, my guests have shared lessons on mapping a path forward for your team through clarity of vision, listening and pivoting to retain customers, and going back to fundamentals to provide positive experiences and support for our community.
These conversations are so thoughtful and valuable that you’ll be seeing some replays of several of my favorites in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, be sure that you read this post for insights from just three of these interviews. And visit my podcast page for all of the episodes.
The post Reflecting at the Year Mark: 3 Lessons on Leadership from a Year of Coronavirus appeared first on Customer Bliss.

“I’m sorry that your cat died,” does not mean that I killed your cat.

But, “I’m sorry that I stepped on your foot,” does mean that I stepped on your foot.

In creating connection and trying to make amends, we often get confused by the two kinds of ‘sorry’, and don’t apologize because we believe the problem wasn’t our fault.

“I’m sorry that you had to wait two hours while your car was being serviced.” That’s a valid sentence, even if it wasn’t your fault that the schedule was overfull.

“I’m sorry that you’re stranded here and you’re going to miss the big meeting. I know it was important,” is a useful thing to say even if you didn’t cause the snow storm.

“I’m sorry” can simply mean, “I see you.”

When does this rule apply?
It doesn’t apply to anyone we’ve ever hired.
It doesn’t apply to anything we’ve ever purchased.
It doesn’t apply to any project we’ve sponsored.
Or anyone we’ve ever voted for, dated or befriended, either.
In fact, it’s a great excuse for the things we’re afraid to do, or where our inclination is to say no anyway. If you’re hoping for inaction, look for perfect.

I originally posted this thread in r/SaaS, but I think it’s fitting for here too: I’ve been in the SaaS space for 2.5 years and haven’t been able to find anything that resembles what you’d find in the MSP space with a Peer Group. Is anyone here part of a customer service/customer experience-focused peer group for SaaS companies? If not, is there enough interest here to start something? For those unfamiliar, here are the main points of a peer group:
You get paired with a group of 6-10 similar, but non-competitive companies (example: I work for a SaaS company in the Risk Management industry, so I wouldn’t get paired up with any SaaS companies in the same, or adjacent industry). We would meet remotely 8-12 times/year (every 4-6 weeks) for 90 minutes max We would discuss our challenges and successes and share what’s worked/what hasn’t worked on our teams The people in the group would have similar job titles (Support or CX Supervisor, Manager, Team Lead, Director, etc…) so we’re all talking on the same operational level
The difference between a peer group and a reddit post are the peer group meet in real-time with a structured meeting environment. If you’d be interested in something like this, please show your interested in the comments by posting:
Your Job Title Your Industry How many people are on your team
That info will let me know if you’d be a good fit for the number of people already interested. We want to:
Keep similar job titles together so we’re talking on the same operational level; Avoid competitive companies being in the same peer group pod,; Keep similar sized teams grouped together (because what works for a team of 2 doesn’t necessarily scale to a team of 200)
If there’s enough interested I will get this set up. If anyone has concerns with the approach, I’d love to hear them – maybe there’s a reason these kinds of groups don’t exist in the SaaS space. If you’ve been part of a peer group before and want to offer any advice, I’m happy to hear that as well.
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More than ten, actually. Millions of books will be published this year and for good reason. People rarely regret the effort. Everyone has their own, but here are some of the reasons to get you started:

It clarifies your thinking.

It leaves behind a record of where you are in this moment.

It’s clearly not going to be a worldwide mass-market bestseller, so you can focus only on the people who want to hear from you.

It’s a project that is completely and totally up to you.

Because it’s a generous way to share.

As hobbies go, it’s energy-efficient, takes up very little space and is portable.

Because then you get to write another one.

It will increase your authority in your field.

We need to hear your ideas, they matter.

And then you become an author.

It’s not that hard to publish it when you’re done.

The publishing is a bonus, a way to seek completion, not the point of the exercise.

And… it’s not as lonely as you think.

PS if you sign up for my friend Kristin’s community of practice, you can do it together. With others on a similar journey. It’s generative, filled with possibility and fun.

How do I even start, I have so many anekdotes but I’m also interested in any of your “lovely” encounters with customers in the service industry. This just happened to me today: It’s Friday evening around 19:40h and a customer calls in. Luckily peak hours are already over so I have time to stay on this call just in case. This customer calls in to tell me he had food delivered THREE TO FOUR WEEKS AGO. So at this point, I already know what this gentleman wants but I let him finish his story. He tells me he had this one dish with salted pork belly and he doesn’t remember the name of the dish. I ask him, maybe it’s this one dish <name of the dish> and he agrees it must have been that one. I’m like “okay how can I help you?”. He goes on “the pork was very salty, I let several other people try it too. They all said it is too salty”. I answer him “I see your complaint, the dish is supposed to be salty however. It might have been extra salty because the cook might have rubbed too much salt on it. I offer my excuses if that were the case.” So the customer continues “So I’m not that type of person that would usually post some negative reviews but…”. SIGH, of course he would bring up posting negative reviews, since I’m not offering him compensation as of yet. At this point 2.5 minutes have passed before he finished his complaint and I answer “Ah I see”. Just to test him out. What will you say next sir??? “But I am WILLING to order something again but only if you give me compensation like a voucher”. THERE it is. Well I might need to add that we are a Chinese restaurant in the Netherlands, some people think we Chinese do not argue over such demands. He asked for a “kortingscode” explicitly. I’m taking a second to bring myself to breathe. “Sir, I am sorry but I cannot do that. Our products are for immediate consumption. Three to four weeks later is too late to bring us this complaint and get compensation”. At this point this customer gets loud: “I don’t think you know what I mean” – “Sir, I do know what you mean. You want compensation for your next order” – “NO, STOP TALKING THROUGH ME GIRLIE, I NEVER ASKED FOR KORTING”. I’m baffled, like bro you explicitly asked for a <kortingscode>. “Sir just a few sentences ago, you asked for <kortingscode>, I am literally quoting you”. “YOU ARE NOT LISTENING TO ME” – “okay sir, then what is it that you want?” – “I just wanted to know if I were to order something, if you could do something about the price of the food”. Bruh… Smh. “No sir, I cannot give you a discount” – “WELL THEN NOW YOU CAN SURELY COUNT ON THAT NEGATIVE REVIEW. I’M NOT GOING TO ORDER EVER AGAIN” – “Okay do that, goodbye 👋”. I hang up. Seconds later he calls again, mind you he doesn’t call anonymously so I recognize him. “Good evening this is restaurant <name> how may I help you?” – “YOU STUPID CUNT..” <click> I hang up again but I’m furious now. Did he just call me a cunt? Again he calls “I’M GOING TO KEEP THIS LINE OPEN BY CALLING OVER AND OVER AGAIN” I now lost my cool “DO WHATEVER YOU WANT FUCKER” and I hang up again. He keeps calling and calling and I just mute ourselves. Now I have this idea to call him with my mobile phone just to keep his phone busy, keeping our restaurant line free. But now an even more annoying thing happens. My brother, the idiot, engages in the call from my phone. He licks this customer’s ass and fifteen minutes later he gives him a discount code. And after that he lectures me about not being customer friendly. Telling me I want to “win” every argument. Nah bro, this guy calls us weeks later. Who in their right mind would not hang up?? So yeah that happened, one of many great encounters I have had with customers. Tell me if you agree with me or my brother? Or even the customer, before he called me a cunt of course. What are some of your crazy customer stories?
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