Decoding CRM Buzzwords! Let’s Just Call it Great Customer Service!

You may have read last week’s blog: The Anytime, Anyplace Customer Experience. In the process of writing the blog, I came across loads of different CRM buzzwords like multi-channel, omni-channel, customer-centric, customer alignment, channel agnostic…and so on.

As my head was swirling around with all of these terms, I realized that, in reality, they were all just spin-offs of one central theme: How to Deliver Great Customer Service. PERIOD.

SO BUZZWORDS BEGONE!

Let’s just talk about the nuts and bolts of what it actually means to provide GREAT customer service in this modern (slightly buzzwordy) day and age.

BE THERE FOR YOUR CUSTOMERS EVERYWHERE AND…LIKE…NOW!

Times are a changin’. You may have noticed this when you walked down the street lately. Every single person is looking down, while their thumbs (or index fingers if you’re of a certain age) are searching, scrolling, snapping, shopping, reviewing, posting, tweeting and texting on their smartphones.

Is that a bad thing? No, it’s just a thing. But it’s THE thing that should be top on your priority list when it comes to delivering customer service.

These days, customers are contacting you via email, chat, the old-fashioned phone thingy in their home, social and mobile – and the list of places just keeps growing. You should DEFINITELY be getting back to them on those channels and responding in real time (meaning, like, now!).

You need to be engaged and listening on all channels or risk losing your hard-earned customers to your more technology-savvy competition.

DELIVER MORE THAN JUST CUSTOMER SERVICE – DELIVER AN EXPERIENCE!

OK, let me refer back to the aforementioned channel-agnostic term. Bear with me, ‘cause I’m going to go a little Zen on you for a moment. (Queue relaxing music).

Now don’t get weird on me when I say this, but customers want to bond with you. Be in the moment with you. Become one with your company.

They want to FEEL your customer service presence and experience everything your brand has to offer whether it’s videos, blogs, webinars, podcasts, advice, contests or funny cat memes.

Customers want to engage with actual human beings on a personal level – kinda like friends.

They want to know you’re there for them when and where they need you. And every customer wants to feel like they’re the MOST important customer you have.

HELPFUL TIP: Using a platform that tracks conversation history allows you to see what’s been said before, so you can provide a seamless, personalized customer service experience.

KEEP YOUR EMPLOYEES SMILING

While you’re totally and completely focused on your customers – don’t forget about the other MOST important link in the customer service chain. Your employees.

Bottom line: Keep ‘em happy. Make them smile. Motivate them. Train them. Support them. Respect them. Reward them. And show them you appreciate them every single day.

Happy employees who feel empowered are going to treat your customers a heck of a lot better than employees who are secretly throwing darts at the boss’ picture behind his or her back. So be kind to them every day. They’ll appreciate it, and so will your customers.

You may have already worked this out, but it’s no longer enough to just sell stuff. You now have to create an entire customer-centric experience that feels like you’ve delivered so much more than just a product.

We can use all of the buzzwords we want to sound cool and trendy – but that’s not going to change the way customers feel about you or your brand.

What they want today is the same thing they’ve always wanted. GREAT service. They just want it delivered on a whole pile of different channels than before – and always, always in real time.

Learn the Secrets of Top Brands Who Are Transforming Customer Service in This FREE WEBINAR on October 1 at 11am PT:

How Modern Companies are Revolutionizing Traditional Customer Service

Decoding CRM Buzzwords! Let’s Just Call it Great Customer Service!