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Ownership when Fixing Others’ Errors - 9/22/26


We were conducting training with a client recently, and one of the participants, Jackie, is in a role in his organization where he goes out to the customer site to investigate issues, address customer complaints, and fix problems.  While he’s at the site, he often gets an earful from Read more

Why “No” is So Important - 9/15/26


The employee told the caller: “I don’t think that is possible.” The customer eventually hung up, and redialed to ask a different employee the same question. The employee responded to the customer: “That’s probably not the best way to do it.”  Then, the customer kept asking question after question, arguing Read more

It’s Not “You,” It’s “I” - 9/8/26


During a business writing course that I took years ago, the instructor had us write an e-mail.  I can’t recall if it was written to a co-worker or customer, but after writing this e-mail, she had us count every “I” and “You.”  We talked about how we need to Read more

It Shouldn’t Make a Difference, But… - 9/1/26


We have this conversation with lots of our sports clients, but the principles apply across all different industries.  Too many service representatives view a conversation with a customer as a transaction.  Just get him off the phone as quickly as possible.  The customer is Joe Public, not Joseph Pendergrass.  Read more

Use What the Customer Gives You - 8/25/26


Scenario #1: The customer sent an e-mail to the general inbox at the company.  The message noted that the customer needed to get a family member added to their account, but they couldn’t tell from the website how to do so. The next morning an employee opened up the e-mail, Read more

How Better Customer Service is Better for You - 8/18/26


Oftentimes, we have employees in training or workshops who really want to understand what’s in it for them to deliver better customer service.  How does the employee benefit from a better customer experience? Noted below are 5 different aspects of a great experience desired by the customer.  What if... The customer Read more

Manage New Customer Expectations - 8/11/26


The fan had never been to a motorsports event before, but they had been to concerts.  They had been to big conferences.  At those other events, they could park right next to the venue, many of the activities were indoors, and weather was a non-issue.  So, they were not Read more

Complement Empathy with Action - 8/4/26


A man falls into a hole, and he can’t get out.  He starts yelling for help, and a doctor walks by and looks down the hole.  The man in the hole yells to the doctor “Please help me.  I’ve fallen into this hole!”  And the doctor takes out a Read more

My 8-Minute Visit at the DMV- 7/28/26


I needed to get a Real ID, which in North Carolina facilitates airline travel and other identity verifications.  My wife suggested I go to one particular DMV that was a LONG way away from home, but where she had experienced great customer service.  I was lucky to find an Read more

When They Might Walk Out the Door…Permanently- 7/21/26


Have you ever had one of those conversations with the customer where they literally tell you they’re about to stop doing business with your company?  This is it.  They may bring up a competitor or found another way to get their need met, or they are just leaving. When we Read more

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Slowing Down the Fast Talker – 3/24/26

Posted on March 24, 2026 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

Jeffrey had always been told by his manager to figure out the issue quickly and wrap up the conversation as fast as possible. 

So, Jeffrey was hyper-focused at finding that one key word that could identify the issue and help him to transition quickly to what might be some possible solutions.

He was especially happy to engage a fast-talking customer, because he could identify that one key word more quickly.

The Issue with his Approach to Problem-Solving

In theory, a fast-talking customer may be conducive to accessing a lot of information and wrapping up the conversation quickly, but it might NOT be conducive to wrapping up the issue correctly.

Jeffrey found that finding that one word led to assumptions about other key poinsts, and he would go down the wrong path only to have to do some rework or engage the customer multiple times to rectify what was truly the problem.

So, he devised his own methodology.  He took this non-stop or fast talker, and he came up with a way to slow down the customer.  Jeffrey realized that – to fully help the other person – he needed to understand the situation and its uniqueness.  And having a customer that was pinballing all over the place when describing what was going on wasn’t helping either of them to get to the right answer.

The Solutions He Developed

Jeffrey learned to interrupt politely and professionally: “I’m sorry to interrupt.  I just want to make sure I’m understanding exactly what you’re saying.  Is it OK if I ask you a couple quick questions?”

Jeffrey learned to clarify key points: “Just so I’m clear, did you say that that transaction happened in person or on the website?  Was that two weeks ago or last week?”

