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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

Address the Expectations that Were Set - 8/26/25


Before the caller ever got to Marco – the customer service representative, the customer had been working with the company for months.  They had read the marketing brochures, had a conversation with a sales rep, reviewed the new customer information on the website, and read all the information e-mailed Read more

When Technology Fails the Customer - 8/19/25


Technology is a wonderful thing…until it isn’t.  The website is down, the mobile app won’t work, the system keeps kicking them out of their account, or they received a spoofing phone call supposedly from your department. If you’ve ever been manning the phones or managing the department inbox, you know Read more

The Misunderstood Physician - 8/12/25


I was speaking with one of my personal physicians years ago, and when we were talking about my work – particularly customer satisfaction research - he started talking about online physician ratings.  He lamented that a few low ratings were dinging his overall score.  Then he shared that the Read more

Uncover Silent Concerns - 8/5/25


One of the customer service statistics we have quoted many times over the years is:  For every complaint you do hear, there could be 26 other customer issues that you don’t hear. And when we bring up that statistic, we bring it up because we want to make sure companies Read more

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Motivating Yourself when Working Remotely – 5/26/20

Posted on May 26, 2020 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

For any of us who are working remotely, we are finding ourselves more and more having to be self-motivated. And while many people are naturally self-motivated, others need to have that manager who gives us the encouragement. Many of us need to have that ongoing informal dialogue with co-workers and customers. Many of us need the energy we get from being in a busy place with lots of movement and activity all around us.

In the April 28, 2020 Tip of the Week, we alluded to the importance of motivating ourselves. But let’s dig a little bit deeper today.  Here are several things to consider if you need a little bit extra energy or motivation for your day…

Find Out What Motivates You

Before you can motivate yourself, you need to understand what is motivating to you. We’ve done activities with clients where we had each individual employee develop a Personal Mission Statement; basically this was describing their purpose in their job. It wasn’t just the tasks or activities that they do, but it was the greater good that comes from those tasks or activities for their community, their customers, their co-workers, or their company. You could go through an exercise of developing your own Personal Mission Statement, or you could simply write a list of your motivators. It could be future success – where a great day today means a great week, a great month, great year, a great career. Your motivator could be your family, it could be free time, and whatever it is, write it down and put it in front of you every day.

Give Yourself a Challenge

I have a friend who I volunteer with, and she is well into her 70s; yet, she is easily the most energetic person I know. She takes multiple leadership roles and works as hard or harder than any of the individuals within this organization. I asked her where she gets all her energy.  Her response?  She said that she gets up every day and simply challenges herself to get as much done as possible that day. She basically has a contest with herself to see how much she can accomplish.

Celebrate Even Small Wins

Remember that small wins are still wins. So celebrate! This might sound goofy, but it’s something I strongly believe. I was conducting a workshop for a client several years back, and we talked about the importance to an organization’s culture for employees to have a clear purpose in their role and to celebrate.  At the time, Aaron Rodgers, a quarterback for the Green Bay Packers football team, would celebrate when he or his teammates made a big play by pretending to put a championship belt around his waist. So, I asked people to celebrate an accomplishment during this workshop, and the way I asked them to do it was to put on the figurative belt.

Employee by employee stood up, said something that they accomplished over the last week or two – as little or as big as they could think of – and then they would give themselves “the belt.”  It was funny, it was interesting, and it addressed the importance of really recognizing what you do – not just doing it, but RECOGNIZING YOURSELF FOR YOUR OWN ACCOMPLISHMENTS.

In this world of working remotely, so much more of the motivation has to come from within. Figure out what motivates you, and find ways to become more self-motivated.

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Tire Dealers Becoming Teachers – 5/19/20

Posted on May 19, 2020 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

I recently needed two new tires for a vehicle, and I first went to the tire dealer’s website to find some options.  The site’s look/feel and ordering process had changed, and I didn’t see a tire I wanted, so I called the store to make an appointment.

When I arrived at the tire store (a place I’d been to 15-20 times), it was very different due to COVID-19.  There was a tent outside with chairs about 8-10 feet apart.  There was a small sign with different directions based on whether you had a scheduled appointment or were a walk-up. The door you normally enter was locked.  The inside experience was different – there was no coffee or water while you waited.  People were asked to wait outside or sit in their car while the tires were changed.  You drive your car into the garage and drive it out of the garage regardless of whether you were in the car while the tires were being changed.  There’s no exchange of paperwork unless you requested a small printed receipt when paying.

Virtually everything changed, and to make it work, the customer had to do their part.  I asked the employee checking me in how it was going with the new setup, and he said it’s going OK, but “the customers are not reading the signs.”

Customer v. Company Roles

Whereas a customer has a role in their own service experience, particularly in an environment like this, the company has the role to teach that customer about the new experience and the customer’s responsibilities.  The company has a role to confirm the customer’s understanding.  The company has the role to ensure the comfort and confidence about what’s going to happen.  The company has a role to explain those next steps and timeframes and then, as always in customer service, deliver on the expectation they set.

When the customer has to learn a new way to do business with your company, realize you are in teaching mode.  Don’t make your customers become experts in your processes.  Make it easy for any customer to have a great experience, even under these new circumstances.

Bring simplicity into your service system, and teach customers how to have a great experience.

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Moving toward Normalcy: The Face-to-Face Keys – 5/12/20

Posted on May 12, 2020 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

As we slowly go back to a face-to-face world, here are a few quick reminders for what positively differentiates employees who understand the importance of body language and expressions v. those who don’t.

Especially if you’re wearing a mask and serving customers, ensure your eyes are focused on the other person as opposed to the activities and technology that surround you both.  Spend one minute or two a day in front of a mirror to refresh on the kind of messages the forehead and the eyebrows convey when you’re looking at somebody. That might be all of your facial expression that the customer sees. Ensure that the smiles are visible in these other aspects of your expressions.

Maintain that 6-foot distance, but make sure you have a comfortable posture and the tension is not visible in your arms, your hands, or your shoulders.  Lean in to show you’re listening, but don’t move toward the customer.  Keep the comfort zone between the two of you.

Realize that it can be awkward and uncomfortable for the customer, just like at times it’s awkward and uncomfortable for you – having a mask on, keeping distance from the customer, having a plexiglass between you and the other individual.  But that awkwardness and the uncomfortable nature shouldn’t come across in your body language and expressions.  If anything, we need to be as proactive, gregarious, pleasant, and kind to the other person as we ever have been in order to create that rapport and establish that comfort level.

The facility itself is creating barriers to comfort, so the individual needs to go beyond what they would normally do to create that engaging encounter with the customer.

Since we’re not going to be back to normal anytime soon, be clear on those little extras we need to focus on and deliver to make sure customers are as comfortable as possible.

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