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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

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

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Retention-Driving Data (Know Your Numbers…and Your Customers)

Posted on September 26, 2013 in Business Advice, World of Customer Service Please leave a comment

Here’s a quick article on using data analytics for client retention (Analytics Boost Customer Retention for Ohio Mutual). Although I like the article because of its obvious retention-focus, some of the key nuggets relate to the metrics that Ohio Mutual utilizes including:

  • Retention/renewal rates (historically 87%)
  • Profitability of the renewal business (15%-20% higher than the profitability of new customers)
  • Identifying premium increase opportunities (upwards of $175 annually for some clients).

Does your organization have similar metrics? If not, just take a minute to think of how your strategies and decisions would be different if you knew retention rates, profitability of renewal v. new customers, and specific dollar increase opportunities with existing clients.

If you can’t afford a SAS solution, we’ve worked with many organizations on analyzing retention rates, at-risk profiling, retention and growth strategies, client exit interviews, etc. without using some high-end system. It’s not about the system. It’s about you, your customer, and the methodology to uncover retention opportunities and act on them.

Know your numbers to better target and achieve retention and growth with current customers.

For more information, check out: http://cssamerica.com/cssstrategy.htm


Don’t Zip to the Wrong Customer Service Solution

Posted on August 20, 2013 in Business Advice, World of Customer Service Please leave a comment

Instead of renting or buying a car, why not share it? That’s the premise of Zipcar – an organization using a “Blue Ocean” strategy to build a business.

And like every business, the customer’s experience is not all about the product; the employee attitudes and process impact overall perceptions and loyalty (and $$). So an Adweek article like Zipcar’s Customer Service Gets Horrible Reviews is the last thing a growing business needs.

However, what’s most interesting about the article is what some business experts suggest that Zipcar should do to improve the experience. In response to complaints about “dirty cars, rude reps, unreturned emails, last-minute changes,” advice is given such as “how about a lighthearted phone app where customers report the quality of the car they are picking up or returning.” So customers would report the cars are dirty? We already know there are dirty cars…

How about this advice – “Customers could be alerted that Zipcar is rating them internally and that bad ratings could result in fines or having their Zipcar membership revoked.” So we penalize the customers for bad ratings? So we want to artificially increase ratings?

These bits of advice are classic of people jumping from symptom to solution (create an app and punish customers?) without giving consideration for the root cause. Zipcar needs to ask why are cars dirty, why are reps rude, why are e-mails not being returned, and why are changes done last minute? Find the root cause, and the solution becomes much more clear. The solutions will probably deal with employee hiring/training/motivation/accountability, process improvements, better tracking of documents/vehicles (and yes, customers).

When you have an issue, “There’s an app for that” is rarely the best answer.

Listen to our latest podcast episode of “Stepping Up Service” on The MESH Network at http://themesh.tv/stepping-up-service/


Internal Customer Service Defined

Posted on May 8, 2013 in Business Advice, World of Customer Service Please leave a comment

He laughed at me. I didn’t take it personally since it was just a natural reaction to something I said.

A few years back, I was in a meeting with a group of small business owners who were designing a method of evaluating different companies to win a community customer service award. As we were building the criteria, I talked about the need to include questions about “Internal Customers.”

One of the business owners asked what that meant, and I stated that it addresses co-workers – the idea is that we need to treat co-workers as customers. He laughed and said “that’s the craziest thing I ever heard!”

Maybe the concept was odd to him because he didn’t treat his staff with courtesy, respect, and responsiveness. Or maybe he just didn’t fully grasp my definition of “internal customer.”

The easiest way to think of who is your internal customer is to think of who in your company relies on you. What co-worker, supervisor, direct report, or other personnel rely on you to get their job done? Who relies on you to provide them information, technology, decisions, or answers that allow them to help their customer? Which co-workers do you impact by what you do, how responsive you are, and how you interact with them?

These are the people – the co-workers – that need the same level of respect, quick turnaround, positive attitudes, attentiveness, issue resolution, and general courtesy as your external customer.

Get comfortable with the idea of “Internal Customers.” Who relies on you?

Listen to our latest podcast episode of “Stepping Up Service” on The MESH Network at http://themesh.tv/stepping-up-service/

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


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