Webinar: How 2 Give GR8 #CustomerService & Have Your Followers 'Like' You in All Social Channels

Customers are increasingly turning to social media to air their service issues – especially when they feel companies could give a tweet about them through other channels. In the process, your service reputation is now out in the open for everyone to see. But some companies are leading the charge to use services like Twitter, Facebook, and virtual communities to brand their 21st century service identity.

This webinar will show you how to leverage social media for better service if you’re new to it, and how to sharpen your virtual service image if you’re an old pro. Topics we’ll cover include:

• Why your service is going public and going viral: a look at today’s digital consumer
• Social media service success stories: Comcast, Southwest Airlines, Zappos, and more
• Understanding virtual service channels:
  • Twitter: A public dialogue that takes place in real time
  • Facebook: Building a community around your brand
  • Virtual communities: Communications channel or feeding frenzy
  • The blogosphere: Everyone has a soapbox
• Do’s and don’ts: How to communicate effectively in a cyber service world

A copy of this presentation is available in our SlideShare profile.

If you missed the webinar, the recorded version will be available soon. Share your thoughts and continue the discussion here.

Webinar: Why Customer Service is NOT Enough

The webinar “Why Customer Service is NOT Enough” was attended by hundreds of customer service and support professionals who submitted numerous questions during the webinar. Due to the time constraints of the event, Lisa was unable to answer all of the great questions submitted; however she has been gracious enough with her time to answer each one within our blog.

Whether you attended the webinar or not, you may find that the answers to these questions may also help you understand some of the strategies for improving the customer experience.

If you did not attend the webinar, we invite you to watch it now. Share your thoughts and continue the discussion here.

What about organizations who don’t really need to be on the phone all the time? We have an email to phone ratio of about 80:20. We only get on the phone if the issue is complex or critical, and needs personal explanation. We schedule calls with customers, and then get on the phone.

It sounds like your approach is a good one. Make certain your email responses are timely, within 4 hours is considered fast. Go back and check the content of the responses – eliminate jargon, write in complete sentences, be respectful and conversational. When on the scheduled call, have the “right” person on the call. Make certain that person is prepared and calls when promised and buy the Employees lunch…pizza, etc.  This would give the leaders a chance to visit with the Employees of the locations.

-Lisa

Customer service strategies should be implemented throughout the org. How can we sell the value to management so they participate in training and are a Champion? You have a great approach, fab stories and new ideas. Thank you! -Carol Davis, Inspiring More

Management typically responds to data. Your best sales strategy may be via data and best practices from other companies. Give them examples of management involvement in training as well as championing efforts. Invite management to listen in on calls or supply them with a link to listen in. Make it easy for them – download calls on to an iPod. Also create a role for them in training classes. Have them talk about purpose and the service culture.

-Lisa

What in an organizational culture reinforces a customer service mentality? Especially when you can’t give pay increases…..

How you treat people is important when no pay increases are available. Consider these options – Compliment their service efforts and do not take them for granted. Keep customer service on the agenda at team meetings so they realize how important their role is for the organization. Ask for their improvement ideas. Find ways to celebrate them with some fun rewards like food, movie tickets, gift cards etc.  Also be direct about the limited pay. Not acknowledging this issue will only lead to frustration and turnover.

-Lisa

I heard what you said about a businessman being a consumer but do you think B2B Customer Service needs to be a different level?

B2B customer service does need to be different yet many of the same elements must exist. B2B requires a closer relationship and possibly have a team “assigned” to the customer. The service should be more proactive. With a close relationship, you should be anticipating needs and working to meet them via conversations.

-Lisa

Don’t you find that the simplest things often make the biggest differences? -Vess

The simplest things can make a huge difference. You heard me say that the best get better by focusing on the fundamentals and the basics.

-Lisa

Why did you continue to use Delta Airlines when the service was so bad? -Michael

Good question – it is a pretty simple answer. I fly out of Atlanta where Delta is headquartered. They have the most direct flights going where I need to go. Luckily, they have flashes of improved service so it keeps me hopeful!

