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Each month, our print publication Customer Service Newsletter provides in-depth information and ideas to help readers better manage their service operations.

But we often have valuable background material, additional information, or related resources that we just can’t fit in the newsletter. Listed below are a wide range of documents that add further insight and understanding to the articles in Customer Service Newsletter.

These documents may be viewed and printed with the Adobe Acrobat Reader. You may download a free copy by clicking on the yellow icon.

Learn more about Customer Service Newsletter.

May 1, 2008

Track your customer service “ouch points” — In the May issue of Customer Service Newsletter, Linda Shea of Opinion Research Corporation (ORC) discusses how to track the customer’s path and experience when contacting your company and how managers can use that information. In the following white paper from ORC, “Forget the Theory: Practical Considerations for Listening to the Customer Experience,” Shea expands on her discussion of why understanding the customer experience is important and valuable for companies in general and service organizations in particular.

April 1, 2008

Are you getting a clear picture of your customers’ experience? — In the April issue of Customer Service Newsletter, John Goodman of TARP Worldwide explains how to get an accurate picture of your customers’ experience with your company. In this brief article he suggests a way to make that experience even more positive.

March 1, 2008

Boost performance by getting your reps engaged — Employee engagement and customer loyalty are very closely connected, according to Allegiance, a provider of enterprise feedback management system software. In this white paper, Allegiance offers advice on “The Top 11 Ways to Increase Your Employee Loyalty.”

February 1, 2008

Build team-building into your service routine — Brian Cole Miller offers two more team-building activities from his book, More Team-Building Activities for Busy Managers, that you can try out with your service staff.

January 1, 2008

People issues will dominate the attention of customer service managers in 2008 — Here’s more from the experts Customer Service Newsletter interviewed for the annual Looking Ahead article on the type of challenges customer service managers can expect in 2008.

December 1, 2007

DHL’s service mantra for all employees is: “I’m on it!” — More on DHL’s service efforts from the archives of Customer Service Newsletter.

November 1, 2007

Wait time shortens as call handle time lengthens — What is your service organization’s most important customer service standard? Participants in Customer Service Newsletter’s 2006-2007 Salary & Benchmarking Survey offer a variety of ideas from the broadly strategic to the eminently practical.

October 1, 2007

Service contacts: Phone contacts still lead, but self-service surpasses snail mail — The following tables are derived from Customer Service Newsletter’s 2006-2007 Salary and Benchmarking Survey. They look at survey participants’ hours-of-service offerings by size of service staff and by geographic region.

September 1, 2007

Frontline service salaries show low to moderate increases — The following table consists of data from Customer Service Newsletter’s 2006-2007 Salary Survey and covers regional base pay differences for nine customer service management and frontline positions.

What GM learned from Disney about service — Martitz Learning has helped a number of companies to get more value out of their customer service benchmarking at the Disney Institute. Here are some of the common benefits companies have taken away from the process.

August 1, 2007

Customer-centric companies invest in staff productivity — One way to increase employee productivity is to increase employee engagement. Sibson Consulting’s “Rewards of Work” survey provides a basic definition and advice on increasing engagement in the workplace. Following are some highlights of the survey report.

July 1, 2007

To deliver exceptional customer service, know what customers expect — According to author Michael Levine in the July issue of Customer Service Newsletter, “mystery shopping” is one way to keep track of how your customers are actually being treated by frontline employees. Here’s an article from the CSN archives providing more detail on how “mystery shopping” works.

June 1, 2007

What do you really want to know about customers? — In the June issue of Customer Service Newsletter, Rich Hanks and John Sperry of Mindshare Technologies offer their advice on using customer feedback to drive operational improvements. In the following white paper, Mindshare president Rich Hanks argues that the key to successful service is giving customers what they want in the way they want it.

May 1, 2007

More companies are considering at-home agents — Looking for more data on using home-based service agents? Five9 Inc. surveyed 200 companies with call center operations — large and small — in the U.S. and Canada about the cost and efficiency of using at-home agents.

A detailed summary of the results of that survey is presented in the following white paper — “At-Home Agents: Promise and Pitfalls.”

April 1, 2007

Ten mistakes that service managers should avoid — In the April issue of Customer Service Newsletter, Trevor Spunt of IBM Global Business Services looks at ten “people management” issues that service managers should be concerned with. Here he looks at a number of technology-management issues that managers should look into as well.

March 1, 2007

Benchmarking and certification point the way to service excellence — One of the benefits of continuous benchmarking is the ability to focus efforts and build on previous years’ results. Here’s an article from the Customer Service Newsletter archives that describes Xerox Services’ initial efforts at benchmarking and J.D. Power certification and suggests how they used those results to make even greater improvements this year.

February 1, 2007

CRM software is now within everyone’s reach — In the February 2007 issue of Customer Service Newsletter, Sundip R. Doshi of Surado Solutions (www.suradocrm.com) discusses some of the important issues to consider when looking at customer relationship management (CRM) software for small business. The following white paper from Surado covers an even wider range of issues, including how CRM can help better manage your business, how it can help you reduce costs, and potential CRM pitfalls, among other topics.

January 1, 2007

Should first call resolution be a key service metric? — In the January 2007 issue of Customer Service Newsletter, Rob McDougall of Upstream Works makes the case that first call resolution (FCR) should be a leading service metric for customer service centers and call centers. Following are samples of the types of FCR reports that can be generated via available call tracking software for individual agents and for the service center as a whole.