How to Offer Excellent Customer Service using Social Channels

Way back in 2003, India was engulfed by BPO culture.  It was actually a blessing in disguise for the entire Indian industry and young workforce as customer service was quite a new term and phenomenon (at least in the context and seriousness it’s taken in the West) in this part of the world.

The BPO boom of the previous decade

Organizations and people learned a lot about customer service because the BPO jobs were a craze at the time and everybody wanted to work for at least a year or two in a BPO before starting a full-time career of their choice. I’ve also worked with a few BPOs such as IBM, eBookers, British Telecom (HCL BPO), and Convergys etc. as customer service representative.

The salient features were hefty salaries, state of the art office spaces, international work environment, no specific dress code, improved communication skills, foreign accents, opportunity to travel to the US or Europe, quick growth, pick n drop services and meals. What else could a jobless Indian youngster want at the time, when finding a job was in itself a tortuous exercise?

The scale of operations

Bangalore, Gurgaon (near Delhi), Pune, Hyderabad, and Chennai became the BPO hubs. It was on such a large scale, that at least 10 BPO cabs could easily be spotted every minute passing through the Dhaula Kuan intersection that links national capital Delhi with Gurgaon. Convergys, a big BPO player operated a fleet of 1400 cabs alone.   

Companies like IBM, Microsoft, British Telecom, Verizon, Aetna, Amazon, Orange, Vodafone, HP, Dell, Fidelity, GE, Honda, Convergys, eFunds, Saffron, Honeywell, Intuit, eBookers and many other global players started outsourcing their customer service operations from India. This was truly a BPO boom in South Asia. Indian economy started to prosper and Indian youngsters for the first time experienced hefty paychecks and started wearing branded clothes. Everybody had an option to enter into BPO industry if something didn’t work out as per their career plans.

Customer service mindset

For the first time, Indian youngsters learned about international standards of customer service and how critical it was for the survival of any business. The BPO boom continued for more than a decade before the bubble burst.

By 2011, approximately 70% of the BPO business slipped out of the hands of India and went into the hands of countries like Philippines, China, Malaysia, Thailand, and Brazil etc. However, the biggest takeaway for India from this entire exercise was the customer service mindset that these companies inculcated into the average Indian mind. It included soft skills and commitment to offering the best experience to your customer. It also included how to keep them happy even if that meant going out of the way to serve a customer.

Customer service in digital age

Today, we are living in a digital age and a lot of things still depend on how good our customer service is. The marketplace is quite competitive these days and businesses need to offer excellent customer service not only to compete with their rivals but also to just survive as a business. In the digital age, customer service is also 360 degree. Businesses may use social media pages, Twitter handles helpline numbers, and email addresses, where a customer can contact the business, register a complaint or simply express their anger.

It is important to quickly address their concerns so that the situation doesn't get out of control leading to an unpleasant situation where any negative content posted by angry customers can go viral. Twitter can be used as an important customer service tool, where users can get access to customer service in real time. If a company offers robust customer service on Twitter, they will act immediately. There are many instances where companies have acted on Twitter complaints instantly and have prevented a situation, which could have damaged their reputation.

Facebook is also a good platform, where users can register their complaint or access the customer support in case the normal customer service helpline is not providing any solution.

The British Airways storyBritish Airways is known for providing prompt customer service on Twitter.

“British Airways may be slow on the phone but are very quick when it comes to Twitter,” according to the Telegraph, UK.

Here is an interesting story about British Airways, which offered excellent customer service on Twitter to an angry customer and diffused what could otherwise have been an ugly situation. They not only prevented a bad customer experience but also a possible dent in the reputation of the airlines.  

Click here to read the complete story.

Conclusion

In digital space, you should be prompt at customer service and think out of the box solutions to handle angry customers. An angry customer may share his bad experience with your company with his online communities and there is no way you can control it. Using social media especially Twitter and Facebook to offer excellent customer service is an important step to retain and expand your customer base. 