-Lisa

How do you effectively route customer questions to networking sites and other media such as text messages and Web chat from call centers while keeping the same enthusiasm?

Go ahead and answer the issue. Once you have taken care of them, educate on other ways to access answers in the future. Give them the “bonus” to using that method next time, i.e. time saving, convenience, 24/7.
-Lisa

When working in a tech support call center, we are looking to ‘reduce’ the number of people calling in to reduce cost. Is there a way to reduce calls and still maintain great customer service?

Consider technology; there are many customer service software suites available that can arm your organization with multiple channels of support in addition to phone. Self-service options such as a knowledgebase and downloads, online ticket submission and even chat for live assistance. Customer’s today want choices for their preferred method of support. Of course we recommend Parature Customer Service software to:

• Reduce support requests, issue resolution times & repetitive inquiries
• Raise the productivity of customer service representatives and reduce volume
• Improve your overall level of service & satisfaction increasing customer retention & loyalty

To learn more about the value of providing customers with choices for their preferred method of support, we invite you to read our free white paper entitled Multi-Channel Service: Enhancing the Customer Experience.

-Parature

We have a supervisor who is constantly late, absent but very good in using our system which is Five9. What should we do with her?

First the obvious question, does she know her tardiness and absenteeism are problems? Have you asked for a change, offered consequences and given her timelines for the change to occur? Too often we don’t do the basics. Stop ignoring this behavior. I don’t care if she if that good at your system. I bet someone reading this may be equally competent and would like that job.

-Lisa

Could you give some examples of how companies are moving toward valuing Customer Service as vital to their business revenue rather than a just a cost?

Pick up the books by Frederick Reichheld. His latest is “The Ultimate Question”. He is the expert on loyalty and provides great company examples on the value of loyalty. Reichheld was one of the first to put metrics to retention. Zappos is a company that definitely knows customer service is vital to business revenue.

-Lisa

How do you put metrics around customer loyalty and retention?

See answer above.

What do you think is the single greatest mistake organizations make that derails their customer service improvement aspirations?

Customer service is seen as a cost not vital to their success. There are many others – such as jumping from one service initiative to another, single minded focus on the shareholder, no one really owns the data and champions the efforts. Most organizations know what to do but execution seems to elude them.

-Lisa

Do I need to praise my boss? Is that needed to be done?

I love this question – go ahead and praise your boss if it is deserved. We all love praise when it is sincere and specific. Do it out of honesty and respect. Don’t do it if you are hoping it will get you praise in return.

-Lisa

How do you implement this philosophy with internal customers (a.k.a. fellow employees/captive customers)?

This is a culture issue. Make it clear from day one that how we treat each other is part of “the customer service philosophy” of the organization. If we do not serve well our internal team, then it is tough for them to serve the external customer.

-Lisa

What do you do if the front line CSRs are giving excellent customer service and other departments of the organization don’t provide the same and the front line has to make up for their inadequacies (lack of service.)

Start documenting the actions and then the costs of how other department’s inadequacies affect the bottom line. Is your team recovering in a way to costs the organization – free shipping, credits, discounts etc? Put those cost together and present to the leaders. Costs will get attention. Invite other departments to sit in on calls. Ask for their ideas on how to they can work together more effectively. For example, the IT team may need to “see” it from your view however you must be willing to understand their issues also.

-Lisa

What is a good way (in fact a best way) to handle the disconnect between the customer service professionals and their IT requests when IT team does not get back to their requests on time – Sasha

See answer above.

How do you keep the positive, energized team when they feel overworked and you can’t hire additional manpower even though they really need it?

Same answer as to a previous question.
How you treat people is important when no pay increases are available. Consider these options – Compliment their service efforts and do not take them for granted. Keep customer service on the agenda at team meetings so they realize how important their role is for the organization. Ask for their improvement ideas. Find ways to celebrate them with some fun rewards like food, movie tickets, gift cards etc.  Also be direct about the limited pay. Not acknowledging this issue will only lead to frustration and turnover.
-Lisa

The estimator at one of our largest customers (Customer “A”) willingly admits that we are his supplier of choice, and provide the best service and take the best care of his product. However, if he receives a lower quote for another supplier, he feels it unethical to call and ask if we have any room on our price, and will award the job to our competitor. He does not go out for lunch… we have a very friendly relationship, yet he has a wall up when it comes to discussing how we may get more of his business. How do we build our relationship to that higher level?

