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Be Amazing - 4/23/24


Watching Michael Jordan steal a pass and then dunk a basketball is amazing.  Taking a rocket to the moon is amazing.  The taste of my mom’s homemade beef soup is amazing. We all have our personal examples of what is amazing.  Usually, it’s something that we cannot comprehend, that we Read more

Talk About Yourself to Build Customer Confidence - 4/16/24


When you’re dealing with somebody who is anxious or nervous about a situation, a customer who feels like they don’t have much control, an individual who is unsure and uncertain, it’s important to put the customer at ease.  It’s important to build their comfort level.  It’s important to help Read more

The Proven Value in What You Do - 4/9/24


Forbes wrote an article last year based on a compilation of the results of research on customer service and the customer experience; it was titled:  100 Customer Experience Stats For 2023. In reading the article, you’ll note that many of these key research findings are about you – the value Read more

A Tale of Two Texts - 4/2/24


Having to get allergy shots once a week is never fun, and for Janet, it became an even bigger frustration. She had the shots typically scheduled on Tuesday around 10:30 in the morning, figuring she would avoid the morning rush as well as the lunch rush by going mid-morning.  However, Read more

The Secret Sauce for Great Customer Service - 3/26/24


I was working with the League Office for a major American sport several years back, and one of the executives asked me to describe our Secret Sauce that helped our clients improve the fan experience and customer retention.  I gave him a sense of what makes us unique and Read more

The Miracle of an Apology - 3/19/24


Unfortunate but true story… The manager basically lost his mind.  He terminated his employee on the spot.  She had told the customer that there was going to be a delay in the shipment.  The employee called up the customer ahead of time to let the customer know what was about Read more

It’s Not About the 5-Minute Wait - 3/12/24


Robert went into his supervisor’s office to update her on a situation at the payment desk.  Robert said that a customer was about fourth or fifth in line, waiting to be served, and the customer was complaining loudly about the wait.  He was there to make a property tax Read more

Lessons from the Greats - 3/5/24


I was recently facilitating a workshop on the customer experience, and I made the point that it’s usually beneficial to look at your personal life for great experiences; identify what really resonates with you in a positive way in order to uncover ideas to improve your own customer service. So, Read more

The Empathy Roadmap - 2/27/24


For some people, empathy comes naturally.  There’s an innate desire to learn about the other person and to sincerely convey that sense of interest and caring.  But for many of us, sometimes it helps to have a communication plan.  It helps to know what to do in order to Read more

“You’re the Boss” - 2/20/24


Terrence is excellent at what he does.  From a technical standpoint, he knows how to keep the facility clean.  He’s the lead custodian, and he knows that keeping things straight does not necessarily mean keeping things sanitary.  He knows what chemicals to use and not to use, how to Read more

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Great Customer Service is Up to Great People

Posted on March 15, 2012 in Business Advice, World of Customer Service Please leave a comment

There’s a lot at play in the customer’s experience – it’s the phone system they wade through, the website that gives them directions, the signage that helps them navigate the store front, the process for returning an item. But what’s most at play in customer experiences it the interaction, the 2-way dialogue between employee and customer.

In the Southern Business Journal article It’s the customer! Learn to see service from patrons’ vantage point, the author quotes a sales manager at the “Wright Do-It Center” that says one of the keys to “great customer service for her store is hiring the right staff members — finding friendly, outgoing and positive people. New employees go through extensive customer service training, she says, and management tries to look for opportunities to reinforce what staff has learned.”

In other words, the best CRM system, the best phone system, the best website, and the best process need the best of employees to make it all work. They discuss the use of “secret shoppers” to assess performance and identify improvement opportunities. They address surveys to research customer preferences. But whatever needs to be changed or improved in the customer experience, it comes down to people designing the change. People implementing the change. People delivering the higher level of service.

No matter what your organization does to improve customer service, remember that it all starts with people. Try to hire, train, motivate, and otherwise enable employees to become great at customer service.

