The 4 Forces of Customer Service

Presented by iContact Support

October 2011

Purpose

Learn 4 key forces that shape your organization’s customer service experience.

Learn how you can actively improve your organization’s customer service experience.

Agenda

• Meet Sarah Stealey• The 4 forces of customer service• How to handle difficult customers• Examples of great customer service• Q & A

Sarah Stealey, Sr. VP of Customer Support

• MBA, Global Business, Pepperdine University.

• 15 years of sales, operations and client management experience

• Currently responsible for:- Technical Support- Learning and Development- Deliverability- Customer Billing- Customer Care

Sarah Stealey, Sr. VP of Customer Support

• Recipient of the 2011 Triangle Business Journal “40 under 40” award

• 2011 Triangle LLS Woman of the Year

• If she could take two things with her on a desert island, they would be: - Iona, her bossy Corgi- A signed, limited edition

Stephen King novel.

Why Customer Service Matters

• More competitors offering similar products and services

• Customer loyalty tested at each interaction with the company

• A bad experience can erase a customer’s memory of all the good experiences

Force 1:

• Perceptions of your Organization– Your perception– The customer’s perception

Your Perception

• What is your business?

• Who is your customer?

• What does your customer value?

• How do I engage employees to provide what customers value?

Adapted from the work of Dr. Peter F. Drucker,

Father of Management Theory

The Customer’s Perception

Own and shape the perception; don’t let others decide for you!

Force 2:

• Perceptions of the Organization• Customer Expectations

Main Customer Expectations

1. Courtesy & Professionalism

2. Understanding of the Problem

3. Recognition of Impact

4. Technical/Industry Knowledge

5. Coordination of Resources

6. Overall Quality

Rules of Service

Treat Others As You Have Been Treated.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Image file licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Author – User: Factoryjoe

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Customer Service

Source: “Peak: How Great Companies Get their Mojo from Maslow,” by Chip Conley

Force 3:

• Perceptions of the Organization• Customer Expectations• Company Values

iContact’s Values

Wow the customer

Operate with urgency

Work without mediocrity

Make a positive wake

Engage as an owner

Force 4:

• Perceptions of the Organization• Customer Expectations• Company Values• Experience Management

Experience Management

“A year from now, your

customer may not

remember what you said

or what you did, but they

will remember how you

made them feel.”

- Excerpt from The Successful Manager

Poll Question

Do you or your employees

actively recognize your customers?

• No, I never thought of doing this

• Sometimes, but it’s up to individual employees if they want to thank customers

• Yes, we have strong mechanisms in place for employees to actively recognize customers

#icontactsupport

Managing the Difficult Customer

“It’s not that the customer is always right,

but that the customer has to be treated with respect and dignity.”

Leslie Byrne, Former Director of the U.S. Office of Consumer Affairs

D.E.F.U.S.E.

Don’t lose your cool.

Encourage customers to vent their emotions.

Find out the facts.

Understand your customer’s feelings.

Suggest a way to fix the problem.

End on a positive note.

• They’re just a shoe/clothing warehouse, right?• Slogan: Powered by Service• Turn customers into advocates for a business

they don’t own.

Example - Zappos

Example – KLM Airlines

• Improve the weakest part of your customer’s experience• Monitor social networks to learn more about your

customers

• Monitor social media so bad experiences are set right• If you don’t reach out to customers, they may reach out

to others and hurt your reputation.• “The only way to put out a social media fire

is with social media water.”

Example – Ramon DeLeon, Dominos

• Asked employees for input on providing an amazing customer service experience

• Created an experience easily shared with others via photos and video

Example – Pike Place Fish Market

How is iContact Doing?

icontact.com/support/customer-satisfaction

facebook.com/icontact

Suggestions and Tools

Social Media

• Monitor the social networks and shape the conversation• Hootsuite or Tweetdeck• iContact – post email messages to Facebook and Twitter• iContact – add “Like” and “Tweet” buttons to messages

Suggestions and Tools

Customer and Employee Feedback

• iContact – surveys (private vs. public)• Search internet for “customer satisfaction survey

questions”

Suggestions and Tools

Personalization

• Pay attention to your customers’ interests• iContact – create custom data fields and use segments

Suggested Reading

• Peak by Chip Conley

• Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion and Purposeby Tony Hsieh

• Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach to Customer Serviceby Ken Blanchard

• The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt

Thank You for Attending!