Sounds like quite an interesting customer. I am glad to hear you have a friendly relationship. Your best bet is to simply continue to encourage a two way conversation. Let him know how important his business is and how happy you are to be the supplier of choice. Then don’t be shy about approaching this issue. Your honesty about wanting him to call and your willingness and desire to work with him may play into his ethics. You are being ethical with your honesty, respect, delivering as promised and responsiveness. I wish you the best with this one!

-Lisa

How do you handle a situation when you did not receive sufficient training?

Start to track the issues and questions where you feel your training and knowledge is lacking. Then ask for help from the team leader or appropriate person. Look for resources that might be online or on a shelf around your department. There may be some soft skills training DVDs available if that is your need. My DVD series, How to Give Exceptional Customer Service, is used by many for ideas on handling customer situations. It can be found at www.lisaford.com. Another idea may be to find a more experienced person who is willing to mentor and help you.

-Lisa

I work for a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) organization, are there different ways of measuring customer loyalty besides focus groups? 2. Would you recommend a feedback link on the webpage?

I certainly recommend a feedback link on the webpage. Make certain someone is assigned to tracking the feedback. Only ask for information if you are willing to act on it. You can also use some of the surveys available such as surveymonkey.com and polldaddy.com. The one question I recommend asking is – If there is one thing we could do to improve our service, that one thing would be….?

-Lisa

Good customer service telephone habits?

Here is a laundry list – a short greeting, enunciate the greeting, avoid jargon, keep hold times brief when checking information, always thank the customer for waiting/holding, when transferring do a warm hand off if possible (get the other person on the line), use a tone of voice that is appropriate and respectful. The key is when the call is over did the customer feel served or processed?

-Lisa

Bad telephone habits to avoid?

Bad habits are when the greeting is so rushed and difficult to understand, poor listening so the customer must repeat themselves, transfers to voicemail, too much time with silence while the rep is checking on the answers and employees who lack knowledge or have an attitude.

-Lisa

Our agents are all home based so how do we keep then motivated and excited when their work load is very high with little time for breaks?

Ask for their ideas. You may want to create a forum for them to discuss their issues. They need community and a chance to feel a part of something. Then start thinking about how you can surprise them with some perks. I do believe small stuff works – send them a gift card, iTunes card, food, movie tickets.

-Lisa

I am wondering how Southwest came to be considered a standard for customer service excellence when they seem to randomly apply rules and regulations for customers of size. I have heard they have no standard for enforcing this “size” policy and that it varies according to agent. This seems a rather discriminatory policy to me, and a terrible customer service experience.

I do agree that consistency needs to be applied on the issue you mention here. However Southwest has been able to be a service star in many ways. Some of their strength has been in allowing employees to be empowered and use their judgment on behalf of the airline while balancing the needs of the customer. They also shine due to how they treat the employees. It does show in how employees create a fun service experience and help each other out. On the customer of size issue, I bet they are the first to admit that there is plenty of room for improving that process. The best organizations know every service can be tweaked and fixed.

-Lisa

For more information on Lisa Ford, please visit www.lisaford.com
Check out Lisa’s Customer Service Blog
To check speaking availability and fees, you can contact 760.603.8110 – Speakers Office
Follow Lisa on Twitter

Webinar: Why Customer Service is NOT Enough

Today’s customers want an experience that engages them and gives them a reason to remain connected to you. Their mindset is one that is fickle, demanding, vocal and not very loyal.

In this webinar, customer service expert, Lisa Ford outlines her strategies for improving the customer experience.

• Go beyond average service to a relationship
• Ask tough questions to examine the quality of your experience
• Learn the customer connection rules
• Focus the culture on everyday service excellence
• Create a team that is inspired to keep customers loyal

A copy of this presentation is available in our SlideShare profile.

If you missed the webinar, the recorded version is available here. Share your thoughts and continue the discussion here.

