Category: Customer Experience

Industries are often held together by unspoken hierarchies, signposts on the road to achievement.

In the fancy parts of the book business, it’s not profit. Editors are often unaware of which books are truly profitable. They keep track of cultural impact, literary respect, the idea of a book being ‘well published’ and the hard-to-measure currency of ‘important’.

The Kindle and the long tail changed that, with new entrants keeping track of something else.

The “A” list movies, on the other hand, have an entire circle of status that’s organized around Academy Awards, famous directors and a pecking order that would be invisible to many of us.

Netflix and Youtube changed that as well, with new entrants keeping track of shorter cycles and different metrics.

In Silicon Valley, which has been an engine of our future for thirty years, technical prowess and elegance were the key drivers.

Now, the focus has shifted to simplicity, memes and momentary cultural currency in search of big numbers. The new signposts are about cultural ubiquity, IPOs, quick flips and harvesting data.

Apps instead of programs, user interfaces that need no instructions and don’t really reward a lot of effort, and output that’s driven by both. Like a roach motel, the goal is to make it seductive and hard to escape.

The hierarchies of status drive decisions far more than we realize. We often architect the systems that create our culture without paying attention to why.

Skepticism is a virtue. It requires a willingness to question conventional wisdom, and the guts to accept something after you discover that it’s actually true.

Denialism, on the other hand, is a willful rejection of reality. It’s safe and easy, and unproductive. Because there’s no room to change your mind.

To be a generous skeptic, we need to state in advance specifically what it would take for us to engage with the proposed insight, and then do so after our standards are met.

This is hard work. It’s not easy to change one’s mind. Difficult but worth it. Big shifts in perception are rare and it’s not something we look forward to.

Skeptics are a key to the scientific method, organizational design and even investing. We sign up to doubt and question and push, and then we become productive contributors by embracing the new tools and results.

Often, people in denial pretend to be skeptics. It feels more powerful than acknowledging that we’re simply avoiding change.

Of course you’re interesting. There’s something about what you’ve done, what you say, how you show up in the world that’s worthy of interest.
But that doesn’t mean that people are interested.
We each have a noise in our heads, an agenda and something urgent that’s grabbing our attention. And so, the amount of interest you receive (or don’t receive) has little to do with how interesting you are and a lot to do with how the people you seek to serve have organized their priorities long before you got there.

submitted by /u/Express_Garage9682 [link] [comments]

It’s not a luxury, it’s a choice.

We can build slack into our lives. We can create cycles so that we don’t need to dance with a crisis around time on a regular basis.

If there’s another train after this one, you don’t have to fret.

If the deadline for the project is tomorrow, not today, you don’t have to sweat it.

If the guests aren’t arriving for an hour…

Sometimes, we choose to use the urgent crisis as fuel. We set up our lives around creating these deadlines, reminding ourselves that if we cross that line, we’re dead.

And then we allow the world to do it to us. To create urgencies simply to take our attention and focus.

Productivity is a measure of the value of what we ship in the time we’ve got to invest. It’s not measured in drama.

It’s possible to do great work without putting everything in jeopardy.

I work for a large trucking company and we are trying to create a new slogan for our company. We want to find a new, fresh, and creative way to say that we strive to provide the best customer experience without saying something basic like “Powering the Customer Experience” Any help to make this working slogan better/more unique would be amazing! submitted by /u/juliadavis2112 [link] [comments]

Two years of sporadic lockdowns have opened up the hiring landscape to more diverse workers, so it’s crucial to ensure you focus on inclusive agent engagement in your contact center.
Though there is no doubt that the shift to remote work took a period of adjustment for some individuals, it quickly became clear that many folks benefited from these changes. With remote work technology and shifts to e-commerce, many people who couldn’t access call center jobs could now participate.
That also opened more opportunities for people who couldn’t perform call center work before the pandemic. Hiring various people with various backgrounds, life experiences, and skillsets is beneficial to business and benefits everyone.
When companies start to bring diversity, equity, inclusivity, and accessibility to the forefront, it creates a work environment where all customers see themselves represented and agent engagement levels remain consistently high.
3 Ways to Drive Inclusive Agent EngagementClick To Tweet
Why is Inclusive Agent Engagement Important?
It’s the simplest equation we know—happy agents = happy customers.
If your contact center agents enjoy their work, feel up to the task, and are properly equipped for success, their customer interactions will be superior. Your customer satisfaction (CSat) scores will also get a boost.
When you create a diverse and inclusive, welcoming environment, people tend to be happier, show up more often, and work harder when they are there.
Now more than ever, people have higher expectations for the customer service they receive. When a customer calls your contact center, they want to speak with empathetic representatives and have their query resolved quickly and efficiently without transfers.

TIP:
Ensuring agents aren’t overwhelmed by call volumes is a great way to improve agent satisfaction. Fonolo’s Voice Call-Backs help smooth out call spikes and keep call volumes manageable—agents get some breathing room while the customer experience is improved.

