Parature, a leading provider of customer support software, is presenting its 2010 “Best Practices in Customer Service” webinar series.

The series, which launched last month and runs through June, will provide attendees with insights into customer service best practices and industry trends.

 

Among the customer support industry experts who will be presenting the webinars are bestselling author Robert Spector; Rich Gallagher of Point of Contact Group; Paige Newcombe of Coremetrics (News - Alert); John Ragsdale of Technology Services Industry Association (TSIA); Dr. Natalie Petouhoff of Forrester Research; Jay Topper of Rosetta Stone; Sahar Hashemi of Coffee Republic; Lorraine Grubbs-West of Lessons in Loyalty and Southwest Airlines; and customer service expert Lisa Ford.

Each will discuss current industry technologies, best practices and trends, and will also offer tips to help organizations improve their support processes and the customer experience.

The first webinar in the series, “The Nordstrom Way to Customer Service Excellence,” presented by Robert Spector, already took place on January 20 – however the archived version of the webinar can be accessed at parature.com/webinars.

 

The second webinar in the series, “Getting Your Worst Customers to Love You: True Tales from the Front Lines of Customer Support,” to be presented by Rich Gallagher, bestselling author and communications skills expert, will take place at 2 p.m. ET, Wednesday, Feb. 24.

The third webinar in the series, “Metrics that Wow! How Coremetrics Became the Customer Service Model of Success,” presented by John Ragsdale, vice president of technology research, TSIA, and Paige Newcombe, senior director, global client services, Coremetrics, will take place at 2 p.m. ET, Tuesday, March 30.

The fourth webinar in the series, “Why the Customer Experience Matters Most – Rosetta Stone’s Customer Success Strategy, ” presented by Dr. Natalie Petouhoff, senior analyst, Forrester (News - Alert) Research, and Jay Topper, vice president of customer success, Rosetta Stone, will be held at 2 p.m. ET, Wednesday, April 21.

The fifth webinar in the series, “In the Customers’ Shoes: How Coffee Republic Built its Brand through Great Customer Experiences (UK Audience (News - Alert)),” presented by Sahar Hashemi, co-founder, Coffee Republic, will be held at 2 p.m. ET, Wednesday, April 28.

The sixth webinar in the series, “How to Build a Culture of Customer Loyalty – How Southwest Airlines Does It,” presented by Lorraine Grubbs-West, president of Lessons in Loyalty and former director of employment at Southwest Airlines, will be held at 2 p.m. ET, Wednesday, May 19.

The seventh and final webinar in the series, “Why Customer Service is NOT Enough,” to be presented by Lisa Ford, creator of how to give exceptional customer service and author of “Exceptional Customer Service – Going Beyond Good Service to Exceed the Customer’s Expectations,” will be presented at 2 p.m. ET, Thursday, June 22.

To register for any webinar in the series, or to access an archived version, click here.

Parature (News - Alert) is a leading provider of customer support software delivered via the software-as-a-service model. It provides customer-centric businesses with Web portals that are seamlessly integrated with their Web sites which their customers can use for a variety of self-service options. These Web portals – which are fully customizable – deliver features such as knowledge bases (FAQs) where customers can get answers to their basic questions without having to wait on hold to speak with a live call center agent. Customers can also launch or access forums where they can start discussions with other customers about a company’s products or services. Customers can also be given the option to open up a chat session with a customer service rep. Or they can download documentation – such as a user’s guide or schematic – directly from the portal via a download module.

The system also allows customers to create their own service tickets. So, for example, if a customer can’t get an answer to their question using the other “channels,” available through the portal, they can open up a ticket by clicking on a ticket icon – and issue a ticket to a CSR (News - Alert), who will pick up that ticket based on skills based routing.

Perhaps most important this system captures all customer data and packages it into a wide range of reports so that it can be analyzed for the purpose of driving strategic business decisions.

As such, Parature’s customer support software enables organizations to better and more efficiently serve, support, engage with and retain customers in today’s Web world.

“Parature is dedicated to helping all organizations deliver superior customer service,” stated Parature Vice President of Marketing Gary McNeil, in a release. “We demonstrate this commitment, not only by providing the smartest, most efficient customer service software, but also by providing valuable written content and events. Parature has conducted in-depth research to provide relevant and thought provoking insight into industry trends and effective strategies that will contribute to the success of customer service professionals around the world and enable organizations to provide an exceptional customer experience at an affordable price.”