Success Mantras: Automate most of your Activities in Life

Many a times, employees working in a 9 to 5 environment are seen frustrated with the problems of change and challenge present across the corporate world today. Old practices die and give way to new practices and this happens at a rapid pace.

Some people love their comfort zone and are completely knocked off by such a drastic change. It gives them sleepless nights, work fatigue and even depression. Most of these people aren't depressed by nature, rather they are the always smiling/laughing types, but such a situation gives way to generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and related complications, such as a burnout, etc.

So, how to solve this issue.

For me, the best way is to turn your work into an automatic or mechanical process. Don't think much and don't fantasize, where taking action is a priority. Limit your wasteful activities and focus on "real" work.

When you make something automatic,  90% of your targets are achieved in less than 20% of the total efforts required. Yes, the painful part is to focus upon your current job and tame your mind not to wander beyond the urgent needs.

This approach towards life can free yourself from the day-to-day stress of coping with the new challenges and changes at the workplace. You don't need to innovate in 99% of the cases. Run of the mill arrangement can help you in most of your urgent tasks and that's the reason why go-getters and "just do it" kind of people are more successful in life than the original thinkers and innovators.

Human brain is already programmed to deliver its best performance under any "predetermined" code and program. It doesn't make any difference, whether you're an innovator or an ordinary individual as long as a code is activated inside you. This game is same for you.

So, be the best "Googler" (user of Google), if you want to get ahead. The good news is – "Google is still not paid". Keep on making queries, it will not get tired of you.

Your success in life direct proportional to your ability to use Google. Sadly, many people still shy away from Google or they make less queries, largely because we're genetically hardwired to think that we "SHOULD NOT BOTHER" someone beyond a limit. This is polite and commonly accepted way of living. But, my dear fellas, Google is a machine and it's designed for queries. Everyday its capacity is increasing, and it will not get tired if an additional load of the entire population of some other planet is diverted to it. So, why are you shying from making queries. If you're a good Googler, you may never have to buy a single book in life. You'll probably never have to do an online course to advance your career. Google gives you everything. In fact, the best of everything.

So, automate your routine and many of your core activities in life. It should appear to an outsider as if everything is happening smoothy for you and you're an expert at the art of "life" and "work". Never, allow your face to showcase frustration and confusion. Never look puzzled. Just have a common approach and do it in the smoothest manner possible, as an expert surfer rides the waves. He doesn't calculate the velocity and direction of tides. He just enjoys his sport and that too in a fashion that comes naturally from within. Never miss a blog post from Nashaat Quadri's blog "Third Wave". Subscribe it today.

Nothing Is Better Than Yoga

So much information, so little knowledge

Sometimes I wonder, why on earth there is so much confusion despite the fact that we are living in the information age. In fact, we are over-informed, yet we do not know the basic things about life. If you go to the market, you will find a plethora of drugs available for different ailments. But, nobody would tell you, that these are not a treatment or cure of your diseases. These are just the quick fixes, which minimize the symptoms and have temporary benefits. You cannot achieve long-lasting effects or wholesome health with these drugs. In fact, some of these drugs can cause further complications once they are mixed into your bloodstream, and these complications can occur anytime in the future.

The confused and ignorant civilization

So why are we are living in the dark?  Don't you know that unless we change our lifestyle and go to the ancient healing practices such as yoga, vipassana, reiki, acupuncture and some other meditation forms, we cannot achieve wholesome health. Post the cultural and industrial transition of the 19th and 20th century, we have completely forgotten the basics of life in the mad rush of this industrial world. We follow West in every walk of life, whereas the West is looking at this for direction. 

