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A Simple Phrase to Transform Your Customer Feedback Approach - 2/18/25


I went to a restaurant called Big Ed’s (no relation) in Raleigh, NC recently.  It’s basically country cooking with fantastic breakfast options!  On the menu there was a quote that said: If you enjoyed your meal, tell a friend.  If not, please tell us. That was an excellent statement that embodies Read more

What Phones and Football Have in Common - 2/11/25


Congratulations!  You made it through weeks/months of hype for football’s Super Bowl!  You made it through hundreds of pregame shows and podcasts, endless debates on things endlessly inconsequential, 10 hours of pre-game shows on Sunday, what seems like 100 commercials designed specifically for the “Big Game,” and the longest Read more

Create Awareness of Alternatives - 2/4/25


Sandy was hungry, and she was on the move.  Driving between meetings, she saw the restaurant sign and pulled in.  The fast-food restaurant had two drive-thru lanes.  One was for any customer who wanted to place an order on the spot. The other was for mobile orders only.  The Read more

Listen with Your Eyes - 1/28/25


Out of the corner of his eye, Patrick saw the customer enter the lobby.  The customer was carrying a large shoulder bag with several papers in her hand.  The customer was shuffling the papers and looking down; then she stopped, looked up, and saw the staff navigator sitting at Read more

When You’re the Educator, What Should You Teach? - 1/21/25


The best customer service professionals are also excellent educators.  Not only within the organization, but I’m talking specifically about the role they play as educator with their customers.  With all the self-service options that technology provides, customers often have the opportunity to do things on their own, to investigate Read more

Wrap It Up Right: Why Follow-Up Communications WOW Customers - 1/14/25


Dena had some questions about her water bill, so she looked for answers on the utility’s website.  She didn’t find specific answers, and she really didn’t want to get on the phone with somebody at the time and risk staying on hold.  She had lots going on, but she Read more

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

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The Truth(s) About Customer Service

Posted on December 15, 2009 in Business Advice, World of Customer Service Please leave a comment

Here are a few (nearly) undeniable truths about customer service.

· Customers that you truly have a relationship with are more likely to give you the benefit of the doubt when something goes wrong.

· If customers feel like you listen, they’re more willing to talk.

· It’s easier to keep a customer that will provide feedback (good or bad) than one that never responds to communications.

· For most customers, what keeps them with you is not what got them for you.

· You can’t develop a relationship with a customer if you don’t know much about the customer.

· You can’t find out about customers if you don’t ask them about themselves.

· Companies which want to be great at customer service try to be fair and consistent with customers. In other words, they treat everyone special.

· It’s virtually impossible for any high-level executive to keep a customer. The employees keep the customers.

· Words set expectations, but actions deliver results.

· Don’t buy into the philosophy that “we need to treat our customers as family.” We need to show customers more appreciation than that.

· 50% of great customer service is doing what it takes to satisfy the customer. The other 50% is wanting to do it.

· If an executive doesn’t think customer service is important to the organization’s success, have him sit in a room with a competitor and a key customer and make that statement.

· You can’t control your customer’s opinion of you, but you can control the experiences they base that opinion on.

· If you decide you want to have a great day, you have a much better chance of having one.

Decide to Have a Great Week!

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


Service and Sales Need to Talk

Posted on December 14, 2009 in Business Advice, Sports Please leave a comment

We are fortunate to have a lot of professional sports clients. Typically when working with these organizations, the dual focus is season-ticket holder retention and sales growth. Many teams focus on creating synergies between their services area and their sales area. It is not just important for pro sports teams; it is also important for any organization. Let’s stick with the pro sports analogy to illustrate the point.

One key term used in the business side of pro sports is the need to create “synergies” between departments. In particular, one of the biggest potential areas of synergy is the service area creating sales leads for the sales division. This is a situation where service personnel identify potential group sales, event sales, or ticket sales through the relationship they have with their existing season-ticket holders. The service areas then send these leads to the sales departments to close. The synergies not only help the organization to perform better financially, but they help your organization to quickly generate sales by having the sales be created through leads generated from the greatest referral source there is – your current clients.

But thinking a little out of the box in terms of the relationships between these two areas, one great way where service and sales need to talk is where the education of one group by the other will pay dividends to the company. For example, salespeople know how to sell. They know the strategies, the mental decision trees, and the techniques to utilize. While many customer service people may detest selling, they must also realize that to do the best job possible in serving their clients, they need to periodically make offers on products and services to help address client needs. You’re actually doing a disservice if you don’t sell to some of your clients because they’re not getting their needs met. The sales personnel need to train service on key selling techniques.

Similarly, service needs to train sales. Sales people often think in a very transactional manner. While some are very process or relationship oriented, many more don’t understand how to think long-term and how to develop relationships using a long-term strategy. Service people in pro sports teams understand the concept of Touch Point Planning. They understand how to develop a relationship over time, viewing your customers as suppliers of information that will help you to retain them and sell to them in the future. Service personnel can teach sales folks how to be very disciplined and how to structure communication points with their clients, realizing that they need to get information from the customers in order to best sell to the customers.

While there are many organizations that experience friction between service and sales, the organizations that are most effective are those where service and sales talk with and teach each other.

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


Electric Service

Posted on December 11, 2009 in Business Advice, Carolinas Please leave a comment

Do you have an electrical problem in your house? You know, your front porch light never comes on, or you wake up to find your ceiling fan dangling by a few wires above your bed. Maybe you need a new light installed or you need a lamp you bought at a garage sale to be rewired.

In most communities, finding an electrician that you can trust is like finding the proverbial needle in the haystack. But in Charlotte, North Carolina, we are blessed with a small firm that has won recognition for their customer service in national publications. The company is Amherst Electric. The reason why were talking about them in a customer service blog is that customer service is what makes them special. They always do the install correctly, and they always fix the problem. And they do so at a reasonable price, where you never feel like the business is taking advantage of your lack of technical skills or knowledge.

What makes them special is that this is the company you call on the phone, and they immediately answer. You ask for advice, and they give it to you over the phone. If you want to try something yourself, they give you some pointers to consider. They schedule the time, and then they actually show up when scheduled. It’s the kind of company that you want to refer to others. It’s the kind of people that are a joy to talk to.

When they are working in your home, they don’t wish you to leave them alone. If you have things to do, that’s fine. But if you’d like to talk to them about what’s going on, they’re more than happy to walk you through the process as they are doing the fix or the install.

There are gems out there in the service world. And usually those organizations are gems not just because they’re technically proficient, but it’s because they understand and live the true value and meaning of service excellence.

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


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