We do a lot of research into what makes a customer happy and what things an agent has to do in order to be effective (see our previous posts under Employee Engagement). Skills can be taught and are driven my attitude … the core values that cannot be changed and make us unique. You might call these values or principles or beliefs.

Based on our experience, here are four attitudes to look for in any customer-facing employee …

Another discussion on The Customer Experience Management group on LinkedIn is: Why do companies spoil a good experience with customer surveys? Obviously we have a bias toward the value of transactional surveys so we wanted to weigh in on what makes a good customer survey.

The Customer Experience Management group on LinkedIn has a rather lively discussion right now triggered around the question: What is the relationship between ‘having a good experience’ and ‘delighted customers’? And, can you create an ROI around ‘good experiences’. For my two-cents, I felt it worthwhile remembering that the customer’s perception of the value a company provides is more than the interaction with an agent … it is the entire relationship, which is driven by your differentiation / innovation strategy.

Adapting, innovating, and growing your business through aggressive innovation is a clear requirement for any successful executive these days. While not the only source for great ideas, Customer Intelligence is clearly an excellent tool in your innovation arsenal, both as a source for ideas and as part of implementing any new idea. In this final posting, we provide both general strategies and 5 specific steps you can use to create an innovative organization.

Adapting, innovating, and growing your business through aggressive innovation is a clear requirement for any successful executive these days. While not the only source for great ideas, Customer Intelligence is clearly an excellent tool in your innovation arsenal, both as a source for ideas and as part of implementing any new idea. In this fourth of a series of five postings, we ramp back up from the in-depth details of the customer’s relationship with your product or service and remind you of the basics of the customer’s experience … ultimately that is what you are being paid to provide.

Adapting, innovating, and growing your business through aggressive innovation is a clear requirement for any successful executive these days. While not the only source for great ideas, Customer Intelligence is clearly an excellent tool in your innovation arsenal, both as a source for ideas and as part of implementing any new idea. In this third of a series of five postings, we step beyond the stereotypical forms of innovation (price and product) and remind ourselves of the many different ways we can impact our customers.

Adapting, innovating, and growing your business through aggressive innovation is a clear requirement for any successful executive these days. While not the only source for great ideas, Customer Intelligence is clearly an excellent tool in your innovation arsenal, both as a source for ideas and as part of implementing any new idea. In this second of a series of five postings, we talk about the need for rapid innovation and the pivotal role Customer Intelligence plays in helping you to go fast and to go right.

Adapting, innovating, and growing your business through aggressive innovation is a clear requirement for any successful executive these days. While not the only source for great ideas, Customer Intelligence is an excellent tool to have in your innovation arsenal, both as a source for ideas and as part of implementing any new idea. In this first of a series of five postings, we enter into a brief discussion of innovation to establish the construct of the conversation. Then we will follow with a series of three examples of how Customer Intelligence can help fuel the fires of innovation.

A B2B software and services company with more than 450 CSRs was looking to standardize the service experience, making it more consistent across all agents. When reviewing C-SAT results by supervisor, the Director of Customer Service was not surprised to note that the supervisors she considered to be rising stars in her department tended to have teams with higher-than-average C-SAT scores.

What caught her attention, however, was that the same supervisors also had received higher levels of employee satisfaction and loyalty in a recent HR-sponsored employee survey.

Employee engagement is often the primary determinant of customer satisfaction with the service experience. Innovative, valuable products and services are vital but without a friendly, helpful, knowledgeable personal encounter, those products and services quickly become commodities. In addition, it is those motivated and engaged employees who design and create and deliver those valuable products and services. The higher the emotional attachment your employees have to the company and its customers, the higher their dedication, creativity, and performance.

Looking at the call center specifically, our research has confirmed what most HR professionals have been telling us for a long time: If you give your employees incentives and opportunities they are more likely to perform well.

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