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G.A.B. – The Survey Guiding Principles - 3/28/23


You’re excited!  The company has okayed your conducting a survey, and you immediately think of a half dozen questions you want to ask every customer.  You document your questions, get input from others, and all of a sudden you have a Word document with 36 questions instead of 6.  Read more

Build Your Shield - 3/21/23


When the customer complains or the boss gets upset, when the negativity gets too personal or you get that unprofessional e-mail from the angry client - those are the times when we can feel hurt.  Those are the times when we in customer service roles can feel that physical Read more

Avoid the Aggravation; Confirm the Key Point - 3/14/23


In this age of instant information and auto-completion of texts or e-mails, we are quick to get one thing done and move on to the next thing.  Technology often helps us to complete our work more quickly.  Yes, there’s even AI technology that’s starting to wreak havoc on the Read more

Frame the Ways to Get Back Your Customer - 3/7/23


Every organization that gains customers is in a position to lose customers.  For the sports organization, it’s the lost account holder.  For the healthcare provider, it’s the member who enrolls with the competitor at the end of the year.  The retailer, the software provider, the financial services firm – Read more

RELATE to Your Customers - 2/28/23


One of the more interesting processes we go through with some clients is the development of Customer Service Standards.  One might think that the expectations that organizations have of their staff are pretty consistent when it comes to customer service and relationship-building.  However, the Standards are often unique because Read more

Show Progress to the Customer - 2/21/23


When I enter the Chick-fil-A drive-thru lines, there are typically 10-15 cars ahead of me.  The cars move slowly but surely.  Employees take your order.  Others confirm your order.  Others provide the food.  In a study conducted a couple years ago, Chick-fil-A was noted as having the longest drive-thru Read more

Provide the Promise of Patience and Kindness - 2/14/23


Patience and kindness go a long way in life, and they go a really long way in customer service, as well.  These are two of the harder qualities to exemplify in customer service, particularly when you are spinning multiple plates, have a backlog of work or calls or contacts Read more

When You Can’t Say “Yes to the Address” - 2/7/23


I was interviewing a frontline staff person for one of our local government clients recently as part of our CSS Training Development Process.  They described their customers and the difficult situations that they face, their tougher conversations with customers. This individual supports local events, so there’s a lot of planning involved.  Read more

How to Fix Other People’s Problems - 1/31/23


I was helping a friend navigate some healthcare processes recently, so I conducted a 3-way call with my friend and the physician practice to try to get things cleared up.  The employee I spoke with on the phone - let’s call her Katie. There had been poor communication between different Read more

What to do When You’re in the Middle - 1/24/23


Bob and Sarah are arguing, and you’re in the middle.  Bob’s an employee, and Sarah is a customer, and they have a difference of opinion.  Somehow you’re involved even though you didn’t have anything to do with the interaction in question, the complaint being addressed.  You find yourself being Read more

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Apply These Values for Great Customer Service – 12/6/22

Posted on December 6, 2022 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

One of the industries where we do a lot of our work is local government.  These CSS clients are not necessarily selling a product or having the number of competitors that a lot of our private industry clients and our sports clients face.  But they need to deliver a great customer experience.  They need to excel at customer service.  They need to have core values that everybody can live.

The core values of a local government entity can often tie-in really nicely with any type of business.  Think about these example core values and how they can apply to your organization:

Trustworthy.  Can your customers trust what you’re saying?  Have the expectations you’ve set in the past been met by reality?  Or have the promises of sales not been able to be delivered by operations and customer service?  Make sure your operations can deliver on what is promised.

Clear. Sometimes confusion can lead to complaints.  Because where there’s confusion, customers and employees can more easily do something wrong or miss a step.  Where there is lack of clarity, sometimes two people can have very different expectations.  Are your communications clear – simple, specific, repeated, and documented?

