Credit unions’ commitment to serving their members is reflected in their healthy growth: these financial institutions now count more than 110 million people as members and hold deposits totaling $1.1 trillion. When a growing sector builds its reputation on customer service, customers themselves can feel the strain of growth when that reputation is no longer met or exceeded. The bottom line is that keeping customers happy during an expansion is no easy feat.
Credit union call centers face a unique set of challenges beyond brisk growth. Traditionally smaller in size, credit unions often lack the resources to implement “best-in-class” technologies, making it especially tricky to tackle surges in call volume that come from rapid growth. With 76% of customers viewing customer service as the real test of much a company values them, long wait times can leave brand new members (and existing ones) annoyed and frustrated.
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While today’s tech-savvy consumers are using more non-voice channels to connect with businesses, the act of picking up the phone to quickly and verbally resolve an issue (complex or otherwise) isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. The problem with this? According to an 
Following widespread industry deregulation, the energy and utilities sector has become increasingly competitive. With more and more choices available to customers, providing quality customer service is more critical than ever. Customer loyalty is no longer guaranteed, with negative experiences driving ratepayers to the competition: 43% of utility customers who have a negative experience are still members after a year, compared to 74% of those who’ve had a positive experience. It’s a perfect storm of high consumer expectations, a host of new challenger brands, and online price comparison sites.
Retail is transforming at an increasing rate, and more than ever. Advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) are changing interactions between customers and brands and are allowing many of these processes to become automated. However, despite these rapid changes, many customers still prefer interacting with an actual person, whether it’s in store with a floor representative, or on the phone with a call center agent.
As Harry Truman famously stated, “Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.” Wise words. Although this is true, how do customer service leaders strategically read to a) learn how to turn themselves into optimal leaders; and b) transform their teams into the high-performing customer service engines they aspire to be?
It seems like, every month, Apple is coming out with a new product or service for its customers to take advantage of, a gadget or a gizmo to “improve” their lives. A steady stream of people visit Apple stores to view, purchase, or try out some of its convenient gadgets hands-on. If you’ve ever walked through a mall where an Apple Store is present, you’ve seen the phenomenon: A mass of people congregating within its glass walls, standing at the product kiosks, handling items with interests and speaking with customer service professionals about the latest and greatest in Apple technology. When you have hundreds of people walking through the doors at any time, one can only imagine the demand on its customer service professionals.
Call center executives are constantly under pressure to find cost-savings. Yet, according to the 
