Kick-Ass Customer Service – Vocabulary Review

30 vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, concepts, and metrics from the “Kick-Ass Customer Service” lecture, designed to prepare students for exam questions on modern service strategy and representative performance.

Self-Service

Customer-initiated problem solving through kiosks, web or apps that avoids live representatives.

Live-Service

Assistance delivered by a human agent, typically reserved for high-complexity, high-stress issues after self-service attempts fail.

DIY Interaction Cost

The minimal expense (“pennies”) a firm incurs when customers use self-service channels.

Live Contact Cost

Average expense of a live interaction—about $7 in B2C and $13 in B2B, and rising.

Factory of Sadness

Metaphor describing the emotional strain frontline reps experience when handling only difficult, frustrated customers.

Seven Types of Reps

Research-derived categories: Accommodators, Competitors, Controllers, Empathizers, Hard Workers, Innovators, and Rocks.

Controller

Top-performing rep archetype—take-charge, decisive, prescriptive, excels at reducing customer effort and handle time.

Empathizer

Service-oriented, listener-focused rep profile preferred by 42% of managers but outperformed by Controllers.

Managerial Bias

Supervisors’ tendency to over-hire Empathizers and under-hire Controllers despite evidence of Controller superiority.

Root-Cause Diagnosis

Controller habit of quickly identifying the underlying issue by considering customer personality and context.

Customer Effort Reduction

Metric emphasizing how easy a company makes resolution; strongly linked to satisfaction and loyalty.

Prescriptive Simplicity

Approach in which reps advise the single fastest solution instead of offering numerous options or channels.

Decision Simplicity Index

Marketing measure showing brands with clearer guidance are 85% more likely to be purchased.

Integrated Coaching

Short, in-workflow mentoring bursts that lift team performance 12% above company average.

Scheduled Episodic Coaching

Formal, calendar-based sessions that feel punitive and leave teams 5% below average performance.

Quality Assurance (QA) Checklist

Traditional script-based scoring (“say name three times”) that constrains Controller behavior.

Competency Framework

Flexible QA model grading skills like negotiation from novice to expert, replacing rigid checklists.

Controller-Friendly Climate

Work environment granting autonomy, input on process changes, and freedom from strict scripts.

Recruitment Autonomy Messaging

Job-ad language emphasizing ownership, problem solving, and initiative to attract Controller applicants.

Expectation Gap

Mismatch between customers’ rising service expectations and firms’ under-invested live-service experience.

Self-Service Exhaustion

Customer frustration after failed DIY attempts, heightening demand for decisive live help.

Turnover

Rate at which reps leave; rose from 19% during the Great Recession to 24% today.

Retention Bonus

Financial incentive offered in tight labor markets to keep experienced reps and avoid knowledge loss.

Knowledge-Loss Risk

Operational threat posed by high turnover draining hard-won expertise from service teams.

Integrated Feedback Channels

Platforms like forums or “Have Your Say Day” where reps propose improvements—saving millions annually.

Continuous Improvement (Lean/Kaizen)

Philosophy mirrored by Controllers’ drive to flag and fix broken processes.

Expectancy-Disconfirmation Theory

Framework explaining how Controllers exceed low customer expectations by resolving issues quickly.

Job Characteristics Model

Theory stating autonomy, task significance, and feedback boost motivation—elements present in Controller climates.

Decision-Simple Brand

Company that offers clear, low-friction choices, often beating competitors in purchase likelihood.

Take-Charge Mindset

Controller attitude of confident, plan-driven action that customers prefer over scripted empathy.