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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

A More Complete Definition of Responsiveness - 10/15/24


I was purchasing something recently that was being custom-developed.  At one point, the company’s employee and I had a good 20 e-mails going back and forth - 10 from each of us.  Unfortunately, I broke my own rule, and I did not pick up the phone after 2 or Read more

Have a Game Plan to Address Their Anxiety - 10/8/24


It seems like we all get deliveries - whether it is UPS, USPS, FedEx, Amazon, the local courier, or all the above.  We order.  They deliver.  Or do they? It’s times like these, when we’re expecting that package, that item that we’re looking forward to or need urgently or are Read more

How Persistence Saved the Day - 10/1/24


Sherrie saw the customer walk into her store holding his cell phone, and Sherrie immediately knew that was William.  She had spoken to William on the phone about an hour ago, he said he would be at Sherrie’s cell phone store in less than an hour, and there he Read more

Notice the Little Changes - 9/24/24


“My, how times have changed.” Yes, times have changed.  As a matter of fact, one of the biggest reasons why an organization’s customer service deteriorates is that times have changed…customers have changed…and the company has not… If we think about customer service delivery today v. decades ago, changes in technology alone Read more

Don’t Hurry…Be Quick - 9/17/24


No, this is not a take off on the Bobby McFerrin song:  Don’t Worry Be Happy. It’s actually a take off on the John Wooden quote:  Be quick, but don’t hurry. When I read Wooden’s book with this title, I liked the concept, and not just because John Wooden was a Read more

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Yakima Says Yes to Retention

Posted on January 11, 2011 in Business Advice, Education Please leave a comment

Retention is vital to business growth. And retaining a customer can refer to the season ticket holder for the pro basketball team, the resident for the cable television company, the local employer for the community, and…the community college student in Yakima, Washington.

In the Yakima Herald Article, Yakima Valley Community College (YVCC) was recognized by a national non-profit organization for its great student retention rates. The semester-to-semester retention rate increased from 75% to 81%. According to Tomas Ybarra, vice president of Instruction and Student Services, "Our new student orientation is definitely bearing fruit right now. In addition to fall-to-winter retention, also seeing increases in fall-to-fall retention (a full academic year). That’s encouraging."

So once again, we’re seeing an example of organizations successful in retention focusing hard on the new customer. In most businesses, retention is most at-risk for new or first year customers. To address this, YVCC delivers an orientation course that makes students more comfortable and confident in navigating the facility and processes and enjoying the experience. The orientation helps to create the ability for a new student to have as positive an experience as a long-term student.

So what’s your retention rate? Do you know it? If not, calculate it; if it’s 80% as an example, calculate the financial impact of not having the business from that lost 20% for the next year or two or three. That will make retention much more important from a financial perspective.

So how do you quickly try to create comfort and confidence in your first time customers? View them differently from your repeat customers. Create a plan to get the first timers knowledgeable of and pleased with the experience as quickly as possible.

Learn why Yakima says “Yes” to retention, and how it makes success from the Yes.

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/


Translate Customer Service into Business Success

Posted on November 9, 2010 in Business Advice, Government, World of Customer Service Please leave a comment

As one state’s economic engine shifts into new industries and out of the growth industries of the past, relocation incentives are – as usual – a big point of discussion. How much should this state spend in incentives to get out-of-state businesses to build plants, move jobs, and relocate headquarters to this state?

While such incentives are common practice nationwide, some members of governmental think tanks believe that such incentives are overweighted toward new corporate recruitment. As Mr. Robert Atkinson, former Executive Director for the Progressive Policy Institute in Washington stated, “the [faster growing cities] don’t recruit companies. They grow them.”

How does this point relate to your business? Ask yourself, how do you retain your current customers? And more pointedly, how do you GROW your existing customer base? For local municipalities, it means investing in existing businesses so that it’s more cost-effective for companies to remain in their current locations than to relocate.

Translation for your business: Make your company of such value to the customer, that there is no significant financial reason to choose a competitor.

Also, smart municipalities work to strip away regulations and procedures that are burdensome to businesses while still maintaining a solid quality of life for individuals.

Translation for your business: Make it easy for the customer to do business with you. Strip away those policies and process steps that make it inconvenient to purchase your products and services. Make it easy for them to know how else to utilize your products and services. Then make it easy for them to purchase your products and services.

Finally, these municipalities try to get the businesses to become part of the fabric of their communities, strengthening the personal ties with the companies’ employees.

Translation for your business: Create personal relationships with customers that the best marketing collateral and slickest sales pitch cannot overcome.

Translate customer service into business success.

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/


Take a Measure from Government

Posted on September 1, 2010 in Business Advice, Government Please leave a comment

When we work with our government clients, whether it’s an economic development division trying to retain local businesses, a property assessment division trying to efficiently serve its customer base, a City/County manager’s office trying to best manage such a large organization, we’ve found a consistent need – measurement.

When government is trying to measure over such a broad organization, they typically create an organization-wide balanced scorecard system. This metrics system will have the typical measures of Revenue, Cost, Quality, and Customer Service. But it will also have some more outcomes-oriented customer measures such as the percentage of residents on welfare and more capacity-oriented customer measures such as the percentage of residents living within “X” miles of a public park.

Let’s translate those last two measures to a typical business. Outcomes. An outcome is some end-benefit from what your service or product provides. It’s not the product itself. For a hospital, it’s the quality of life after discharge, not just how good the care was in the hospital. For a fine restaurant, it’s the enjoyment of the evening, not just the quality of the food. For an automobile dealership, it’s the feeling when driving or knowing you own a particular brand, not just the gas mileage. These outcomes often relate to the feelings your customers have as a result of their engagement with your company. They should be measured to make sure your services had a positive ongoing impact.

The other example metric dealt with Access. How close you live to a park can determine your ease of access and likelihood to use it. Similarly, what percentage of the population lives near a grocery store, what percentage of season ticket holders receive a sports team’s newsletter, and what percentage of long-term customers have online access all help to determine the customer’s access to the company. A greater access leads to a greater chance to develop relationships and retain the customer.

Learn from these atypical measures from government to know how well you impact your customers and to ensure you have adequate access to them.

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

Check out our new customer service book at http://www.amigreatat.com/


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