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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

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

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What Annoys the Customer? – 9/19/23

Posted on September 19, 2023 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

Domino’s Pizza had TV commercials years ago where they promoted how they trained their employees to “Avoid the Noid.”  The “Noid” was basically an annoying person or thing that would disrupt the delivery driver, possibly making the driver drop the pizza on the way to your door.  The goal at the time was to deliver a Domino’s Pizza in 30 minutes or less, so Domino’s tried to avoid those situations that kept them from their goal.

It was important for Domino’s to avoid those negative customer experiences – those delivery delays – especially since its advertising promoted that 30-minute goal.

Every one of our organizations also has goals, and one of the more tactical goals should be to avoid customer dissatisfiers.  Avoid the issues that cause lost customers, that create a negative experience.

Most organizations focus on what they do best or what they can do to make the perfect experience for the customer.  They focus on retention drivers, which is great, but they define retention drivers purely as why a customer patronizes that business.  They never expand the definition of retention driver to include what could make that customer so upset that they’d leave.

Do account representatives never return customer voice mails?  Does the event organizer fail to communicate effectively with fans during a weather delay?  Does the customer choose the electronics store because of the technology selection, but they never return because of the aggressiveness of staff in selling warrantees?  Does the local government provide a great experience at the front desk, but their website and phone trees are so confusing that the taxpayer HAD to go onsite to get their question answered?

It’s great to strive to be the best in your customer experience, but make sure you’re also identifying and avoiding those things which can drive the customers away.  Avoid the Noid.

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Lift It Up – 9/12/23

Posted on September 12, 2023 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

I worked with a great client for several years who was in a leadership role in the education industry, and she was the executive champion for a culture-strengthening initiative.  We were the outside firm helping to develop the overall strategy and facilitate the teams addressing the various aspects of the culture.

She often used the phrase Lift It Up.  If there was an important topic, concern, or goal that needed to be known more broadly throughout the organization or brought to the attention of leadership, she would say that we needed to Lift It Up.  If there was a best practice being utilized in one school which could benefit many other schools, she’d say that we needed to Lift It Up.

What it Means to Lift It Up

When you’re making the effort to lift something up, you’re making something a priority.  You’re making an issue or a concern or goal or an opportunity known.  Lifting something up is a positive thing; it’s like you’re recognizing the thing or the people that made that thing work, or that needs to work better.

How to Lift

So, let’s address this from a customer service perspective in a very tangible way, particularly lifting up positives.

Who can you lift up?  You can lift up the co-worker who does something above and beyond.  You can lift up your boss when they’re exhibiting the behaviors of exceptional leadership.  Lift up your customer for bringing something to your attention, doing their part in the process, or being kind and respectful, despite the circumstances.

What can you lift up?  You can lift up best practices of the facility or on a website.  You can note some change that made life easier on staff or on those that you serve.  You lift up examples of documents or posters that remind people of the organizational values or customer service standards.  You can lift up that information received from customers, sharing how that’s helpful.

To whom can you lift it up?  Lift it up to leaders so that they’re aware of excellence on the part of your co-workers or best practices that could be used in other areas of the organization.  Lift it up to your co-workers so that they feel appreciated.  And lift it up to customers for the same reason.

To infuse positivity and best practices in your organization, Lift It Up.

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Addressing the Horror Story that Wasn’t – 9/5/23

Posted on September 5, 2023 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

You may have seen the commercials for one of those garden hoses that fits in your pocket.  When you put it on the valve outside your home and turn on the water, it expands to 50 feet.  When you’re done and turn off the water, it contracts and fits right back in your pocket.

Jamie had only been at his new job for 2 weeks at the hardware store, and he witnessed just how important some of these expandable/retractable hoses are to the homeowners.  A frantic homeowner came in – somebody who had bought one of these hoses from one of Jamie’s co-workers a week ago, and the customer was upset.  She had been so excited about the new hose, but when she turned on the water, it did not expand fully; when she turned off the water, it didn’t contract.

It was a garden hose emergency!  Oh, the horror!

Now, for 99% of us, a garden hose that doesn’t fully expand or contract is not the end of the world.  And maybe to this customer, it was not the end of the world either; however, she was initially so excited about a product that was, now, not performing as designed.

Jamie’s first thought was: This customer is WAY overreacting.  But his second thought was: I better not convey that I think she’s overreacting.

Luckily, Jamie had some training on Key Principles of Situational Service.  So, he provided some Empathy, explaining his understanding of what went wrong to the customer, what she expected to happen versus how the hose actually performed.  He was Patient with her, listening and not rushing her along.  He tried to be Helpful, facilitating a resolution, whether it was initially with the use of the hose and then finally finding an alternative.  He Explained the product exchange process and Why the process was needed, and he did everything with Respect and Courtesy.

Sometimes the issues you are presented with seem like they should be no big deal, but for whatever reason, they are a big deal to the customer.

Apply Jamie’s Key Principles of Situational Service to make sure all of these situations turn out well from the customer’s perspective.

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