employee morale | Customer Service Solutions, Inc. - Page 3

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

Customer Understanding Leads to Relationship Growth - 2/13/24


We’ve worked with educational organizations at all grade levels over the years.  One special and unique characteristic about the staff who work in these organizations is that there’s a clear intent to know about the students as individuals, to focus on them rather than purely focusing on what’s delivered Read more

Define Customer Service Success Differently - 2/6/24


When I’m watching television, listening to the radio, or listening to a podcast, it’s always interesting when the topic moves to the question:  How can you be a success?  The speakers often discuss the process of becoming a success with the assumption that people believe success is defined by Read more

Care Enough to Give Them a Heads Up - 1/30/24


Nothing bad at all might happen.  Every day in the office could seem like every other day.  Sights and sounds and smells might continue to be the same.  But we have a lot of construction going on around our offices, and the building manager knows the type of work Read more

Be Better than AI Customer Service - 1/23/24


There was a recent CBS Sunday Morning Show story called: How artificial intelligence is revamping customer call centers. The journalist described how artificial intelligence is being used in customer service, and he noted the millions of pieces of information that can be processed in a matter of seconds. There are clear Read more

The Gorilla Settled for Birdie

Posted on in Business Advice Please leave a comment

A take-off on a story from The Prairie Home Companion…

Vic takes his pet gorilla out golfing. They come up to the first tee, and the gorilla asks, “what do I do?” Vic says, “you see that opening between the trees? Hit the ball as hard as you can in that direction.”

So the gorilla hits the ball and it goes screaming down the fairway and lands on the green. Vic stands shocked in amazement. When he finally gathers himself, Vic hits a drive that trickles about 100 yards down the fairway. On his next shot, he hits a beautiful 3-wood about 200 yards toward the green. Left with about 50 yards to go, Vic hits a high wedge about 20 feet from the hole. When the gorilla and Vic walk up to the green, the gorilla looks at his ball and says “what do I do now?”

Vic says, “you’re supposed to putt the ball into the hole.”

The gorilla replies, “why didn’t you tell me that on the tee?”

In so many companies, the management of the organization knows the plan, they know the goals, and they know how success is defined. But when you ask the employees the plan, the goals, the mission, and the definition of success, you’re often greeted with blank stares or attempts that miss the mark.

It’s typically not the fault of the employee, it’s the responsibility of the management. If management wants to transform a culture to have a focus on what’s best for the customer, if they want to get different departments working together, and if they want long-term success, then they have to simply and clearly paint that picture over and over and over again.

Employees can “drive the green” in business if they know that’s the goal. They can hit holes-in-one in business if they know that’s the goal.

Work as a customer service leader and with managers to make sure that employees have a vivid picture of what you’re trying to accomplish and what their role is in achieving success. Help others to hit their own holes-in-one.

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/


Life as a Call Center Rep

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

It’s great; it stinks. That sums it up.

For someone who likes to talk with others, who enjoys answering questions, educating others, and solving problems, it’s a very rewarding job. For someone who likes a different challenge every minute, it can fulfill that desire.

But for many call center representatives, there is the difficulty in trying to meet the numbers – have a low handle time, get the post-call work done quickly, take short restroom breaks – it can be frustrating.

Like with any business, frustration often results from competing priorities. You are in a customer service role to serve. You are there to help others. You are there to help guide, to respond, to defuse, to educate. But at the same time, you are there to get the work done quickly. To address the need as fast as possible without involving anyone else if at all possible. You are there to interact with as many customers as you can in your limited time during the day.

According to a Chicago Sun-Times for the article on what life can be like as a call center customer service representative, “The reps at [her] call center were expected to field calls, take down information, check files, fill out forms, flag down faxes, write notes about each conversation and more, at times viewing four computer screens at once. Three seconds after they hung up, a new call would come in. A big call board would flash with multi-colored lights indicating whether new calls were being picked up in less than 30 seconds, and if they weren’t, there’d be trouble.”

For any organization wanting to succeed in employee retention, customer retention, operational excellence, and long-term growth, there needs to be a balance. There need to be measurements of and incentives for satisfaction, loyalty, retention, repeat purchases, and new business generated from current customers just like there are measurements and incentives relating to productivity, error rates, and throughput time.

Find a balance of what you measure and reward for the sake of your people, your customers, and your business success.

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/


Horton Hears a Stakeholder?

Posted on in Business Advice Please leave a comment

Do you remember the Dr. Seuss story about an elephant named Horton who believes he hears the voices of an entire village of people (the "Whos") on a speck of dust? Only Horton could hear the Whos. All the other animals in Horton’s kingdom thought he was crazy. To keep Horton from wasting his time protecting the Whos, a mean kangaroo and some crazy monkeys tried to boil the speck of dust.

Just before the dastardly deed was to be done, a small boy from Whoville added his voice to the other Whos, and his yell enabled the Whos to be heard by all in Horton’s Kingdom. It was a little voice, but when added to the rest, it helped the Whos break through the sound barrier. It worked because every person in the village, and let me emphasize EVERY person, had a common goal.

Think about all the voices in your organization, in your business life. Are you tapping into all the resources available to you for advice, guidance, input, and resources? Are you able to get all your key stakeholders and staff on the same page, or are assignments made with the mere hope that everybody gets their job done?

Unfortunately, most companies that tout customer service in marketing, or preach customer service internally, don’t leverage their key sources of ideas – customers and staff. But you can and should tap these resources.

Survey and/or interview your customers and your employees. Ask them to reveal their minds and hearts. What do they see as the most likely changes to the business environment over the next 3-5 years? What do you need to do now to be successful then? And ask what must be done in the short run to lock-in employees and guarantee customer loyalty now so that change won’t bring lost business and lower revenue.

Use this research to learn and to create a common direction and a common focus. Make sure you’re getting all the input you need, down to the last Who in Whoville.

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/