From the field: Customer service skills you need today

Posted: October 12, 2018

This Zendesk Relate article includes a snippet about my career path from customer service to learning & training. Just like most other things on Relate, it’s a considered and interesting article with a lot of different angles on career pathing in customer service. Here’s what I contributed, but do click through to check out the entire article, as it’s a great read. Kaye Chapman entered the…

Read more

Five Tips To Successfully Onboard Live Chat Agents

Posted: October 10, 2018

Live chat communications continue to trend upwards in importance. No surprise here. eMarketer predicts that in just one year from now, 80 percent of the world’s smartphone users will use messaging apps. We’re more connected than ever, and that provides challenges for modern sales and service organizations. Today’s online customers want and expect a fast response time to their customer service query, plus a frictionless way to…

Read more

Promotion Update & Lucep’s Top 50 Customer Experience Blogs and Influencers

Posted: August 8, 2018

I’ve been quiet over the last few weeks – life has been busy since I got promoted 😊 I’m now Learning & Development Manager for Comm100. Our business is growing fast and getting mature enough now that we really needed an L&D lead to drive internal and external training initiatives. I’m extremely happy to be that person and I’m looking forward to helping Comm100 to…

Read more

Winning Live Chat Training for Your Customer Service Team

Posted: July 10, 2018

Implementing live chat for your customer service team might seem like a major decision—and it is!—but it is only the first step in modernizing your customer service strategy. Luckily, implementing a live chat system on your website is often pretty simple, but a tool isn’t useful if your teams aren’t trained to use it properly, and aren’t fully on board with its potential to make…

Read more

RapportBoost.AI Interview Part 1: Live Chat Agent Training Drives CX

Posted: June 27, 2018

It was awesome to have been able to spend some time chatting with Dani, Meredith and the team at RapportBoost.AI – a fantastic company working on AI and augmented intelligence for contact center agents, blending this with a strong focus on emotional intelligence. In this interview we discuss agent training, call center customer service and AI in the contact center. Live chat agent training is one…

Read more

Sutherland Labs June 2018’s Coolest Things

Posted: June 26, 2018

I don’t usually share shout-outs and smaller mentions of my writing on this blog, but I felt like this article was especially worth sharing as there’s a lot of other good articles linked there too, alongside my Zendesk blog on icebreaker training activities. I loved the ideas on how to shake up your to-do lists with a new formula to help you get organized. The…

Read more

10 Educational, Funny & Thought-Provoking Customer Service Training Videos You Won’t Have Seen Before

Posted: April 26, 2018

Have you ever experienced that feeling when you encounter a new piece of information that completely shifts your understanding of the world around you? Whether it’s a great book, an enlightening movie or a blog post with a fresh perspective you’d never considered, those moments are at the core of all great learning experiences. As a manager or trainer of a customer service team, you’ll…

Read more

Icebreaker Alternatives for People Who Hate Icebreakers

Posted: January 2, 2018

“Today is all about getting to know each other, building relationships, and finding out even more about the people you already know. It’s icebreaker time!” As my colleague announced the aims for the day to our newly hired team, the atmosphere in the room turned suddenly frosty. People shuffled in their seats and looked at their shoes. Our team was made up of mostly younger…

Read more