Podcast: Can I Speak to Your Manager?
C-Suite leaders and customer experience experts explain how prioritizing frontline employees leads to higher productivity, better customer service, and more revenue.
Introducing Sharpen's Podcast: Unlocking Customer Service
Tune in for Sharpen's inaugural season of Unlocking Customer Service where C-Suite leaders and customer experience experts explain how prioritizing front-line employees leads to higher productivity, better customer service, and more revenue. Customer service is complicated. Let’s simplify it.
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Ep. 1: How People and Process Power Better Customer Service (with Laura Sikorski)
People and processes are the real turbines powering your business and defining your customer experience. Learn why Laura Sikorski, contact center operations and technology expert, says the best businesses nail down their processes and support their people before investing in modern technology.
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Ep. 2: How Customer Rage, Delight and Employee Frustration Align (with John Goodman)
Turns out, customer rage, customer delight, and employee frustration all impact your customer service experience in big ways. In this episode, we’re talking to John Goodman, Vice Chairman of Customer Care Measurement & Consulting (CCMC) on these three pieces of customer experience and why they matter to you.
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Ep. 3: How Leaders Can Transform Employee Behaviors for a Better CX (with Chip Neidigh)
Tune in to hear Chip Neidigh, CEO and Founder of Kairos, an executive coaching firm, explain how to address and change employee behaviors at their root. Instead of coercing behaviors that will eventually fade, Chip explains what steps you can take to drive lasting transformation in your customer service organization.
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Ep. 4: How Remote Work Helps Contact Centers Hire & Keep Top Talent (with Kate Brouse)
Kate Brouse, Head of Strategic Partnerships for the National Telecommuting Institute (NTI), explains the benefits of remote work for your employees, your customers, and your revenue. Learn why so many companies plan to make remote work a permanent fixture and how you can successfully do the same.
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Ep. 5: What the Exec Team Needs to Know About Contact Centers (with Joe Staples)
In today’s episode, we’re answering the question: what do executives really need to know about their contact centers? Contact center industry veteran Joe Staples joins us to talk about the impact of a contact center on a company’s success, and he explains why every exec needs more than a 100-foot view of what’s happening in their customer service department.
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Ep. 6: How to Balance Efficiency and Quality for an Outstanding CX (with Matt Benidt)
We sat down with Matt Benidt, Branch Banking Operations Group Director at Western Alliance Bank, to find out what it takes to deliver outstanding customer service. Leaders have to strike a balance between efficiency and quality, and today, technology exists to tip the scales in your favor.
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Ep. 7: How to Use Your Contact Center’s Data to Make Better Business Decisions (with Ric Kosiba)
Sharpen’s very own Chief Data Scientist, Ric Kosiba, joins us to talk about how to get more from your contact center’s data. In this episode, Ric explains how your contact center leaders can validate and report on key pieces of your customer experience for a more predictable future.
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Ep. 8: The Core Tenets of a Successful Customer Service Strategy (with Cheryl Helm)
Cheryl Helm of Helm Communications explains what’s at the core of a good customer service strategy. Customer service leaders pour tons of time and energy into finding the right product mix and seeking out the right features for their customers. But shiny, new features can’t fix a bad strategy.
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Ep. 9: How to Train Your Customer Service Managers & Set the Right Team Priorities (with Brennan McEachran)
Brennan McEachran, CEO and Co-Founder of Soapbox (now called Hypercontext) explains the state of manager training. Most managers were promoted from their roles as excellent individual contributors, then never trained on how to be a good manager.
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Ep. 10: How to Build Confidence in Your Customer Experience investments (with Justin Robbins)
Justin Robbins, Chief Evangelist of the CX Effect, joins us to talk about the costs of complacency in customer experience. When it comes to choosing a contact center and improving your customers’ satisfaction, there’s more to consider than just price.
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Ep. 11: The Value Your Contact Center Brings to Your Business (with Meagan Thai)
Contact centers are central to giving customers the best possible experience. Today, Meagan Thai, Director of Contact Center & UC Solutions for Telarus sits down to talk about the impact contact centers have on your business and where the industry’s heading. She's sharing what customers want from their contact center technology and dishing out top advice to help you plan.
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Ep. 12: How to Invest in and Implement Technology With Your Frontline Teams in Mind (with Kevin Schatz)
Sharpen’s very own CTO, Kevin Schatz, shares how to build a project team, an implementation timeline, and get the functionality you need when investing in technology for your contact center. And, he’s talking about why employee and customer satisfaction metrics should be part of your project’s success criteria.
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