Today's customers are a hard bunch to crack. Time-strapped, screen-addicted, value-savvy, and socially engaged, their expectations are tougher than ever for a business to keep up with. They are empowered like never before and expect businesses to respect that sense of empowermentùlashing out at those that don't. Take heart: Old-fashioned customer service, fully retooled for today's blistering pace and digitally connected reality, is what you need to build the kind loyal customer base that allows you to surviveùand thrive. And High-Tech, High-Touch Customer Service spells out surefire strategies for success in a clear, entertaining, and practical way. Discover: ò Six major customer trends and what they mean for your business ò Eight unbreakable rules for social media customer service ò How to effectively address online complainers and saboteurs on Yelp, Twitter, TripAdvisor, and other forums for user generated content ò The rising power of self-serviceùand how to design it properly ò How to build a company culture that breeds stellar customer service High-Tech, High-Touch Customer Service reveals inside secrets of wildly successful customer service initiatives, from Internet startups to venerable brands, and shows how companies of every stripe can turn casual customers into fervent supporters who will spread the word far and wideùonline and off.

CATEGORY SILVER WINNER: Axiom Awards 2021 - Human Resources/Employee Training Category Despite global economic conditions, companies are always looking to attract and retain the best talent. Unfortunately, almost 30% of US job seekers leave a new job within the first 30 days. Why? Many new recruiters rely too heavily on high-tech tools to attract candidates and may not have learned the fundamental relationship-building skills that help recruiters ensure that clients and candidates are a good match. High-Tech High-Touch Recruiting provides recruiters with an end-to-end process for recruiting the highest caliber talent who, after they are hired, will become engaged employees. While emphasizing the overall importance of building "high-touch" relationship-building skills, the book outlines how these can be blended successfully with "high-tech" tools such as AI-powered software applications to identify a large pool of qualified job candidates. Once you've identified candidates, the author cautions against the sole use of text and email communication and suggests that recruiters conduct a general interview in order to better ascertain whether a candidate is the best fit for the role. High-Tech High-Touch Recruiting comes with online resources including sample offer letters, recruiting scripts, job requisitions, interview scorecard, a listing of characteristics of best hires and guidelines for a 9-step telephone interview process.

In High Tech and High Touch, James E. Coverdill and William Finlay invite readers into the dynamic world of headhunters, personnel professionals who acquire talent for businesses and other organizations on a contingent-fee basis. In a high-tech world where social media platforms have simplified direct contact between employers and job seekers, Coverdill and Finlay acknowledge, it is relatively easy to find large numbers of apparently qualified candidates. However, the authors demonstrate that headhunters serve a valuable purpose in bringing high-touch search into the labor market: they help parties on both sides of the transaction to define their needs and articulate what they have to offer. As well as providing valuable information for sociologists and economists, High Tech and High Touch demonstrates how headhunters approach practical issues such as identifying and attracting candidates; how they solicit, secure, and evaluate search assignments from client companies; and how they strive to broker interactions between candidates and clients to maximize the likelihood that the right people land in the right jobs.

In this groundbreaking book, Bill Price and David Jaffe offer a new, game-changing approach, showing how managers are taking the wrong path and are using the wrong metrics to measure customer service. Customer service, they assert, is only needed when a company does something wrong—eliminating the need for service is the best way to satisfy customers. To be successful, companies need to treat service as a data point of dysfunction and figure what they need to do to eliminate the demand. The Best Service Is No Service outlines these seven principles to deliver the best service that ultimately leads to "no service": Eliminate dumb contacts Create engaging self-service Be proactive Make it easy to contact your company Own the actions across the company Listen and act Deliver great service experiences

"There's branding and there's high-tech branding and the differences are enormous. The authors do a great job in isolating the many important principles of branding in an increasingly high-technology world." Al Ries Chairman, Ries & Ries Co-author, The 11 Immutable Laws of Internet Branding "The internet and e-commerce have inspired phenomenal changes in the business world, but at least one thing has remained constant: the importance of building a strong brand." Ed Zander President, Sun Microsystems, Inc. "Building a strong consumer brand has always been a monumental task. But, never more so than today, with the explosion of technology, innovation and communication. Paul Temporal has taken a pragmatic and credible approach to suggesting how this effort can be tackled, through his reiteration of basic branding principles, to his reliving case studies of companies which point the way forward. Along the way, he reminds us that branding is all about building a long-lasting and meaningful relationship with consumers." Aaron Boey Vice-President, Marketing Philips Consumer Electronics, Asia-Pacific & Middle-East "Paul Temporal and KC Lee offer us a book full of thought-provoking views and case studies relevant to Internet-Age companies. Insightful and informative, this book challenges you to think through every element of your online branding and customer experience. It is a useful read for any executive who is in charge of brand strategy development and management." Jay Sibel Vice-President, Communications and High Technology Practice A.T. Kearney "In the hi-tech age, building and sustaining great brands are even more critical than ever. The strength of the brand is the only differentiator in a world of connected and knowledgeable customers." Steve Ballmer President, Microsoft