Make yoga a part of your life

All we know is to get up early in the morning, take a shower, take a quick breakfast, put on our shoes, wear tight clothes and start the rat race of the day. It induces stomach cramps, headache, indigestion, hemorrhoids, stiff-joints, rashes on the skin, and eczema, etc.  It also leads to certain complications such as heart and respiratory diseases,  psychiatric diseases, thyroid, hypertension, fatigue, diabetes, and arthritis, etc.  These are the diseases that are linked purely to the lifestyle of an individual. Drugs can provide you temporary relief in these diseases, but it can never be a long-lasting remedy. If you want to get rid of these diseases forever, then you have to change your lifestyle and make yoga a part of your life. For more information on these healing practices, follow my blog www.nashaatquadri.blogspot.com

Skip yoga and become a victim of modern life

Yoga is not just an ancient practice; it is a way of life. It heals the body and the mind. It flushes out almost all the diseases from the body and helps you live a healthy and happy life. So, whenever you find time, you should practice a little yoga. Yoga is not just an exercise; it is a scientific approach for regulating our body's system by controlling our breathing system and activating the parts of the body, which are left ignored and inactive. For example, Kapal Bhati is a yoga exercise, which is meant for regulating our metabolism, respiratory system, and cardiovascular system. If we don't do this, several hundred complications may arise in our body, and over-the-counter drugs salts and drugs can never act as a remedy. They will always keep us in an eternal cycle of illnesses.

Leave the artificial lifestyle and go back to the natural one

So, if you want to get out of these illnesses and lifestyle diseases. Stop following the West, especially in terms of their allopathic system of medicine and pharmaceutical drugs being discovered every day. I'm not saying that we should shun all the treatment even in the severe cases. What I am talking about is to go for something we have been skipping to pursue our robotic lifestyles. Pay attention to the needs of your body and “activate” it the way the ancient men did it.

You will never have to visit a doctor

I have myself seen a magical effect of yoga on certain chronic illnesses. It is long-lasting and natural. Drugs only weaken our immune system. So, find at least one hour for regular yoga exercises to keep you healthy and fit. Stay away from drugs. Respect the ancient system and practices as nothing can beat them even now. Despite the ocean of information that we have around us, we are largely living ignorant lives. People waste hundreds of thousands of dollars on pharmaceutical drugs and several other forms of treatments, but they find themselves in an endless loop of misery. Stop smoking and drinking. Stop eating junk food, cold drinks, tea and coffee and fried and processed food. Eat vegetables, fruits and occasionally some fresh meat as well. I'm sure you will never feel the need to visit a doctor.

How to Organize All Your Projects + To Do's

Tomorrow's Web: Laura Kalbag on Freelancing

7 Tips to Create Content Faster

Many people find it difficult to write articles and blogs primarily because of the following reasons:

• There is too much noise on the web. It creates confusion and it becomes difficult at times to choose a topic and find unique subject matter.
• There are so many distractions in our life, such as smart phones, social media and interruptions by the people around us.
• The demand for content is too high and it's difficult to maintain quality with high volumes.

Digital marketing companies need a lot of content to effectively market their products and websites. They hire content writers and ask them to write dozens of articles a day on the given keywords. This makes life difficult for a writer. But, there are ways you can resolve this issue now, as there are proven ways to create content faster. You can choose "how to" topics as they solve problems. As far as "how to" articles are concerned, these are the favorites with the bloggers and SEO content writers.

Using templates
It's good to use article writing templates, as they save a lot of your time thinking about the subject and the outline of your article. Article writing is an art and you can master it, if you follow certain tips. EzineArticles.com provides extremely useful article writing templates, which can be downloaded for just a few dollars. You can improve your article writing speed significantly with these templates.

Furthermore, they will also help you to create articles in bulk, without having to worry about the topics and the body of the article. All you have to do is to think about a problem, Google it for its solutions, think of innovative ways to solve it and provide your own inputs in it.

Now religiously follow the following 7 tips to create content faster:

1. Keep your Smartphone away from your desk. (On silent mode preferably, which is the standard practice in MNCs)

2. Logout from all social networking sites, apps, Skype, Gmail, Vlogs and Yahoo etc. (Set an auto-responder and come back to your mail every three hours to keep in touch with your contacts.)

Remember a golden rule-- your business contacts respect you because of your performance at work and not because of your prompt customer service.

3. Don't use MS Word, use DarkCopy.com instead. It's a distraction free writing with a black background, which doesn't strain your eyes. Try it, it's free and it works magically.

