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Last Impression Faux Pas - 11/4/25


Rightfully so, many customer service experts harp on the importance of the first impression.  It happens quickly, and it can impact the individual’s perception of you and the organization.  We even wrote a Tip of the Week on this years ago called First Impression Faux Pas. What many people tend Read more

Familying with Customers - 10/28/25


In our transactional society, it’s hard to think about customers in the long-term.  But if we want to be as successful as we can as an individual or as a business, we need to view customers through a relationship lens. What do we need to know about them to Read more

Avoid These Techniques - 10/21/25


We had a Customer Service Tip of the Week recently that addressed gaining control of the conversation.  One of the key points was that the focus should be on gaining control of conversations in various circumstances, but trying to avoid making it your goal to gain control of the Read more

View Quality through the Customer’s Eyes - 10/14/25


Geri had been dealing with backups in the downstairs plumbing system of her house on and off for the past year.  The most recent company that she called in to unclog the pipes stated that they could send a camera down the pipes and tell her exactly where the Read more

Be Supportive, Not Defensive - 10/7/25


[An employee on the phone with a customer…] Who told you that you didn’t have to submit that form? … Bob?  Oh brother!  You see Bob is our “special” co-worker.  He seems to always tell customers the wrong thing to do, and we’re having to clean up after him.  Read more

Some Customers LOVE Predictability - 9/30/25


I was facilitating focus groups of businesses that utilize local government services.  The phrase that popped up multiple times was “Time Is Money!”  What these municipal customers were conveying was that their time was valuable, and delays were wasting their time.  But the conversations were not just about how Read more

Find Your Special Sauce - 9/23/25


When I watch a football game and I see a great quarterback (somebody who may be considered a “Star”), he might be an excellent runner, have a big arm, be able to diagnose the defense and get his team into the right play.  But he’s likely not great at Read more

Gain Control of the Conversation - 9/16/25


The customer’s angry or upset or they have a complaint.  They’re very chatty or very wordy or they just want to talk to somebody.  You’re on a time crunch, and the customer obviously is not. There are times when you need to gain control of the conversation.  It’s important for Read more

Complement with a Compliment - 9/9/25


We perform many tasks for our customers every day, and when we’re done with a step in the process, oftentimes we will tell the customer what’s been done.  But if we want to create more of a WOW experience, if we want to make the customer feel a little Read more

When Patience Begets Patience - 9/2/25


Jennifer, the server, walked toward the couple in the restaurant.  The customers had been seated for a minute or two, and they noticed the server was walking briskly toward their table.  Jennifer recognized the couple she was about to serve, because they had been in the previous week. Since the Read more

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Last Impression Faux Pas – 11/4/25

Posted on November 4, 2025 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

Rightfully so, many customer service experts harp on the importance of the first impression.  It happens quickly, and it can impact the individual’s perception of you and the organization.  We even wrote a Tip of the Week on this years ago called First Impression Faux Pas.

What many people tend to forget (or at least not focus on) is the fact that the LAST impression is just as important.  What they think at the end of the conversation has a huge impact on the customer’s impression of you, the organization, and now also the experience.  We see this a lot when we conduct event-related surveys with fans of sporting events.  It could be the greatest event in the world, but if they had a major hassle and confusion and delays exiting the arena or getting home, their overall experience was soured by that last impression.

Since you – as an individual – likely don’t have a tremendous amount of control over the exit traffic after a big event, let’s talk about aspects of the last impression where you may have the ability to make an impact.  Here are some things to AVOID doing when trying to make a great LAST impression:

  • Don’t forget to state their name as you end the conversation.  Make sure they don’t perceive that you view them as just another task, just another number.
  • Don’t focus on your computer or phone at the close with the walk-in customer – don’t make them take a back seat to technology.
  • Don’t forget to confirm satisfaction or that the need was addressed.  Never let the customer leave without your knowing how they felt.
  • Avoid letting your voice appear impatient – by rushing your speech or talking over them, giving the impression you’re just trying to get them off the phone or out the door.  Ensure the customer feels you would do whatever is needed to support them.
  • Don’t forget to smile (even if you’re on the phone).  We should be happy to serve customers, so we need to convey that happiness.
  • Don’t make the customer end the conversation.  Don’t make them thank you first, especially since they made the effort to call or took the time to travel in to see you.

