Driving Customer Care Forward - Jeff Newman - Conversations That Matter - Episode # 63

Conversations That Matter, a podcast from Uniphore

In the automotive industry, customer service calls are often fraught with frustration. No one calls a car dealership because their car is working as intended. Our guest this week is a leader who is responsible for making sure customers of his company enjoy their service as much as they enjoy their cars. With an extensive background in contact centers, he understands the challenges agents face, and how to best use technology to support them. Joining the show this week is Manager of Customer Care at Porsche Cars North America, Jeff Newman!

Jeff dials in from the Porsche Experience Center in Atlanta to talk with Randy Ksar about the innovations in customer experience that Porsche is providing. Jeff dives into his strategies for providing proactive customer service, the ways AI can help contact center agents, and the importance of caring for those you lead.

Takeaways:

• Many agents worry that AI will eliminate them in the call center. When a customer is frustrated, they don’t only want an answer, they want to also be understood. While an AI can solve a problem, only people can create human connections.
• When a customer calls a car manufacturer with a problem, those problems tend to be more severe than average. Understanding this, Porsche has a higher commitment to customer care, ensuring that frustrated customers see their issues resolved.
• Good customer service is reactive, great customer service is proactive. After you solve an issue for a customer, showing them something new about their product changes the interaction from a fixed problem, to a positive, deeper understanding of their product.
• Use cases for AI in the contact center go beyond chat bots. Live call transcripts that pull up knowledge base articles and highlight cues from customers allow agents to quickly access relevant information, and ensure they address all of a customer’s needs.
• While AI can help agents identify customer issues, it also helps agents highlight customer milestones. If a customer is facing an issue with their new car, AI can help the agent solve the issue and celebrate the customer’s new purchase.
• As a leader, you need to care for the people you are leading. Lead by example and provide your employees with the level of care you ask them to show clients. If you want employees to be welcoming with customers, you need to be welcoming to them first
• When measuring the success of the contact center, it’s ok to keep it simple. While NPS isn’t a perfect metric, it’s a good guideline. When you’re focused on making a frustrated customer happy, the NPS will give you a good insight into your performance.

Quote of the Show:

• “We in our organizations strive for extraordinary. Ordinary interactions and conversations are not acceptable.” - Jeff Newman

Links:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/1rudebro
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreysnewman/
• Website: https://www.porsche.com/usa/

Ways to Tune In:

• Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/conversations-that-matter-podcast-for-contact-center/id1525650658
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6Xx9G8w6bntQayIpbkgxc5?si=cNeVuJicSHagsftlpL8-tg
• Google Podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9jb252ZXJzYXRpb25zdGhhdG1hdHRlcnBvZGNhc3QubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M