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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

Delight Your Customers - 10/22/24


Buddy the Bug Man was different.  His company was new, and the only reason why Janet tried him out was that the service she had used for years just wasn’t working.  Whether it was mosquitoes in the yard, ants in the kitchen, or cockroaches flying through on their way Read more

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Knowledge-based Renewals

Posted on January 25, 2010 in Business Advice, Sports Please leave a comment

We are a data-driven society, aren’t we? Well, successful managers would like to lead us to believe that they operate based on data, but many managers operate based on gut feel and instincts.

Regardless of which way your management leans – decide by the data or decide by the gut – if you’re in a situation where you’re trying to renew an account or retain client business, and there are many clients to retain, then data has to come into play.

In professional sports, the issue of too many season ticket holders for the number of sales and service representatives is an ongoing concern. Here are some of the concepts that we suggest to pro sports teams but which could apply to virtually any business that has recurring customers. Consider these data-focused initiatives:

· Conduct Exit Interviews with former season-ticket holders to determine why they left so you can create profiles of those lost customers and apply those findings to your current season ticket holder (STH) base. This helps you to more clearly identify current season ticket holders who are at-risk of non-renewal. You may also be able to generate a good number of sales leads!

· Make In-Person Touches with 80%+ of First Year STHs. You use these conversations to not only develop rapport but also to gather intelligence on their expectations and satisfaction.

· Conduct an At-Risk Profiling Assessment of former season ticket holders to determine why they’ve left so that you can apply the criteria to your current season ticket holders.

· Conduct Season Ticket Holder Surveys asking about and gauging likelihood of renewals in the near future. This again helps you to target renewal efforts to those most likely to cancel.

These four important data gathering and analysis methods can help you get the renewal efforts to where they’re needed most because they allow you to target, target, target.

Learn from our approach to supporting our professional sports clients. Use data-driven concepts so your renewal and retention efforts won’t seem so daunting.

Interested in improving your company’s customer service? See more information at: http://www.cssamerica.com/


Capitol Customer Service

Posted on January 19, 2010 in Business Advice, Government Please leave a comment

The White House held a forum with dozens of CEOs last week, and the topic moved to customer service. The government was trying to learn how to be more customer-friendly, and they were particularly interested in what Southwest Airlines CEO, Gary Kelly, had to say.

Now I know many of you are thinking such things as “it’s about time!” or “isn’t that an oxymoron – government customer service?” But one particular reaction might be “why would a government agency turn to an airline for advice?”

The answer is the same reason why an airline would turn to NASCAR – the stock car racing league – for advice.

You may have heard the story of the airline that was trying to improve the speed and efficiency with which it “turned” planes at the gate. So where did they go to determine how to improve? They went and met with NASCAR pit crews to observe, talk, and learn about how they could do so much so fast so effectively in a 5, 10, or 15 second pit stop.

Kelly suggested at the forum that to satisfy customers, “It’s more important for us to be on time and have great employees…than offer frills.”

In other words, do what you do with great efficiency and great attitudes, and that’s more important in engendering customer loyalty than offering a perk or two.

The next time you’re trying to get better, to learn, to grow, don’t just look at yourselves or at an organization just like you.

Benchmark with the best, regardless of industry.

Interested in improving your company’s customer service? See more information at: http://www.cssamerica.com/


Learn from the Operating Room

Posted on January 13, 2010 in Business Advice, Healthcare Please leave a comment

Andrea Hernandez at ledger-enquirer.com documented the steps taken by Susan Garrett, a Georgia Hospital Heroes Award winner who helped to improve patient satisfaction at her hospital. Ms. Garrett focused on four areas to improve patient satisfaction:

1. Communication with the families

2. Pre-operative education

3. Improving patient IV starts

4. Communication regarding unexpected delays.

Those four areas can be generalized to any business. If you want to improve customer satisfaction, improve customer communications. Be open, responsive, proactive with customers, addressing their questions, quickly handling issues, and anticipating needs.

Second, pre-operative education can be generalized to any business. Think of it as making your customers educated on what’s going to happen – what they need to do or what you’ll be doing. You’re setting expectations. Anything that can set expectations can improve satisfaction and reduce complaints.

Third, improving IV starts – now how do you generalize that? Think of that in terms of doing things right the first time with the customer. Make it as painless an experience as possible to do business with you.

Finally, communicate about unexpected delays. Don’t wait for the customer to complain. If you anticipate delays, address them proactively and restate a more realistic expectation.

Learn ways to improve your customer satisfaction by applying these hospital tips.

Interested in improving your company’s customer service? See more information at: http://www.cssamerica.com/


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