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From Conversation to Connection: Defining Customer Engagement - 1/7/25


Maggie was sitting in the Service Excellence Training class, and the instructor kept talking about staying engaged with the customer.  Proactively engaging the customer.  Being fully engaged in the conversation. After hearing this same phrase (“engage”) used in various ways, Maggie raised her hand and asked a question probably several Read more

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

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Be the Good Doctor – 6/20/23

Posted on June 20, 2023 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

Ginny liked the interaction with her doctor.  She enjoyed chatting with him.  Ginny was a grandma, had been dealing with doctors all her life, and some of the interactions and experiences were better than others.

Was this doctor experienced?  Yes.  Was he intelligent?  Yes.  Was he knowledgeable of what she was going through and the potential remedies?  Again, yes.

So, when Ginny talked about why she liked the doctor so much, she could have described those different attributes.  Instead, she described his openness as the reason she enjoyed him so much.  He was as willing to convey what he didn’t yet know as well as what he did know.  He was willing to ask questions to learn more.  He was willing to listen to what Ginny said.

Your customers are often in a similar situation to Ginny when they’re dealing with you.  You are like the doctor.  Compared to the customer, you’re far more knowledgeable about issues, symptoms of problems, remedies.  You’re much more knowledgeable about the options and the pros and cons of each.  You have a lot more experience in dealing with particular situations, as well.

But oftentimes when customers appreciate you, only part of the appreciation results from the quality of the information and guidance you provide.  The rest of what may cause them to appreciate you is how open you are to ask questions, how open you are to admit what you don’t know and what additional information you need.  They may appreciate you because of your willingness to listen and be patient with them, even though you’re 95% certain that you know the best course of action in their situation.

The next time you’re working with a customer and trying to determine the best way to address their issue or goal, convey the openness of Ginny’s physician.

Be the Good Doctor.

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Trust-building in the Moment – 6/13/23

Posted on June 13, 2023 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

The customer is often the ultimate supplier of the information we need to help them.  So, we want customers to be open with us, to share their feelings, goals, issues, perceptions.

Building trust is a long-term enterprise, but many of us don’t have much time with the customer.  However, we still need the customers to be open enough to share with us so that we can be most effective in helping them.  Here are some keys to building trust in those short but important moments of truth…

Speak to what they’ve said.  The most important action is listening – asking the questions to get the information we need.  Most of the keys below are about what we say or what we convey, but it all starts with what we hear.

Speak with intent.  We need to be intentional about what we say.  Tossing in unclear words or commitments, having a tone that lacks confidence, making promises or sharing stories that don’t relate to what the customer conveyed can cause the customer to lose our main point.  It can cause them to think they haven’t been heard; they can lose confidence and trust.

Note what you can do by illustrating what you have done.  For customers to have faith that we can help, tell them what we can do, but it strengthens the story to tell them what we have done with others.  If we can illustrate a potential resolution that will be done for them by noting similar action taken for somebody else, it helps to build their trust and confidence.

Be open to engender openness.  If we want them to be open, we need to be open.  It’s hard to get somebody to share if they don’t feel like we’re willing to do likewise.  So, if you have questions that you need answered on their behalf, tell them that you need to investigate.  If you’re not 100% certain of the best option, tell them, and also let them know what you’re going to do to close that confidence gap.

Do what you said you will do.  Finally, so many of us judge trust based on whether or not the person did what they said they’d do.  This requires three things.  First, be clear with them on what we promised. This may include sending them follow-up messages to reinforce what we have verbally stated.  Second – obviously – do what we said we would do.  Third, tell them what we did.  Action is only as strong as the customer’s recognition that the action we promised actually occurred.

Tap into these 5 keys to build trust in that moment of truth.

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WOW with Welcoming – 6/6/23

Posted on June 6, 2023 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

Individuals, organizations, and even communities today seem to be more overtly focused on being welcoming to others.  In customer service, being welcoming is a key to a great first impression.  But what does it mean to be welcoming?

We defined Welcoming in one of our February Tips as:  Proactively engaging others in a natural, enthusiastic, and attentive manner.  Convey the energy, active nature, and positivity that we hope to see from our customers.

There’s so much in here that is not in the typical encounter with businesses today.  And since we call “WOW Moments” Unexpected Positive Events, then being an individual who is welcoming can lead to a lot of WOWs!

If you proactively engage others upon their entry, you’ll be doing something that most businesses do not.  You notice people and reach out to them first, taking the monkey off their back by your being the one to initiate the conversation.  If you’re enthusiastic and attentive, you’re going to exceed the experiences that customers have in other organizations, which too often seem ambivalent and distracted.

If you have energy and movement, that sense of action and engagement will often be transferred to the customer.  If you are positive, then your nature will be far different, far more enjoyable than most of what people experience in much of social media, if not life, in general.  And oftentimes, customers will reflect your energy and positivity with their own upbeat reactions.

Create Unexpected Positive Events in how you start your encounter with the customer.

WOW with Welcoming.

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