the customer focus
Reducing Friction Makes You Money
Shep Hyken | February 25, 2021
By Shep Hyken Reducing friction is all about creating an easier experience for the customer. In my book, The Convenience Revolution, I identify six ways to create convenience. The first, reducing friction, is tied to all five other principles. And, all of them focus on creating convenience and reducing friction for customers. But how about we look inside our organizations and the way we conduct business internally? Do we think about the friction we cause our employees? What extra work do they do because of antiquated systems and processes? For our outside customers, when we reduce friction, they find it easier to do business with ...
The ER Strategy 2.0: Small Improvements Add Up
Shep Hyken | February 17, 2021
Not long ago I wrote about how small improvements can make a big difference. Even just a 1% improvement can make an impact. And, if you focus on 1% (or more) again and again, over time you will make big improvements that will have a positive impact on your customers, employees, internal processes, and your bottom line. You’ll find ways to save money, make money, develop better ways of doing business and much more. One of our team members at Shepard Presentations reminded me of an article I wrote a long time ago, and that maybe it was time to revisit the concept. The article she was referring to was written almost 10 years ago and w...
The Show Starts When the Phone Rings
Shep Hyken | February 11, 2021
By Shep Hyken You may or may not know that I’m a magician. Some of you may know that I’m also a musician. But today I want to talk about being a magician. Growing up throughout high school and college I performed at parties, corporate events and comedy clubs. That experience in show business gave me the stage chops to start my business as a professional speaker. I share this background to give you some context. Many of my friends are professional entertainers. A friend I’ve known for years is Jeff McBride, an amazing magician who performs throughout the world and resides in Las Vegas. I was reading an article by Jeff in a ...
The Problem Isn’t the Employee, It’s the System
Shep Hyken | February 3, 2021
By Shep Hyken Here’s a true story shared by my friend and speaking colleague Beth Terry. The short version is that there is a doctor, who is probably a good doctor. But he’s a terrible boss. When a patient – as in his customer – complains about something, he listens and then goes back to his employees, and in a knee-jerk reaction, he berates and punishes them by taking away their incentives. You can only imagine what that does to the morale of the team. And what happens next? The employees quit, which is understandable. There are plenty of employee surveys that point to the number one reason people quit their jobs. Many peo...
Be a Goldfish
Shep Hyken | January 27, 2021
By Shep Hyken I was recently asked what three traits I think are most important for someone in customer service to have. I’d like to broaden the topic to anyone dealing with someone else’s problem or question, be it a customer or another person inside the organization, also known as an inside customer. My response to the question was quick: Empathy, which I have chosen as The Word of the Year. More than ever, our customers need to feel a connection. Good communications skills, which includes listening and also ties back to empathy. If you miscommunicate with customers, that could lead to them saying something like, “I...
An Empowerment Lesson From the Ritz-Carlton
Shep Hyken | January 13, 2021
By Shep Hyken If you’ve been following my work, you know I’m a huge fan of the Ritz-Carlton. I was recently on a Zoom presentation with Horst Schulze, first president and co-founder of the Ritz-Carlton chain. When Horst speaks, I listen and take lots of notes. One of the questions he was asked had to do with empowerment, specifically about the $2,000 the Ladies and Gentlemen – what Ritz-Carlton calls its employees – are allowed to spend to ensure a guest has a great experience. That reminded me of an experience I once had at a Ritz-Carlton. The housekeeping staff had left dirty towels in the room from the previous guest. I...
Predictive Customer Support
Shep Hyken | July 2, 2019
By Shep Hyken In the old days – and even in modern times – if a customer wanted help or support, they picked up the phone and called for help. A (hopefully) friendly and competent customer service professional, also known as an agent or representative, would answer the question or resolve the problem. Today there are many ways to connect with a company. There’s the traditional phone call, email, messaging, instant chat, social channels like Twitter and Facebook, and many more. But there’s one mode of communication and customer support that hasn’t been talked about much. My prediction is that it will not only become popular, bu...
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