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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

Transparency in Customer Service- 7/14/26


We’ve worked with a lot of clients in the local government sector, and many of these clients have Customer Service Standards and/or corporate values that include Transparency. Think about an old-fashioned transparency sheet, that malleable see-through page you put on an overhead projector.  You can see everything on one side Read more

See the Customer’s Journey from Their Perspective- 7/7/26


That customer is face-to-face with you right now, and you are fielding their questions or delivering your service to them.  And oftentimes and understandably, we are so immersed in the moment that we don’t think about what came before or think enough about what comes next. But in the life Read more

Gaining the Benefits of the Greeter- 6/30/26


Most likely, we’ve all entered some establishment – a retail store, restaurant, or service center - when there is a greeter at the door.  The most famous greeter position is probably the Walmart greeter.  I often thought that my father-in-law would have been a fantastic Walmart greeter, because he Read more

Seamlessness - Why the Customer Thanked You - 6/23/26


This doesn’t happen enough nowadays, but the employee received a long thank you e-mail from the customer.  A financial services account manager had taken care of the client during a period of time that was stressful for the customer. Life was unexpectedly changing quickly, and personal emotions, additional financial responsibilities, Read more

When to Avoid the Escalation - 6/16/26


The customer calls with a complaint, and the easy thing to do is to escalate it to your supervisor. That may also be the right thing to do, but how do you know when to avoid the escalation? Why You Would Escalate The first thing to consider is why you would Read more

Let’s be Clear on Clarity - 6/9/26


When trying to manage expectations, it’s vital to be clear with the customer.  But what specifically does it mean to be “clear?” Clarity is in the eyes and ears of the beholder, so what may be clear to one customer may be unclear to another.  However, there are some basic Read more

Allow Yourself to Solve a Couple Puzzles Every Day - 6/2/26


Frank had never been a dog owner before, and when he first got Bosco at the shelter, Frank didn't really know what he was doing.  He would try to be a good parent - feed the dog, play with it, take it on walks - but he was doing Read more

Improve with a Purpose - 5/26/26


If you’re reading these customer service tips, you likely want to get better.  You want an idea, a technique, a reinforcement, or a question that helps you improve. But why improve? At some point you may waver on the commitment to improve, because it can take effort, introspection, time, and change.  Read more

Reciprocate the Thanks - 5/19/26


Jasmine had a great experience with the company, and the company sent her a link to provide an online evaluation following the visit.  So, she clicked the link, gave a rating, and made a comment about her experience. The company monitored their online reviews, saw the positive response, and replied Read more

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Time is of the Essence – 5/16/23

Posted on May 16, 2023 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

Time is precious.  There’s no time like the present.  Your time is valuable.  Timing is everything.  Children spell “love,” T-I-M-E.

There are many great quotes that reference time.  And part of the reason is that time can be considered somewhat finite; at least within the day, it’s a limited resource.  What one person is doing will be just a step toward their next activity, their next conversation, their next trip that day.

So, what are ways that we can be considerate of the customer’s time?

The Schedule

  • Give customers reasonable notice about when something from them is due, or a meeting will occur.
  • Provide options so that if a time won’t work for them, they have alternatives to consider.
  • Immediately let them know of schedule changes or cancellations.

 

The Prep and the Process

  • Prepare going into the meeting so that the conversation is well-planned and can minimize the customer’s time.
  • Start on time. End on time.
  • Focus on the customer entirely during conversations, so that interruptions or unrelated activities don’t waste their time.

 

The Delay

  • Ensure you’re well-trained on a process, so that the process isn’t delayed by lack of comfort, confidence, or knowledge in performing some standard activity.
  • When they’re waiting, let them know the expectation for the wait time, see if there’s something they can be doing so that when the wait is over, they’ve already accomplished some of the next steps. Keep them informed and updated about when the wait will end.
  • If there could be a lengthy delay or some research required, give the customer the option to exit the conversation, and offer to contact them once the research is complete.

 

Your time is valuable, and so is the customer’s time.  Strengthen your strategies to ensure we’re considerate of the customer’s time.

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Perpetuate Positivity with the Customer – 5/9/23

Posted on May 9, 2023 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

We’ve written many Tips on how to deal with various negative customer emotions.  Those emotions could reflect anger, fear of the unknown, upset, anxiety, or nervousness.  But instead of talking today about how to deal with their negative emotions, let’s talk about how to engender some positive emotions.

We want our customers to be happy.  We like when they’re content.  They’re usually more supportive and understanding, less argumentative and less questioning when they have that happiness, they have that contentment.

For Contentment, scientific studies have shown that one key to contentment is for somebody to feel fulfilled or feel at peace.  From a service standpoint, a customer has more of a feeling of fulfillment if they got their needs met, so professionally reinforce when a need was met.  They can be more at peace if they shared their concern, they enjoyed the conversation, and they know what will happen next.

For Happiness, there are strong correlations between happiness and people being pleased, filled with joy, or enthusiastic.  People who are happy tend to have been encouraged and are hopeful.  So, how do we help engender happiness?

Tell them when they do something well.  Tell them the types of positive outcomes that can happen with them, just as they have happened with other customers in similar situations.  Provide some hope of what good could transpire.  Reinforce what’s already been accomplished so that they are pleased, and give it with some positive energy to impart your enthusiasm on the customer.

When interacting with your customers, use proactive tools to impart positivity.

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Improve Co-worker Rapport to Improve the Customer Experience – 4/4/23

Posted on April 4, 2023 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

The movers were packing up the house.  It was a stressful time for Janine.  She was having to move her aging parents to a new city in a new State to help care for them.  The parents were leaving behind friends and a community where they’d lived for most of their lives.  Janine and her sister were doing all of the planning, working through all the logistics, and spending all the time and the efforts and the lack of sleep to make the move happen.

As she was working with the moving company, packing up the house, it would have been easy for Janine to let the burden of the situation overtake her.  But in the moment, there was something that made the packing and the moving experience more pleasant.

Even when she wasn’t talking to the moving team, she was noticing them.  They were talking with each other.  They used respectful tones.  There was smiling and occasional laughter.  They were productive and moved efficiently, but there was still a professionalism and a politeness with how they interacted with each other.

In short, the employees got along with each other.

For Janine, the overall environment in the home was noticeably more upbeat, more energetic, more positive, and more collaborative.  The atmosphere and the experience were much better because the moving team had a rapport with each other.

For organizations that care about the customer, oftentimes they focus the customer experience on their engagement with that individual.  But when more than one employee is involved in a conference call, at an in-person meeting, some kind of video conference, how the staff engage each other also has an effect on the feel of the experience.

Convey the pleasantness, politeness, productivity, and professionalism with your co-workers that we’re all expected to convey with our customers.

Improve Co-worker Rapport to Improve the Customer Experience.

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