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Narrow Your Focus to Seek Excellence - 4/1/25


You’ve probably heard companies use phrases such as: “We want to go from being good to great.”  Maybe they’ve said: “We strive for perfection, and although we’ll never reach perfection, maybe we can achieve excellence along the way.” These organizations find some kind of a catch phrase or slogan, but Read more

Avoid the Unfriendly Ghost - 3/25/25


Last week we talked about the qualities of “PERKI Customer Service,” essentially what attitudes and actions are characteristics of those who provide great customer service.  This week, let’s take the opposite approach.  What are some of the mistakes that people make?  Maybe these are mistakes of omission or commission; Read more

PERKI Customer Service - 3/18/25


After having worked on hundreds of projects over the years with thousands of thousands of individuals, some things become pretty clear. There are certain traits held by people who are great in customer service.  Look at this list, and do a self-assessment.  Which apply to you? Positive and Patient Do you Read more

It Helps to Downshift - 3/11/25


One of the first tips I heard when I was learning how to drive related to what to do when the brakes fail - downshift.  Shifting into a lower gear can slow down a moving vehicle.  I would explain this in technical terms to you, but considering I’m not Read more

Patience is… - 3/4/25


Patience is a…pain in the neck.  Why is it so hard to be patient?  Those of us who work in customer service know that we constantly have to show patience with our customers.  We’re ready to move to the next step or the solution because we’ve heard this issue Read more

Everybody Doesn’t - 2/25/25


Joey received the compliment, but he was confused.  Paula, his boss, and Joey had their monthly one-on-one meeting, and Paula noted that, although he was new, Joey was already doing a great job!  While there were learning curves on some of the organizational policies and the technology that he Read more

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

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How Fast are Your Customers Churning?

Posted on January 25, 2011 in Business Advice, World of Customer Service Please leave a comment

In the TMC.net article titled A Challenge for T-Mobile: Reducing Sky-High Customer Churn Rates, author Tracey Schelmetic discusses the high turnover rate of customers at T-Mobile and what the company is doing about it. Essentially, over 2% of customers leave their long-term contracts monthly, or about 25% per year. To address that, the organization is going to make several changes – the first of which is tying executive compensation to customer turnover.

So this article begs the question for every company – what is your customer churn rate? I know every business has a Profit & Loss statement that shows top line revenues, but what percentage of the customers that produced those revenues last year are producing revenues for you this year? How much money did you lose last year that you have to backfill with new business this year?

Let’s just say it’s 25%. What is that in terms of dollars? How much effort has to be put into place by your Sales & Marketing forces to attract that level of dollars in new business – just to get you back to where you were last year?

Any business – large or small – needs to know their customer churn rate, their revenue loss. When you do, you begin to realize the true financial impact of customer retention. You begin to understand the importance of every interaction with customers. You begin to define how you can improve your bottom line by improving your customer service.

So how fast are your customers churning?

Read our New Book – “Ask Yourself…Am I GREAT at Customer Service?” http://www.amigreatat.com/

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


How I Gave Away $5,000 in Free Consulting…and Didn’t Even Know It

Posted on January 19, 2011 in Business Advice, World of Customer Service Please leave a comment

I was giving a speech to the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce last year to small business owners, and a client came to co-present with me. The focus of the talk was Driving Customer Retention and Growth, and I was there to talk strategy, and my client talked about how his organization implemented that strategy – how it worked.

After the meeting, many of those in attendance came up to me for a chat, and it was great hearing their stories and learning about some of the points they particularly liked, but one attendee made an especially big impression. He said to me “I feel like you just gave me $5,000 of free consulting!” He smiled, I smiled, we talked some more, and we both walked away happy.

Should I have been happy? It would have been nice, of course, to have been paid for the guidance provided, but that wasn’t the point. The point was that I wanted to share something of value. If they could take it and run on their own – then great! If they needed more outside support, I was there to help.

So yes, I was and should have been happy.

What’s the point to you?

Building and maintaining client relationships is not all about “What’s in it for me?” as the service provider. It’s about “What’s in it for the customer?” If our constant focus is how we can help our customers to have a great experience or for them to be successful, then what we decide to do changes. We become more concerned with learning about our customers, their needs, goals, and preferences. We become more concerned with their satisfaction. We become more concerned with offering something of value, even if it doesn’t obviously benefit us. We become more concerned with them than we are with ourselves.

And when the customer senses that caring and concern, they are more attracted to us, more loyal to us, and more willing to refer to us. Oh, and yes, I did get business as a result of that speech – from a different attendee.

So there’s a benefit to us by our focusing on them.

Find a way to give for the sake of giving, and you’ll be surprised what you receive back.

Read our New Book – “Ask Yourself…Am I GREAT at Customer Service?” http://www.amigreatat.com/

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


“I Don’t Have Customers”

Posted on January 14, 2011 in World of Customer Service Please leave a comment

The meeting was going well, with a great deal of interaction between the 150+ people in attendance. Everyone was engaged and interested in learning and improving. The focus of the presentation was the results of a recent Mystery Shopping project that assessed various aspects of the organization’s performance from the customer’s perspective. The evaluation provided insight into the company’s web design, its financial processes, its sales and service functions, and its telephone systems among many other aspects of performance.

When the floor was opened to questions, one of the attendees said the following: “Listen. I make products. Why are we talking about this? I don’t have any customers.”

A loud gasp rippled through the audience. An argument ensued over whether that attendee had customers, who paid for the products, and how important service really is to this company. That conversation was a wake-up call to the organization.

We shouldn’t take for granted that everyone understands customer service is important. Based on this story, are we really sure that everyone believes that they even have customers?! When we’re trying to promote customer service within our organization, or get additional funding to retain more customers, or request resources to be more responsive in our service delivery, we’re often met with the answer “No.” We make assumptions as to why we hear “No,” and our assumptions often suggest that “we’re not getting our respect” or others “are pets of the executives.”

But in reality, we need to take on the responsibility to truly find out WHY in order to figure out HOW to overcome these obstacles. Start with the basics – who do the executives consider to be their customers? Is it important to the decision-makers to keep customers? What do the decision-makers consider to be the reasons why customers leave? Do those executives feel that people stay with a business for the same reason they start with a business?

That last question alone is a major red flag to any organization. It implies that advertising and marketing brought this customer in, so advertising and marketing are what will keep this customer as well.

Before you wonder why service isn’t “King” at your organization, start with the basics.

Ask those in-charge “Who’s Your Customer?”

Read our New Book – “Ask Yourself…Am I GREAT at Customer Service?” http://www.amigreatat.com/

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


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