customer service | Customer Service Solutions, Inc. - Page 6

The Secret Sauce for Great Customer Service - 3/26/24


I was working with the League Office for a major American sport several years back, and one of the executives asked me to describe our Secret Sauce that helped our clients improve the fan experience and customer retention.  I gave him a sense of what makes us unique and Read more

The Miracle of an Apology - 3/19/24


Unfortunate but true story… The manager basically lost his mind.  He terminated his employee on the spot.  She had told the customer that there was going to be a delay in the shipment.  The employee called up the customer ahead of time to let the customer know what was about Read more

It’s Not About the 5-Minute Wait - 3/12/24


Robert went into his supervisor’s office to update her on a situation at the payment desk.  Robert said that a customer was about fourth or fifth in line, waiting to be served, and the customer was complaining loudly about the wait.  He was there to make a property tax Read more

Lessons from the Greats - 3/5/24


I was recently facilitating a workshop on the customer experience, and I made the point that it’s usually beneficial to look at your personal life for great experiences; identify what really resonates with you in a positive way in order to uncover ideas to improve your own customer service. So, Read more

The Empathy Roadmap - 2/27/24


For some people, empathy comes naturally.  There’s an innate desire to learn about the other person and to sincerely convey that sense of interest and caring.  But for many of us, sometimes it helps to have a communication plan.  It helps to know what to do in order to Read more

“You’re the Boss” - 2/20/24


Terrence is excellent at what he does.  From a technical standpoint, he knows how to keep the facility clean.  He’s the lead custodian, and he knows that keeping things straight does not necessarily mean keeping things sanitary.  He knows what chemicals to use and not to use, how to Read more

Customer Understanding Leads to Relationship Growth - 2/13/24


We’ve worked with educational organizations at all grade levels over the years.  One special and unique characteristic about the staff who work in these organizations is that there’s a clear intent to know about the students as individuals, to focus on them rather than purely focusing on what’s delivered Read more

Define Customer Service Success Differently - 2/6/24


When I’m watching television, listening to the radio, or listening to a podcast, it’s always interesting when the topic moves to the question:  How can you be a success?  The speakers often discuss the process of becoming a success with the assumption that people believe success is defined by Read more

Care Enough to Give Them a Heads Up - 1/30/24


Nothing bad at all might happen.  Every day in the office could seem like every other day.  Sights and sounds and smells might continue to be the same.  But we have a lot of construction going on around our offices, and the building manager knows the type of work Read more

Be Better than AI Customer Service - 1/23/24


There was a recent CBS Sunday Morning Show story called: How artificial intelligence is revamping customer call centers. The journalist described how artificial intelligence is being used in customer service, and he noted the millions of pieces of information that can be processed in a matter of seconds. There are clear Read more

Same Place, Different Experiences – 9/26/23

Posted on in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

Meredith was getting discharged from the clinic, when the nurse came in, gave her a packet of information including the discharge instructions, explained the next steps, and asked if Meredith had any questions.  Freida, across the hall, was told that she could leave when ready.  However, Freida had to ask if there were any discharge instructions since she hadn’t received any.

Meredith was going to the sporting event, and she was very excited!  Her account representative e-mailed her a week beforehand with instructions on parking options and other amenities/activities around and in the arena.  Freida showed up to the same sporting event.  She had no idea where to park, how much it would cost, or where to enter the arena.

Meredith happened by a new coffee shop, and she ordered a drink.  The employee showed her where the cream, milk, chocolate, and other items were that Meredith could add to her coffee.  The employee also told her about a loyalty program.  Freida went to that same coffee shop later in the day, got her coffee, and left.  She thought:  This tastes good but could have used a little more milk and a dash of mocha.

Both Meredith and Freida went to the same businesses on the same day.  Obviously, these businesses need to learn a lot about consistency, because they were all inconsistent in the experiences that their customers received.  In each case, Meredith had a better experience.  And the key differentiator was that the people serving Meredith were proactive.  They were anticipating next steps, and the result was a customer who was more comfortable, more confident, had a better experience, and even had a better cup of coffee!

Don’t wait for the customer to ask.  Stand out from the crowd by simply being more proactive.

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What Annoys the Customer? – 9/19/23

Posted on 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 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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