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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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Customer Service Leads to Customer Involvement in Schools

Posted on May 18, 2010 in Business Advice, Carolinas, Education Please leave a comment

Several South Carolina schools were given "Red Carpet" awards for excellence in customer service. That’s right, high schools, middle schools, elementary, and other school-types received recognition for being "family friendly." An article (http://www2.scnow.com/scp/news/education/article/schools_win_awards_for_family-friendly_atmosphere_customer-focused_service/157334/) published yesterday noted that the winners of these awards received actual red carpets to display in their school lobbies – great form of recognition!

Schools had to describe their "family-friendly philosophies and environments, along with the methods used to promote and self-evaluate those efforts. They also were required to include copies of their school’s communication plan."

Examples of the winning schools included how one school made their library open to the community to use (particularly for internet access); another school opened its gym to community leagues/groups; another ensured it had extra coverage of phones and the front desk during the busiest hours; another increased their bilingual capabilities to match the changing mix of local residents.

It’s wonderful that schools understand and embrace the importance of customer service. The winners realize that they need to create a positive environment through their facility and their people. The examples of winning schools illustrate some key points which apply to any business including: be accessible to your customers to attract them (note the library and gym examples), make sure that you match your staffing to your workload to minimize wait times (note the front desk example), and change your service offerings and the way you do business based on your changing customer base (note the bilingual example).

Customer service is a large part of what customers consider when they’re evaluating any business – even schools.

Learn from these schools to attract customers to you, to minimize customer waits, and to make sure you’re delivering on your customers’ changing needs.

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


If we were only treated like our pets…

Posted on April 29, 2010 in Business Advice, Carolinas, Healthcare, World of Customer Service Please leave a comment

I went to the veterinarian last week to take in our family cat – the one that had been in a fight with another cat and didn’t exactly win. Squeaky was on the mend, but the vet wanted to make sure that the antibiotics had worked and that her temperature was down.

When we walked into SouthPark Animal Hospital in Charlotte, NC, the two front desk staff greeted our cat like she was their long lost sister. “Hi, Squeaky!” they exclaimed. “We’re so happy to see you! How are you feeling? Are you better?!” Their love of cats (or at least in our mind, OUR cat) was evident. They took care of her, brought her back to the exam room to take her temperature, and when they brought her back out to the lobby, the vet assistant told my daughter and I that “We love Squeaky!”

Wow! It’s just a cat…isn’t it? Not to them…and not to us, either.

Let’s think about how this relates to us human beings. How often do you go into any other business and get a reception like this? How often do people’s faces light up, they smile, their voices convey enthusiasm at the sight of you? How often do they repeat your name? How often do they tell you how much they love (or at least enjoy) caring for you? How often do they enthusiastically give you the impression that you’re the most important person in the world at that moment?

What a great customer service world it would be if businesses conveyed how much they cared about us the way the staff at SouthPark Animal Hospital convey that they care about our pets!

If a business can muster this enthusiasm for Squeaky, let’s try to muster something similar for our 2-legged customers.

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


Take the Pulse

Posted on March 16, 2010 in Business Advice, World of Customer Service Please leave a comment

Organizations often have to deal with internal rumors. Maybe it’s the staff that think they’ve heard about the possibility of a leadership change or a facility relocation or a reorganization or layoffs or changes in wages or benefits.

Rumors are typically negative, often foreshadowing something that could happen down the road that people don’t want to happen. The negativity of these rumors can start to eat away at the framework of an organization’s culture, just like thousands of tiny termites eating away at the foundation of a home.

If these rumors are not dealt with, then their negative impact will grow and grow and grow to the point that the culture suffers, the productivity suffers, the service suffers, the internal relationships and the work environment suffer, and – in the end – the customer will suffer, too.

To make sure that rumors are identified quickly and acted on, and to make sure that leadership has a strong ongoing understanding about what’s going on at the staff level, one thing organizations can do is to implement an ongoing system of taking the employee pulse. These are typically very short but very frequent and ongoing surveys that focus on several key questions that are high-level indicators of employee satisfaction and morale.

If leaders want to make sure that they have some good, objective data telling them the direction of their employees’ satisfaction and morale, they need to proactively seek it on an ongoing basis (at least monthly in most organizations).

To make sure that the foundation and core of your organization are not slowly but surely being eaten away by rumors and a negative internal work environment, make sure you’re getting frequent and objective feedback from your employees.

Continually take the pulse of your people.

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


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