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Ownership when Fixing Others’ Errors - 9/22/26


We were conducting training with a client recently, and one of the participants, Jackie, is in a role in his organization where he goes out to the customer site to investigate issues, address customer complaints, and fix problems.  While he’s at the site, he often gets an earful from Read more

Why “No” is So Important - 9/15/26


The employee told the caller: “I don’t think that is possible.” The customer eventually hung up, and redialed to ask a different employee the same question. The employee responded to the customer: “That’s probably not the best way to do it.”  Then, the customer kept asking question after question, arguing Read more

It’s Not “You,” It’s “I” - 9/8/26


During a business writing course that I took years ago, the instructor had us write an e-mail.  I can’t recall if it was written to a co-worker or customer, but after writing this e-mail, she had us count every “I” and “You.”  We talked about how we need to Read more

It Shouldn’t Make a Difference, But… - 9/1/26


We have this conversation with lots of our sports clients, but the principles apply across all different industries.  Too many service representatives view a conversation with a customer as a transaction.  Just get him off the phone as quickly as possible.  The customer is Joe Public, not Joseph Pendergrass.  Read more

Use What the Customer Gives You - 8/25/26


Scenario #1: The customer sent an e-mail to the general inbox at the company.  The message noted that the customer needed to get a family member added to their account, but they couldn’t tell from the website how to do so. The next morning an employee opened up the e-mail, Read more

How Better Customer Service is Better for You - 8/18/26


Oftentimes, we have employees in training or workshops who really want to understand what’s in it for them to deliver better customer service.  How does the employee benefit from a better customer experience? Noted below are 5 different aspects of a great experience desired by the customer.  What if... The customer Read more

Manage New Customer Expectations - 8/11/26


The fan had never been to a motorsports event before, but they had been to concerts.  They had been to big conferences.  At those other events, they could park right next to the venue, many of the activities were indoors, and weather was a non-issue.  So, they were not Read more

Complement Empathy with Action - 8/4/26


A man falls into a hole, and he can’t get out.  He starts yelling for help, and a doctor walks by and looks down the hole.  The man in the hole yells to the doctor “Please help me.  I’ve fallen into this hole!”  And the doctor takes out a Read more

My 8-Minute Visit at the DMV- 7/28/26


I needed to get a Real ID, which in North Carolina facilitates airline travel and other identity verifications.  My wife suggested I go to one particular DMV that was a LONG way away from home, but where she had experienced great customer service.  I was lucky to find an Read more

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

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Where Scripting Does (and Doesn’t) Work to Improve Survey Scores

Posted on June 1, 2011 in Business Advice, Healthcare, Sports Please leave a comment

I don’t promote scripting, because too many companies take it literally in that they force their employees – without the least bit of sincerity – to make the same statements over and over and over again to the customer.

“Did I deliver great service today?"

“I hope I provided excellent customer service.”

Customers can sense sincerity and insincerity, communications they trust and mistrust.

So when we hear that some companies have their customer service reps and other staff use those statements because “Great” and “Excellent” are ratings on the surveys, I cringe.

Don’t rig the surveys just to have them say what you want them to say in terms of “Excellent” or “Great.” Customers can usually smell that a mile away, and just as importantly, you may not be getting a true indication of your customer’s satisfaction.

Now when it IS beneficial to have a little bit of scripting and training and education with staff that relates to surveys is when the terminology you use to describe the attribute they’re evaluating is not obvious. Maybe you ask on the surveys about “discharge instructions,” but when you talk to the patient in the hospital, you never referenced the phrase “discharge instructions.” In these cases, either refer to “discharge instructions” using that term when they’re in the hospital so the patient knows what you’re talking about on the survey, or use a more simple term or phrase on the survey like “Did they explain how to care for yourself when you go home?”.

When you’re conducting a survey and you’re asking the season ticket holder for the pro sports team to evaluate their account representative, make sure they know about whom you’re talking. Have the representatives refer to themselves as “your account representative” or “your personal representative with the team” when talking to the season ticket holder.

Make sure that the terms you use on surveys are terms customers are familiar with from having dealt with your organization. If you want great performance, you have to make it clear with your employees what great performance looks like, and to evaluate that performance, use terms on the surveys that you commonly use with your customers.

Read our New Book – “Ask Yourself…Am I GREAT at Customer Service?” http://www.amigreatat.com/

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


Never Chase a Profit

Posted on May 5, 2011 in Business Advice Please leave a comment

Increase your company’s profit by 10%. Improve your department’s profit by 20%. Increase your contribution margin by 30%.

There is nothing you can do to make that happen. It’s impossible. There is no way that you or anyone else can move a profit line. Period.

If your goal in your business life is to drive profits, you will never succeed by trying to move profits up. It cannot be done. You cannot physically move a number. You cannot physically add dollars to a profit figure. That’s not how it works.

Instead, on the top line, you have to know which actions that you take which cause your customers to spend more. On the bottom line, you have to know what actions to take that can reduce your expenditures. It’s a focus on the actions that drives profit, not a focus on the dollars.

The top line focus is the customer. Why do they buy? Why do they spend more? Why do they tell others good things about you? Why do they stay? The answers to these questions lead you to actions that help you grow the top line. You need to ask customers these questions. You need to act on the answers.

The bottom line focus? You may think it’s internal operations, but I disagree. The bottom line focus is the cost of acquiring that dollar from the customer. What does it take to get a dollar from a customer? How can you spend less to get the dollar? What are you doing that in no way attracts a dollar from that customer? The answers to these questions will help you determine how to reduce expenditures.

To increase your margins, focus on the customer. Never chase a profit.

Read our New Book – “Ask Yourself…Am I GREAT at Customer Service?” http://www.amigreatat.com/

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


From Harvard’s Calculator to Your Ears…and Eyes

Posted on May 4, 2011 in Business Advice Please leave a comment

The Harvard Business School promotes its version of the “Customer Lifetime Value Calculator.” This is a method of determining the true potential financial impact of your customer to your business.

There are 5 main pieces to the impact-calculating puzzle:

· Base profit – Transactional profit

· Profit from increased purchases – Profit from multiple transactions

· Profit from price premium – Profit from willingness to pay more per transaction

· Profit from reduced operating costs – Profit from less expenditures to retain than acquire the customer

· Profit from referrals – Profit from less expenditures to get customers via referrals than marketing/advertising to acquire them

So if this is the financial “Why” of customer retention, what is the “How?” The “How” comes from 3 things:

· First, you have to have what we call a Client Relationship Development (CRD) strategy to continually “touch” and develop relationships with customers over time – even when they’re not spending a dime with you.

· Second, you need to have a Client Experience Management (CEM) strategy – where you build a service and sales experience that hits all the key hot buttons.

· Third, you need a Service Culture that creates the people, processes, attitudes, structures, communications, and general alignment of everything the organization is about…toward the customer.

Calculate your customer’s potential lifetime value, and then create the “How” strategies to tap into those dollars.

Read our New Book – “Ask Yourself…Am I GREAT at Customer Service?” http://www.amigreatat.com/

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


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