customer satisfaction survey

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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

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

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Do You Know if They Know?

Posted on June 8, 2010 in Business Advice, Government Please leave a comment

We’ve designed a great number of surveys for municipalities and their agencies, focusing on customer satisfaction, perception, and awareness. What is so important with these government-based research instruments that is often downplayed or overlooked entirely is the focus on awareness.

Awareness questions typically focus on two areas: (1) Gauging the resident’s awareness of services and programs offered by the municipality and its agencies and (2) Gauging the resident’s awareness of processes – essentially how to do things.

These questions are vital because all the radio public service announcements, flyers, and government TV channels cost money; but the goal is not to implement a strategy to push information to residents. The goal is for the residents to understand, to remember, to be aware. So that awareness has to be measured – municipalities want participation (i.e., people using their parks, getting access to support services, attending events, and utilizing their recreation centers), and they want whatever revenue is associated with that participation.

But in this age of customer service being balanced with customer “self-service,” residents must also be aware of HOW TO do things. What’s the process to apply for Medicaid, to reserve a park shelter, update my business listing online, get a new recycle bin, or report that the neighbor puts oil down the sewer drain? The more educated residents are on how to do things themselves, the more efficient a municipality can be in providing that service since the resident either goes through the process on their own or they contact the right employee to help them the first time.

These principles are universal in business – customer awareness is a huge asset to any business wanting to grow (i.e., increasing awareness of products/services) and any business wanting to improve efficiencies (i.e., increasing awareness of service processes).

When you conduct your customer surveys, make sure you’re researching your customer’s awareness.

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


Renew with Research

Posted on June 2, 2010 in Business Advice, Sports Please leave a comment

I was recently involved in a discussion about key strategies for renewing season ticket holders for a professional sports franchise. The basic question was "What best practices are there on renewing 90%+?"

That was a great question to ask. It was great for 2 reasons; first, why reinvent the wheel if there are methods that have worked in the past? Consider utilizing best practices first before developing your additional solutions. The second reason why it was a great question is because it involves an aggressive goal. To hit 90% plus in renewals is tough but achievable – remember, you’re often going to have 5%-7% of your season ticket holders (STHs) move away annually, so your retainable level is maybe 93-95%. Adding in those that have been hammered by the economy, and your retainable target is even lower.

We’ve worked with several pro sports teams, and most of our work has been in increasing retention and growing business with existing STHs. Much of what an organization with this retention goal needs to do focuses on having ongoing touch points throughout the year, leading up to the annual renewal period. When you think of those touches, however, think strategically – there should a purpose to each, whether that purpose is gathering intelligence, providing something of value, addressing a retention driver, or making an offer. Many of those touches should be pre-planned on day 1 and executed throughout the year.

There’s no silver bullet because each season ticket holder (each client) has their own motivator. The key is finding that motivator through research. Don’t view retention like you do marketing. Retention and renewals are done one at a time at a certain point (usually annually), not en masse. The good news is that you have about 9 months every year prior to the renewal cycle to ask and determine their retention driver. It’s a lot easier to address the retention driver if you’ve identified it.

Don’t spend tons of time coming up with the perfect benefit or gimmick or perk; find out what your clients base the renewal decision on first.

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


Customer Service Leads to Customer Involvement in Schools

Posted on May 18, 2010 in Business Advice, Carolinas, Education Please leave a comment

Several South Carolina schools were given "Red Carpet" awards for excellence in customer service. That’s right, high schools, middle schools, elementary, and other school-types received recognition for being "family friendly." An article (http://www2.scnow.com/scp/news/education/article/schools_win_awards_for_family-friendly_atmosphere_customer-focused_service/157334/) published yesterday noted that the winners of these awards received actual red carpets to display in their school lobbies – great form of recognition!

Schools had to describe their "family-friendly philosophies and environments, along with the methods used to promote and self-evaluate those efforts. They also were required to include copies of their school’s communication plan."

Examples of the winning schools included how one school made their library open to the community to use (particularly for internet access); another school opened its gym to community leagues/groups; another ensured it had extra coverage of phones and the front desk during the busiest hours; another increased their bilingual capabilities to match the changing mix of local residents.

It’s wonderful that schools understand and embrace the importance of customer service. The winners realize that they need to create a positive environment through their facility and their people. The examples of winning schools illustrate some key points which apply to any business including: be accessible to your customers to attract them (note the library and gym examples), make sure that you match your staffing to your workload to minimize wait times (note the front desk example), and change your service offerings and the way you do business based on your changing customer base (note the bilingual example).

Customer service is a large part of what customers consider when they’re evaluating any business – even schools.

Learn from these schools to attract customers to you, to minimize customer waits, and to make sure you’re delivering on your customers’ changing needs.

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


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