Agents who can build a rapport with their customers automatically have more successful interactions. If agents are burnt out or have difficulty performing their tasks, they’re less likely to be engaged, which quickly impacts their interactions with customers.
How Does Accessibility Impact Employee Engagement?
Every agent has different needs, whether during training or performing their daily duties. If those needs are not met, in all likelihood, their numbers will be down, work will be frustrating for them, and overall agent performance will drop.
Making your call center accessible for all call center agents can require some investment. But it will save you more in the long run, making agents more productive, lowering turnover rates, and ultimately providing the best customer experience possible.
How to Improve Agent Engagement with Accessibility in Mind
1.    Ask every agent what they need to succeed at their job.
Empower agents by asking them exactly what they need to succeed. Every agent’s experience is different—but the best way to get agents what they need is simply by asking. Ask when they first join the team. Consider either a one-on-one meeting with management on their first day or provide an Accessibility Needs form for each agent.
Agent Engagement Will Be Critical for Contact Centers in 2022

Simply delivering necessary accessibility equipment isn’t enough. Regular check-ins are equally as important as asking in the first place. Always be sure to schedule follow-ups every few months. Our needs are constantly changing, and ensuring management is on top of it for their team will make agents feel cared for and, therefore, more loyal to the company.  
2.    Ensure every agent receives ongoing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) training.
Many people are unaware of their biases towards others, which can impact how they interact with their fellow employees and how engaged they feel at work. Making basic DEI training a core part of your call center training strategy will also help them empathize more and improve their interactions with customers.
Managers need to have a thorough understanding of DEI and should be provided separate learning opportunities specifically for DEI regarding management.
3.    Employ technology that agents need to do the best work possible.
When we design for disability, we all benefit. Bringing in technology that makes your workplace more inclusive and equitable will help everyone else.
9 Inclusive Practices to Boost Agent Performance

After getting a sense of what each employee needs to perform their job best, make sure you provide them with those tools. The longer an agent has to wait for equipment, the longer they’re unable to perform their duties correctly and the faster they’ll become less engaged and empowered. It’s also important that this equipment is quickly repaired if it fails for those same reasons.
Examples of accessibility technology might include:

Assistive devices for people with hearing or speech impairments
Ergonomic desk furniture and accessories
Large desktop monitors
Wheelchair ramps for in-office work

 The post 3 Ways to Drive Inclusive Agent Engagement first appeared on Fonolo.

There’s a time gap.

Marketers raise expectations in order to get someone to sign up and try a product and service.

And (hopefully) there’s satisfaction, delight and remarkability once the organization actually delivers on what you promised.

In between, the trough.

You spend $400 per customer on rent and architecture and web design.

Perhaps it’s $200 per new customer on podcast ads or salespeople.

All of these expenses happen long before you deliver.

And then, you confront the new customer with a surly receptionist, a website that is hard to understand, a wait for a table, a mismatch in the professional you assign, slow customer service, packaging that is difficult to open, fine print that suddenly becomes obnoxious and expectations that aren’t met.

In this trough, we have a few options:

The first, the most common, is to try to ignore it. Let em seethe. Bet on time and momentum and sunk costs to get them over the hump.

The second, a variation of this, is to spend as little as you can to address the problem of the trough. Acknowledge the problem, sure, but throw boilerplate and your lowest cost (least trained, least respected) people at the problem.

The third, the intelligent, difficult choice, is to invest in onboarding.

At $50 an hour, a well-trained, passionate and committed person might be able to onboard four customers an hour. That’s $12.50 to protect the $300 to $800 (or more) it cost you to earn that customer’s trial in the first place.

This person isn’t a replacement for what you sell or deliver. This person is the bridge over the trough.

They’re the patient voice at the end of the phone (who picks up on one ring) to help with a recalcitrant bit of software. Or the person who sends a handwritten note telling the guest what to expect when they get to your hotel. Or the human who simply calls to say ‘hi’ as soon as the trough begins. Not reading a script, but working as hard to make a connection and a difference as your ads and your location do.

The key rhetorical question, usually unasked and unanswered: Is it an expense or an investment?

Notes: Promotion is the time and expense of encouraging non-customers to raise their expectations.

The trough kicks in when reality intrudes, when we’re trying to understand what’s actually involved, when sunk costs become clear and when buyer’s remorse begins. It’s the form, the warmup act and that feeling of being alone at a cocktail party filled with people who know each other.

Many of your potential lifelong, supportive and profitable customers never materialize on the other side of the trough, because they left before you had a chance to delight them.

Actual marketing success happens after the trough, when people become loyal, when the product or service is remarkable and when the word spreads.

I’m in the process of interviewing for a CX Advisor role with a really cool tech company. I have a lot of industry experience but this role would be a big leap for me from working for one company to working for more of an advisory company if that makes sense. I’ve been asked to prepare a 20 minute presentation based on a case scenario and how I would approach the situation and advise the client. Has anyone done something like this? Any tips on resources you used to prepare? Thanks! submitted by /u/aliciacary1 [link] [comments]

An astounding 97% of websites don’t offer a fully accessible digital experience to their users. This is despite the fact that millions in the UK self-identify as having a disability or an impairment that impacts their ability to use technology. Additionally, the 2019 Click-Away Pound survey found that 70% of people will leave a website…
The post Top ways to ensure a fully accessible digital experience appeared first on Customer Experience Magazine.