Put Me In Coach featuring Jeff Toister

About this episode

The episode discusses the evolution of customer service with a focus on the role of AI and the importance of human interaction.

Many rock musicians have been honored as inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But John Fogerty’s 1985 hit, Centerfield, got him honored by the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Today, it’s a fixture at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, and just about every ballpark across the country. Baseball and its heroes have been mythologized as a deeply American tradition. But like anything else, it has evolved with technology, even so far as to use an Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) Challenge System in the Major Leagues as of 2026. While technology is continually being introduced in sports, humans are still at the center of the action. Sports are hardly the only domain where technology has continued to drive change. Customer Service interactions have long evolved as new technologies have been introduced to contact centers. AI “bots” or Virtual Agents are simply the next evolution. But humans should still be at the center of the action, says Jeff Toister. Jeff’s authored five books on Customer Service and this year, he was inducted into the ICMI Hall of Fame. This week, we discuss: • The Human Element in Customer Service• The Impact of Greetings on Customer Experience•…

People in this episode

Host: Rob Dwyer

Guest: Jeff Toister

Topics covered

• Customer Service
• AI in Customer Service
• Human Interaction
• Technology in Sports
• Human Connections
• Future of AI

Keywords

• Customer Service
• AI
• Human Interaction
• Technology
• Customer Experience
• Virtual Agents
• Human Connections

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: National Baseball Hall of Fame, ICMI Hall of Fame

Books & works: Centerfield

Places: Cooperstown, New York