Watch: Why the Customer Experience Matters Most - Rosetta Stone's Customer Success Strategy

The webinar “Why the Customer Experience Matters Most – Rosetta Stone’s Customer Success Strategy” was attended by hundreds of customer service and support professionals who submitted numerous questions during the webinar. Due to the time constraints of the event, Jay was unable to answer all of the great questions submitted; however he has been gracious enough with his time to answer each one within our blog.

Whether you attended the webinar or not, you may find that the answers to these questions may also help you with your customer success strategy.

If you did not attend the webinar, we invite you to watch it now. Share your thoughts and continue the discussion here.

Do you have evaluation forms for your customers to fill out via Web or phone?

Evaluations, like feedback? We do use the ‘Submit a Request’ function on the portal. We also use the feedback forms for chat and are looking to implement for emails and phone. The key for us is to keep it optional and simple, so it’s super convenient for our customers and meaningful for our measures.

-Rosetta Stone

Are there a percentage of users from large companies that succeed with Rosetta Stone?

Rosetta Stone language-learning solutions are used by schools, organizations and millions of individuals in over 150 countries throughout the world.

-Rosetta Stone

Are you using work-at-home agents, especially for the native language coaches? How is that working out? Any lessons learned or best practices or ideal profile for these coaches?

Yes, we have on-site and work from home employees.  The key is to ensure that they can technically meet the requirements, and have an inherent cultural fit.  They actually care about our customers and want to make them happy and conversationally proficient in the language they are learning.  We put forth a significant effort in our screening and interview process.  Once hired, the training is thorough and fun for the profiles we hire – then it’s up to a strong QA and customer feedback process to ensure quality.

-Rosetta Stone

Is there a certain timeframe for someone to learn a new language?

We have children who use our product to learn to speak and adults who have been retired for years and are just interested in learning a new language.  Learning a new language can enrich one’s life; introduce new culture and a way to communicate.  Any time is a good time for that.

-Rosetta Stone

Is your customer service desk staffed with internal employees or outsourced?

Both – We have an incredibly low turnover rate internally, and we aim to leverage efficient and effective ways to provide convenient support regardless of location and language.  The number one focus for any person who serves as the face of Rosetta Stone is to be able to communicate our fun and encouraging culture to our customers in anything we do (regardless of communication channel).  We don’t script, but we invest in face-to-face time with our partners.  The training and QA is just as intense in house as it is out.

-Rosetta Stone

While social media is part of the new buzz with marketers, what tools are you using to parse existing users from new users?

It’s hard to track all the different user IDs that customers use in the various communication channels, and we handle that as we learn more from our learners.  We also allow our learners to provide as much or as little information as they would like within their profiles and we use Parature as our customer support database of record.  Generally, people who want to use specific channels are open to sharing the information required to support them easily on those channels.

-Rosetta Stone

How do you maintain high morale within a call center that provides information to the public for other city agencies?

We value all employees at all levels and invest in our customer facing resources from a training and rewards perspective.  Our transparency of our company goals to our employees helps them see how each employee fits into that picture.  Their passion for language learning and for our mission is strong – as long as we hire the right fit, it’s not hard to keep our employees motivated.  Everyone likes to contribute to the success of our learners.

-Rosetta Stone

How can I convince my manager to think about social media for customer service? So far they have been hesitant.

We studied quite a bit before we decided to dig in to each SM channel.  We experiment judiciously, researching the traffic regarding any request related to Rosetta Stone.  We found that our customers are already there, and they’re asking for help – we just needed to provide an official response – it was actually a way to influence, or at least officially monitor, interaction with our customers.  If we didn’t someone else would have, and it would have been out of our control.

-Rosetta Stone

How to Build a Culture of Loyalty - How Southwest Airlines Does It

Phenomenally successful Southwest Airlines is renowned for its stellar Customer service. Learn from former Southwest Executive and author of Lessons in Loyalty, Lorraine Grubbs, how Southwest built and maintains one of the most faithful Customer bases.

