As the chief customer officer for Enterasys, I am very fortunate to be a member of an award-winning global customer service and support organization. Our ability to deliver strong customer support is one of the driving factors for our company growth over the past four years. One of the biggest benefits of a strong customer service organization is recruitment - talented employees want to work for a company that is customer driven. In 2012, both the Boston Globe and the Boston Business Journal recognized our company as one of the best places to work in Boston - #4 out of nearly 1,600 companies!
In today's knowledge sharing and connected economy, your customer facing frontline employees represent your company's brand. Your brand is what people are saying about you when you're not in the room. The web is the room and it's social. Some companies today view social media as strictly a marketing tool - this is a mistake. I am also the chief marketing officer for our company and I believe that customer service is your most important marketing asset. The customer experience must be in the forefront of everything that we do. Customer experience is simply a collection of memories. Companies must be easy to do business with and they must hire and keep memorable employees. To compete and win, companies must recognize and celebrate their customer service and support personnel. Companies must invest in training and personal development of service professionals and then empower them to delight. They must also encourage frontline employees to leverage social channels to bolster customer relationships and humanize the brand. . Please remember, customers build relationships with our people, not our products.
I have compiled a list of the top 100 customer service and experience management professionals who exemplify excellence in customer service. They regularly contribute valuable content on Twitter. These service champions create and curate original content that speaks to customer experience management, customer support delivery, customer relationship management (CRM), service performance management, social customer care, and community management. These top 100 professionals include multiple best-selling authors, industry analysts, customer support management, service-oriented company executives, community managers, keynote speakers, bloggers, customer experience architects, media personalities, and consultants. The common thread that binds these service advocates is the unwavering commitment to improve customer experience, and their consistent level of contributions on Twitter. I emphasize active engagement on social networks as an important criterion for making this list and I believe these customer service champions deserve to be recognized and celebrated for their work.
Here are the top 100 most social customer service pros on Twitter: (click on any avatar to connect to their Twitter page)
- Shep Hyken, @Hyken
- Marsha Collier, @MarshaCollier
- Frank Eliason, @FrankEliason
- Paul Greenberg, @pgreenbe
- Kate Leggett, @kateleggett
- Tristan Bishop, @KnowledgeBishop
- Roy Atkinson, @RoyAtkinson
- Charlie Isaacs, @charlieisaacs
- Ray Wang, @rwang0
- Barry Dalton, @bsdalton
- Michael Fauscette, @mfauscette
- Kate Nasser, @KateNasser
- Ted Coine, @tedcoine
- Mitch Lieberman, @mjayliebs
- Brian Vellmure, @BrianVellmure
- Jeannie Walters, @jeanniecw
- Annette Franz, @annettefranz
- Kerry Bodine, @kerrybodine
- Natalie Petouhoff, @drnatalie
- Justin Flitter, @JustinFlitter
- Bruce Temkin, @btemkin
- Jeanne Bliss, @JeanneBliss
- Wendy S Lea, @WendySLea
- Colin Shaw, @ColinShaw_CX
- Michael Lytle, @Michael_Lytle
- William Band, @waband
- Guy Stephens, @guy1067
- Scott McKain, @scottmckain
- Bob Thompson, @Bob_Thompson
- Becky Carroll, @bcarroll7
- Ty Sullivan, @ty_sullivan
- Ginger Conlon, @customeralchemy
- Bryan Person, @BryanPerson
- Adrian Swinscoe, @adrianswinscoe
- Greg Meyer, @grmeyer
- Mila D'Antonio, @miladantonio
- Bill Quiseng, @billquiseng
- Rob Markey, @rgmarkey
- Aimee Lucas, @Aimee_Lucas
- Flavio Martins, @flavmartins
- Robert Bacal, @rbacal
- Rosetta C Lue, @rosettalue
- William Goddard, @W_Goddard
- Richard R Shapiro, @RichardRShapiro
- Christopher Carfi, @ccarfi
- Bob E Hayes, @bobehayes
- Caty Kobe, @catykobe
- Greg Ortbach, @GregOrtbach
- Mark Bernhardt, @ImMarkBernhardt
- Alan Berkson, @berkson0
- Rachel Miller, @rachelloumiller
- Michael Ludwig, @Michael_Ludwig
- Jason Houck, @MJasonHouck
- Bill Gerth, @comcastcares
- Mike Wittenstein, @mikewittenstein
- Paul Sevcik, @PaulSevcik
- Geoff Snyder, @Geoff_Snyder
- Kevin Baldacci, @KevinBaldacci
- Blake Landau, @BlakeLandau
- Al Hopper, @AlHopper_
- Dave Tidwell, @dave_t_pilot
- Sarah Stealey Reed, @sstealey
- Russel Lolacher, @RussLoL
- Jeffrey J Kingman, @JeffreyJKingman
- Ron Kaufman, @RonKaufman
- Mark Orlan, @MarkOrlan
- Margerita de Miranda, @MardeMir
- Nancy Porte, @nporte
- Jonty Pearce, @JontyPearce
- Melissa Kovacevic, @MKCallConsult
- Jennifer Maldonado, @maldyj
- Colin Taylor, @colinsataylor
- Graham Frost, @grafrost
- Lori Jo Vest, @lorijovest
- Steve Curtin, @enthused
- Martin Hill-Wilson, @martinhw
- Toni Newman, @Toni_Newman
- Adam Toporek, @adamtoporek
- Nick Kossovan, @Kossovan
- Greg Levin, @Greg_Levin
- Andrew Maher, @serviceplease20
- Barry Peters, @barrypeters
- Calie Waterhouse, @CWaterhouse
- Peter Lavers, @PeterLavers
- Jeremy Watkin, @jtwatkin
- Ian Jacobs, @iangjacobs
- Diana Oreck, @dianaoreck
- Ian Golding, @ijgolding
- Stephanie Thum, @stephaniethum
- Micah Solomon, @micahsolomon
- Myra Golden, @MyraGolden
- Yvonne A Jones, @YvonneAJones
- Bart de Craene, @bartdecraene
- Natasha Bishop @natasha_d_g
- Laura Northrup, @lnorthrup
- Jason Boies, @JasonBoies
- Donna Cutting, @donnacutting
- Wes Hayden, @weshayden
- Michael Pace, @mpace101
- Eric Tamblyn, @etamb
For several weeks, I asked more than 18,000 Twitter followers to recommend their top customer service pro and I am grateful for all of their suggestions. I am certain that you know many more customer service champions that deserve to be recognized. Please add your recommendations in the comments section so that we can all connect and learn from each other. Thank you.