KEY TAKEAWAYS Judgment and control differentiate today’s best reps. In this era of increasingly complex live service and heightened customer expectations (due to simple issues being resolved in self-service), the most important competency for reps to possess is “control quotient” (CQ). CQ is the ability to exercise judgment and maintain control in

Achieving goals like mitigating disloyalty by creating a low-effort customer experience are entirely dependent on the execution of frontline customer service representatives, most of whom are hourly-wage, often part-time employees. Put another way, the brilliant battle plan created by the generals at company headquarters will either succeed or fail

KEY TAKEAWAYS Effort is one-third “do,” two-thirds “feel.” Much of customer effort is driven by a customer’s perception of whether the service interaction was effortful, not whether they actually had to exert undue effort during the interaction. Managing the customer’s perception isn’t about just being nice. “Experience engineering” is a way to

Building a Profile Imagine the whole world of customers, divided into four basic categories: The Feeler, who leads with their emotional needs. The Entertainer, who loves to talk and show off their personality. The Thinker, who needs to analyze and understand. The Controller, who just wants what they want, when they want it.

identify the basic personality characteristics of each customer live and in the moment, and tailor the interaction to that one customer?

Personality-Based Issue Resolution

How could a rep possibly get a customer to agree to some alternative option that is clearly their second choice, and not just to grudgingly accept it, but to come away feeling just as good—or even better—than if they were able to get what they wanted in the first place? That’s what the concept of alternative positioning is all about. Beyond using

Reframing “No” You can’t always say yes to every customer request. It would be great if you could, but there are many situations in which the thing a customer wants and the thing you have to give are not the same. Then what?

Anchoring Expectations Customer Scenario: You’ve having connectivity issues with a new cable TV box and the issue can only be resolved by a technician who will need to make a home service call. Rep Response A: “We can send a technician out tomorrow, but it’s an all-day window and someone will have to be home from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. would that work?