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Don’t Harp on the Customer’s Mistake - 6/24/25


Seth’s daughter, Sarah, had missed some swim classes, and Seth remembered that the aquatics center had several make-up classes available late in the summer.  So Seth pulled up the class schedule on his phone, found one that worked on his and Sarah’s schedules, and planned to attend a session Read more

Create Customers for Life - 6/17/25


Veronica has gone to the same automotive service shop for at least 20 years.  She bought a new car about a year ago, and this is the third car she’s brought to the shop instead of taking her car to the dealer where she bought it.  She’s had three Read more

Don’t Turn the Customer into the QA Department - 6/10/25


Roberta received a form with information filled in by the company after her conversation with the account rep.  Roberta just needed to review the information, fill in some of the blanks, sign it, and resend it in order to set up a new account. She noticed that the effective date Read more

Imitate to Improve - 6/3/25


Oscar Wilde said that “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”  Now this doesn’t mean that plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery.  Nor does it mean that great impersonators such as Rich Little, Dana Carvey, or Frank Caliendo are always offering flattering portrayals of those that they imitate. Wilde’s Read more

How the Customer Perceives a Truth as a Lie - 5/27/25


You’re the customer, you’re asking about an unused item that you’re returning, and you hear the employee say: “The refund process takes 7-10 days.”  You’re thinking: “Great!  I can get the refund check as early as a week from today!”  The reality is that the company means that they’ll Read more

Tell Customers What’s Next - 5/20/25


In most businesses that have been around for a while, how a process was originally designed is not how it currently operates.  Sometimes this change is referred to as “practical drift,” where the actual process moves further and further away from the documented steps over time.  Maybe the changes Read more

Questions to Guide You to Empathy - 5/13/25


“If I was him, I would do ABC…” If you’ve ever heard somebody say this - whether it’s a friend or acquaintance, whether it’s some TV reporter or podcaster - you may get as frustrated or as annoyed as I do. I get annoyed because we are not that other person. Read more

Negate the Nervousness - 5/6/25


The customer needed a loan, so he walked into the bank, but he was a little nervous.  He knew that launching his business would be easier if he had some working capital, but that’s about all he knew.  He was anxious because he didn’t know what to expect in Read more

Don’t Rush to Resolve Quickly - 4/29/25


The customer is angry, so you use the CSS LEAD technique as designed.  You, listen, empathize, accept responsibility, and deliver on a remedy.  But it doesn’t work.  The customer is still upset, and maybe even a little more frustrated than when you started…why?! If the use of this technique fails, Read more

Energy v. Apathy - 4/22/25


I asked a couple friends who are much more scientifically-oriented the question: What is energy?  I didn’t mean E=MC2.  I meant physiologically, what is energy? They described a lot of things that sounded really good, yet far too advanced for my non-medical mind. Part of the reason why energy is of Read more

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Address the 4 P’s for a Customer-friendly COVID-19 Walk-in Experience

Posted on June 9, 2020 in Business Advice Please leave a comment

This is not about what is medically most effective – please see the CDC for those guidelines.  This is about how to help your customers have a great experience as an onsite visitor at your facility or storefront.  For a comprehensive approach to a customer-friendly COVID-19 experience, address the four P’s:  Places, Processes, Products, and People:

Places – Starting outside the building, have signage that tells the customer what to do and where to go, using a combination of pictures/coloring/words.  You need to put a premium on self-navigation.  From signage outside the facility to signage inside the facility, whether it is directional on the floor, wall, ceiling, and “You are here” maps – make it easy on them to move appropriately from area to area.  You want it to be simple enough that they can navigate on their own without having to engage your staff for directions.

“Simply, to have a customer-friendly experience, BE FRIENDLY!”

 

Processes – This is about proactive and digital instructions. How you help them and how you help them help themselves are both very important. View yourself as an educator of customers for how they can have the best experience possible. From the moment they walk in the door (or even before they enter your building!), proactively engage them with questions and directions to get them started on a great experience. Ensure you have a website that gives the specific aisle and bin where an item is located or specific in-facility directions on how to get to a particular office.

Products & Services – Whether self-service inside or outside/curbside service, there needs to be an opportunity for contactless delivery. This is where you look at all the different digital and hands-free ways that customers can either get their own need met onsite while engaging employees as little as possible or set up an entire process such that they can pull up outside your facility and get whatever physical documentation or product is required. Define services that allow them to get what they need with limited or no physical contact with your staff.

