Zengage - a Zendesk Blog

Zen Masters Webinar Series: Q&A with Author Joseph Michelli

2012-02-09T23:59:26Z

Have you ever heard about Zappos’ amazing customer service and wondered just how they’re able to do it? Author, speaker and consultant Joseph Michelli went inside Zappos to harvest their know-how into juicy tidbits for his latest book, The Zappos Experience. On February 15th, he’s giving away some of Zappos’ secrets in our latest Zen Masters webinar. We caught up with him for a quick conversation in anticipation of next week’s webinar.

How did you get your start writing business focused books?
I have a Ph.D. in systems psychology, and began my work as an organizational development specialist. Now I specialize in helping build customer-centric businesses. My first book focused on the Pike’s Place Fish Market, where I worked with the owner, John Yokoyama. Johnny has created a dynamic workforce that creates memorable customer experiences. Together, he and I set out to tell the story of how that service oriented team of employees evolved from what had been a very product focused business approach. That book, When Fish Fly, took my consulting career and book authorship to another level and I began to work with companies like Starbucks, The Ritz-Carlton, UCLA Health Systems, and Zappos.

When interviewing and working with the great companies you have, is there a common thread or trait that you’ve discovered?
Visionary leadership. Leaders in these organizations are not afraid to set lofty goals and aggressively seek to drive an internal workplace culture that facilitates the realization of their vision. These leaders seek to transform people, products, and human experiences. They help people become passionate about going the extra mile in service to others and, as leaders, they go beyond talking about operational excellence (which happens to be tablestakes today) and focus instead on designing and delivering memorable and craveable experiences inside and outside the organization.

Why Zappos?
I chose Zappos because they’re bizarre and unconventional, yet so successful. They also are consistently delivering a level of customer experience that is lightyears ahead of most companies. I think you can learn a little something from a company that’s a little ahead of you, or you can look way out and see who’s made a giant left turn–like Zappos–and while we might not be able to make the same large turn, there’s something we can all take away from that. Zappos is so good at onboarding employees, doubling down on training and getting people involved in their culture. They’re clearly at the extreme of how companies operate in terms of service-culture execution. Not everyone will do it the Zappos way, but maybe they can take something Zappos does boldly and it’ll inspire them to change something about their own business.

How much time did you spend with them?
In total I’ve been involved with Zappos for about three years. Once it was clear that the CEO of Zappos Tony Hsieh would be writing a book on the company, we delayed my book [The Zappos Experience] to be a follow-up that could tell the “how,” behind the “why” that Tony covered in his work.

Why should people attend this webinar (what are they going to walk away with)?
This webinar is for people who are on the journey to delivering better experiences for their employees and customers. It’s for those who want unconventional insight from an unconventional business leader. The lessons from Zappos transcend business type and sector–it’s not just for ecommerce or footwear. The principles have universal application.

Many people talk about customer service and the service-value proposition. They want to provide great experiences for their customers but aren’t sure where or how to change their business. I’ll show them some of the things Zappos does from the inside-out and how to apply those elements immediately to their business.

Register for the webinar here. For those who can’t make the live webinar, we’ll send a link to the recorded version to all registrants.

Evolution of Phone Support

2012-02-09T23:59:43Z

On a scale of 1 to 10, one being “please, anything but that” and 10 being “this is the best thing that might have ever happened to me,” how much do you like picking up the phone and calling customer service? We’d venture to say the majority of the answers would hover around the lower end of the scale (with some wishing that negative numbers were also an option). Unfortunately, there’s a bit of a stigma around being a customer service rep. Yet, a recent customer service survey conducted by callcentres.net and Forrester Consulting found that most folks pick up the phone more than any other channel when they need help. Even more compelling, 79 percent of those surveyed listed voice conversations among their preferred support channel (only 33 percent said email).

Clearly there’s something about talking to a good ol’ fashioned human being that’s hard to beat. It’s why Zendesk recently launched its Voice feature, which gives both customers and support agents a reason to pick up the phone instead of hanging it up.

