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Complement with a Compliment - 9/9/25


We perform many tasks for our customers every day, and when we’re done with a step in the process, oftentimes we will tell the customer what’s been done.  But if we want to create more of a WOW experience, if we want to make the customer feel a little Read more

When Patience Begets Patience - 9/2/25


Jennifer, the server, walked toward the couple in the restaurant.  The customers had been seated for a minute or two, and they noticed the server was walking briskly toward their table.  Jennifer recognized the couple she was about to serve, because they had been in the previous week. Since the Read more

Address the Expectations that Were Set - 8/26/25


Before the caller ever got to Marco – the customer service representative, the customer had been working with the company for months.  They had read the marketing brochures, had a conversation with a sales rep, reviewed the new customer information on the website, and read all the information e-mailed Read more

When Technology Fails the Customer - 8/19/25


Technology is a wonderful thing…until it isn’t.  The website is down, the mobile app won’t work, the system keeps kicking them out of their account, or they received a spoofing phone call supposedly from your department. If you’ve ever been manning the phones or managing the department inbox, you know Read more

The Misunderstood Physician - 8/12/25


I was speaking with one of my personal physicians years ago, and when we were talking about my work – particularly customer satisfaction research - he started talking about online physician ratings.  He lamented that a few low ratings were dinging his overall score.  Then he shared that the Read more

Uncover Silent Concerns - 8/5/25


One of the customer service statistics we have quoted many times over the years is:  For every complaint you do hear, there could be 26 other customer issues that you don’t hear. And when we bring up that statistic, we bring it up because we want to make sure companies Read more

Talk Yourself Up to Take Down Their Anxiety - 7/29/25


I believe that most customer service people are pretty humble, so I’m not asking you to lose your humility.  But I do have one ask of you… When that customer is anxious or nervous, when they fear the future because the future is unknown or it could be laced with Read more

Use Little Acts to Make a Big Impact - 7/22/25


A WOW Experience is not always one instance, one act that blows away the customer.  It’s not always an over-the-top-the-employee-saved-the-day act of brilliance.  Sometimes a WOW is the sum total of a series of little things that others don’t do – those actions that differentiate you from others.  The Read more

Avoid Some Stress by Addressing Issues Quickly - 7/15/25


It’s good customer service to resolve issues quickly.  The customer sees the light at the end of the tunnel.  They more quickly bring their anxiety and stress, their negative emotions down.  And they more quickly get to a solution. But this tip is not about them.  This tip is about Read more

Better Customer Service through Better Teamwork - 7/8/25


We spend so much time talking about what great customer service looks like in those 1-on-1 Moments of Truth, that we often neglect to discuss what goes on inside the company that leads to those great moments.  We’ve talked about customer handoffs within an organization, but what does a Read more

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Bet on Great Customer Service

Posted on April 19, 2012 in Business Advice, World of Customer Service Please leave a comment

A casino’s repeat business is purely dependent on whether the customer feels the exhilaration of the win…right?

Well the recent article Casinos Urged to Invest in Customer Service, Gaming Experience to Meet Multiple Challenges in 2012 says that it’s more than winning that drives loyalty and revenues.

The head of a casino consulting firm notes “Bare-bones state budgets, taxation, new casinos, social media and online gaming – these are all factors that will contribute to a challenging year for casinos.”

Essentially he says that if you’re a business with customers who are having financial struggles (like a sports team trying to keep season ticket holders), have competitors (like a hospital), are impacted by the proliferation of social media and alternative delivery changes for your service (like a college or university – or almost any business for that matter), then you might be having a tough time.

So if his premise applies to the situation of casinos, it probably also applies to the majority of other businesses today.

And what’s the proposed solution? Create a culture of customer service. The article notes that “The first step toward creating that culture is establishing service standards. The next step is training that helps employees meet those standards.”

