After a full year of “Stepping Up Service” episodes wrapped up for 2013, it’s time to start looking into the future… what are the trends we see for the Customer Service world in 2014?  Ed shares his predictions with Alan, as they talk about the potential shift to a more holistic, face-to-face customer service world, and how “big data” may be a bit overplayed.  Plus, what is an “octopod”?  Alan and Ed also share their Customer Service Story of the Month at the end of the episode.

Ed Gagnon is the President of Customer Service Solutions, helping organizations develop long-term relationships with their clients and partnering with them to meet their core customer service needs. Learn more about Customer Service Solutions at www.cssamerica.com.

Alan Jackson is President of The Jackson Group, a survey and consulting firm specializing in employee engagement surveys, patient satisfaction surveys, market research studies and leadership development. Learn more about The Jackson Group at www.thejacksongroup.com.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For your listening pleasure this holiday season, Ed and Alan become storytellers for this episode of “Stepping Up Service”.  Ed Gagnon of Customer Service Solutions shares five stories (with almost all of them true!) about customer service experiences… and discusses what we can learn from these stories and use in our own businesses or organizations.  Not to be left out, Alan Jackson of The Jackson Group also shares a couple of stories… with one of them being somewhat embarrassing for Mr. Jackson himself.  It’s story time on “Stepping Up Service”!.

Ed Gagnon is the President of Customer Service Solutions, helping organizations develop long-term relationships with their clients and partnering with them to meet their core customer service needs.  Learn more about Customer Service Solutions at www.cssamerica.com.

Alan Jackson is President of The Jackson Group, a survey and consulting firm specializing in employee engagement surveys, patient satisfaction surveys, market research studies and leadership development.  Learn more about The Jackson Group at www.thejacksongroup.com.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ed brought up a blog post recently where an avid NFL fan explained that they were not renewing their season tickets because of the "fan experience".  This leads Ed and Alan to define "Customer Experience Management", and address how what brings your customers in often differs from what keeps them.  Ed and Alan go through some various industry scenarios where the customer experience could make the difference as to whether we, as customers, "stay" or "go".

Plus, as always, everyone's favorite portion of the show... the "Customer Service Experiences of the Month"!

SHOW NOTE:  Ed's blog post, where he references the original NFL fan's post, can be found at http://serviceadvice.cssamerica.com/2013/10/16/is-your-fan-experience-a-reason-to-stay-or-leave/

Ed Gagnon is the President of Customer Service Solutions, helping organizations develop long-term relationships with their clients and partnering with them to meet their core customer service needs.  Learn more about Customer Service Solutions at www.cssamerica.com.

Alan Jackson is President of The Jackson Group, a survey and consulting firm specializing in employee engagement surveys, patient satisfaction surveys, market research studies and leadership development.  Learn more about The Jackson Group at www.thejacksongroup.com.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Everyone has their own definition of good customer service... so leaving it to employees of an organization to provide their own defined level of customer service could result in an inconsistent experience for your customers.  Many organizations are setting "Customer Service Standards", which define the core expectations of their staff in terms of how they will treat each other and customers.  Ed and Alan discuss the purpose of customer service standards, the process involved, and sprinkle in some examples from various industries including Sports, Government and Healthcare.

Plus, as always, everyone's favorite portion of the show... the "Customer Service Experiences of the Month"!

Ed Gagnon is the President of Customer Service Solutions, helping organizations develop long-term relationships with their clients and partnering with them to meet their core customer service needs.  Learn more about Customer Service Solutions at www.cssamerica.com.

Alan Jackson is President of The Jackson Group, a survey and consulting firm specializing in employee engagement surveys, patient satisfaction surveys, market research studies and leadership development.  Learn more about The Jackson Group at www.thejacksongroup.com.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Alan and Ed take a bit of a break from their normal discussion format as they decide to sit back and listen to Ed tell us the "Lessons Learned from a Young Hitchhiker."  Ed came into contact with an individual who had hitchhiked over 200 times in the past, and found that many of the things this person did to encourage people to pick him up are similar things we need to be doing when providing service to our customers.

After the story and lesson-sharing, Alan and Ed both share their "Customer Service Experiences of the Month".

