Let’s face it: Customer service is going through an overhaul. The days of sidelining real human needs and playing catch-up to the latest advancements in service technology are over. Listen as
Jeannie Walters, a customer service expert and consultant, dives deep into how far service has come and where it’s headed now that we have the tools and insights to deliver efficient, empathetic experiences across the board.

 

Key Takeaways:

[02:42] Jeannie didn’t start out as a customer service expert, but her experience in one company changed her trajectory when she noticed a major oversight in their strategy. She developed her own ideas about how businesses needed to rebuild their customer service strategies to become more customer centric. 

[4:48] Customer service is not magic, but it’s smart management, and we should be thinking about the customer journey from the beginning to the end. 

[6:18] We often have people in customer service that want to help, but they aren’t given the right tools or leadership to do their job well. We create a monster of people with bad attitudes, when they really just need guidance. 

[6:18] Customer Service has needed a paradigm shift for quite some time, and brands are beginning to realize that our old tactics need to be thrown out and reinvented. The reactive model of the  service strategy is the first one to go. 

[7:34] Robots and AI can help us create more human focused experiences if they’re used correctly, and if we marry the right technology and tools with the right kind of attitude around the humans who are serving. 

[10:13] Every organization should take a step back and become clear on their strategy for customer  service success. If they don’t, everything then just becomes a tactic. 

[11:48] When implemented thoughtfully, automated engagements can feel seamless and can provide a more satisfying experience for the customer by proactively offering all the resources they may need. 

[16:33] We need to explain our expectations around empathy to our team. Otherwise, it can seem like it’s just a mysterious thing instead of a skill that can be sharpened. We have to figure out what that means for customers instead of having a vague interaction. 

[19:19] In automated responses, one of the first things to do is look for words that are vague. 

[24:29] When businesses augment their human talent with thoughtful automation and take advantage of opportunities for self service and build empathy into their processes, everyone from the call center to the CEO wins. 

 

Quotes:

• [2:48] “I literally looked around the table at one of these meetings and thought, ‘there is nobody here for the customer’.” - Jeannie 
• [4:47] “It’s not really magic, but smart management.” - Jeannie
• [5:18] “We have to think of the customer journey from end to end.” - Jeannie
• [6:13] “The people that are showing up to do this are showing up because they want to help because they want to lead in this way. They want to show up for customers.” - Jeannie
• [7:34] “We have all these amazing tools, technology, AI and machine learning. There are tools now that actually can help us actually create more human focused experiences if they are used correctly.” - Jeannie 
• [7:56] “The robots can actually help us because part of what we want when we are in those situations as customers is that we want fast, efficient service that recognizes us for where we are.” - Jeannie 
• [10:13] “It comes back to what are you trying to do and who are you trying to be.” - Jeannie 
• [23:17] “When people are happy and when customers are happy, employees are happy, and they will tell other people to work for you.” - Jeannie 

 

Continue on your journey:

• pega.com/podcast

 

Mentioned:

• Jeannie Walters LinkedIn
• Experience Investigators