Jeffrey learned to summarize key points: “My understanding of what you just said is that the return was made last Tuesday, you were supposed to get a notification and never did, and you haven’t received the refund on your account at this point.  Did I understand those points correctly?”

In dealing with the fast talker, use these techniques when you need to slow them down.

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Don’t Bury the Lede – 3/17/26

Posted on March 17, 2026 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

Mary was working at the office, and she received an e-mail alert from the water company.  There was a water outage in her neighborhood.  It looked like it was going to be a couple hours to fix the issue.

Sure enough, a few hours later around mid-afternoon, Mary received another e-mail with the Subject “Water outage is fixed.” It was a long e-mail, but the Subject seemed to say it all, so she went back to her work.  When Mary got home and got a snack, she brought a glass to the kitchen faucet to get a drink of water.  Out of that faucet came some of the most disgusting looking and smelling brown water you’ve ever unexpectedly seen sputtering out of a faucet.  Nasty!

After the initial shock, it clicked with her that this was probably because of the water outage and whatever work they were doing to fix the pipes. So, she let the water run in the sink for about 5 minutes, but it still wasn’t clear and still smelled pretty bad.  She called the utility’s information center, but they were closed for the day.

Frustrated, she got something else to drink, made a quick dinner, and watched TV.  After dinner, she went back to the e-mail to see if there was some other way she could get in touch with somebody to let them know about the water quality issue.

Going Back to the Notification

She started reading the e-mail, going through paragraph after paragraph, and all of a sudden she read that the water could be brown after a repair such as this, and she needed to use a high-volume outlet – like either run the garden hose or run water in the bathtub – to get a lot of water cleared out of the pipes quickly so that water quality could get back to normal.

The information she needed was in the e-mail, but it was buried late in the message.  It wasn’t highlighted; there was no bolded header.

Highlighting the Points Most Important to the Customer

What could the utility have done better in this situation?  It could have realized that what was most important to the customer was having water quality and knowing her part to get clean water again.  The organization could have highlighted those points up front instead of expecting the customer to read through several paragraphs to see if there was anything important they needed to know or do.

When something is important to convey, don’t assume the customer’s going to read every detail.  Put the pertinent information up front.

Don’t bury the Lede.

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Is the Customer Issue an Organizational Issue? – 1/17/23

Posted on January 17, 2023 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

Customer retention is vital.  Most of next year’s customers are going to be those who are this year’s customers. So, the more you lose today, the fewer you will have tomorrow.  Organizations conduct research, data mine, or bring in consultants to help identify those customers who may be most at-risk of being lost.

But every individual in an organization can help identify at-risk customers.  Let’s ask some questions: When is a complaint a sign of risk?  When is an issue a sign of risk?  When is a lack of activity a sign of risk?

Defining Risk

By Risk we mean…Risk of losing a customer.  Risk of having many customers having the same complaint or issue that your customer is experiencing.  Risk of customers not using your services, not engaging with your business, finding other ways to get their needs met.

As with most aspects of customer service and retention, frontline staff are often best-positioned to help the organization as a whole.

Finding Organizational Issues

If the complaint is about a highly-used process or some aspect of the product or service, that could be a bigger risk for the whole organization if other customers are using that same process, product, or service.  However, when a complaint is about an individual employee, that actually may not be a sign of risk for the whole company.  Maybe it’s a localized situation.

When the issue being discussed is about organizational communications or tools such as website functionality or inconsistency in information flow or content, that could be a risk to the whole organization.  However, if the issue is some characteristic of a transaction that’s unique to that person, that may have less likelihood to be a risk to the organization.

When the lack of activity is because the organization has not been reaching out to the customer, has not kept their relationship fresh, then that could be a risk to the whole organization.  However, when the lack of activity is due to some change in circumstances in the individual’s life, it may not be a sign of risk for the whole company.

Issues that you see one-on-one with your customer may or may not be symptoms of bigger issues for the whole organization, but it’s helpful to the company for you to occasionally take a step back and consider whether a concern for one customer could also impact the many.

Determine if the customer’s issue is an organizational issue.

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