 
To leave them with the best impression possible, avoid the last impression faux pas.

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Familying with Customers – 10/28/25

Posted on October 28, 2025 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

In our transactional society, it’s hard to think about customers in the long-term.  But if we want to be as successful as we can as an individual or as a business, we need to view customers through a relationship lens. What do we need to know about them to keep them and grow our business with them?  What if we truly viewed customers…as family?

Believe it or not, there is a word (depending on what dictionary you check) called Familying.  It is defined as:  Supporting, providing emotional or practical help to family members.

If we consider customers in a long-term relationship-oriented manner, we could define our role in a customer family as being those supporting, providing emotional or practical help to customers.

To be most effective in helping them long-term, we have to get to know them.  Let’s break down FAMILYING in terms of what we need to know to build relationships with customers:

F is for Fiscally understanding our customers.  They are customers of our business because they are spending money or resources with us.  The better we can understand their economic situation, the parameters within which they can spend money on the types of products and services we have to offer, the better we can tailor our offerings to meet their needs.

A is for understanding the customer’s Attitude and their emotions.  Some customers in the moment or in general are very emotional, and we have to be cognizant of that and address the emotions as much as the topic at-hand.  Others are less emotional, and we can deal more with them on the facts and the figures.  The better we can understand the emotions, the better we can understand how to engage them effectively.

M is for understanding their Motivators.  Why are they with us as a customer, and why could they leave?  The more we understand the reasons behind their decisions, the better chance we have of affecting their decisions to stay or to go, to spread positive or negative word-of-mouth.

The ILY is embedded in understanding our customer’s fiscally, attitudinally, and motivationally.

The ING in FAMILYING with customers is the ING I’ve brought up a few times before in these tips. The better we understand their Issues, Needs, and Goals, the better we can help them resolve their Issues, address their Needs, and support them in achieving their Goals.

To develop a long-term relationship with customers, get to know them Fiscally, Attitudinally, Motivationally, and what are their Issues, Needs, and Goals.  Start with a little FAMILYING.

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Avoid These Techniques – 10/21/25

Posted on October 21, 2025 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

We had a Customer Service Tip of the Week recently that addressed gaining control of the conversation.  One of the key points was that the focus should be on gaining control of conversations in various circumstances, but trying to avoid making it your goal to gain control of the customer.

I’ve witnessed many employees try to control the customer – both in simple service situations and when the customer is emotional or upset.  It often does not end well for either party.

So, what is the employee doing when they are trying to control the customer?  Here are a few quick examples of poor approaches or techniques:

  • Interrupting or speaking over the customer – especially while raising the voice.
  • Aggressively moving toward the customer.
  • Maintaining eye contact…with the computer – never visually acknowledging the customer.
  • Talking continuously, and sometimes rapidly, leaving little air in the conversation for the customer to speak.
  • Never asking the customer a question.
  • Swearing at the customer (yes, I’ve seen some horrible customer service!).
  • Trying to shut them down by intellectually using dismissive phrases like “your idea won’t work” or “you don’t understand how this…” or “this is too technical to describe to you.”

 
Addressing customers in this manner often heightens their emotions, results in them asking to talk with your manager, leads to bad word-of-mouth, and can be the cause of a lost customer.

In these customer service tips, we usually try to focus on positive examples of what to do rather than negative examples of what not to do.  However, it’s helpful to illustrate how we can come across as trying to control the customer.  And no customer wants to feel like they’re being controlled.  They want to feel like they’re being helped and supported.

Avoid These Techniques.

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