customer service

Home  /  Finalize the Solution with the 6 Step Checklist – 5/5/26  /  customer service

Use What the Customer Gives You - 8/25/26


Scenario #1: The customer sent an e-mail to the general inbox at the company.  The message noted that the customer needed to get a family member added to their account, but they couldn’t tell from the website how to do so. The next morning an employee opened up the e-mail, Read more

How Better Customer Service is Better for You - 8/18/26


Oftentimes, we have employees in training or workshops who really want to understand what’s in it for them to deliver better customer service.  How does the employee benefit from a better customer experience? Noted below are 5 different aspects of a great experience desired by the customer.  What if... The customer Read more

Manage New Customer Expectations - 8/11/26


The fan had never been to a motorsports event before, but they had been to concerts.  They had been to big conferences.  At those other events, they could park right next to the venue, many of the activities were indoors, and weather was a non-issue.  So, they were not Read more

Complement Empathy with Action - 8/4/26


A man falls into a hole, and he can’t get out.  He starts yelling for help, and a doctor walks by and looks down the hole.  The man in the hole yells to the doctor “Please help me.  I’ve fallen into this hole!”  And the doctor takes out a Read more

My 8-Minute Visit at the DMV- 7/28/26


I needed to get a Real ID, which in North Carolina facilitates airline travel and other identity verifications.  My wife suggested I go to one particular DMV that was a LONG way away from home, but where she had experienced great customer service.  I was lucky to find an Read more

When They Might Walk Out the Door…Permanently- 7/21/26


Have you ever had one of those conversations with the customer where they literally tell you they’re about to stop doing business with your company?  This is it.  They may bring up a competitor or found another way to get their need met, or they are just leaving. When we Read more

Transparency in Customer Service- 7/14/26


We’ve worked with a lot of clients in the local government sector, and many of these clients have Customer Service Standards and/or corporate values that include Transparency. Think about an old-fashioned transparency sheet, that malleable see-through page you put on an overhead projector.  You can see everything on one side Read more

See the Customer’s Journey from Their Perspective- 7/7/26


That customer is face-to-face with you right now, and you are fielding their questions or delivering your service to them.  And oftentimes and understandably, we are so immersed in the moment that we don’t think about what came before or think enough about what comes next. But in the life Read more

Gaining the Benefits of the Greeter- 6/30/26


Most likely, we’ve all entered some establishment – a retail store, restaurant, or service center - when there is a greeter at the door.  The most famous greeter position is probably the Walmart greeter.  I often thought that my father-in-law would have been a fantastic Walmart greeter, because he Read more

Seamlessness - Why the Customer Thanked You - 6/23/26


This doesn’t happen enough nowadays, but the employee received a long thank you e-mail from the customer.  A financial services account manager had taken care of the client during a period of time that was stressful for the customer. Life was unexpectedly changing quickly, and personal emotions, additional financial responsibilities, Read more

•••••

Finalize the Solution with the 6 Step Checklist – 5/5/26

Posted on May 5, 2026 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

In last week’s Tip, we showed why and how to Use the 6 Step Checklist before Resolving the Issue.  We noted the importance of taking 15 seconds to mentally walk through the Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How to feel confident that you know what’s needed to fix the problem.

Similarly, you can use these same steps to confirm that the solution you’ve identified is fully thought through and has the best chance of working:

Who needs to be involved in the solution? Is it something the customer has a part in, are there co-workers involved, and what do you need to do to shepherd this forward? Is there anyone else to bring in the loop?

What are the specific steps that need to be undertaken? What does that mental flow chart of activities look like, and is anything missing?

When do those steps need to occur, and is there any sequence where one activity has to happen before another? We want dependent tasks to be done on a timely basis, but we also want activities to run concurrently whenever possible so we can complete the work as quickly as possible.

Where do the activities need to occur? Is it in a particular location, on a certain web page, via a mobile app?

Why are we doing this? Will this resolve the root cause of the problem so we’re not going to be dealing with this again anytime soon?

How do we ensure that the solution worked? What’s the follow-up process? Are we going to call the customer in a week or two? Are they going to fill out a form to confirm the problem was fixed?

Think through all the potential moving pieces and timelines associated with the solution to ensure there are not any gaps that could cause the ticket to stay open, cause the issue to stay unresolved, or cause the problem to rear its ugly head again.

Use the 6 Step Checklist when you’re finalizing a solution.

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


Use the 6 Step Checklist before Resolving the Issue – 4/28/26

Posted on April 28, 2026 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

We talk about trying to resolve the issue right the first time, sharing the technique on how to manage the conversation to get clarity on the real issue, need, or goal, and confirming your understanding before moving forward.

But what are you trying to clarify?  What are you trying to confirm?

Sometimes we might miss information without even realizing it, so we’re going to go to an old standby which only takes you 15 seconds to mentally walk through; use this as a 6 Step Checklist before moving on to resolve the issue.  Ensure you’ve identified the Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How.

Who was involved in this situation?  Along with the customer, was anybody associated with the customer, or were any of your co-workers or other stakeholders involved?  Your path to resolution can easily be impacted if a certain co-worker had their hand in the process, or if there were more people involved than you were originally thinking.

What happened?  Be clear on the details of the specific issue or situation that occurred.

When did it happen?  Sometimes you can tell a lot if they called after hours, they walked in first thing in the morning, they tried to access a website on the weekend, or they referenced their account early in the morning.

Where did it happen?  Your business may have 5 offices in the region, and they all do things a little bit differently – some better than others.  Sometimes the location even within a given facility sheds light on what the concern was or what could have been some potential causes.

Why is this person standing in front of you?  Why did this issue raise itself to the level of an in-person visit, or a phone call, or an e-mail being sent to your inbox?  Is this a 1-time occurrence, or is this just the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back?

How did this happen?  Try to understand the steps in the process that led to the issue.  Maybe the customer didn’t take a step that was expected, or a return call never happened, or a wait time was long, or it was an issue with paperwork not the mobile app.

Get the full picture of what happened when you try to find the solution.  Take 15 seconds, and make sure you understand Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How.

Use the 6 Step Checklist before resolving the issue.

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


Use the Customer’s Words – 4/21/26

Posted on April 21, 2026 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

The customer is describing a problem on what they call their “computer.” They mentioned that the “screen” doesn’t “move from one page to the other.” They say that the “website’s name is typed at the top,” and it says sample.com with a “line, and then it says ‘home’ after the line.”

They noted how they’re clicking on “the screen,” but the page doesn’t change.  They try to go “backwards” by clicking the “arrow pointing left,” and nothing happens.

This is a customer calling a technology help desk, and they’re using their words to describe their problem.

Oftentimes, customer service professionals are so knowledgeable about their products and services, their policies and processes, that they carry on a conversation with a customer, responding with terms common to the employee without realizing the audience.

We will talk about devices, monitors, URLs.  We will reference browsers and tabs, icons and more technical terms.  But if we hear the customer using certain terms – even if they are not the technical term WE use – we need to realize something.  If we want to add clarity and bring information to the customer in a manner of speaking that they understand, it’s often best to use THEIR words.

I’m not suggesting that we condescend or talk down to the customer.  I’m saying that the goal is for us to understand each other, and it’s more likely if we – the professional – change on the fly to use terms they’re familiar with than if we try to make them technical experts.  We’ve been trained for years on our technical terminology, so we can’t expect the customer to learn our wording in the matter of a 3-minute conversation.

To enhance the tone of the conversation and create some clarity for the customer at the same time, use their words.

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


« Previous   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ... 172 173   Next »