People – Finally, with less face-to-face interaction, oftentimes impeded by a mask, those interactions have to be that much better. Simply, your staff need to know how to smile with their eyes. Simply, to have a customer-friendly experience, BE FRIENDLY! It’s easy as a leader to overthink things. If they are in your buildings less, appreciate them during each engagement more. If they proactively initiate conversations with you less, proactively initiate conversations with them more. Extra courtesy and respect are vital when people make the extra effort to safely come to and enter our facilities.

To have a customer friendly COVID-19 walk-in experience, ensure you’re taking a comprehensive approach. Along with all the medically necessary strides you’re taking, view the overall experience through the customer’s eyes. Address the Places, Processes, Products, and People aspects of their experience.


The Deeper Reason to Transform the Customer Experience – 6/2/20

Posted on June 2, 2020 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

Why are government offices putting up plexiglass between their staff and their customers?  Why is restaurant takeout being done in such a way that is contactless and yet still fosters engagement between the employee and customer?  Why have so many traditionally onsite businesses converted to delivery businesses?

The answer is obvious.  But I want to look at a different answer that is a little bit deeper.  Particularly as we are transitioning back into reopening many of our businesses, a lot of these changes are not changes in the product or service itself.  They are changes in how the product is delivered.  They are changes in the experience the customer has with the organization.  They are changes in how that experience looks and feels when the customer comes to our facilities and locations.

And we are making these changes not just to adhere to governmental regulations and not just to address new organizational policies.

We are making these changes so that our customers are comfortable and confident.  We want our customers, after experiencing this new way of doing business with us, to have confidence enough in our ability to deliver that product or service that they are willing to come back.

In other words, we’re doing this to create the comfort and confidence that leads to repeat business.

So, even though we are changing our operations to adhere to regulations and policies, start transitioning to a slightly higher-level set of questions.  When you are thinking of how to transform your customer experience, ask:  How can you make an experience that will create more comfort for the customer?  How can you create communications around the experience that make the customer more confident?

As you begin to make these changes, focus on the comfort and confidence that your customer will walk away with, and you will – in the end – focus on the things that are going to drive repeat business.

Design for customer comfort and confidence.

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Motivating Yourself when Working Remotely – 5/26/20

Posted on May 26, 2020 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

For any of us who are working remotely, we are finding ourselves more and more having to be self-motivated. And while many people are naturally self-motivated, others need to have that manager who gives us the encouragement. Many of us need to have that ongoing informal dialogue with co-workers and customers. Many of us need the energy we get from being in a busy place with lots of movement and activity all around us.

In the April 28, 2020 Tip of the Week, we alluded to the importance of motivating ourselves. But let’s dig a little bit deeper today.  Here are several things to consider if you need a little bit extra energy or motivation for your day…

Find Out What Motivates You

Before you can motivate yourself, you need to understand what is motivating to you. We’ve done activities with clients where we had each individual employee develop a Personal Mission Statement; basically this was describing their purpose in their job. It wasn’t just the tasks or activities that they do, but it was the greater good that comes from those tasks or activities for their community, their customers, their co-workers, or their company. You could go through an exercise of developing your own Personal Mission Statement, or you could simply write a list of your motivators. It could be future success – where a great day today means a great week, a great month, great year, a great career. Your motivator could be your family, it could be free time, and whatever it is, write it down and put it in front of you every day.

Give Yourself a Challenge

I have a friend who I volunteer with, and she is well into her 70s; yet, she is easily the most energetic person I know. She takes multiple leadership roles and works as hard or harder than any of the individuals within this organization. I asked her where she gets all her energy.  Her response?  She said that she gets up every day and simply challenges herself to get as much done as possible that day. She basically has a contest with herself to see how much she can accomplish.

Celebrate Even Small Wins

Remember that small wins are still wins. So celebrate! This might sound goofy, but it’s something I strongly believe. I was conducting a workshop for a client several years back, and we talked about the importance to an organization’s culture for employees to have a clear purpose in their role and to celebrate.  At the time, Aaron Rodgers, a quarterback for the Green Bay Packers football team, would celebrate when he or his teammates made a big play by pretending to put a championship belt around his waist. So, I asked people to celebrate an accomplishment during this workshop, and the way I asked them to do it was to put on the figurative belt.

Employee by employee stood up, said something that they accomplished over the last week or two – as little or as big as they could think of – and then they would give themselves “the belt.”  It was funny, it was interesting, and it addressed the importance of really recognizing what you do – not just doing it, but RECOGNIZING YOURSELF FOR YOUR OWN ACCOMPLISHMENTS.

In this world of working remotely, so much more of the motivation has to come from within. Figure out what motivates you, and find ways to become more self-motivated.

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