Customer Service Keynote Speaker Brian Carter

CUSTOMER X-CELLENCE

How Trendsetters Are Leveraging Technology & Data to Profitably Create Loyal, Happy Customers

U.S. Companies as a whole are losing $62 billion a year due to poor customer service. 42% of companies invest in customer experience because it improves customer retention. So how are the top customer service organizations doing it?

In a business world saturated with too much data and quickly changing technologies, top brands base customer experience strategies on research, not guessing.

Fortune 50 brands hire teams of Harvard MBA’s and Data Analysts to investigate customers, markets and customer experience. Everything is filled with data: stores, websites, call centers and CRM’s on salespeople smartphones. The learnings and discoveries from all this data are changing how customer service reps work.  It’s making customers and employees happier.

This high-energy, entertaining, motivational social media program is based on 10 years of data and 100’s of case studies. In this fascinating, entertaining and practical program, attendees will learn…

Program Highlights

• Which customer service strategy helps companies retain 89% of their customers?
• At what customer service pain point do 90% of customers say most companies are failing at?
• How do top customer experience companies collect info on their customer service approaches and create insights what to do better?
• How do top companies get the best data on consumer behavior, interests and desires?
• If your company makes me mad, I might tweet about it! Customer service doesn’t just happen on the phone anymore. How do you tie together customer service via websites, call centers, social media and everything else in a seamless way that feels quick and satisfying to customers?
• Customers are also reaching out to companies via Internet and social media direct messages. Do you have customer service bots or are you planning to program them? Do you have a plan to combine human care with your bots?
• Brian helps you envision and navigate a tech-empowered future full of enthusiastic, delighted and loyal customers, driving up your profits and lowering your costs.

Modern Customer Service: What Kind of Experience Makes People Happy? 

• Listening is attractive and makes people happy. Listen and empathize if you want more customer loyalty, because when you talk about yourself too much, your likability disappears and so does the customer. You know those bores at social functions everyone avoids because they keep telling the same old stories from 1995 and they never ask what’s new with you? Don’t be the jerk everyone avoids- listen and have a dialogue, and you’ll create a better experience and happier customers- plus you’ll probably hear the actual problem and have a chance to solve it.
• Likability and trust create loyalty. If you tell someone you hate their hometown, sports team or fashion choices… surprise: They won’t buy from you! People make the things they like part of their identity, so customer satisfaction increases when you associate make a connection with someone based on their likes. 83% of customers are loyal to companies they trust- so do what you say, and say what you do. Have integrity and be honest. The stuff we learned in kindergarten. It’s that simple.
• Empathy drives happiness and retention. Emotions can be more powerful than intellect when it comes to relationships and customer loyalty. We shun people who try to con us, or who go into an awkward upsell script at the end of a customer service call. You can tell it’s not genuine- you can feel it. You can’t outsmart emotion. So, if you want more customer loyalty, go for the heart. Doing customer service with empathy isn’t a math equation, but it does add up to bigger profitability through client retention.

7 Keys To Great Customer Experience

• Be available everywhere. Be available to and respond to all your target customers: “The secret of being the best is not being the best kept secret!”
• Adapt to your customers. Be available to your best customers in their favorite places. Too many companies are focused on the 3rd most popular site (like Twitter) and expecting 1st place satisfaction. There is plenty of info out there about which services people use and like the most.
• Play a winning game. Mobile and social media are a big part of the field we’re playing customer service on today, and messenger bots are going to be part of the equipment- so if you want to win, you need to get with mobile, social, and yes- even bots!
• Embrace the new AND the old. Call centers, retail customer service PLUS social and internet customer service yields better results than just one or the other. One is not better… that’s like saying- “Peanut butter is better than jelly!” Maybe, but PB&J is the best!
• Trust the experts. Don’t play at social and mobile customer service, because this is now a complicated profession. There are multiple job titles that each earn $60-100k annually. Digital customer service and bot programmers are skilled professionals like formula one race drivers- it’s too complicated now to play at it, and you don’t want to be a backseat driver and grab the wheel when we’re going 200 mph or next thing you know it’s a big flaming wreck. When you let the right driver do their job, you can have a chance at winning the race. Top performing companies and managers invest in training & skills, so train your people and get help from an agency.
• Do it now: Grow or go. Business success is like walking up a down-escalator. You can’t stop or you go down. Things are always changing. If you adapt, focus and move forward, you’ll make it to the top.