It’s phone support for the 21st century. Let’s take a look at how we got here!

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<img title="Evolution Phone Support" src="http://cdn.zendesk.com/images/blog/Infographic_EvolutionPhoneSupport.png" alt="" width="615" /><em>Image originally posted on <a href="http://www.zendesk.com/blog/evolution-of-phone-support-infographic">Zengage, The Zendesk Blog</a></em>

Tip of the Week: Hiding Parts of the Web Portal from Logged-out Users

2012-02-08T21:52:38Z

There are some portions of your support portal you want everyone to see, and others that need to remain exclusive to certain types of users. For example, the average users might want to read your frequently asked questions (FAQs), but you only want registered users to submit and view tickets. In this week’s tip, Dave shows us how to hide certain tabs from logged-out users with a bit of simple CSS, so that only registered users get the velvet-rope treatment. Take a look here.

How to Conquer Your Fear of Phone Support

2012-02-07T18:48:49Z

Everyone has a phone support horror story, and it’s easy to think that phone support is an ineffective, cumbersome channel. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Research shows that customers prefer phone conversations over any other support channel. And that’s not all. Phone systems are now cheaper and easier to implement than ever before. To find out how phone support can help your organization implement a phone system in minutes, download our latest white paper.

The Music We Hold To

2012-02-03T19:08:35Z

Whether its a long-forgotten Christopher Cross melody, a sweet smooth jazz sax solo, or a rollicking version of Beethoven’s 5th, there’s something about customer support hold music that stays with us long after we’ve hung up the phone. And in some instances, that means literally having Peter Cetera and Amy Grant’s “The Next Time I Fall” in our heads for an entire week. While the thought of hold music usually provokes record-breaking eye rolls, the tuneful tool actually keeps folks on the phone longer than silence. In fact, 90% of consumers prefer music over silence.

And while social media and email have certainly become popular customer service tools, research shows that phone support is still the preferred customer service channel among the majority of customers. Hold music sings to us in ways we apparently never thought it did.

Use the code below to re-use this graphic

<img title="Hold Music Infographic" src="http://cdn.zendesk.com/v2/Infographic_HOLD_MUSIC.jpg" alt="" width="615" /><em>Image originally posted on <a href="http://www.zendesk.com/blog/the-music-we-hold-to">Zengage, The Zendesk Blog</a></em>

Zendesk Launches New Tools for Google Chrome

2012-01-30T18:56:14Z

Google Chrome users are a bunch of forward-thinking, extension-trying, app-happy users that deserve the latest and greatest tools. So we’re adding one of each to your productivity arsenal with our new Google Chrome extension, Zendesk Activity Stream, and app, Zendesk Launch Pad.

For those who don’t know, Google Chrome is the world’s second-most popular Internet browser (behind Internet Explorer), after it surpassed Mozilla Firefox in late 2011. It has many fantastic features, including an all-in-one navigation and search bar, and a host of applications, games and extensions available through the Chrome Web Store.

Here’s a rundown of our new Chrome tools:

Zendesk Activity Stream (Extension) - View you recent ticket activity and receive real-time notifications for new inquiries no matter what site you’re browsing with our new extension. Once installed, a simple icon appears at the top right of your browser–next to other extensions–that displays notifications and reveals details when clicked, as well as the latest Zendesk product news.

Zendesk Launch Pad (App) - A simple way to launch and search Zendesk or view product updates directly from your Chrome apps homepage.

Both the app and extension are available in nine languages:
- English
- French
- German
- Spanish
- Italian
- Portuguese
- Chinese
- Japanese
- Korean

For more information or to download each, visit the Chrome Web Store.

Donate $20 to UCSF Hospital, Get Zendesk Starter Free!

2012-02-09T19:03:17Z

After we recently hit 15,000 customers, we thought about the best way to thank both new and existing customers, while paying it forward to others as well. As a result, we’re giving away free Zendesk Starter plans to anyone who donates $20 to the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital. Now everyone wins!