So why is this suggested? This is where the author falls short…he doesn’t say why you need the culture of customer service, but I’ll fill that part in – it’s because the state of customer service is so poor today, that this is one area where you can differentiate yourself from competitors. It’s one place where Social Media doesn’t have a solid footing. It’s one place where you can build value when customers care more about the dollars they spend and with whom they spend.

Stop. Look at your competitors. Look at your customers. Look at your company.

Create a culture of customer service to build value with the customer and build a wall between your customers and your competitors.

Interested in assessing and improving your company’s customer service? Click here…


Find a Fun Benchmarking Organization for Lessons on Service and Retention

Posted on April 11, 2012 in Business Advice, World of Customer Service 1 Comment

Why did Apple benchmark with the Ritz-Carlton? Are computers the same thing as hotels?

Why did Southwest Airlines benchmark with NASCAR pit crews? Are airplanes the same things as cars?

Benchmarking is usually more about how you do something than what you do. In the article How the Ritz-Carlton Inspired the Apple Store, the author notes how Apple Stores went to the Ritz-Carlton to learn lessons on customer service. Similarly, many years ago Southwest Airlines went to work with NASCAR pit crews to learn how to turn planes at the gate more quickly.

Continuous improvement in any organization involves thinking beyond your world, growing your organization’s collective knowledge by learning from others. What’s more, it can be lots of fun learning, particularly from those in other industries.

To most effectively benchmark, think about how you deliver a service, interact with customers, communicate, process, produce. Try not to think of this in industry terms; instead, think of this in functional terms. For example, as a bank, don’t think “What bank does a great job of increasing the number of accounts with current customers?” Think more broadly such as “What organizations are great at retaining and selling more services to existing account holders?” Instead of benchmarking with another bank, they might consider benchmarking with a pro sports team.

Instead of a local municipality asking “What City/County governments do a great job with their website?”, they should ask “What organizations effectively engage their customers online and leverage those sites to drive interest and traffic to their programs and facilities?”

Benchmarking is a fun way to get creative ideas, to continuously learn, grow, and improve.

So what industry (other than yours) is interesting to you? Go and learn from them.

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

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

Listen to our latest podcast episode of “Stepping Up Service” on The MESH Network at http://themesh.tv/stepping-up-service/


To Improve Customer Retention, Make Products Free?

Posted on April 5, 2012 in Business Advice, World of Customer Service Please leave a comment

To increase its customer retention, Sprint announced that it’s discounting fees on their pay-as-you-go service. In the Fox Business article Sprint Looks to Boost Customer Retention With Lower repaid Bills, it’s noted how Sprint’s new Boost service “is $5 less than the starting price of the brand’s current lowest-priced plans.”

According to the article, “Sprint has had some success drawing customers to its Boost brand through a program that lets users lower their bills by $5 per month following every six on-time payments. Sprint’s prepaid customer rolls grew by 20% last year to 14.8 million, while its contract business shrunk.” In business school, that’s referred to as cannibalizing yourself. But I digress…

The interesting point here is that the company is trying to increase retention with a price drop (and also by pulling customers away from its other products).

Companies who truly understand customer retention strategies understand that a price drop is the absolute LAST thing you should ever have to do. This price drop retention strategy is for companies who have allowed customers to view them as a commodity, and some companies are thereby viewing themselves as commodities.

In virtually any industry, customers will stick with companies for many reasons, not just price. And those other reasons (product quality, wait times, customer service, responsiveness, relationships with the employees, affinity for the company, making customers’ lives easier/better/more hassle free, and on and on and on) provide the value piece that plays into decision-making far more in many customers’ eyes than price.

Before you do your next price drop to increase retention…before you start heading in the direction of free products…before you willingly cut your own profits in an effort to become more prosperous (if that even remotely makes sense), find out the specific factors that drive loyalty for specific customers, and do the best job possible of incorporating those into a 1-to-1 retention strategy.

Avoid the easy and (for the long-term) ineffective path to customer retention – avoid the price drop.

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

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

Listen to our latest podcast episode of “Stepping Up Service” on The MESH Network at http://themesh.tv/stepping-up-service/


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