Justin Flitter

This week I attended a Customer Service briefing at Telecom New Zealand. We listened into some calls through the contact centre and were breifed about Telecom's Customer Service approach, technology and future strategies. 

There were some great insights that I would like to share with you.

Get the core service right - then you have the right to talk about other services
Customer Service is also a great sales strategy. When a customer calls with an issue or question you have the opportunity to exceed expectations, remedy any faults and build a rapport with that person. If you archive that rapport you have further chance to mention other products or service that may benefit them. Rapport is about relationship building, creating a personal connection that makes everyone feel comfortable, chatty and happy to share other bits of information.

For Telecom it's not just lip service and technology that will make the difference to you or I. Telecom has 8000 staff who are all becoming customer centric. People need a fundamental change in mindset to achieve the desired outcomes and satisfaction levels Telecom are committed to achieving.

Staff need to know more about customers, they need to be personally in touch with customers, to understand issues and process from their perspective, to be able to sympathise. Telecom has programs encouraging staff from all departments to listen in on calls and spend time in stores.

Reduce the reasons to contact

Believe it or not but most customers would rather not to have anything to do with you. Most people need a reason to make contact. Constant monitoring, customer and staff feedback is crucial to identifying process weaknesses. For Telecom every aspect of the process is critical from making sure the technician installs a line correctly, to clear installation instructions and a website with simple navigation. If you can analyse why and what people are contacting you about, you can take the most frequently asked questions and build knowledge and processes to reduce those issues. Contact centres are moments of truth.

Good Agents have life experience

Delivering good customer service requires sympathy, understanding and negotiation skills. Telecom says its unlikely that you'll find any school leavers in their contact centres. Most of their CS staff are mature people with plenty of life experience. Understand some of life's most events gives customer service agents perspective and understand when helping others through that process.

So there we go, a few tasty insights. Customer Service is social and Telecom is learning to be more open, to encourage sharing and collaboration putting the customer at the heart of their business.

1. Webinars - regular screen casts or interviews showing/discussing interesting or advanced applications
2. Twitter hashtags like #iusemyiphonefor or  #WildTurkey_and for new drink recipes or #fiascofoodmatch where people share the dishes they had with Fiasco Wines and why they matched so well
3. Facebook Fan page - "I took my CactusBackPack..." where people take photos of their Cactus gear half way up a rugged slope with stunning scenery as the backdrop 
4. Youtube videos - Like different ways to use your Baby Sling 
5. Tworkshops - Use Tweet Grid to host small focus groups or workshops, its so simple you could even add people on the fly, informally for in-depth public discussions. 

Your Social Media Community is valuable. Its not just a broadcast medium to tell the world what you're up to, its a mechanism for social engagement. It's a tool to build an aura around your business

For brands and businesses yearning for lower new customer acquisition costs and more repeat business an active social community is a powerful way to extend your brand's aura beyond your shop door, local community or radio stations frequency.

With insightful, interesting content  like top 10 tips, advice, blogs, whitepapers and videos you can teach and encourage your customers to think and use your product or service in a new or different way.

Post purchase engagement is the essence of maintaining a rewarding relationship with your customers. If the relationship ends when the till goes ka'ching, ka'ching your almost resigning yourself to the fact they may never shop with you again. And yet that person has chosen to spend money with you and buy your product or service because they feel it will benefit their life it some way.A regular email or newsletter is soft, generic and just broadcasting to thin air. True social engagement is personable, interesting and fun. It captivates, builds trust and confidence and gets more people thinking and talking about you. Who would not want that sort of emotion floating around your brand like an aura of protection. Your social sentiment scores would go through the roof!

Let your customers have more of you, your business and your product or service. Get more from your customers by communicating with them regularly. Go get em! Stick your neck out, be proactive, entertaining, let your personality shine through,  ignite excitement and passion in your customers, allow them to become apart of your brand.

What's your brands Aura like? How bright is it? How many people can see it, feel it, experience it?