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Be Supportive, Not Defensive - 10/7/25


[An employee on the phone with a customer…] Who told you that you didn’t have to submit that form? … Bob?  Oh brother!  You see Bob is our “special” co-worker.  He seems to always tell customers the wrong thing to do, and we’re having to clean up after him.  Read more

Some Customers LOVE Predictability - 9/30/25


I was facilitating focus groups of businesses that utilize local government services.  The phrase that popped up multiple times was “Time Is Money!”  What these municipal customers were conveying was that their time was valuable, and delays were wasting their time.  But the conversations were not just about how Read more

Find Your Special Sauce - 9/23/25


When I watch a football game and I see a great quarterback (somebody who may be considered a “Star”), he might be an excellent runner, have a big arm, be able to diagnose the defense and get his team into the right play.  But he’s likely not great at Read more

Gain Control of the Conversation - 9/16/25


The customer’s angry or upset or they have a complaint.  They’re very chatty or very wordy or they just want to talk to somebody.  You’re on a time crunch, and the customer obviously is not. There are times when you need to gain control of the conversation.  It’s important for Read more

Complement with a Compliment - 9/9/25


We perform many tasks for our customers every day, and when we’re done with a step in the process, oftentimes we will tell the customer what’s been done.  But if we want to create more of a WOW experience, if we want to make the customer feel a little Read more

When Patience Begets Patience - 9/2/25


Jennifer, the server, walked toward the couple in the restaurant.  The customers had been seated for a minute or two, and they noticed the server was walking briskly toward their table.  Jennifer recognized the couple she was about to serve, because they had been in the previous week. Since the Read more

Address the Expectations that Were Set - 8/26/25


Before the caller ever got to Marco – the customer service representative, the customer had been working with the company for months.  They had read the marketing brochures, had a conversation with a sales rep, reviewed the new customer information on the website, and read all the information e-mailed Read more

When Technology Fails the Customer - 8/19/25


Technology is a wonderful thing…until it isn’t.  The website is down, the mobile app won’t work, the system keeps kicking them out of their account, or they received a spoofing phone call supposedly from your department. If you’ve ever been manning the phones or managing the department inbox, you know Read more

The Misunderstood Physician - 8/12/25


I was speaking with one of my personal physicians years ago, and when we were talking about my work – particularly customer satisfaction research - he started talking about online physician ratings.  He lamented that a few low ratings were dinging his overall score.  Then he shared that the Read more

Uncover Silent Concerns - 8/5/25


One of the customer service statistics we have quoted many times over the years is:  For every complaint you do hear, there could be 26 other customer issues that you don’t hear. And when we bring up that statistic, we bring it up because we want to make sure companies Read more

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Your Best Ability is… – 5/14/24

Posted on May 14, 2024 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

I enjoy watching sports, and I’ve even listened to some sports press conferences over the years, just to hear what coaches are saying.  Basically getting the leadership perspective from the sports industry either out of my interest or curiosity, or to figure out how to apply it to the business world.

A pro football coach was discussing some of the injuries that players were dealing with, and he stated: Someone’s best ability is their availability.

I found this interesting, because usually when we talk about the best players, we’re talking about those with the best skills.  But really, the most impactful players are the ones that are on the field, the ones that are able to participate in 80%, 90%, 100% of their team’s plays.  Maybe there are more skilled players on the bench, but because they’re nursing injuries, they may miss weeks of games or may be limited to only a few plays for each game.

In customer service, availability is also huge.  It’s not just a matter of handling that question or the complaint.  It’s a matter of being available to communicate.  Availability is the opportunity to serve.  Availability gives us a better chance of being responsive.  Availability enables us to show our abilities, to show our skills and knowledge.

So how do you make yourself available?

Consider how you can be available via the phone or via e-mail a little bit more.  Consider how to spend less time in meetings to find more time for the customer.  Look at the administrative tasks that you perform, those reports you produce for management, and determine how to spend less time on these to free up more time for the customer.  Find activities you perform that do not affect the customer, and figure out which of these items you could stop doing, reduce time on, or defer to the lighter times of the day or week.

You have tremendous abilities in customer service, communication, and issue resolution.  To be even more impactful, find ways to make availability your BEST ability.

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A Complaint is a Gift – 5/7/24

Posted on May 7, 2024 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

A complaint is a gift.  Okay, so the complainer is not always a “gift.”  The customer’s delivery of the complaint is sometimes more like a stocking filled with coal than a vase filled with roses.  But this is why we need to be able to differentiate the complaint from the complainer for a moment.

A complaint is feedback; it’s an opportunity to improve.  It’s often an example of something 5 or 50 other customers have experienced, but they did not voice to you.  Companies send out surveys, and many customers don’t respond.  Some customers proactively provide real-time feedback; others will only share when asked, if even then. 

It’s hard to learn from a lack of information.

So, a complaint is a gift because it provides information.  It tells you what the customer experienced, perceived.  It conveys who was involved, what happened or didn’t happen, what experiences didn’t meet expectations, what was too early or too late, what attitudes came across poorly, what products didn’t work, what policies were frustrating, and what processes were clunky or not self-evident.

In the moment, we need to deal with the complaint and the customer.  But to make a complaint a gift, we need to revisit the complaint after the fact and identify what information was gained, what lesson was learned, and how we can apply those learnings moving forward.

Give yourself time to get over any negative emotions from the dust-up with the customer, and then glean what you can from what happened and the customer’s perspective on the experience.  Use the complaint for continuous improvement.

Unpack the complaint to make it a gift.

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Mastering Confidence in Customer Service – 4/30/24

Posted on April 30, 2024 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

It’s not what you said…it’s how you said it.

If you’ve ever had someone say this to you, raise your hand.  (I just raised my hand)

Usually this is being said when someone is upset with you, but regardless of the reason, that phrase illustrates that HOW we say something often impacts the other person as much or more as WHAT words are used.

So, let’s use this truth to our advantage.  Confidence in customer service is an important discussion because we’re trying to instill confidence in the other person about what’s being shared.  The more they are confident in what we share, the more they’ll take our guidance, the more comfortable they will feel.  And the more confident they are in what we share, the less likely they’ll ask more questions, the less likely they’ll “answer shop.”

Here are some tips to instill confidence beyond the words you use:

  • Convey Calmness – Unless you’re going the enthusiasm route, exude a certain confidence by conveying calmness in your hand movements and their position when talking.
  • Use Brevity – Don’t drone on when a simple “Yes” is the real answer.
  • Add Some Inflection – Have variability in your tone when you want to ensure that your statement comes across like it’s from the heart, not from a script.
  • Avoid the Long Pauses – The “umms” and “uhhs” convey indecision and lack of certainty. If you are unsure of an answer momentarily, restate the question back to them to buy yourself some time, then directly move to the answer.
  • Complement Your Words with Your Body Language – Nod when saying something affirmative. Offer eye contact to show your intent on your answer and your customer.  Maintain good posture to show you’re assured of yourself and your statements.

 
To deliver great customer service, you not only need to have the right knowledge of your customer, policies, procedures, and products, but you need to confidently convey that information.

Master Confidence in Customer Service.

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