Timely.  This is a nebulous word when it comes to customer service.  What one person thinks is timely may not be the same as another.  So, it’s important to define timely expectations for the customer, or ask what their definition of timeliness is, and – if unrealistic – redefine that to a reasonable expectation.

Open. Since local governments are typically funded by tax dollars and fees, transparency and openness are an expectation.  So, when you think about your business, is there information that is hidden from the customer because of fear of the reaction or how it might affect their decision?  Has that hiding of information – or at least not sharing of information – ever come back to bite the company in the end?  Make sure we’re open up front, so the customer doesn’t get the unnecessary surprise on the back end.

Learn a few lessons from our local government clients.  Make sure your customer service is trustworthy, clear, timely, and open.

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Why Silence is Golden – 12/31/19

Posted on December 31, 2019 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

In the world of customer service, to begin finding a resolution, sometimes we have to initiate conversation. To keep things moving forward, oftentimes we have to proactively engage in discussion.  To have effective dialogue, we need to avoid those long periods of dead silence.

But don’t let those truths of the need to speak and converse keep you from seeing an even bigger truth. In customer service, silence truly is golden.

Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, abstains from giving us word evidence of the fact – George Eliot

We’ve often said that empathy is the greatest quality for someone in customer service, because it requires us to understand others before we can serve others. And to best understand, we need to be great listeners.

Silence is not always a Sign of Wisdom, but Babbling is ever a Mark of Folly – Benjamin Franklin

Sometimes we get into a flow of things in conversation such that what goes in our mind pops out of our mouth without necessarily the intent in saying what we really need to say in the way that we really need to say it. Listening and having an intent to how we respond shows greater wisdom and respect for the other person than speaking without any filter whatsoever.

Speaking comes by nature; silence, by understanding – A German Saying

Many people in customer service are naturally conversational, but by sharing every thought, we could be missing that which is in the other person’s mind.  We might not be seeking to find a deeper understanding of what is going on with the other person.  We may be a great conversationalist, but we can prove it by letting the other person talk just as well as we can prove it by hearing ourselves speak.

As you embark on 2020 and try to get even better than you already are in working with and serving others, concentrate on listening just a little bit better…speaking just a little bit less.

Remember why Silence is Golden.

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Should you tell the customer? The Employee’s Dilemma – 4/30/19

Posted on April 30, 2019 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment


Last week we looked at the dilemma that many companies face – When there is an issue that is going to happen, should they tell the customer? This week, let’s address that same question from the employee’s perspective.

I personally experience employees struggling with this question when I’m in the role of the consumer. I’m talking to the customer service representative, and they’re saying they can take care of something, but they’re not telling me how long it will take. They are talking to me about some additional options, but they are not letting me know how much they’ll cost. Sometimes it’s not even during a conversation when I experience this as a consumer. I go to a website I utilize often, and it has unexpectedly changed dramatically. I call to talk to my customer service representative, and they’ve left the company.

There was no communication about how long the process would take or the cost of the additional options. There was no advance notice that the website was changing or that my account representative was leaving.

This lack of communication could be caused by the employee not wanting to bring up an issue that may make the customer upset or result in a longer call. The employee may try to avoid conflict, or they may be evaluated on how long they spend on the phone. Maybe they don’t notify the customer of the new website or the exiting account representative because they themselves weren’t aware, or maybe they were aware but don’t think ahead and view situations through the eyes of the customer.

The reasons are varied, and while some of those reasons are not controllable by the employee, some are controllable. The employee can choose to talk about process steps and timing, or not. They could address the pricing of the different options, or not. They could give the customer a “head’s up” on the new web design or the fact that the account representative will be leaving, or not.

When deciding whether to be proactive and tell the customer about the issue or the change about to happen, start with this core question – What’s in the best interest of the customer?

It’s hard to fail in your role as someone seeking to serve and retain the customer by doing what’s in their best interest. Communicating the unwelcome news may be the tougher decision, but it’s usually the right decision.

Communicate in a way that addresses the best interest of your customer.

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