Last year, we pledged $1 million to help the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital deliver the above-and-beyond services that brighten their child and teen patients’ days, including pet visits, in-room entertainment centers, educational activities and more.

With the Starter plan, companies get our industry-leading customer service solution with up to three agents for free with a donation of $20/year to the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital. That’s up to $304 off the normal price! So what are you waiting for? Donate today and put a smile on a child’s face!

APAC Training Tour 2012

2012-01-29T18:31:21Z

Are you wondering how to optimize your Zendesk? Well if you live in the APAC region, you’re in luck: we’re embarking on an eight-city tour offering free one-day training sessions to Zendesk customers in Japan, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand!

We go to great lengths to help you get up to speed through in-depth documentation, webinars and tips, but sometimes there’s no replacement for an in-person lesson. These trainings will show you how to properly use the basic and intermediate functionality in Zendesk, and answer any questions you may have. After one session, you’ll be creating macros, sharing tickets and integrating new support channels like a true support wizard. You may even eclipse our 93% customer satisfaction rating!

Register today for your complimentary seat to a training session in your city. Afterwards, we’re picking up the bar tab for attendees and anyone who can’t make it to the training (but be sure to register for the happy hour.) We hope to see you there!

15,000 Customers Just Can’t Be Wrong #Zenthanks

2012-01-26T23:47:16Z

Today, Zendesk is happy to announce that it now has 15,000 customers. This is fantastic news after having such an amazing year. First, and foremost, let’s talk about our customers.

#15,000 = Roku

We are very happy to welcome Roku, the leading streaming platform for entertainment channels, as our 15,000th customer. Today, 15,000 customers use Zendesk to deliver superior customer service to more than 65 million people in 137 countries, making it the largest customer service network in the world.

Most people are familiar with our long-time customers, such as Adobe, Sony, OpenTable, and Groupon. Recently, Zendesk signed on the likes of Four Seasons, Meredith Corporation, and Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR).

2011 was a banner year for Zendesk, tripling our year-over-year revenue for the second year in a row. In addition, we expanded internationally, opening offices in London, Copenhagen, and Melbourne to better support our customers globally.

We were honored to win some very prestigious awards this past year including the 2011 SIIA CODiE Award for Best Relationship Management Solution, the Best in Cloud award from COMPUTERWOCHE, and VentureWire’s FASTech 50 award.

Our outstanding engineering team delivered on a lot of product innovation in various areas including:

- Zendesk Voice

- Zendesk for Facebook

- Customer Satisfaction Ratings

- Ticket Sharing

- Zendesk Enterprise

In addition, we fulfilled on our mobile customer service strategy by delivering Zendesk for iPad, Android devices and Windows phone.

Most importantly, we’ve been very humbled by the wonderful way Zendesk has been welcomed to the city of San Francisco and its vital high-tech community. As Zendesk continues its rapid growth, it is important for us to share our good fortune with the city that helped make it happen and the the industry that we are proud to be a part of.

This year we:

- Pledged $1 million to the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital to support its vision and revolutionary medical research

- Established its new headquarters in San Francisco’s Mid-Market and will actively help improve the neighborhood by providing technology and training to help the underprivileged and small businesses in the neighborhood.

- Introduced the “Zendesk Loves Startups” program where startups in approved incubators receive a free one-year subscription to Zendesk.

- Became one of the founding members of NetworkedHelpDesk.org, an open standards organization dedicated to creating seamless communications among multiple partners and suppliers to deliver an unprecedented customer experience.

To everyone who helped make this happen — from customers to partners, from employees to the 65 million people in 137 countries who get their customer service through Zendesk –we thank you. In fact, let’s use today to take 140 characters out of our day and tweet our thanks to everyone and anyone who has contributed to your organization’s success. Whether it’s one key individual or thousands, let them know you appreciate their support. Hashtag your tweet #zenthanks so we can retweet and favorite as needed.