customer service | Customer Service Solutions, Inc. - Page 128

Home  /  The Sports Agent…Ethics and Customer Service  /  customer service

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

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

•••••

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/


« Previous   1 2 ... 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 ... 146 147   Next »