Southwest Airlines recognized long ago that they were in the Customer service industry, they just happened to fly airplanes. They were one of the few companies who realized the existence of dual Customers – the internal one (employees) and the external one (passengers, vendors, partners, etc). This Customer service mindset was established from the onset in the creation of their mission statement, which in two separate parts, vows to deliver care and service to both employees and Customers. Their continual dedication to achieving the highest level of Customer service led them to:

• Always capitalize the “C” in Customers to emphasize their importance
• Imbed each employee paycheck with a reminder message that their “Customers were responsible for providing this paycheck”
• Design a hiring system to attract and retain “Warrior Spirits” with innate Customer service skills
• Implement a recognition system and invite the external Customer to help recognize employees
• Utilize fun as a strategy to find the kid in everyone

In this webinar you’ll learn how to create a Customer Service culture in your organization, regardless of size. The principles and practices learned in this session will, when implemented correctly, boost the level of Customer loyalty in your organization, ultimately positioning your company as a leader in your industry and giving you a tremendous competitive advantage.

A copy of this presentation is available in our SlideShare profile.

If you missed the webinar, the recorded version is available here. Share your thoughts and continue the discussion here.

Webinar - In the Customers' Shoes: How Coffee Republic Built its Brand through Great Customer Experiences

An outstanding customer experience is the key to building and maintaining a successful brand and is a competitive differentiator that facilitates customer loyalty. A great motto and one endorsed by Coffee Republic; a company that transformed a nation of tea drinkers into one obsessed with ‘triple decaf half-caf lattes’ by focusing solely on the customer experience.

This insightful webinar provides you with a real-life entrepreneurial story of customer success. Hear Sahar Hashemi, Co-founder - Coffee Republic, present ‘In the Customers’ Shoes: How Coffee Republic Built its Brand through Great Customer Experiences’; she will discuss her customer experience philosophy and how it influences building and maintaining a successful brand. 

A copy of this presentation is available in our SlideShare profile.

If you missed the webinar, the recorded version is available here. Share your thoughts and continue the discussion here.

Webinar: Why the Customer Experience Matters Most - Rosetta Stone's Customer Success Strategy

Customers have never been more important than they are today, and the most successful organizations have realized the power of the customer experience and the need to create a customer-centric culture. One such successful organization is Rosetta Stone. They have not only implemented a complete customer-centric culture, but have fully embraced it; focusing on their customers’ success. In fact, their customer support is called ‘customer success’ and their support agents are ’success agents.’ This customer-focused environment, including multi-channel customer service, enables them to further promote their philosophy of listening to their customers and becoming better.

In this webinar, join Senior Vice President, Customer Success at Rosetta Stone, Jay Topper and featured guest, customer service and customer experience expert, William Band of Forrester Research to discover how a better customer experience can improve customer loyalty and your bottom line.

If you missed the webinar, the recorded version is available here. Share your thoughts and continue the discussion here.

A copy of this presentation is available in our SlideShare profile.

Metrics that Wow! How Coremetrics Became the Customer Service Model of Success

A customer-centric culture has never been more important to organizations than it is today, and the most successful customer service organizations have realized the criticality of the customer experience, as well as the need to make organizational changes to improve it.

But how do you facilitate an organizational shift? How do you recognize the need for change, develop a plan, determine customer & business impact, and get results? How do you achieve key support metrics such as?

• Customer satisfaction improved to 90%
• Agent responsiveness is up to 92%
• Agent product knowledge grew to 91%
• Customer loyalty jumped to 93%

The webinar “Metrics that Wow! How Coremetrics Became the Customer Service Model of Success” was attended by hundreds of customer service and support professionals who submitted numerous questions during the webinar. Due to the time constraints of the event, Paige and John were unable to answer all of the great questions submitted; however they have been gracious enough with their time to answer each one within our blog. 

Whether you attended the webinar or not, you may find that the answers to these questions may also help you become a customer service model of success.

If you missed the webinar, the recorded version is available here. Share your thoughts and continue the discussion here.

A copy of this presentation is available in our SlideShare profile.

Do metrics differ much by geography? 

