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Questions to Guide You to Empathy - 5/13/25


“If I was him, I would do ABC…” If you’ve ever heard somebody say this - whether it’s a friend or acquaintance, whether it’s some TV reporter or podcaster - you may get as frustrated or as annoyed as I do. I get annoyed because we are not that other person. Read more

Negate the Nervousness - 5/6/25


The customer needed a loan, so he walked into the bank, but he was a little nervous.  He knew that launching his business would be easier if he had some working capital, but that’s about all he knew.  He was anxious because he didn’t know what to expect in Read more

Don’t Rush to Resolve Quickly - 4/29/25


The customer is angry, so you use the CSS LEAD technique as designed.  You, listen, empathize, accept responsibility, and deliver on a remedy.  But it doesn’t work.  The customer is still upset, and maybe even a little more frustrated than when you started…why?! If the use of this technique fails, Read more

Energy v. Apathy - 4/22/25


I asked a couple friends who are much more scientifically-oriented the question: What is energy?  I didn’t mean E=MC2.  I meant physiologically, what is energy? They described a lot of things that sounded really good, yet far too advanced for my non-medical mind. Part of the reason why energy is of Read more

Prep Enough to Personalize - 4/15/25


Everybody loves Howie.  He is an account rep for the local air conditioning and heating company.  When I say Everybody loves Howie, I’m definitely talking about the customers.  His co-workers love him too, but customers are especially fond of him.  They seem to really enjoy their conversations with him, Read more

Get Your Customers to Brag, Not Bolt - 4/8/25


Here are two customer retention concepts that we discuss with some sports clients: BIRG and CORF.  BIRG is Basking In Reflected Glory.  CORF is Cutting Off Reflected Failure. You want BIRG.  You want the customers feeling so good about your organization that they want to be a part of your Read more

Narrow Your Focus to Seek Excellence - 4/1/25


You’ve probably heard companies use phrases such as: “We want to go from being good to great.”  Maybe they’ve said: “We strive for perfection, and although we’ll never reach perfection, maybe we can achieve excellence along the way.” These organizations find some kind of a catch phrase or slogan, but Read more

Avoid the Unfriendly Ghost - 3/25/25


Last week we talked about the qualities of “PERKI Customer Service,” essentially what attitudes and actions are characteristics of those who provide great customer service.  This week, let’s take the opposite approach.  What are some of the mistakes that people make?  Maybe these are mistakes of omission or commission; Read more

PERKI Customer Service - 3/18/25


After having worked on hundreds of projects over the years with thousands of thousands of individuals, some things become pretty clear. There are certain traits held by people who are great in customer service.  Look at this list, and do a self-assessment.  Which apply to you? Positive and Patient Do you Read more

It Helps to Downshift - 3/11/25


One of the first tips I heard when I was learning how to drive related to what to do when the brakes fail - downshift.  Shifting into a lower gear can slow down a moving vehicle.  I would explain this in technical terms to you, but considering I’m not Read more

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Customer Service Lessons from a Kidney Stone – An E.R. Story

Posted on October 27, 2011 in Business Advice, Healthcare 1 Comment

I was an Emergency Room patient recently thanks to a kidney stone. I learned some painful lessons about how I need to modify my diet. I learned some financial lessons about how to avoid the E.R. next time, now that I know how to read kidney stones symptoms. And I learned some customer service lessons from the experience.

Let’s focus on customer service. Here are a few lessons learned:

· Accessibility to service is a wonderful thing. To get my question answered about my symptoms, I was able to reach an on-call nurse at my physician’s office at 5:00 a.m. on a Monday. I was aware of that service, having used it before for less painful reasons, and that accessibility, that free advice is one of the things I love about my physician’s office.

· Employee knowledge is a component of the service delivered. That same nurse told me to go to the E.R. because she thought it was gallbladder-related. It turns out that she misinterpreted my symptoms, and the E.R. triage nurse knew immediately I had symptoms of a kidney stone, not a gallbladder issue. If the first nurse would have better “read” my symptoms, she may have saved me an E.R. trip (not complaining, mind you – just an observation).

