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2024 Holiday Poem - 12/24/24


I sometimes hear it said That things have never been like this before. That challenges are unique, That stresses seem like more.   I sometimes hear it said That we're asked to do much more with less. That workloads are increasing, And we're resource-constrained at best.   And others often say That things are really very good. That they enjoy those Read more

Is Their Poor Planning Your Emergency? - 12/17/24


Have you ever heard the saying:  Your poor planning is not my emergency. I’ve heard it said often – not necessarily directly from one person to another.  More typical is that I hear it from the person having to drop everything and do something immediately because someone else didn’t think Read more

Empathy Examples for Everyday Situations - 12/10/24


I’ve often said that empathy is the single most important characteristic of people who are great at customer service.  If empathy is essentially “to understand the other person,” it helps so much to have that ability in order to specifically help someone.  To talk to what’s unique about them.  Read more

Tell Them Why You’re Giving Thanks - 12/3/24


Thank you! Merci! Danke! Doumo! Gracias! It seems like every language has a translation of Thank You.  Even though I only fluently speak English and speak Spanish, un poco, I – and probably most of you – have heard some or all of the translations of "Thank You” noted above.  Read more

Refine Your Decision-making Process - 11/26/24


Every day, you make decisions of what to do and what not to do.  And in the world of customer service, often the affected parties are our customers, our co-workers, and our company.  Here are a few quotes to consider when you’re thinking about evaluating and refining your decision-making Read more

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

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G’Day = Good Relationships

Posted on May 13, 2010 in Business Advice, Sports Please leave a comment

An Australian soccer club had an issue. Attendance was poor, and even though they were constantly getting new fans, most went to fewer than four matches per year.

According to a goal.com article (http://www.goal.com/en/news/808/australia/2010/05/10/1917241/exclusive-edwin-lugt-taking-sydney-fc-forward), the Dutch CEO of the club called in a fellow Dutchman and created a position for him called “General Manager, Fan Relationships.” I LOVE THIS TITLE! But even more than the title, this new executive did what you expected someone trying to build fan relationships to do.

According to the CEO “He builds a database with potential new fans, developing strategies, activities to communicate with those fans one-on-one in a targeted way so that we know who the fans are, expanding and enriching the profile so that we know what they want, and targeting activities and communication towards them. You have members, regular fans and incidental fans. The question is: how can we develop them and get them higher on the value chain? In order to do that you’ve got to stimulate them but first you’ve got to know who they are by inviting them to register, via in-stadium activities or stimulating them to pre-purchase, because if they do that online you know who they are and can start communicating with them.”

These are the exact types of strategies that we help our sports (and other industry) clients to implement. Why? Because they work. They take the focus off transactional values and put them on lifetime values. The take the focus off a customer as a number and put the focus on a customer as someone with whom you need to build a relationship for the long-term.

Know your customer, setup an ongoing communication plan with them, address their retention drivers, and grow with them.

Be a relationship developer.

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


The University versus the NBA

Posted on May 10, 2010 in Business Advice, Education, Sports Please leave a comment

There’s a lot that higher education and the National Basketball Association have in common. Yes, you read that correctly.

One of the biggest priorities that they have in common is their need to focus on their first year customers. The universities’ biggest risk of drop out or transfer occurs with freshmen. The NBA teams’ biggest risk of loss of season ticket holders comes with the first year season ticket holders. Both of these customer groups come in with certain expectations, certain dreams, certain perceptions that either they themselves have developed or that the organization has created with their marketing and recruiting and sales efforts. But the question is, how well are those expectations being met?

For organizations to do a great job in retaining first year customers – whether they be the student for the four-year university or the season ticket holder for the professional sports franchise – they need to make sure they have a “Year One Strategy.”

Much of what a Year One Strategy involves is research. Since you’re going through a sales process with a season ticket holder or going through a recruitment process for the new student, you need to take that opportunity to gather a great deal of intelligence on why they are coming to your organization and why they would go. You need to know what they understand and expect of their experience as a new customer, so you have an understanding of how well that will match with the reality that they are about to experience.

Setup an ongoing research strategy that involves an early survey of these individuals to gauge what their experience is like and what issues they might be having. As part of that Year One Strategy, you also need to have an ongoing intelligence-building set of research efforts taking place to gather more and more information about what is unique about these individuals, what they want to get out of their experience, and how satisfied they are with your organization.

The other key component of your Year One Strategy needs to be education. And that educational focus is not just for educational institutions, but it’s for any organization wanting to grow by retaining their existing customers. Part of the educational process needs to focus on getting your first year students, your first year customers, knowledgeable about your processes so they are comfortable working with your organization. You need to foster education of their knowledge of your products and services so they know how they can benefit from their relationship with your organization. You need to have an educational program in place to make sure you build comfort, confidence, and set realistic expectations in the minds of your customers.

Learn from the universities and the sports organizations of the world. Have a Year One Strategy that focuses on research and education.

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


Do You Have Harley Loyalty?

Posted on April 8, 2010 in Business Advice, World of Customer Service Please leave a comment

Your customers are loyal. They wouldn’t consider going to another business for their products and services because your integrity, quality, customer service, and price are too good. They are loyal to a fault. Or are you loyal to a faulty belief grounded in hope or assumptions rather than fact and proof?

What outward signs do you have of your customers’ loyalty? Well Harley-Davidson, America’s most well-known motorcycle manufacturer believes it has proof that few can touch. The company believes the "definition of customer loyalty is when your customers will tattoo the name of your company on their arm."

How many people have "IBM" or "Microsoft" or "McDonald’s" tattooed on their arms? Less than 10…less than 5? That’s not to say that McDonald’s customers aren’t loyal, but how does the company know who’s loyal and who isn’t?

Long-term success is more easily achieved if your existing customer base is loyal. They will fight for your company, drive by competitors to get to your store, pay a higher price than alternatives to your service, and recommend you to their closest friends.

But unless you have all your customers walking around with your company logo tattooed on their arms, you need to generate objective measures of loyalty. Try these methods of gaining solid loyalty data:

· Survey customers and have them estimate the total amount of annual purchases of your types of products and services, regardless of whom they buy from. Calculate their purchases from you as a percentage of the total.

· Distribute loyalty cards. Track either their frequency of use or how often you’ve given discounts/rewards when customers hit a targeted number of uses.

· During purchase transactions from new customers, ask how they’ve heard about your company. Track referral rates to gauge the prevalence of effective recommendations made from your existing customers to others.

In lieu of tattoos, get solid data to confirm your customer loyalty.

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


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