It appears that they do in a few areas. I’m treading lightly here because it a touchy subject. Satisfaction scores, for example, are typically higher in North America than in EMEA and APAC. There are also geographies that may average slightly longer talk time or incident handling times because some cultures are much less brusque than in North America.

-John

Required practice should be in the intersection of the three, no?

A required practice is proven to be successful by its common use, and its adoption by high performing companies. That may not include reasonable practices, which show potential but are not fully baked yet.

-John

When the panelists speak of providing support where the customer wants to receive it – does this include using “outside” resources such as social networking (Facebook, feedback.com, blogs) as a service pipe, or does it mean opening up a wider offering of ways to reach into company service resources?

Well, both may apply, but in general we were speaking about supporting the channels your customers prefer. Many companies assume all customers would prefer phone if possible, but the truth is that different age and geographic demographics prefer different channels, and phone in general is dropping in popularity. It is important to survey customers to find out what social media channels they use, and in which social media channels they would expect to see a presence from you.  Just because your customers are on Facebook may not mean they want you to join the party–never assume.

            -John

For your example of the long hold times, would you recommend using resources to improve front line communications to reduce the number of calls coming in?

There are a lot of tactics for dealing with long hold times. If it is a sudden, short, unexpected peak, I’d go into “call back mode,” opening tickets and promising a call back to clear the queue. But if it is a chronic problem, you either need more staff or shorter calls. And yes, deflection is definitely an option. Be sure everyone calling in is reminded of self-service options and given a chance to use voice self-service if possible.

-John

Would it be more appropriate for Customers/End Users to judge the TSIA Star Awards rather than other suppliers?

Customers do have a big say. Applicants must provide a minimum of 6 quarters of customer satisfaction data, and the first question the judging form asks is: does the applicant have high enough satisfaction scores to qualify?  If they are at or below industry average, they aren’t considered for an award.

-John

Have you seen a growth in companies using Net Promoter Score (NPS) as a key metric?

 Absolutely.  I would say over half of our members are using some form of NetPromoter. I know that 60% have moved to Top Box scores, which often happens as part of a NP program. My only advice is to not stop doing your regular satisfaction work. Too much attention to loyalty and top box can easily ignore some “bottom box behavior.”

-John

How do you get your industry peers’ data?

One of the benefits of TSIA membership is access to our benchmark program. You enter your data, and then can compare your information to that of your peers. As part of membership, we provide a full benchmark review, comparing your financial, cost and quality performance across technical support, field service operations and professional services. I know of no other source for the information–I spent years at Forrester and everyone asked for this data and it just isn’t widely available.

-John

If you had to stack rank the initiatives required to execute on a massive change in support, what would rank at the top?

The key is to gain support from the top of the organization; CEO, President, whoever leads your business. With support from the top, all other initiatives are easy to obtain.

-Paige

How do you promote your customers to leverage the online Support Center?

All clients receive detailed training on how to leverage our Support Center as part of their training curriculum. Additionally, on the home page of the support site we have a recorded training on how to use our support. Outside of this, we reference knowledgebase articles and promote the support site with every interaction that comes into support.

-Paige

I am in the Healthcare industry and we are trying to balance the needs and regulations of HIPAA, with anticipating the needs of our patients. Do you have experience in the healthcare industry? If yes is there a different approach vs. other industries? Thanks

Unfortunately, I do not have experience in this industry and am not familiar with HIPAA. However, I would think that the initiatives we implemented would work with any industry.

-Paige

What were some of the methodologies that you used to identify and measure your service improvement opportunities? Did you apply any six sigma studies to complement metrics?

The key metrics for us are customer retention and client satisfaction metrics. From there it was identifying what improvements we could make and the numerous associated metrics for each initiative. 

-Paige

How large is the Support Organization at Coremetrics?

25 agents covering business and technical support.

-Paige

One of the challenges I’ve encountered as I’ve moved from a phone support model to a predominately email support model is the ability to gather and report some of the critical metrics such as FCR, handle time vs. total resolution time, cost per case vs. contact. Can you share your experience (challenges and successes) in achieving the same level of reporting, analytics, and performance results within the email support channel?

