customer service

Home  /  Highlight the Hidden Value – 7/1/25  /  customer service

Build Goodwill with Co-workers and Customers - 11/10/26


All relationships are different.  We want to have good relationships with co-workers, after all – those are the people we spend the most time with each week.  We want to have good relationships with customers since they’re the ones that provide the revenue and inflows that allow us to Read more

How to Avoid “Groundhog Day” - 11/3/26


It’s Groundhog Day, where you’re living the same day over and over and over again. You have heard basically the same complaint from 4 different customers in the past week.  The bill is incorrect or confusing, and you’re having to spend a ton of time explaining things to the customer. You’ve Read more

Beware of Scary Telephone Customer Service - 10/27/26


As we near the Halloween holiday in the United States, it seems appropriate to discuss examples of scary customer service, particularly on the telephone.  Here are a few common issues that frustrate and annoy customers.  These are experiences to avoid delivering, and alternatives to adopt: The customer calls, describes their Read more

The Art of the Successful Script - 10/20/26


You’re the customer.  You go to the store, and they ask if you have a loyalty card.  You call the doctor’s office, and they ask for your birth date.   You walk up to the counter, and they ask if you found everything you were looking for. These are all valid Read more

The Key Building Block for Your Customer Relationship - 10/13/26


An automotive manufacturer gets supplies for their vehicles from all over the world.  They have arrangements, service level agreements, expectations for timing and quality of all the parts.  And when they gather all these supplies, they assemble the cars.  They test the cars.  Then they take pictures of those Read more

Be Flexible to Fill the Gaps - 10/6/26


The non-profit has the expected challenges.  There are only 3 people in the organization, yet, they have the same responsibilities of a larger company.  They have to do finance, sales, marketing; they deliver their services to the community, and they need to keep a pulse on what’s going on Read more

Is This Good Customer Service? - 9/29/26


A friend of mine reached out to me recently as she waited for the electrical technician to show up at her house to do some minor repairs.  She had never worked with this company before, but they sent a text about the tech who was soon to arrive. The message Read more

Ownership when Fixing Others’ Errors - 9/22/26


We were conducting training with a client recently, and one of the participants, Jackie, is in a role in his organization where he goes out to the customer site to investigate issues, address customer complaints, and fix problems.  While he’s at the site, he often gets an earful from Read more

Why “No” is So Important - 9/15/26


The employee told the caller: “I don’t think that is possible.” The customer eventually hung up, and redialed to ask a different employee the same question. The employee responded to the customer: “That’s probably not the best way to do it.”  Then, the customer kept asking question after question, arguing Read more

It’s Not “You,” It’s “I” - 9/8/26


During a business writing course that I took years ago, the instructor had us write an e-mail.  I can’t recall if it was written to a co-worker or customer, but after writing this e-mail, she had us count every “I” and “You.”  We talked about how we need to Read more

•••••

Highlight the Hidden Value – 7/1/25

Posted on July 1, 2025 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

Marketing campaigns often highlight a particular product and ALL the features and extras that the customer will receive…

“For 3 low, low payments of only $39.99, you not only get these world-renowned chef knives, but you can also get this free laser-etched spatula!  AND THAT’S NOT ALL!  We will also provide free shipping!  AND THAT’S NOT ALL!  You also get this 21st century space age colander.  That’s right!  AND THAT’S NOT ALL!  If you call in the next 90 minutes, we’ll send you a 3-in-1 corkscrew – that also serves as a laser pointer and a flip chart marker!”

That type of marketing works in some cases.  It provides an in-your-face series of incremental reasons to make a purchase.

But what about those behind-the-scenes series of incremental reasons for the customer to keep their business with your company?

Janine had a new HVAC tech come out to her home to do the quarterly maintenance, and she was impressed with how much time he spent working on the equipment.  She had no idea what he was doing, since he was in the crawl space or working at the outdoor unit all the time, but she was really pleased with the time he took!