Identify the criteria you use to hire people, how you evaluate them, how you hold them accountable and motivate them to grow, how you tap their knowledge to understand the voice of the customer, and how you use their talents to constantly improve customer experience.

Don’t get so caught up in investing in the latest technological advance or marketing scheme that you lose sight of the key to it all.

To keep and grow with your customer base, keep and grow your best talent first.

Read our New Book – “Ask Yourself…Am I GREAT at Customer Service?” http://www.amigreatat.com/

Listen to our latest podcast episode of “Stepping Up Service” on The MESH Network at http://themesh.tv/stepping-up-service/

Interested in improving your company’s customer service? See more at our new website! http://www.cssamerica.com/


Banking on Deposits Requires More Than Acquisitions

Posted on February 23, 2012 in Business Advice, Carolinas Please leave a comment

Many small banks are trying to increase their core deposits, relying less on fees to generate revenue. And while this is a good thing for many banks, there needs to be a retention component to the core deposit growth strategy.

In the article Small Charlotte-area banks get creative in boosting core deposits, Adam O’Daniel makes the point that small banks in the Carolinas are attempting to increase core deposits (i.e., local deposits) to help fund growth because of their stable nature; remember that cash that comes in from loans or short-term investments creates more variability, uncertainty, and risks for banks than cash from core deposits.

The way many of these banks are growing core deposits is through acquisition. The concept is that if the small banks buy even smaller banks in small towns, the acquirer would have that stable cash flow for a long period of time to fund other activities. Without getting too much into the minutia, here’s the key customer retention-related point – just as banks have acquisition strategies to buy other banks, they need culture-oriented strategies and client retention and growth strategies which address the employees and customers they acquire.

Internally, these banks need to be looking at how they retain the small town staff that have formed the relationships with the customers – because the customer relationship and loyalty may be more with “my Teller, Betty” than with “Bank XYZ.” The banks need to ensure that executives are incented for retention just as much as profits, since the acquisition assumed that the core deposits would be retained. And the banks need to have processes in place to quickly analyze and get to know their new customers, build relationships with them, and proactively seek to grow those relationships once retention is solid.

When trying to grow through acquisition, make sure you’re not going to lose the good employees and solid clients you acquire. Understand what drives loyalty at the local level.

Interested in improving your company’s customer service? See more at our new website! http://www.cssamerica.com/

Read our New Book – “Ask Yourself…Am I GREAT at Customer Service?” http://www.amigreatat.com/

Listen to our latest podcast episode of “Stepping Up Service” on The MESH Network at http://themesh.tv/stepping-up-service/


Translate Great Employee Morale to Great Customer Satisfaction

Posted on September 1, 2011 in Business Advice, World of Customer Service Please leave a comment

The call center world sometimes relates very closely to the other “worlds” of customer experience management.

We just need a little translation.

In the recent call center-focused article Satisfy Your Workforce For Higher Customer Service Levels, the author describes some of the keys to having a satisfied call center staff. Let’s start the definition process. Think of “call center staff” as employees. The author describes the link between employee and customer satisfaction, and then he talks about how to improve employee satisfaction.

He says you need to have “adherence goals and objectives based on the unique characteristics of their call center environment.” Translation: Set expectations with staff and goals for staff that are specific to their scope of responsibilities.

The author notes that “defining expectations should (include)…consulting your staff.” Translation: Make development of goals and defining expectations of staff a dialogue. If they’re part of the process, their buy-in will improve.

You also “need to average handle times of calls and identify potential barriers that might prevent adherence.” Translation: Find the barriers to your employees’ success, and eliminate those barriers.

It’s beneficial to have “incentives that boost an agent’s willingness to comply with their schedule.” Translation: Identify key rewards/recognition opportunities to incent staff to change behaviors and improve.

In business, you can always learn from others. Sometimes you just have to be a good translator.

Improve morale to improve customer service.

Read our New Book – “Ask Yourself…Am I GREAT at Customer Service?” http://www.amigreatat.com/

Interested in improving your company’s customer service? See more at our new website! http://www.cssamerica.com/


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