We use email to ticket functionality in Parature; our phone support has always been very minimal. We capture reporting from ticket creation to closure.

-Paige

Webinar: Getting Your Worst Customers to Love You

Most customer support teams are good at handling routine transactions. But what about a customer who is threatening to sue you? Or asks to have you fired? Or an employee who got so fed up with IT support that he smashed his laptop and then ran over it?

All of these are real situations that support professionals reported in a recent survey sponsored by Supportindustry.com and Parature. This interactive webinar, teaming communications skills expert and bestselling author Rich Gallagher with Parature’s VP of Marketing Gary McNeil, looks at how to handle situations like these and more. The open panel discussion format will examine the best practices, tools and technology behind handling your worst-case scenarios.

Congratulations to Rick Bruce, Jason Lorenz, and L Graves, winners of Rich Gallagher’s latest book “How to Tell Anyone Anything: Breakthrough Techniques for Handling Difficult Conversations at Work”.

If you missed the webinar, the recorded version is available here. Share your thoughts and continue the discussion here.

A copy of this presentation is available in our SlideShare profile. 

"Best Practices in Customer Service" Webinar Series

Delivered by the industry’s leading minds, this thought leadership series is designed to serve as a valuable resource to provide insight into customer service best practices and industry trends. The webinars in this series are ‘must attend’ events for any organization committed to improving the customer experience. We invite you to register for one or register for all depending on the topics that interest you.

Customer service industry experts, Robert Spector – bestselling author, Rich Gallagher of Point of Contact Group, Paige Newcombe of Coremetrics, John Ragsdale of Technology Services Industry Association (TSIA), Dr. Natalie Petouhoff of Forrester Research, Jay Topper of Rosetta Stone, Sahar Hashemi of Coffee Republic, Lorraine Grubbs-West of Lessons in Loyalty and Southwest Airlines, and Lisa Ford – customer service expert will focus on current industry technologies, best practices and trends that are key for organizations to improve their support processes to improve the customer experience.

The Best Practices in Customer Service webinar series:

The Nordstrom Way to Customer Service Excellence
Date: January 20, 2010 - 2:00pm EST
Presenter: Robert Spector - Bestselling Author of The Nordstrom Way to Customer Service Excellence
Watch recorded version

Getting Your Worst Customers to Love You: True Tales from the Front Lines of Customer Support
Date: February 24, 2010 - 2:00pm EST
Presenter: Rich Gallagher - Bestselling Author and Communications Skills Expert
Watch recorded version

Metrics that Wow! How Coremetrics Became the Customer Service Model of Success
Date: March 30, 2010 - 2:00pm EDT
Presenters: John Ragsdale - Vice President of Technology Research, TSIA and Paige Newcombe - Senior Director, Global Client Services, Coremetrics
Watch recorded version

Why the Customer Experience Matters Most – Rosetta Stone’s Customer Success Strategy
Date: April 21, 2010 - 2:00pm EDT
Presenters: Dr. Natalie Petouhoff - Senior Analyst, Forrester Research and Jay Topper - Vice President of Customer Success, Rosetta Stone
Watch recorded version

In the Customers’ Shoes: How Coffee Republic Built its Brand through Great Customer Experiences (UK Audience)
Date: April 28, 2010 - 9:00am EDT/2:00pm BST
Presenter: Sahar Hashemi - Co-founder, Coffee Republic
Watch recorded version

How to Build a Culture of Customer Loyalty – How Southwest Airlines Does It
Date: May 19, 2010 - 2:00pm EDT
Presenter: Lorraine Grubbs-West - President of Lessons in Loyalty and former Director of Employment at Southwest Airlines
Watch recorded version

Why Customer Service is NOT Enough
Date: June 22, 2010 - 2:00pm EDT
Presenter: Lisa Ford - Creator of How to Give Exceptional Customer Service and author of Exceptional Customer Service - Going Beyond Good Service to Exceed the Customer’s Expectations
Register Now

Parature’s “Best Practices in Customer Service” webinar series is designed to serve as an educational and informational resource for organizations throughout numerous industry sectors to gain insight into customer service best practices and to improve the customer experience.