Customer Service Tip of the Week | Customer Service Solutions, Inc. - Page 25

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Self-empower for the New Year - 12/31/24


Jeff joined the company, in part, because he loved their approach to culture.  Leadership tried to create an empowerment culture.  They tried to develop an environment where, within certain parameters, individual team members could make a decision and feel confident that they would be supported by leadership. The reality was Read more

2024 Holiday Poem - 12/24/24


I sometimes hear it said That things have never been like this before. That challenges are unique, That stresses seem like more.   I sometimes hear it said That we're asked to do much more with less. That workloads are increasing, And we're resource-constrained at best.   And others often say That things are really very good. That they enjoy those Read more

Is Their Poor Planning Your Emergency? - 12/17/24


Have you ever heard the saying:  Your poor planning is not my emergency. I’ve heard it said often – not necessarily directly from one person to another.  More typical is that I hear it from the person having to drop everything and do something immediately because someone else didn’t think Read more

Empathy Examples for Everyday Situations - 12/10/24


I’ve often said that empathy is the single most important characteristic of people who are great at customer service.  If empathy is essentially “to understand the other person,” it helps so much to have that ability in order to specifically help someone.  To talk to what’s unique about them.  Read more

Tell Them Why You’re Giving Thanks - 12/3/24


Thank you! Merci! Danke! Doumo! Gracias! It seems like every language has a translation of Thank You.  Even though I only fluently speak English and speak Spanish, un poco, I – and probably most of you – have heard some or all of the translations of "Thank You” noted above.  Read more

Refine Your Decision-making Process - 11/26/24


Every day, you make decisions of what to do and what not to do.  And in the world of customer service, often the affected parties are our customers, our co-workers, and our company.  Here are a few quotes to consider when you’re thinking about evaluating and refining your decision-making Read more

Acting on the Guiding Principles for Great Customer Service - 11/19/24


In last week’s tip, we shared 5 Guiding Principles for Great Customer Service.  This week, let’s address what “taking action” looks like on those key principles.  If last week was about what to do and WHY, this week is about the HOW. Engage with Interest: To engage with interest, proactively Read more

Guiding Principles for Great Customer Service - 11/12/24


It’s hard to know every procedure, every policy, every technique possible to handle every situation correctly.  After all, maybe our procedures are standard, but our customers are not.  Maybe our policies stay pretty consistent, but our customers’ needs and issues, their attitudes and actions can change from customer to Read more

From a Simple Question to an Exceptional Experience - 11/5/24


Phyllis loves her job.  It’s not just because she loves being a customer service representative, not just because she really likes her co-workers, and not just because she enjoys her company.  It’s because she really appreciates her customers, as well. A customer had ordered a register book off the company Read more

Fix One Problem without Creating Another - 10/29/24


If you’ve ever had an issue with your dishwasher, this will sound familiar.  I’ve dealt with so many dishwashers over the years, and they always seem to have some kind of an issue.  Maybe it’s because of the mix of water and technology, but for whatever reason, these never Read more

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Move on to the Next One – 8/15/23

Posted on August 15, 2023 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

The ultimate game in professional American football is the Super Bowl.  In this past year’s Super Bowl, James Bradberry of the Philadelphia Eagles was called for a penalty with less than two minutes to go in the game.  The penalty gave the other team a first down; the other team was able to run the clock down until there was almost no time left, and then they kicked the winning field goal.

The penalty was one of those that, technically, was the correct call.  Bradberry briefly grabbed the shirt of a wide receiver, and that’s a penalty.  In a lot of games, in a lot of situations, that penalty is not called.  But at the end of the most important game of the year, Bradberry made a mistake, and he was called on it.

In the lead up to this upcoming season, Bradberry was asked about this play.  He said “A play’s going to happen. Good play. Bad play. You’ve got to move on to the next one.”

Ours is an Imperfect World

The working world that we live in – about customer experience, retaining clients, delivering good solid customer service – is an imperfect world.

And we are imperfect.  Despite our best intentions, our best training, our best skills, and our reading of weekly customer service tips, we make mistakes.

Even though I’m someone who has run a management consulting firm focused exclusively on customer service, client retention, and customer experience for the last 25 years, I make customer service mistakes.  I may make a mistake in how I respond, or maybe I don’t respond timely enough.  Recently, I left someone off the list of invitees for a meeting to debrief on a research project.  We make mistakes, and hopefully we apologize sincerely when we do.

Don’t Stay in the Negative

But like Bradberry, we need to move on.  We can’t get consumed by the mistakes of the past, because then we are allowing ourselves to get mired in mediocrity and negativity.  We need to acknowledge our mistakes, learn from them, and move on.

There will always be opportunities to do better, to improve, to take care of our customers.

So, the next time one of us imperfect people makes a mistake, let’s make sure we’re able to move on.

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How to Rise to the Occasion – 8/8/23

Posted on August 8, 2023 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

In the movie Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, Mr. Magorium – played by Dustin Hoffman – tells his protégé that “Your life is an occasion.  Rise to it.”

He’s conveying a big picture life lesson – don’t let fear and apprehension keep you from living.

Rising to the occasion is also something we need to do in serving others.  Maybe it’s not as dramatic an occasion as living life to your fullest, overcoming the fears and the apprehension.  But it’s still important.  Rising to the occasion in a customer service encounter suggests that there is an occasion where the basics, the routine response, the status quo won’t suffice.

Maybe the situation doesn’t warrant the muted response, or the customer doesn’t respond to our typical approach, so we have to RISE!

How to Rise

So, how do you rise to the occasion in customer service?  It’s about ratcheting up the quality of your performance.

Can you respond more quickly, respond with more urgency on the customer’s behalf?  Take action now.  Make them a priority now.

Can you take ownership of a situation and shepherd it forward until it’s complete?  Don’t look for the handoff to others, look for the next step you can take together with them, the document you can work on together, the process you can complete together, the final step you can identify and act on together.

Can you meet their specific need with a specific solution?  Identify their issue, need, or goal.  Then put on your consulting hat and outline a specific solution to address that need.

Rising to the occasion is about the now, taking action together, and tailoring your solution to their situation.

When you are in an occasion of serving the customer, and they need expedited or extra support, tailored support, a final conclusion – Rise to the Occasion!

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Thanks for Reading – 8/1/23

Posted on August 1, 2023 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

My company, Customer Service Solutions, Inc., just celebrated our 25th Anniversary!  We love the work we do for our clients, and we definitely love our clients.  We’ve developed many friendships over the years, and we’ve tried to provide consistently high quality and personal support for whatever may be their particular goals or needs or issues.

For about 24 of those 25 years, we’ve written these tips of the week.  So, thank you for being a Tip fan, and Thank You for Reading!

CSS conducts a lot of research for our clients, and among all the different types of research we provide, we’ve conducted well over 1,000 surveys.

Sometimes these are web-based surveys where – in lieu of or in addition to completing the survey – the customer or account holder will e-mail us directly, since we’re the survey administrator.

If they have a question or a need or an issue to be addressed, we always reply.  It’s amazing how many times that survey respondent replies to our reply by saying: Thanks for reading! By saying: I can’t believe somebody actually responded. By saying: Thanks for taking my issue seriously.

It’s interesting that the customer is showing appreciation just for somebody reading their message.  Just for getting a response.  Just for feeling like they are being heard.

It’s amazing how simply responding – simply allowing people to feel heard – has a tremendous impact on how the customer feels.  And as Maya Angelou once said:  People will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

And it makes me feel great that you all have read all these tips, and hopefully they’ve helped you a little bit over the years.

Thanks for Reading!

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