Customer Service Buzzwords to be Listening for in 2012

Customer Effort, Positive Discipline and Service Awareness are just some of the buzzwords that customer service managers are likely to hear about in 2012.

(Boonton, NJ, January 19, 2012) — The term buzzword has negative connotations for some — as if something that is a buzzword this season is likely to be passe next season. So we asked contributors to Customer Service Newsletter's annual "Looking Ahead" article to offer their best guess as to the ideas, concepts, strategies, and yes, buzzwords, that customer service managers are likely to hear more about in 2012 and beyond. Here's what they said:

Customer effort. John Goodman of TARP Worldwide suggests that we will be hearing more about "customer effort" as a metric applied to customer service. It refers to how much effort it takes for the customer to get what he needs or to have his issue resolved. Goodman warns, however, that if the customer effort metric is used to measure the call center, companies should take into account things like IVR systems and finding the right person, because this might add to the customer's effort before the customer service agent ever answers the phone.
Service awareness. "Service awareness" for Shep Hyken, author of "The Amazement Revolution," means that employees are committed to and aligned with the service mission of the organization. Typically it involves a "mantra" or "brand promise" like that of the Ritz-Carlton, which states, "We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen" — a short credo that everyone buys into and tries to live up to.

Smart phone integration. Trevor Spunt of IBM Global Business Services suggests there will be a number of buzzwords coming from the technology sector and one of them is "smart phone integration." This involves creating applications that customers can use to interface with their organizations, making them smarter in terms of the information and resources they have available to them, but also raising customer expectations that customer service agents will also be smarter, faster, have access to even more information, and be more responsive to their questions and needs.

More customer service buzzwords appear in the January issue of Customer Service Newsletter.