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Create Customers for Life - 6/17/25


Veronica has gone to the same automotive service shop for at least 20 years.  She bought a new car about a year ago, and this is the third car she’s brought to the shop instead of taking her car to the dealer where she bought it.  She’s had three Read more

Don’t Turn the Customer into the QA Department - 6/10/25


Roberta received a form with information filled in by the company after her conversation with the account rep.  Roberta just needed to review the information, fill in some of the blanks, sign it, and resend it in order to set up a new account. She noticed that the effective date Read more

Imitate to Improve - 6/3/25


Oscar Wilde said that “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”  Now this doesn’t mean that plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery.  Nor does it mean that great impersonators such as Rich Little, Dana Carvey, or Frank Caliendo are always offering flattering portrayals of those that they imitate. Wilde’s Read more

How the Customer Perceives a Truth as a Lie - 5/27/25


You’re the customer, you’re asking about an unused item that you’re returning, and you hear the employee say: “The refund process takes 7-10 days.”  You’re thinking: “Great!  I can get the refund check as early as a week from today!”  The reality is that the company means that they’ll Read more

Tell Customers What’s Next - 5/20/25


In most businesses that have been around for a while, how a process was originally designed is not how it currently operates.  Sometimes this change is referred to as “practical drift,” where the actual process moves further and further away from the documented steps over time.  Maybe the changes Read more

Questions to Guide You to Empathy - 5/13/25


“If I was him, I would do ABC…” If you’ve ever heard somebody say this - whether it’s a friend or acquaintance, whether it’s some TV reporter or podcaster - you may get as frustrated or as annoyed as I do. I get annoyed because we are not that other person. Read more

Negate the Nervousness - 5/6/25


The customer needed a loan, so he walked into the bank, but he was a little nervous.  He knew that launching his business would be easier if he had some working capital, but that’s about all he knew.  He was anxious because he didn’t know what to expect in Read more

Don’t Rush to Resolve Quickly - 4/29/25


The customer is angry, so you use the CSS LEAD technique as designed.  You, listen, empathize, accept responsibility, and deliver on a remedy.  But it doesn’t work.  The customer is still upset, and maybe even a little more frustrated than when you started…why?! If the use of this technique fails, Read more

Energy v. Apathy - 4/22/25


I asked a couple friends who are much more scientifically-oriented the question: What is energy?  I didn’t mean E=MC2.  I meant physiologically, what is energy? They described a lot of things that sounded really good, yet far too advanced for my non-medical mind. Part of the reason why energy is of Read more

Prep Enough to Personalize - 4/15/25


Everybody loves Howie.  He is an account rep for the local air conditioning and heating company.  When I say Everybody loves Howie, I’m definitely talking about the customers.  His co-workers love him too, but customers are especially fond of him.  They seem to really enjoy their conversations with him, Read more

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Create Customers for Life – 6/17/25

Posted on June 17, 2025 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

Veronica has gone to the same automotive service shop for at least 20 years.  She bought a new car about a year ago, and this is the third car she’s brought to the shop instead of taking her car to the dealer where she bought it.  She’s had three different makes of car, yet she brings them all to the same service shop.  Veronica gets her routine service there, and if the car needs a repair, the employees explain what they’re going to do and why, and they give her options.  The repairs always seem to do the job.  She trusts the team.

Whenever Veronica takes her pets to the vet, the pets get treated like royalty!  The staff seem sincerely excited to see Clarabelle, the cat, and Floyd, her puppy.  Veronica has been going to the same vet for as long as she can remember, and she feels like the doctors and the team treat Veronica’s pets as their own.

Whereas many people go to the standard fast-food chains for lunch, Veronica goes to the local establishment – Doug’s Dogs and Delectables.  You can get hot dogs, hamburgers, crinkle fries, and even the occasional pulled pork seasonal special.  Doug’s has a drive-thru, and this is not what you would call high-end cuisine, but she can always get through the drive-thru in less than 5 minutes, the food is always hot and tastes good, and they never mess up the order.  It’s a predictable and positive experience.

Technically you cannot “Create” a customer for life, but you can do things that engender trust, convey you care, and offer positive predictability.

While different customers have different motivators, keep in mind that it’s hard to retain customers for the long term if they can’t trust the company.  It’s difficult to have a customer feel loyal to you if they don’t feel like you care about them as an individual.  And it’s tough to ensure they’ll want to come back again, if they have no idea whether you’re going to meet their expectations.

Find ways to create customers for life by building trust, conveying you care, and providing a more predictable and positive experience.

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Don’t Turn the Customer into the QA Department – 6/10/25

Posted on June 10, 2025 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

Roberta received a form with information filled in by the company after her conversation with the account rep.  Roberta just needed to review the information, fill in some of the blanks, sign it, and resend it in order to set up a new account.

She noticed that the effective date was listed on 2 different pages, and the dates were different.  On page 2, it was noted that no deposit was required, but on the page asking for a credit card or bank number, it had a deposit figure listed.  The location to send any correspondence to was listed, but she was aware that the company had moved its offices two weeks ago to a different location.  However, “the straw that broke the camel’s back” was that her name was spelled wrong in the form.

Roberta thought that she still wanted to go with this company, but she lost some confidence.  She began to question whether a company that was this sloppy in signing up a new client would be just as sloppy in other aspects of the experience.

Luckily for Roberta, she caught all the issues before she signed anything.  Unfortunately for Roberta, the company had turned her into their quality assurance department.  They hadn’t taken appropriate efforts to ensure that what she was being provided was complete, accurate, and consistent with what she was told, so now she doesn’t trust the company.

When a company and its employees don’t take the time to thoroughly review information before it’s provided to the customer, when they haven’t thought through the content from the customer’s perspective before sending it, then they are putting the responsibility on the customer to identify issues, to initiate a corrective action process, and to proof updated forms.

Thoroughly review information before sharing it with the customer so that the company doesn’t lose credibility.  Find ways to make your information, your requests, and your advice clear and high quality.

Don’t turn the customer into the QA Department.

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Imitate to Improve – 6/3/25

Posted on June 3, 2025 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

Oscar Wilde said that “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”  Now this doesn’t mean that plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery.  Nor does it mean that great impersonators such as Rich Little, Dana Carvey, or Frank Caliendo are always offering flattering portrayals of those that they imitate.

Wilde’s statement essentially means that it’s a form of praise to imitate the actions or words or approach of someone else.

In business, we call that identifying and applying best practices.

For an individual in customer service, we can apply this “imitation approach” to our work, as well.

Do you have a co-worker who handles themselves in a way that you consider exceptional?  Maybe it’s in difficult situations or with difficult people.  Potentially it’s just how they answer the phone or how their attitude maintains positivity or open-mindedness throughout the day.

*** Identify specifically what they do, potentially ask them about their attribute, and try to apply that best practice.

Have you ever been a customer that’s been served by an employee, and you thought: “Now THAT was excellent customer service!”  Or… “that person is really, really good at their job.”  Or… “that individual must love what they do!”

What about that employee made you feel like they were delivering excellent customer service, made you feel like they were good at their job, made you sense that they must love what they do?

*** Again, identify that attribute, and apply it in how you engage and interact with others.

“Flatter” others by imitating their best practices.

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