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Use AI to Improve Your Performance - 7/23/24


Many companies are integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into some aspect of their business.  This could greatly change how they operate, how they communicate with customers. This AI wave reminds me of a story from 20+ years ago when a stock brokerage firm launched a new website that greatly enhanced the Read more

The New Burger Experience - 7/16/24


Floyd loves a good hamburger. Any chance he gets to try a new spin on an old standby, he takes it. Recently, a burger joint opened near his house, and Floyd was very excited! It was owned by and named for a world-renowned chef, so it had to be Read more

Boost Customer Happiness - 7/9/24


There’s a cooking show that a friend of mine watches, and the premise is all about reverse engineering food.  They may take a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, analyze it, and determine the ingredients just by tasting it.  Then they figure out a recipe.  The cook will try to make Read more

Brainstorm to Better Yourself - 7/2/24


I’ve led enough sessions with clients on continuous improvement topics to have solid experience on how to lead ideation exercises, brainstorming to develop new ideas.  Oftentimes these sessions start with the right question; the first answers may not be the ultimate solution, but they can serve as a jumping Read more

The Power of the Pause - 6/25/24


When I’m facilitating a meeting, and it feels like it’s going off-track or the discussion is going a little longer than it should, I may say something like “let me pause the conversation so that…” or “let’s pause just for a minute and consider…” I don’t like the word STOP. Read more

Handle Interruptions Heroically - 6/18/24


In the middle of a project, Jimbo, the customer service team member, had to stop what he was doing because he received an e-mail from a customer complaining about their experience at a recent event. Later that day, Jimbo was asked by his boss to put everything on hold for Read more

From Employees to Teammates: The Shift - 6/11/24


Be a great teammate. Be a good team player. We’re all part of the team. We’re no longer employees, we’re team members! The phrase “Team” is used in describing co-workers so much more than it was used years ago.  Then, we would be talking about employees, talking about staff, talking Read more

Nurture New Relationships - 6/4/24


Freddie was a new business owner in town.  He was launching a franchise, had acquired some funding from a local bank, and was in search of staff who cared about customer service. All the while, he was in the process of renovating a storefront for his business, so he was Read more

There’s Positivity in Patience - 5/28/24


The employee at the financial services firm was working with a new client on a relatively simple loan.  The documentation was about as clear as it could get to the employee, but the customer had lots of questions.  The employee calmly, clearly, and specifically answered each question.  The meeting Read more

The Goal – A Great Experience - 5/21/24


The following is a narrative of a great experience (people, process, service, facility) at a minor league sporting event – key points that could apply to any business are in bold… Mark and I pulled into the parking lot, excited about the game.  The Slapshots had been on a roll Read more

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Sharpen Your Service Delivery – 1/9/24

Posted on January 9, 2024 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

You work so hard at being responsive and providing high quality information.  You work hard at fixing problems.  But is your delivery…dull?

I’m not saying that it has to be exciting, but let’s think of the word “exciting.”  It means that something’s interesting, has energy, is positive.  Just by its nature, excitement attracts others, usually involves others.

Now let’s define “dull.”  It means that something doesn’t keep interest.  It’s not sharp.  It brings to the mind images of yawns, of boredom, of sleep.  Something that’s dull makes the mind wander.

Are you attracted to something that keeps your interest…or are you attracted to things that don’t?  Do you prefer interactions that engage you…or those that make your mind wander?  Are you more interested in something that has energy…or something that doesn’t?  Do you prefer something with a positive nature…or something that lacks positivity?

For your service to be effective, functionally it needs to fix the problem, respond quickly, and provide accurate and helpful information.  But for your service to be a relationship-builder, it needs to keep the customer’s interest, to engage the customer, to convey energy, and to be put forth in a positive nature.

As a customer service professional, think not only of what you deliver, also consider how your service is received from the customer’s perspective.  Work to keep the customer engaged, to make the interaction interesting, to convey your energy, and to be a positive part of their day.

Identify aspects of your interactions (your way of speaking with or writing to others) and your service processes that are “dull,” and seek to serve in a more engaging manner.

Sharpen your service delivery by keeping customers engaged and interested…in a positive way.

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Make Empathy Your Superpower – 1/2/24

Posted on January 2, 2024 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

I was facilitating a Service Excellence Training class for a Higher Ed client in the Northeast several years back.  As I was walking through the portions of our technique for defusing the angry customer, I talked about empathy.  I talked about accepting responsibility.

Immediately, one of the hands in the room went up.  The employee said: I would never make statements like you’re suggesting.  Once you start saying you’re sorry or once you start acknowledging their feelings, they’re going to sense that you’re weak.  They’re gonna walk all over you.

I was a little bit taken aback initially, but not because somebody was challenging the technique.  Primarily, I was surprised somebody would consider it a weakness to be empathetic.  Somebody might consider it a weakness to accept responsibility.

I’ve always viewed empathy as a strength.  It’s a higher level of awareness, a higher level of caring for another person.  Being willing to look outside yourself to understand the unique needs and situations of another.  It’s a strength to have emotional awareness of others.  These are strong, positive attributes.

Now, I understand the employee’s point was that if you ‘put down your guard,’ if you acknowledge the other person, they may feel that they can berate you, or get you to do things on their behalf that are against policy, not ethical, or not the acceptable procedure.  But what he was suggesting was to maintain a defensive posture.  To not acknowledge the issue or any company responsibility.

What empathy does is to help the customer feel that you care, and to more quickly move you to a next step.  What lack of empathy does is to create a stalemate, to bog down the conversation, to S-L-O-W progress toward a resolution, and to ramp up the negative emotions.

Use empathy to make the customer feel better, to feel heard and understood.  But use it also because it saves you time, it keeps down emotions, and it moves the conversation along.

Use empathy as a strength.  Make it your superpower.

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Refresh, Rejuvenate, Refocus – 12/19/23

Posted on December 19, 2023 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

It’s that time of year.  We’re going 100 miles an hour, and holiday time is upon us.  We not only have all the work to do, but we somehow have less time to do it.  We somehow have other things that are of competing interest, and even though those extra To Do’s are often wonderful things, the fact is that we have more to do.  We often have more stress.  We are getting pulled in multiple directions, many of which are not of our own choosing.

Wouldn’t it be great in times like this to just be able to take a break?!  Wouldn’t it be great to just invest in ourselves a little bit?

This is a customer service tip, but as you all know, I highly value folks who are in customer service, and I realize that you spend so much of your days doing things for others, that it’s easy to forget to do things for yourself.

So, let’s all do a brief exercise and see if we can conjure up any ideas that can be good for you, to help you refresh, rejuvenate, refocus.

Just Imagine…

Imagine that you had $200 given to you, but you could only spend it on yourself.  What would you spend it on to refresh yourself mentally, physically, spiritually, intellectually?  What could help you to become a better co-worker, person, or a representative to your clients?  What would refresh, rejuvenate, and refocus you?

What if you found yourself with 2 free hours in your day?  Even just for one day.  But you had to spend those 2 hours only on yourself.  Would you rest?  Would you watch some old shows or movies?  Would you work out or go for a run?  Maybe you would read or do something that stimulates you more than an old episode of Three’s Company.  It’s totally up to you.  What would refresh, rejuvenate, and refocus you?

What if you were told you need to eliminate (or at least spend less time on) 2 tasks or activities that you do most weeks at work?  What are the 2 things you’d eliminate because they provide little value to the company, the co-worker, or the customer?  What tasks would you stop that would actually refresh, rejuvenate, and refocus you?

Invest a little money or time on yourself. Take a couple items off your To Do List. Be intentional to refresh, rejuvenate, and refocus.

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