Category: Customer Experience Design

Customer Experience Design by myragoldenNov 15, 20161:17 PM

6 Verbal Aikido Tactics Everyone Who Handles Difficult Customers Should be Using

Aikido woman

No matter what your product or service is or what business you’re in, your employees will have to deal with difficult customers.

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I know that’s an easy question, but here’s the problem:

Very few people in customer service actually get the training they need to get an angry customer to back down, regain control and gracefully respond to the customer who demands to speak to a supervisor.

So that’s why I’m sharing these tactics… to show you a fast and easy new way your employees can create calm and regain control with difficult customers.

Customer Experience Design by myragoldenNov 7, 201612:45 PM

7 Comebacks for the Customer Who Cusses at You

To get straight to the 7 Comebacks for the Customer Who Cusses at You, head to the end of this post. I won’t be offended at all. But if you have a minute, I’d like to tell you about my weekend first, and the conversation that inspired this post, addressing customers who swear.

It’s been a busy time for me with work lately, but I made enjoyment and family the priority over the weekend. Last week was dedicated to preparing for a keynote for the wonderful folks at F&M Bank. I delivered the keynote on Saturday and it was so very well received. God was with me!

After my keynote, I met up with my daughter and we walked to a lovely vegan-friendly restaurant in downtown Oklahoma City. My daughter had already eaten, so she enjoyed a decadent dessert while I savored every bite of my Cauliflower Steak lunch, with kale gremolata, and scarlet quinoa with apples and squash. I loved it!

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Customer Experience Design by myragoldenNov 2, 20169:01 PM

7 Things You Can Say to Demonstrate Empathy to Customers

One of the skills we practice in my onsite customer service workshops is Empathy. Here are some of the exact phrases that I share in my training sessions for use in our role-plays – and in real life with customers.

Customer Experience Design by myragoldenNov 1, 20167:55 AM

The Most Crushing Mistake Most Customer Service People Make: Not Being Friendly o_O

shocked customer service representative

On the way into my office this morning I stopped to get coffee and breakfast for my team. I don’t do this often enough. When I managed a call center, I would regularly pick up donuts or pastries. I have to do better in my own company. Do you bring treats in for your team? If so, how often do you do it? I need the motivation to get back in gear.

I wanted to treat my small team today for working so hard over the weekend and yesterday into the evening on the big project of moving our entire eLearning roster and training modules to a new hosting site.

My first stop was at a fast food restaurant. I pulled up to the window, and this is what I heard. “Welcome to _____. Order when you’re ready.” The welcome, if you can call it that, was delivered loudly, matter-of-factly, and it even suggested that I needed to hurry up and order, and not wait until I was ready.

I placed my first order. I barely finished my sentence when the person said; “Your total is $5.12 at the first window.” I still had several more items to order! When I awkwardly said, “I actually have more things I’d like to pick up today.” the lady said, “Go ahead when you’re ready.”

I finished up this tedious ordering process, and 10 minutes later I was in the drive-thru at Starbucks, which is next door to the fast food place.

I pull up to the Starbucks drive-thru, and I am greeted with:

Customer Experience Design by myragoldenOct 18, 20168:00 AM

If Your Customer Experience Is Still Bad After Great Training & Coaching, This Is Probably Why

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Making customers jump through hoops to get problems resolved ruins the customer experience

So I bought a pair of Christian Louboutin shoes – the red bottom stilettos. I put them on and oh, did they look good! My calf muscles just popped in these shoes. Without even realizing it, I walked with a little “switch” in my hips. I could totally see myself taking the keynote stage in these shoes with the lipstick-red sole, wearing one of my little black dresses.

As I “test-walked” in my new shoes, I realized they hurt my feet! My stride was pained. I was cute but nowhere close to comfortable. There’s no way I could deliver a keynote in these shoes! I can have sexy red-soled shoes, yes. But what good are sexy shoes if I’m in pain?

Here’s what my red bottom stilettos, now on a UPS truck back to New York, have to do with your customer experience: What good is it to have delightful employees, if customers have to work too hard to get help?

Friendly and delightful employees are great, yes. But what your customers really want is a smooth, easy experience. Here are 3 ways to give your customers what they really want: help.

Customer Experience Design by myragoldenOct 11, 20166:51 PM

Fitbit’s Chat Experience is the Best I’ve Seen In Awhile

fitbit

My Fitbit bejeweled with Sterling Silver and Sleeping Beauty Turquoise

I wear a Fitbit to track my steps. My daily step goal is 12,000 steps and most days I exceed that. Last Friday during a full day workshop in Austin, I got 8,000 steps just during the training. No kidding! I talk with my hands and I move constantly, so the high step count doesn’t surprise me.

I love my Fitbit. Two weeks ago, my Fitbit band broke. It just split in half. So, I went to Fitbit’s website and opened up a chat. Jomar at Fitbit helped me out.

Jomar opened the chat with, “I’m sorry to hear about the damage to your fitbit band. Rest assured, I’ll do my best to help.”

Ahhh… I loved that!

Then he said, “To get started, may I know the email address associated with your account?”

I gave him my email address and then he said, “Please allow me a moment to check your account.”

After a little time passed, Jomar said, “Almost done checking. While checking, may I know your country of residence?”

The great news is my Fitbit was covered under warranty and when I heard this I said, “Yay!” Jomar then said, “I’m glad to know I can get you back on track with a replacement to Flex’s band.”

Jomar at Fitbit was excellent. The chat was personalized, he remained engaged, Jomar effectively made an emotional connection with me and the chat was short and sweet.

My Fitbit chat experience got me thinking about something I do all of the time.

