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Listen with Your Eyes - 1/28/25


Out of the corner of his eye, Patrick saw the customer enter the lobby.  The customer was carrying a large shoulder bag with several papers in her hand.  The customer was shuffling the papers and looking down; then she stopped, looked up, and saw the staff navigator sitting at Read more

When You’re the Educator, What Should You Teach? - 1/21/25


The best customer service professionals are also excellent educators.  Not only within the organization, but I’m talking specifically about the role they play as educator with their customers.  With all the self-service options that technology provides, customers often have the opportunity to do things on their own, to investigate Read more

Wrap It Up Right: Why Follow-Up Communications WOW Customers - 1/14/25


Dena had some questions about her water bill, so she looked for answers on the utility’s website.  She didn’t find specific answers, and she really didn’t want to get on the phone with somebody at the time and risk staying on hold.  She had lots going on, but she Read more

From Conversation to Connection: Defining Customer Engagement - 1/7/25


Maggie was sitting in the Service Excellence Training class, and the instructor kept talking about staying engaged with the customer.  Proactively engaging the customer.  Being fully engaged in the conversation. After hearing this same phrase (“engage”) used in various ways, Maggie raised her hand and asked a question probably several Read more

Self-empower for the New Year - 12/31/24


Jeff joined the company, in part, because he loved their approach to culture.  Leadership tried to create an empowerment culture.  They tried to develop an environment where, within certain parameters, individual team members could make a decision and feel confident that they would be supported by leadership. The reality was Read more

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

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In Pursuit of…a WOW Director

Posted on February 15, 2011 in Business Advice, World of Customer Service Please leave a comment

In yesterday’s article titled Assistly Redefines Customer Service With New Role, VP of Customer Wow, a CRM/Customer service software firm (Assistly) touts a newly created position – “VP of Customer Wow.”

Whether this position will do what it’s marketed to do remains to be seen, but we like several aspects of it.

First, this is a CXO level position, and we often talk about organizations who care about customer service needing to have structures that support that culture and management that models what’s expected of employees.

Second, the “Office of Customer Wow” is supposed to have broad-based authority across divisional silos, so that should help in their role as problem solver for their customers.

Third, the Office must spend about 20% of its time on “Random Acts of Kindness” for its clients – essentially proactive free work.

Look inside your own organization, and think about the culture you want to create. Do you have the structure, the leadership, the proactive customer touches that drive client retention and growth?

Look at your own organization to find your inner Customer Wow!

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/


NFL’s Super Bowl Customer Service – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Posted on February 8, 2011 in Sports Please leave a comment

We’ll start with the Good.

In the bleacherreport.com article Roger Goodell and The NFL: Is Good Customer Service Still Alive and Kicking?, Jeff Cockery describes how the NFL dealt with 1,250 fans who had bought tickets for the Super Bowl only to be told they couldn’t sit in their seats due to fire code violations. The NFL found a way to relocate 850 of the fans, and then gave the other 400 a triple refund (they got paid $2,400 for $800 seats), got to watch the game in the stadium in a club behind the Steelers bench, received free merchandise, free food, and tickets to next year’s Super Bowl.

Wow! Almost makes me wish my seat won’t be up to code when I go to my next sporting event! Of course, that assumes that other sports organizations get customer service and loyalty like Goodell and the NFL league office did.

Now let’s go to the Bad and the Ugly.

Why did this happen in the first place? What was the root cause of the problem? How in the world could you successfully build a $1 Billion+ stadium and not be able to add 1,250 seats that meet code? And how do you not get it inspected early enough to rectify any problems if they arose? Is it poor planning, decision-making without the customer in mind, poor selection of a contractor, poorly designed agreements with contractors, or just plain greedy decision-making?

I don’t know the answer, but I hope somebody in the NFL or the Cowboys organization will find out. If they care about continuously improving, about getting better, about the customer, they’ll learn from this in a way that permeates the organizations. This error that impacted barely 1% of their stadium fans has generated more negative publicity than the additional revenue could ever have provided. And what saved the day (at least for now)? Customer service.

Let customer service guide your decision-making and actions up front, so you don’t have to use customer service on the backend to try to create something Good out of something Bad and Ugly.

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/


Build a Retention Program

Posted on February 2, 2011 in Business Advice, World of Customer Service Please leave a comment

You have a marketing plan, a social media presence, and sales program. But do you have the same structures in place for retention?

In a recent Body Shop Biz article, the Toronto Area Dealer Association’s “Renewit program” is noted because it focuses on how the association is helping members to increase customer retention, sales, and profits. Among other features, the program directs the customer’s vehicle back to the dealership after a breakdown or wreck.

Now whether the program turns out to be as great as advertised is not yet known, but there is much to be learned from the program.

First, you have to have solid data on the customer and the product/service they purchased in order to communicate most effectively with them – make sure these details are acquired during the sale and effectively flow to your customer service systems.

Second, make it easy for the customer to contact you back if they have an issue. You’d rather resolve the issue and keep the relationship than have them go elsewhere today for support, since that might make them go elsewhere tomorrow for a product.

Third and more broadly, view your customer service functions as revenue-building entities that should have the goals, technology, people, and processes that focus on staying in touch with clients, meeting after-the-sale needs, and deepening relationships.

Build your own great customer service body shop.

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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