Ed Gagnon is the President of Customer Service Solutions, helping organizations develop long-term relationships with their clients and partnering with them to meet their core customer service needs.  Learn more about Customer Service Solutions at www.cssamerica.com. Alan Jackson is President of The Jackson Group, a survey and consulting firm specializing in employee engagement surveys, patient satisfaction surveys, market research studies and leadership development.  Learn more about The Jackson Group at www.thejacksongroup.com.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

So you've been trying to improve the level of customer service in your organization, and you feel that things are starting to improve.  But how do you find out if your changes are truly affecting your customers' satisfaction?  It's time for some measurement!  Ed Gagnon of Customer Service Solutions and Alan Jackson of The Jackson Group discuss the importance of measuring satisfaction, various methods for conducting your measurement, and some pros and cons for each method.  They also end the show with their "Customer Service Experiences of the Month", where they share an experience — either positive or negative — they had recently and what we can learn from them.

Ed Gagnon is the President of Customer Service Solutions, helping organizations develop long-term relationships with their clients and partnering with them to meet their core customer service needs.  Learn more about Customer Service Solutions at www.cssamerica.com.

Alan Jackson is President of The Jackson Group, a survey and consulting firm specializing in employee engagement surveys, patient satisfaction surveys, market research studies and leadership development.  Learn more about The Jackson Group at www.thejacksongroup.com.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

If communications within your office or organization are complex and prone to errors, then your customers are the ones that may ultimately pay the price.  To help serve customers, clients and partners more effectively, we need to make sure our communications are as simple as possible within our workplace.  Ed shares some tips and planning approaches with Alan to ensure communications in the workplace are clear, flow well, reach the intended parties, and are simply done.  Plus, Alan and Ed share their "Customer Service Experience of the Month".

Ed Gagnon is the President of Customer Service Solutions, helping organizations develop long-term relationships with their clients and partnering with them to meet their core customer service needs.  Learn more about Customer Service Solutions at www.cssamerica.com.

Alan Jackson is President of The Jackson Group, a survey and consulting firm specializing in employee engagement surveys, patient satisfaction surveys, market research studies and leadership development.  Learn more about The Jackson Group at www.thejacksongroup.com.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A while back, we discussed "Great Service Examples from Small Businesses" and received very positive feedback from listeners.  We realize, though, that there are just as many stories of some big, household name companies providing excellent customer service to their customers.  In many ways, the larger businesses have a tough challenge in front of them as they try to deliver good service despite multiple locations, a large employee base, and a large, demanding client base.  Alan and Ed discuss four examples of large businesses providing strong customer service to their clients, and explain what we can take from those examples and apply to our own organizations.  Plus, Alan and Ed share their "customer service story of the month", with Ed having a good month while Alan found himself completely lost.

Ed Gagnon is the President of Customer Service Solutions, helping organizations develop long-term relationships with their clients and partnering with them to meet their core customer service needs.  Learn more about Customer Service Solutions at www.cssamerica.com.

Alan Jackson is President of The Jackson Group, a survey and consulting firm specializing in employee engagement surveys, patient satisfaction surveys, market research studies and leadership development.  Learn more about The Jackson Group at www.thejacksongroup.com.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode focuses on getting employees not to fear confrontations when they have bad news to share.  Alan and Ed address the benefits of being proactive when you have to share bad news with a co-worker or a customer.  They also discuss keys to setting up those conversations so they’re bigger on solutions than on emotions.  And along the way, they make an extraordinary number of references to college basketball.

Ed Gagnon is the President of Customer Service Solutions, helping organizations develop long-term relationships with their clients and partnering with them to meet their core customer service needs.  Learn more about Customer Service Solutions at www.cssamerica.com.

Alan Jackson is President of The Jackson Group, a survey and consulting firm specializing in employee engagement surveys, patient satisfaction surveys, market research studies and leadership development.  Learn more about The Jackson Group at www.thejacksongroup.com.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Most of the episodes of this show so far have talked about what businesses and organizations can do to improve their customer service abilities and ensure that service continues to improve.  But what about the individual employee?  What can they do to create a "continuous improvement mindset" and become a stronger asset for the organization?  Ed gives Alan a checklist of questions that any employee should be asking themselves on a regular basis to develop that mindset and help their organization meet their customer service goals.

Ed Gagnon is the President of Customer Service Solutions, helping organizations develop long-term relationships with their clients and partnering with them to meet their core customer service needs.  Learn more about Customer Service Solutions at www.cssamerica.com.

Alan Jackson is President of The Jackson Group, a survey and consulting firm specializing in employee engagement surveys, patient satisfaction surveys, market research studies and leadership development.  Learn more about The Jackson Group at www.thejacksongroup.com.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.