4. Set a stop watch or just a wrist watch and assign a time frame for your present work/article/blog and then religiously stick to it.

5. Use "Dragon Naturally Speaking" dictation software, instead of typing. It increases your speed three times.

6. Stay away from all kinds of distractions and sit at a place which does not offer tempting views of the surroundings. Women are beautiful, but they can also dampen your spirits and affect your creative streak.

7. Write like a sprinter and come back to edit it later on. Never do both the tasks simultaneously.

Tip: There is too much repetitiveness on the Internet, so don't duplicate the same old facts most of your readers are already familiar with. Create something new; think of an out of the box solution. Remember, you are a human being with the most developed brain in the universe. You are also an individual, so you can present your own unique perceptions, ideas and views, rather than copying it from someone else. Follow these tips and experience a remarkable improvement in your speed as well as quality of article writing.

Nashaat Quadri is a freelance writer, blogger and social media strategist based in New Delhi. His favorite subjects are motivation, digital marketing, online education and electronic gadgets. You can hire him to create quality content and blog posts for assured incoming traffic to your website.
Email: nashaat.quadri@gmail.com

Most popular global online courses in India

With India warming up for online education, many of its students are flocking to reputed international online education providers.  The reasons are obvious; more industry recognition, access to latest information in the chosen field, quality of educational content, engagement and access to the renowned faculty members and resources.

1.      The MOOCs (massive open online course)
As the name suggests, it’s the biggest body of online education providers in the US, with several universities and standalone educational institutions offering countless online education programs for both American and foreign students.  It allows you a large scale interactive participation using the web. As far as Indian students are concerned, it’s the biggest attraction for them at the moment and over three lakh Indian students have joined online courses at MOOCs in just a couple of months this year.

The attractions of MOOCS are:

·         Reduced entry barriers to invite more and more students

·         Education from top universities that too virtually free of cost

·         Renowned faculty from reputed institutes and universities

·         Much less fee than the campus programs of the US universities

2.      Khan Academy; the storehouse of casual learning     
Khan Academy was launched incidentally by an Indian Harvard graduate, Salman Khan. He was trying to teach his niece Nadia, who happened to be in another US city, using the net.  Suddenly, he thought of launching YouTube videos with the course content on a large scale, so that she and the other such students can watch them as per their convenience.  He thought that students would be able to watch these videos as many times as they want and can pause or repeat, wherever they need it.  This resulted into the establishment of Khan Academy.  At present, Khan Academy is a leading online education provider in the US and overseas.

3.      Coursera
Coursera is also highly popular American online education provider in India and overseas.  It was founded by the Stanford University computer science professors. It has following features:

·         More than 300 online courses in different subjects in engineering, humanities, medicine and mathematics

·         Over one million students registered in different online courses; most of them from overseas

·         62% of Coursera online students from Brazil, India and China

·         62 participating universities from around the world, which design the curriculum of online courses

·         Participant universities include the University of Michigan, Princeton University, Duke and the University of Edinburgh 

·         Ideal for formal higher education post regular college and to attain cross functional expertise to enhance employability 

·         Hundreds of thousands of Indian students already registered and it contributes towards effective networking and collaboration in studies

·         Enhances the job prospects in the international market

·         Enhances the chances of getting admission in leading American and European universities and colleges.

·         Democratizes the education by reaching out to distance learners in various countries and offers them quality education without having to leave their regular employment and location

4.      edX / HarvardX Online Learning
Harvard has also joined the league of universities offering online education to the global students.  Prestigious Harvard and Stanford have formed an alliance called edX, a $60 million venture, which is joined by the likes of MIT, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton and Michigan University. These leading institutions of the world have decided to offer their quality content for regular education and research to the global student community through the web.  Indian students, who are passionate about these brands, have joined the mad rush to enroll in their online courses. 

Udemy
A Palo Alto, California based startup has jumped into the world of online education. They have given the name Udemy to the venture, combining “you” with “academy.”  It has a good web-based courseware platform that enables the students get quality education through video lectures, ppt presentations, and other text-based content.