Customer experience pioneer Jeanne Bliss shows why “Make Mom Proud” companies outperform their competition. Her 5-step guide to customer experience and culture transformation makes this achievement possible. Bliss urges companies to make business personal to earn ardent fans and admirers, by focusing on one deceptively simple question: "Would you do that to your mother?" “Make Mom Proud” companies give customers the treatment they desire, and employees the ability to deliver it. They turn “gotcha” moments into “we’ve got your back” moments by rethinking business practices, and they enable employees to be part of the solution to fix customer frustrations. Bliss scoured the marketplace seeking companies who excel at living their core values, grounded in what we all learned as kids. She offers a five-step plan for evaluating your current behaviors and implementing actions at every level of the organization. Step 1. “Be the Person I Raised You to Be” Understand how you are hiring, developing and trusting employees to bring the best version of themselves to work. Vail resorts, for example, the world's largest ski resort operator, banned the three words "Our policy is..." from their vocabulary, freeing employees to take spirited actions to deliver "the experience of a lifetime." Step 2. “Don’t Make Me Feed You Soap” Learn the eight key frustrations that bind us as customers (waiting, fear, anxiety, the black hole of no communication, etc.) and how to apply actions from companies who are delivering a seamless, frictionless and easy experience. Step 3. “Put Others Before Yourself” Determine if your focus is on helping customers achieve their goals – and evaluate how that is fueling your growth. Canada's Mayfair Diagnostics, for example, spent over a year studying the emotions of patients entering an imaging clinic, so they could redesign their welcome to deliver warmth and caring over procedure and process. The newly designed clinic achieved profitability in record time. Step 4. “Take the High Road” Learn how companies who do the right thing rise above the competition. Virgin Hotels, for example, named #1 U.S. hotel by Conde Nast Reader's Choice Awards, walked away from price gouging at the mini bar, so you'll never pay more for that Snickers bar than what you'd pay at the corner market. Step 5. “Stop the Shenanigans!” Evaluate your current company behaviors and identify the key actions that you can begin immediately. With 32 case studies and examples from more than 85 companies, this is a practical and easy to follow guide for your experience and culture transformation. Filled with comics to snapshot our experiences as customers, a “mom lens” to reflect continuously on your performance, and a “make-mom-proud-ometer” quiz – the book makes Bliss’s approach accessible and approachable. Join the movement to #MakeMomProud by applying this book across your organization. Whether you're contemplating your company's returns policy, its social media presence, or its big-picture strategy, this approach will help your company anticipate both employee and customer needs, extend patience, and show respect at all times.

Issues with customers can send even the most seasoned service professionals into red alert. Discover how to effectively communicate your way out of any difficult spot. By providing clear techniques, behavioral science insights, case studies, situation-specific advice, and actionable practice exercises, workplace communication expert Richard Gallagher has created a resource that can help anyone master the delicate art of communication. In The?Customer Service Survival Kit, you’ll find tangible tips and tricks to help you discover: how to lean into criticism, how to avoid trigger phrases that can make bad situations worse, the secret to helping people feel heard, how to safely deliver bad news, and how to become immune to intimidation--among many other skills. The Customer Service Survival Kit recognizes that the worst customer situations demand more of front-line employees than good intentions and the right attitude. With the help of these valuable insights, lessons, and indispensable problem-solving tools, your organization holds the key to radically improving its customer service reputation.

A surprising, convincing, and optimistic argument for meeting the crisis of scarcity with the power of ideas

High Tech, High Touch illustrates technical solutions that really work, inspired by effective customer service strategies used by businesses. These are unique technology solutions—based on digital libraries, portals, e-mail notifications, and database interfaces to the web—to solve everyday public library problems.