Kareem was calling about a charge on his credit card statement that didn’t look familiar.  Not only was the price a number that didn’t ring a bell, but the merchant name didn’t seem like a company he had heard of either.  The customer service representative looked on her system, apparently investigated a lot of details about the transaction, and came back to Kareem with a description of the type of purchase, another name for the merchant business, and a course of action for Kareem to take.  Kareem had no idea how the CSR came up with all this information, but he was very pleased!

These are just two real-life examples of how the customer had a great experience.  They had no idea specifically what the employee was doing on their behalf, but the time investment from the employee and the outcome of the work performed made a huge impact on the customer.  Their impression was that they got great customer service.

It wasn’t in your face marketing that made them so pleased, engendered trust, and built loyalty.  It was the effort on behalf of the customer, the time spent, and the clear next step.

Sometimes the actions the customer never sees are the ones that build value the most.

Understand your hidden value and how much repeat customers appreciate it.

Signup for FREE Tips!    Contact Us    More Resources for You    Visit Our Home Page


Don’t Harp on the Customer’s Mistake – 6/24/25

Posted on June 24, 2025 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

Seth’s daughter, Sarah, had missed some swim classes, and Seth remembered that the aquatics center had several make-up classes available late in the summer.  So Seth pulled up the class schedule on his phone, found one that worked on his and Sarah’s schedules, and planned to attend a session the upcoming Friday.

When the make-up day arrived, Seth and Sarah entered the aquatics center, walked up to the receptionist, and asked if Sarah could use one of her make-up classes that day.  The receptionist, Roberta, asked if they had called or e-mailed in advance to confirm Sarah could drop-in for a class, and Seth responded “No.  Was I supposed to?”

While Seth had remembered the fact that make-up classes were offered, he didn’t remember (and didn’t check) the policy that stated parents had to contact the aquatics center first to reserve a spot.  Seth messed up; he was wrong.

Now, many employees may roll their eyes, say something under their breath, or simply say that they couldn’t help because Seth didn’t follow the policy.

Instead, Roberta reaffirmed the policy, said that “unfortunately I can’t guarantee we have an opening today,” but shared “I hope there is space available.  Let me check.”  Roberta smiled, was hopeful, but didn’t make any promises.  She didn’t criticize the customer.  She just educated the customer, empathized, and excused herself to go check with the instructor about availability.

Seth turned to Sarah, smiled and said “let’s cross our fingers!”

A couple minutes later, Roberta returned and was excited to tell Seth and Sarah “Yes!  We have a spot for you today!”

Sometimes the customer is wrong.  But that doesn’t mean our attitude needs to go negative.  Sometimes we can correct the customer, and do it so professionally that the customer is understanding and hopeful, not frustrated and angry.

Don’t let a customer error create your own customer service error.

Signup for FREE Tips!    Contact Us    More Resources for You    Visit Our Home Page


Imitate to Improve – 6/3/25

Posted on June 3, 2025 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

Oscar Wilde said that “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”  Now this doesn’t mean that plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery.  Nor does it mean that great impersonators such as Rich Little, Dana Carvey, or Frank Caliendo are always offering flattering portrayals of those that they imitate.

Wilde’s statement essentially means that it’s a form of praise to imitate the actions or words or approach of someone else.

In business, we call that identifying and applying best practices.

For an individual in customer service, we can apply this “imitation approach” to our work, as well.

Do you have a co-worker who handles themselves in a way that you consider exceptional?  Maybe it’s in difficult situations or with difficult people.  Potentially it’s just how they answer the phone or how their attitude maintains positivity or open-mindedness throughout the day.

*** Identify specifically what they do, potentially ask them about their attribute, and try to apply that best practice.

Have you ever been a customer that’s been served by an employee, and you thought: “Now THAT was excellent customer service!”  Or… “that person is really, really good at their job.”  Or… “that individual must love what they do!”

What about that employee made you feel like they were delivering excellent customer service, made you feel like they were good at their job, made you sense that they must love what they do?

*** Again, identify that attribute, and apply it in how you engage and interact with others.

“Flatter” others by imitating their best practices.

Signup for FREE Tips!    Contact Us    More Resources for You    Visit Our Home Page


« Previous   1 2 ... 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 ... 175 176   Next »