Real Time Engagement  is the new customer service.

 

The goal of customer service remains the same;  put a smile on the clients face, add value,  exceed expectations, positively impact, connect, resource, but the 'what we are doing' and the tools we have access to leverage connection, relating and engaging  are morphing at mach speed.

But let us never forget it's all about the smile; making people smile on the inside and out because of the value, the contribution, the impact of our organization, venture, business.

Consumers are aging with real time feeds. Life is becoming a 24/7 buffet of information,  connection thanks to technology and web 2.0. Filtering is the buzz as is mapping and micro, hyper local connecting.

Want a little real time fun; hit upfoursquare and see whats up, then go tobacktype and search a few meaningful words to your venture and then buzz on over to Bing and Google on real time search. 

 Of course there's more… So what's the value?

Well, I don't know but as I was real timing it this morning I learned a blonde was rushed out of Tiger Woods house at 2;16 am!!! Exactly, this is not valuable to me but the minute I searched social ventures and then took a look at Ashoka I started real time filtering things that matter to me.

 

Remember it's all about who? Yes, the client. People; they have been liberated and are filtering, tevo elites…

You don't tell them when to smile. They find you and they smile based on your engagement, and increasingly that engagement will be in real time…

Real time tools are teaching consumers to expect timely,  24/7 real time help, support, engagement from everyone; friends, businesses, organizations.

Today customer service has broken free from behind the company firewall, it's gone beyond the brick and mortar, inbox and customer service phone lines. In Southwest airlines speak 'moments of truth' are happening all over the new online community in forums, tweets, Facebook posts, Linkedin discussion groups, real time news commentaries, you tube videos, vlogs, blog posts and more. 

Engagement. Proactive. On line and offline. Offense. Listening and dialog. Answering questions and being real. Getting involved where your clients, employees, vendors and prospects are hanging out, conversing and engaged.  

It's all about engagement. What engagement matters to your brand, venture?

You see; the people, leaders, companies and ventures that make us smile, that we identify with, connect with and come to trust those are the ones we will give our hard earned attention to.

And believe you me; attention in this information deluge we live in is a fleeting thing. So when I attend to you, engage; I hope your there and if your not…well I guess some other lucky business, solution is going to make me smile.

Because….we are all intent …we are going to smile.

The question is; will we be smiling as we are real time engage with you?

Old school customer service is too narrow to exceed client expectations in the era of Web 2.0 so I'm not using the words anymore.

Words are culture.

Talk, model, teach, breathe and live; real time engagement; the art of creating smiles; internally and externally.

So what are you learning about real time engagement?

 

 I'm all ears…oh ya and a big smile!

 Smile is Highly Contagious!, originally uploaded by .•✿ilki✿•..

 

Pam Hoelzle