Martin Hill-Wilson
Performance and Quality – Core To Ongoing Customer Service Innovation
The P&Q challenge is a global first. It remains a unique experiment in sustained collaboration for the customer service industry. Unlike conferences or training programmes which are typically run over a few days at most, this programme provides a six month window for sustained...
Within Five Years Call Centres Will Be Run By Marketing
The following post came out of a webinar I ran recently with NewVoiceMedia. This was our hypothesis to generate the discussion.Another five years of breakthrough technologies fuelling digitally empowered consumers and brands will have taken us to a new ‘normal’. One likely result of...
Social Customer Service: Your Leadership Agenda
The growth of customer service via social channels is still in its infancy. That said, it has made incredible strides over the last few years. From a scarcely noticed category of social engagement managed by non-customer service teams to the emerging model we see today. Slowly but surely,...
UK Challenges and Opportunities For 2014: A Leadership Perspective
Introduction A number of UK customer service, experience and engagement leaders have pooled their insight based on the themes that preoccupied their own communities during 2013. This is a first time collaboration. We hope you enjoy the rich diversity and also notice the many common...
Mapping Your Social Customer Service Ecosystem
There are two key differences between mainstream and social customer service. First is the switch from private to public engagement. Organisations and customers are still waking up to the consequential upsides and downsides. The second is that your channel mix for social customer service is…
How To Kill Contact Centre KPIs
The introduction of Interaction Analytics into the operational environment of your contact centres is a milestone as far as KPI management is concerned. The immediate benefit Interaction Analytics offers is to help explain why the level of performance for a particular KPI is higher or...
Customer Service In The Age Of Mobility
In this post I want to explore mobility from the perspectives of both the consumer and the Customer Service team. Let's talk consumer first. The level of smartphone ownership in both the UK and US populations is north of 50%. Tablets are not as ubiquitous…
Interaction Analytics: Why CXOs Should Give A Damn
Is the topic of Interaction Analytics of genuine interest to executives? Think of your own CXOs for a second. Although they may have mastered the headlines around Big Data given its perceived strategic relevance, few will probably know that the use of Interaction Analytics within...
Social Customer Service: customers as team coach
It goes without saying that your attitude towards a social media crisis should be one of anticipation than denial. You know it's just a matter of 'when' rather than 'if'. One day something flares up but you are spared. The collective eyeballs of the social...
Interaction Analytics: the core benefits
Interaction Analytics is becoming well known in Customer Service circles. Particularly in its single channel version many already recognise as "Speech Analytics". As a result, there is a certain buzz about its potential. Analysts forecast double digit growth over the next few years. Let's hope…
Social Customer Service: exploiting the upside
This post reflects on a missed opportunity between Marketing and Service. In particular Social Customer Service. We are all aware of the overwhelming evidence that shows how impotent Marketing messaging has become to customers. A combination of low trust and increased self sufficiency means most...
How to Use Speech Analytics: Top Tips For Call Centre Adoption
Interaction Analytics is a game changer for customer service leaders. Why? Because a lack of credible insight into which issues currently matter to customers leaves management decision making on the back foot. However, when done in the right way, Interaction Analytics transforms your ability to…
The Dangers Of Declaring Social Customer Service ‘Business as Usual’
Two things happened today that brought a particular experience into sharp focus. It was a shuddering fear that social customer service becomes nothing more than another channel. In other words, the industry masters the challenges that social engagement offers by 'taming' it rather than allowing…
A personal view on the state of social customer service
The mere fact that June and July have been themed 'social customer service' month in two major industry sites mycustomer.com and ICMI call centre says much about where the topic now sits in our collective awareness. When I put my first presentation on social customer...
The Art & Skill Of Customer Listening: session 5
Customer Listening is at the centre of this series of posts. To date, I 've covered the role of listening in session one. Links between personal and corporate listening in session two. Then there was a detailed definition of Customer Listening in session three. Most…
Using Interaction Analytics To Understand Omni Channel Customer Behaviour
In this post, I want to explain how Interaction Analytics can play an important role in understanding and responding to omni-channel customer behaviour. First let's start with a few definitions. Just as 'call centre' gave way to 'contact centre' in recognition of all the communication...
Why Customer Insight Matters To Every Customer Service Leader
Call centres, or contact centres if you prefer, have been forced onto the back foot during most of their relatively short history. They have fallen into the trap of 'inheriting the sins of the organisation' without the ability to robustly prove that the source of...
Claridge’s: A Great Place To Discuss Personalised Customer Service
Having enjoyed a previous customer event chez Gordon Ramsey, I knew to expect a belt busting dinner. I was not disappointed! The home made marshmallows were to die for as indeed were the scallops. The wine was divine, the service impeccable and the evening...
Social Business: The “One Agenda” Milestone
Social Business is a big idea. It is one of the things that tell us we've really left the 20th century behind. It is also proving profoundly political as it transformationally reshuffles who gets a voice and position at the table. It's worth recalling that…
Team Leaders As Performance Coaches
In my last post on the topic of the changing role of team leaders in Customer Service, I promised more about the skills, daily routines and mindset now required. This is the result of ever increasing pressure to deliver step changes in customer experience. How...