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Seamlessness - Why the Customer Thanked You - 6/23/26


This doesn’t happen enough nowadays, but the employee received a long thank you e-mail from the customer.  A financial services account manager had taken care of the client during a period of time that was stressful for the customer. Life was unexpectedly changing quickly, and personal emotions, additional financial responsibilities, Read more

When to Avoid the Escalation - 6/16/26


The customer calls with a complaint, and the easy thing to do is to escalate it to your supervisor. That may also be the right thing to do, but how do you know when to avoid the escalation? Why You Would Escalate The first thing to consider is why you would Read more

Let’s be Clear on Clarity - 6/9/26


When trying to manage expectations, it’s vital to be clear with the customer.  But what specifically does it mean to be “clear?” Clarity is in the eyes and ears of the beholder, so what may be clear to one customer may be unclear to another.  However, there are some basic Read more

Allow Yourself to Solve a Couple Puzzles Every Day - 6/2/26


Frank had never been a dog owner before, and when he first got Bosco at the shelter, Frank didn't really know what he was doing.  He would try to be a good parent - feed the dog, play with it, take it on walks - but he was doing Read more

Improve with a Purpose - 5/26/26


If you’re reading these customer service tips, you likely want to get better.  You want an idea, a technique, a reinforcement, or a question that helps you improve. But why improve? At some point you may waver on the commitment to improve, because it can take effort, introspection, time, and change.  Read more

Reciprocate the Thanks - 5/19/26


Jasmine had a great experience with the company, and the company sent her a link to provide an online evaluation following the visit.  So, she clicked the link, gave a rating, and made a comment about her experience. The company monitored their online reviews, saw the positive response, and replied Read more

Don’t Skip the Recap - 5/12/26


The playoff hockey game goes on for almost 3 hours.  There’s non-stop action, with plenty of penalties and takeaways and hits against the boards…and a few goals, as well. You didn’t get to watch the whole game because you had other plans, but you wanted to know what happened.  So, Read more

Finalize the Solution with the 6 Step Checklist - 5/5/26


In last week’s Tip, we showed why and how to Use the 6 Step Checklist before Resolving the Issue.  We noted the importance of taking 15 seconds to mentally walk through the Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How to feel confident that you know what’s needed to fix Read more

Use the 6 Step Checklist before Resolving the Issue - 4/28/26


We talk about trying to resolve the issue right the first time, sharing the technique on how to manage the conversation to get clarity on the real issue, need, or goal, and confirming your understanding before moving forward. But what are you trying to clarify?  What are you trying to Read more

Use the Customer’s Words - 4/21/26


The customer is describing a problem on what they call their “computer.” They mentioned that the “screen” doesn’t “move from one page to the other.” They say that the “website’s name is typed at the top,” and it says sample.com with a “line, and then it says ‘home’ after Read more

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Boost Customer Happiness – 7/9/24

Posted on July 9, 2024 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

There’s a cooking show that a friend of mine watches, and the premise is all about reverse engineering food.  They may take a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, analyze it, and determine the ingredients just by tasting it.  Then they figure out a recipe.  The cook will try to make it from scratch.  Sometimes it’s a success – it looks and tastes just like the original – and sometimes it’s not just like the original…it’s even better!

In customer service, it’s difficult to “make someone else happy,” so let’s consider this Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup approach.  Let’s reverse engineer customer happiness.

Think about times and situations where you see a happy customer.  What is happening in that moment?

When I see happy customers, I can usually tell customers are happy because they’re smiling or laughing.  When they’re smiling, they’re often talking to an employee who’s also smiling.  They’re engaging with an employee or others around them about some light topic.  It’s a conversation, not about issues or politics; it’s a conversation about a pet, the greeting card they’re buying, something interesting about the building, or something funny going on around them.

The customer had a need, and the employee showed them the exact right product to meet the exact right need.  The customer smiles.  There was an unexpected coupon or a special discount.  The customer’s eyes light up.

So, those happy customers are often a reflection of happy employees.  The happy customers are engaged in conversations.  The topics are lighter and less serious.  They are aware of their surroundings and notice the interesting aspects, or the employees are pointing out those sites or situations for the customers.  The customers have some unexpected positive, or the employee helps them to find the perfect answer to their question, the perfect solution to their issue.

While it’s tough to make other people happy, to create a little more happiness in your customers, just watch some happy customers.  See what’s making them smile or laugh or convey a little joy.

Then do a little reverse engineering to boost customer happiness.

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Brainstorm to Better Yourself – 7/2/24

Posted on July 2, 2024 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

I’ve led enough sessions with clients on continuous improvement topics to have solid experience on how to lead ideation exercises, brainstorming to develop new ideas.  Oftentimes these sessions start with the right question; the first answers may not be the ultimate solution, but they can serve as a jumping off point for deeper/better ideas from participants.

Brainstorming as an individual isn’t quite as easy an exercise, but it’s something that can create similar outcomes.  If you’re trying to identify ways that you can improve yourself and your role in customer service, it really helps to be asked the right questions.  So hopefully some of the following questions – and particularly your answers to these questions – will help you to find ways that you can be just a little bit better in the future than you are today:

If you had 2 free hours and could do anything possible to uncover ways to better your performance, what great customer service companies would you research?  What co-workers would you shadow?  What team members would you sit down with to just tap their brains for ideas and best practices?

How could you improve your communication skills?  Become a better listener?  Communicate more concisely and specifically?  Become more empathetic of the other person’s situation?

If you had available financial resources or funding, what training or webinars or books or workshops would you engage with to learn?

What are the 3 aspects of customer service where you are best?  What can you do to get better?

What are the 3 aspects of customer service where you have the least experience or you’re not quite as strong?  Who or what can you engage with to get better at those 3 specific topics?

Maybe these questions lead you to one or two ideas that you can take action on to improve.  Maybe these questions lead you to 8-10 different ideas.  Either way, answer these questions to identify opportunities to improve.

Take a few minutes to brainstorm by yourself to find ways to better yourself.

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The Power of the Pause – 6/25/24

Posted on June 25, 2024 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

When I’m facilitating a meeting, and it feels like it’s going off-track or the discussion is going a little longer than it should, I may say something like “let me pause the conversation so that…” or “let’s pause just for a minute and consider…”

I don’t like the word STOP.  I don’t like to say “let’s stop that discussion” or “you need to stop talking.”  ‘Stop’ just gets taken as much more of an abrupt, sometimes rude way to cut somebody off.  But suggesting that we ‘pause’ the conversation suggests that it’s not fully closed (although for all intents and purposes, it is closed). It’s a softer way of ending one part of the conversation and then transitioning to another topic.

So, that word – pause – is a useful tool.

Also, learning how to pause is useful.  I’ve received many e-mails recently where the person should have paused before hitting Send.  They should have re-read what was being requested and made sure that their e-mail was addressing the specific request.

I’ve been in conversations where I could tell that people considered going down a negative path, but – instead – they calmly tried to convey their concern about a co-worker or about a situation before transitioning to some potential solutions.  I could tell they were intentionally thinking about what they wanted to say, because there were these subtle pauses during the conversation.

Pausing enables you to be thoughtful.  It enables you to take that emotional intelligence that the “gurus” of the world say we need to have, and put it to use before we just give a reflex response to what’s being said or how it’s being said.

Maybe you are trying to redirect a conversation, you’re wanting to send an e-mail that truly addresses the other person’s points, you seek to go down a path of solutions rather than pure negativity, or you’re striving to convey a little bit of thoughtfulness in your response.

To be more effective and impactful in those situations, tap into the power of the pause.

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