Image by Vlad Vasnetsov from Pixabay Have you ever assisted a customer and you really, really wanted to find a solution for them? Yes, I know in customer support our goal is almost always to find solutions for customers.  I’m talking about that customer that perhaps has a really cool use case or perhaps they have the odds stacked against them and you’re committed to making it work. Or perhaps you’ve had a bad day and you just need a win.  Regardless of the factors involved, once I’m immersed in solving a customer problem, the last thing I want to do is to admit defeat. Let’s talk a ..read more

Image by Mikko Koivuneva from Pixabay Whether it’s called a one-on-one meeting, or a coaching conversation, or a performance check-in, this regular conversation between a supervisor and an employee is essential to an effective and high-performing contact center. In a recent article on Why Contact Center Quality Assurance Matters I stated my case for a robust and consistent quality assurance program. But here’s the thing — quality assurance is useless unless feedback is delivered to the contact center agent in a way that will help them improve their performance.  This is one of the reaso ..read more

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay Throughout my career in the contact center, I’ve had a love-hate relationship with quality assurance (QA). I was already two years into a role as a customer support manager when I hired someone with actual contact center experience (I had none) who informed me that I should be “doing quality.” He helped me create a basic form with a somewhat elaborate scoring system and I began scoring my team’s interactions with customers. I would then review the interactions with each agent, hoping they wouldn’t bite my head off if they scored low.  OK, perhaps my re ..read more

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay It’s been 10 years since I wrote an article on this blog about the importance of never saying “No” to customers. I also shared about how the company I worked for at the time went even further and banned the word “unfortunately” from our ticketing system. Company leadership felt like there was almost always an opportunity to solve a problem for a customer and it just required the right amount of creativity. As I continue to mull over this idea, or perhaps the fantasy of never saying no to a customer, I’ll openly admit that I don’t think preventing contact ce ..read more

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay Nothing can derail a perfect day in the contact center like a public comment from a customer calling your company out for a feature or service that you lack or something you failed to do.  Whether it’s on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, Instagram, or some other public forum, a good public rant is almost sure to get the attention of everyone in the company. And guess who’s going to handle the complaint if the CEO personally brings it to the attention of the contact center? I’d say the leader of the contact center is likely to be heavily involve ..read more

Image by ashish choudhary from Pixabay We’ve had a certain lingering bug for a long, long time. We suspected that a bug existed in our system because customers often complained about the aftereffects. In this case, customers were unable to navigate to a certain area of their online account without first logging out and back in. This typically required an interaction with customer support to learn of the solution. But for the longest time, we were unable to figure out why it was occurring and how to recreate the issue. So long in fact that we sort of gave up trying to figure out the root caus ..read more

Going through a layoff can be really tough and emotional. Personally, when I got laid off, it shook my confidence, tested my resilience, and left me uncertain about what the future holds. But amidst all the chaos of my “Laid Off Era”, I surprisingly discovered an opportunity for personal growth, self-discovery, and embracing new possibilities. I want to share my experience with you while shedding light on the importance of discussing a topic that is often considered a taboo – something that affects so many of us but doesn’t get talked about enough. In 2022 alone, over 93,000 individuals in the ..read more

You bet I stopped and picked this up In a world where “out with the old, in with the new” often prevails, furniture flipping stands as a testament to the transformative power of giving something a second chance. As I started my journey of refurbishing old, junky solid wood furniture, I discovered a profound connection between this creative process and the world of customer experience. In this article, I’ll share the lessons I’ve learned, the mistakes I’ve made, and how flipping furniture mirrors the essence of delivering exceptional customer experiences.     Table donated from a f ..read more

Who doesn’t love adorable puppies at special events? I’m thrilled to be a volunteer with The Animal Pad’s Puppy Party Program where we bring rescue puppies to birthday parties, weddings, and corporate events for a donation. As much as we adore these furry companions, managing guest requests was initially a bit of a challenge. We embarked on an exciting journey to streamline our processes, and I’m here to share our story, including the mistakes we made and the lessons we learned along the way. The Initial Hurdles Our guest requests were pouring in through a Jotform on our website, and they ..read more

Image by StockSnap from Pixabay As an early-morning runner with a dog, one of the most essential pieces of equipment to ensure success is my headlamp. As a clumsy human trying to control a dog that loves to lunge after just about any moving non-human thing, it has prevented numerous scrapes and bruises — or worse. Over the course of this winter, my favorite headlamp started randomly flickering back and forth from dim to bright. It slowly progressed to where it finally behaved that way without ceasing. Needless to say, it became an annoying distraction during those otherwise peaceful runs. Ho ..read more