Customer Experience Design by myragoldenOct 11, 20168:00 AM

3 Ways Your Employees Are Killing Your Customer Experience

Bad Customer Servcie iStock_75926623_XLARGE.jpg

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Making it hard, rudeness and fighting with customers ruins the customer experience

I’m standing at the front desk of a nice hotel in Baltimore. The front desk clerk is having a problem with my reservation. I wondered if it was because I had literally just booked the reservation 45 minutes prior, just as I got into my rental car at the airport. I told the hotel employee that perhaps my very recent booking was the problem.

He called hotels.com, the company I used for booking, not once, but two times, about my reservation. When he didn’t get things sorted out after 2 long calls to hotels.com, he told me, “I’m just going to cancel your hotels.com reservation and rebook you in our system.”

I was eager to get into my room and rest up for a week of full-day training sessions. His suggestion sounded good to me. That is, until, a couple of months later when checking my hotels.com account, I get a message stating that my 6-night hotel stay in Baltimore had been removed from my Rewards Account and that I would not get credit for that stay.

The primary reason I use hotels.com is for the rewards. I travel a lot. It takes 10 hotel stays to earn a free hotel night. In June I received two free hotel nights and used both of those nights for get-aways with my husband. I travel a lot.

Now, hotels.com is telling me that because they couldn’t help my hotel in Baltimore sort out a problem, they are removing my earned rewards?

Using hotels.com as the perfect example, I will walk you through 3 Ways Your Employees Are Killing Your Customer Experience.

Customer Experience Design by myragoldenOct 4, 20168:12 AM

How to Talk to Your Employees About the Way They Talk to Customers

the-boys — My husband helping our son with homework a couple of nights ago

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Maintain employees’ esteem when giving constructive feedback, so you protect the relationship and get behavior change

I’m sitting on my patio, with my feet up. It’s cloudy, and there’s a light breeze. Such a contrast to the oppressively hot and humid summer we’ve had

Sitting here on my patio I made a list of 50 things that I’m happy about right now. I do this exercise from time to time, whenever my mood needs lifting. Some of the things on my list are:

I got all of the wood polished.
Though Warren’s team lost, his spirit remains high.
ClearCorrect trusted me to train their team for the second time, and I’m fully prepared for the big day!
We had a fantastic getaway to Dallas, and I’m so glad Dad was able to join us.
My homemade lunch, Portobello Mushroom Burgers, and Sweet Potato Fries were amazing!
Michelle’s Dad’s cancer is gone! God is good!
My lunch yesterday with Toneille at the Vault was fantastic! The vegan food was fabulous, and I loved catching up with Toneille.

My husband is one of the coaches on our son’s football team. We got beat 43 – 0 on Saturday. The loss felt as bad as it sounds. Right now my husband is sitting in front of the computer with my son watching game film. He was pointing out everything my son did wrong.

My son’s body language and tone told me my husband was bringing him down. That’s why I’m on the patio. I had to get out of the house.

Customer Experience Design by myragoldenSep 21, 20167:15 PM

Story highlights:

Empathy, Casual Language, and Personal Pronouns are the secret to amazing complaint response emails

Have you heard of Blue Apron? It’s a grocery delivery service, basically. You get recipes and perfectly proportioned ingredients sent to you, and all you have to do is whip up gourmet meals in your kitchen. I use services like this literally every week. I just don’t have time to grocery shop with my busy kids and my travel schedule.

Well, the first time I tried Blue Apron, my food box came with a little problem. My bag of lentils had a small hole in it, and the lentils spilled.

I emailed Blue Apron that morning, and two hours later this is the response I got:

Customer Experience Design by myragoldenSep 20, 20169:02 AM

4 Things Every Supervisor Should Be Doing to Address Unacceptable Employee Performance

Portrait of a smiling business woman with an afro in bright glass office

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Setting clear expectations, getting employees to agree on performance gaps, explaining consequences of not meeting expectations and follow-through are key in managing employee performance

I had to take my daughter’s phone from her last week. I don’t like that I had to do that, but I had a responsibility to take her phone. We have a rule in our house. Having a smartphone is a privilege and certain actions can result in a phone being taken away. One of those actions is a grade of a C or lower. My daughter’s Pre-AP Algebra 2 grade dropped to a 77%.

From the day we bought her first phone, my daughter has always known that any grade less than a B will result in loss of phone privileges. My daughter can see her grades daily online, as can her father and I. The expectations are set and clear. She has every possible opportunity to keep her phone, simply by maintaining excellent grades.

Yield

So, I don’t have to feel guilty about taking her phone away. There’s no benefit to her for me to go soft and let her slide. For what would I be teaching her if I let her slide? I’d be teaching her that she can slack and get away with it. She’d learn that my word is not solid. The focus and determination in academics my husband and I are trying to instill in her would be harder for us to teach. So, the consequences stick and it is indeed for her best.

As a supervisor or manager, can you easily set expectations and deliver consequences?

If you are a parent, you likely can easily set expectations for your child, issue consequences and not feel guilty about it. You know what you’re doing is best for your child. But, can you behave the same way at work?

Can you follow through on consequences, knowing employees were clear on your expectations? Can you discipline your employees without feeling guilty?

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Very few people in customer service actually get the training they need to get an angry customer to back down, regain control and gracefully respond to the customer who demands to speak to a supervisor.

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To get straight to the 7 Comebacks for the Customer Who Cusses at You, head to the end of this post. I won’t be offended at all. But if you have a minute, I’d like to tell you about my weekend first, and the conversation that inspired this post, addressing customers who swear.

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