· An hour wait is not an hour wait is not an hour wait. Wait times can be made to seem shorter or longer than they are in actuality. My wait time to see the triage nurse was only 20 minutes, but it seemed interminable. There was no dialogue during the wait, and I was told they’d see me “quickly” – a nebulous term at best, and one that led me to believe it would be immediate. However my 3.5 hour wait between when my x-rays were done and when the physician saw me wasn’t nearly as bad as you’d think. Although I wasn’t thrilled with the wait, I was given some pain medication early on, was checked on several times by the nurse, was taught how to use their funky television remote control, and was given a warm blanket and offers of other support by a volunteer.

· Much of customer service is about managing expectations. Whether it was my understanding of a next step in a process, understanding who would be my care giver, knowing what the diagnosis could be, understanding whether I’d be released that morning or whether I needed to be held – anything that the organization did to give me a clearer expectation of what would happen next and when it would happen helped to make the experience that much easier to bear.

Learn the lessons of my encounter with customer service during the attack of the kidney stone (sounds like a bad 1970’s movie title, huh?). Be knowledgeable and accessible. Communicate with customers, and “distract” them during waits. Set and manage customer expectations.

Relieve your customer’s pain.

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/

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


Great Service Still Exists

Posted on October 19, 2011 in Business Advice, Carolinas, World of Customer Service 2 Comments

When the customer visited the Oreck store on Hanes Mall Blvd. in Winston-Salem, NC, earlier this month, she needed service on a vacuum. It wasn’t an Oreck. It wasn’t purchased at the store. It was only one month old.

The customer brought it to Oreck because the manufacturer said not to ship it back to them for repair – instead the customer should bring it to a local repair center. The customer had driven past the Oreck store before and was familiar with the quality of the brand, so that was the first place that came to mind.

The cord wouldn’t unwind fully, so a vacuum that should be able to clean several rooms without plugging and unplugging could barely do one room. It was a vacuum that would run, but it was a hassle to use.

The Oreck store asked if they could hold the vacuum and work on it later, and the customer said that was fine. Later, an employee from Oreck called the customer and said the cord issue was resolved. He had worked on the cord, getting it untangled and testing it about 10 times to confirm it worked well.

“How much do I owe you?” the customer asked.

“Not a thing,” the employee replied.

The customer had an issue; the company provided a resolution, and it didn’t cost a dime.

Sometimes great customer service isn’t about what happens during the sale or even what happens after the customer leaves your store. Sometimes truly great customer service is about your taking the effort just to do something for someone else. It’s about caring more about meeting the need of a customer than making a nickel off a transaction. It’s about taking a situation that presents itself – like a customer you’ve never met who needs help – and doing what’s right for the customer.

Take a lesson from this Winston-Salem Oreck store. Focus on what’s in it for the customer first, and worry about what’s in it for you second.

And who knows, you might get some positive word-of-mouth out of the experience.

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/

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


7 Tips to Help You Retain More Customers and More $$

Posted on October 12, 2011 in Business Advice Please leave a comment

Since the road to financial prosperity for any business is paved with your customer’s dollars, the question is how do you gain more dollars?

The best way to have those prosperity-paving dollars tomorrow is to retain today’s customers. So here are 7 quick tips to retain and grow your business with existing customers:

1) When you make the sale, ask the customer why they bought from you. This allows them to tell you why they’re a customer, and probably why they’d buy again.

2) At least annually, ask the customer why they would continue to buy from you, or ask why they’d leave. This will tell you their retention drivers.

3) Act on the answers to the first two questions.

4) State to your customers what they can expect in terms of their experience with you. Clearly say “you’ll get this…in this timeframe…in this way…from these people…at this level of quality, etc.” Stating expectations for the customer ensures you have a better chance of meeting those expectations.

5) Become great at delivering a reality (with your people, processes, and services) that meet or exceed those expectations.

6) Thank the customer…repeatedly. When they enter your store, when they complete the purchase, and in follow-up communications after the sale. Customers want to feel appreciated.

7) Have specific methods of dealing with customer issues when they arise, and train staff on how to handle the irate customer and apply those methods when a customer is upset. As we’ve said before, when there’s a complaint, speed of resolution is a top priority.

Want to retain more customers and their money? Become great in these 7 facets of customer service.

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/

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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