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Acting on the Guiding Principles for Great Customer Service - 11/19/24


In last week’s tip, we shared 5 Guiding Principles for Great Customer Service.  This week, let’s address what “taking action” looks like on those key principles.  If last week was about what to do and WHY, this week is about the HOW. Engage with Interest: To engage with interest, proactively Read more

Guiding Principles for Great Customer Service - 11/12/24


It’s hard to know every procedure, every policy, every technique possible to handle every situation correctly.  After all, maybe our procedures are standard, but our customers are not.  Maybe our policies stay pretty consistent, but our customers’ needs and issues, their attitudes and actions can change from customer to Read more

From a Simple Question to an Exceptional Experience - 11/5/24


Phyllis loves her job.  It’s not just because she loves being a customer service representative, not just because she really likes her co-workers, and not just because she enjoys her company.  It’s because she really appreciates her customers, as well. A customer had ordered a register book off the company Read more

Fix One Problem without Creating Another - 10/29/24


If you’ve ever had an issue with your dishwasher, this will sound familiar.  I’ve dealt with so many dishwashers over the years, and they always seem to have some kind of an issue.  Maybe it’s because of the mix of water and technology, but for whatever reason, these never Read more

Delight Your Customers - 10/22/24


Buddy the Bug Man was different.  His company was new, and the only reason why Janet tried him out was that the service she had used for years just wasn’t working.  Whether it was mosquitoes in the yard, ants in the kitchen, or cockroaches flying through on their way Read more

A More Complete Definition of Responsiveness - 10/15/24


I was purchasing something recently that was being custom-developed.  At one point, the company’s employee and I had a good 20 e-mails going back and forth - 10 from each of us.  Unfortunately, I broke my own rule, and I did not pick up the phone after 2 or Read more

Have a Game Plan to Address Their Anxiety - 10/8/24


It seems like we all get deliveries - whether it is UPS, USPS, FedEx, Amazon, the local courier, or all the above.  We order.  They deliver.  Or do they? It’s times like these, when we’re expecting that package, that item that we’re looking forward to or need urgently or are Read more

How Persistence Saved the Day - 10/1/24


Sherrie saw the customer walk into her store holding his cell phone, and Sherrie immediately knew that was William.  She had spoken to William on the phone about an hour ago, he said he would be at Sherrie’s cell phone store in less than an hour, and there he Read more

Notice the Little Changes - 9/24/24


“My, how times have changed.” Yes, times have changed.  As a matter of fact, one of the biggest reasons why an organization’s customer service deteriorates is that times have changed…customers have changed…and the company has not… If we think about customer service delivery today v. decades ago, changes in technology alone Read more

Don’t Hurry…Be Quick - 9/17/24


No, this is not a take off on the Bobby McFerrin song:  Don’t Worry Be Happy. It’s actually a take off on the John Wooden quote:  Be quick, but don’t hurry. When I read Wooden’s book with this title, I liked the concept, and not just because John Wooden was a Read more

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The Sports Agent…Ethics and Customer Service

Posted on July 23, 2010 in Business Advice, Sports, World of Customer Service Please leave a comment

The sports agent was moving into his new downtown office and was especially excited about the day. A friend of his had arranged for the agent to meet with a professional football player who was disgruntled with his current agent. The player wanted to meet the agent at his new office even though the agent was still in the process of moving. Not wanting to miss out on this opportunity, the agent told his friend to have the player meet him at the office in the morning.

The agent was sitting in his high-backed leather chair when he heard someone walking toward his door. “That’s him!,” thought the agent. So he picked up his phone, swung it around so he couldn’t see the door and began talking loud enough for anyone to hear.

“That’s right,” said the agent, “give my client a $2 million signing bonus or he tests the free agent market. We’re serious.”

After pausing for a few seconds, the agent said “then it’s a deal…$2 million. My client will be very happy.”

The agent turned his chair around and hung up the phone, but he didn’t see anybody in his office. He called to the lobby, “is somebody there?”

“Yes, sir,” replied the person in the lobby, “I’m here to install your phone.”

The sports agent wanted so badly to make a good first impression, that he crossed that ethical line. If that prospective client had been standing next to the phone technician, he would have turned around and walked away.

Now most salespeople have strong ethics. But the key point is that the entry point into your organization for a first-time customer sets the expectations for the company’s retention efforts. In your customer service role, you need to be VERY aware of the processes and people that acquire the customers for your business. What expectations do these individuals set? What image do they portray? What information do they gather that’s useful to your retention efforts?

Understand what the sales staff do and how it impacts your retention efforts.

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

Check out our new customer service book at http://www.amigreatat.com/


Govern Strategically for Great Customer Service

Posted on July 13, 2010 in Business Advice, Government Please leave a comment

When working with a government agency recently, we were planning to customize customer service training content for them. During the course of the training development interviews we conducted, it became clear that customer service training had never been done before at the agency. Customer service skills were not addressed in the organization’s hiring processes. Customer service was not part of the organization’s reward system, and customer service only briefly appeared on the staff performance evaluations.

Yet, management sincerely stated that customer service was important. It was important that customers were treated with respect, that the residents felt they were important, that upset customers got their issues addressed professionally, and that staff could appropriately address each customer based on that unique customer’s characteristics and needs.

So why was there the disconnect between management wanting to have great customer service and their doing what needed to be done to get great customer service?

Assuming the sincerity of the management team, the answer had to lie in the organization’s leaders not really knowing HOW to get great customer service. In the past, most businesses assumed that employees were generally nice, respectful, caring, and communicative people. Customer service is just common sense, and everybody knows how to deliver customer service, right? Those particularly assumptions were wrong then, and they’re REALLY wrong now.

For organizations to go from wanting great customer service to delivering great customer service, they need to understand strategically how to do so. It’s about the culture, the hiring, the training, the rewards, the accountability, the processes, the organization’s goals, the management team’s support and modeling of great customer service behaviors, and much more.

If you ever feel a disconnect between what your management says they want in customer service and what the organization actually delivers, have them take a step back, and start with a strategy.

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

Check out our new customer service book at http://www.amigreatat.com/


Don’t Hibernate on Your Customers

Posted on July 6, 2010 in Business Advice, Sports Please leave a comment

Summer is the downtime for many sports – NBA, NFL, NHL, etc. But for the staff of those organizations, there is no downtime. This is a time to sell for the upcoming season, having completed renewals. But those organizations need to realize this is also the time to learn, to view their existing season ticket holders (STHs) as suppliers of the information needed to gain referrals, gain information on share partners, gain intelligence on the information needed to retain them in Spring 2011.

For sales to new STHs, this is the time to think renewal as well. At the initial sale, that’s the best time to know why they signed up for tickets, who are the share partners, what do they expect from the game day experience and their relationship with your organization, how do they prefer to communicate with you, and how/when do they expect to use their tickets.

There is no downtime in customer retention.

Don’t let retention efforts go into hibernation this summer.

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


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