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Use AI to Improve Your Performance - 7/23/24


Many companies are integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into some aspect of their business.  This could greatly change how they operate, how they communicate with customers. This AI wave reminds me of a story from 20+ years ago when a stock brokerage firm launched a new website that greatly enhanced the Read more

The New Burger Experience - 7/16/24


Floyd loves a good hamburger. Any chance he gets to try a new spin on an old standby, he takes it. Recently, a burger joint opened near his house, and Floyd was very excited! It was owned by and named for a world-renowned chef, so it had to be Read more

Boost Customer Happiness - 7/9/24


There’s a cooking show that a friend of mine watches, and the premise is all about reverse engineering food.  They may take a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, analyze it, and determine the ingredients just by tasting it.  Then they figure out a recipe.  The cook will try to make Read more

Brainstorm to Better Yourself - 7/2/24


I’ve led enough sessions with clients on continuous improvement topics to have solid experience on how to lead ideation exercises, brainstorming to develop new ideas.  Oftentimes these sessions start with the right question; the first answers may not be the ultimate solution, but they can serve as a jumping Read more

The Power of the Pause - 6/25/24


When I’m facilitating a meeting, and it feels like it’s going off-track or the discussion is going a little longer than it should, I may say something like “let me pause the conversation so that…” or “let’s pause just for a minute and consider…” I don’t like the word STOP. Read more

Handle Interruptions Heroically - 6/18/24


In the middle of a project, Jimbo, the customer service team member, had to stop what he was doing because he received an e-mail from a customer complaining about their experience at a recent event. Later that day, Jimbo was asked by his boss to put everything on hold for Read more

From Employees to Teammates: The Shift - 6/11/24


Be a great teammate. Be a good team player. We’re all part of the team. We’re no longer employees, we’re team members! The phrase “Team” is used in describing co-workers so much more than it was used years ago.  Then, we would be talking about employees, talking about staff, talking Read more

Nurture New Relationships - 6/4/24


Freddie was a new business owner in town.  He was launching a franchise, had acquired some funding from a local bank, and was in search of staff who cared about customer service. All the while, he was in the process of renovating a storefront for his business, so he was Read more

There’s Positivity in Patience - 5/28/24


The employee at the financial services firm was working with a new client on a relatively simple loan.  The documentation was about as clear as it could get to the employee, but the customer had lots of questions.  The employee calmly, clearly, and specifically answered each question.  The meeting Read more

The Goal – A Great Experience - 5/21/24


The following is a narrative of a great experience (people, process, service, facility) at a minor league sporting event – key points that could apply to any business are in bold… Mark and I pulled into the parking lot, excited about the game.  The Slapshots had been on a roll Read more

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Hospitals Must Care About More Than Clinical Outcomes

Posted on October 7, 2010 in Business Advice, Healthcare Please leave a comment

You go to a hospital with a broken bone, and you expect them to heal it. You go to the E.R. with pain, and you expect the pain to be relieved. You get admitted with an infection, and you expect them to provide a cure.

These are all clinical outcomes. They are all the reasons why patients go to hospitals. They are the ultimate product of the hospital.

But they are not all that matter to the customer. In a way, they are the most basic expectation of the patient. Why would a patient go to a hospital with a broken bone, pain, or an infection if they DIDN’T expect to get this issue remedied?

In the article “Quality hospital care doesn’t ensure patient satisfaction” (on www.fierehealthcare.com), the point it made that what drives patient satisfaction often has little to do with the quality of the care itself. Florida ranks 8th nationally in quality of care, but it ranks 49th in patient satisfaction according to the study quoted in the article. "This conclusion underscores the need for hospitals to engage in regular patient satisfaction surveys rather than assume patients are satisfied with their medical care simply because the hospital meets a particular standard of clinical quality," the study’s authors wrote.

Think about your hospital, your organization, your business – even if you don’t work in healthcare. Just because the patient got the medication at your clinic doesn’t mean they’d like to return to your location. Just because the fan liked the team’s performance on the basketball court doesn’t mean they’re a raving fan of your organization. Just because the student liked the course he took doesn’t mean he loves your community college.

Think beyond the product when you’re thinking about how to drive higher levels of customer satisfaction, loyalty, and repeat business. Survey and engage in improvement efforts which address service processes and staff as well.

Go beyond the product.

Interested in improving your company’s customer service? See more information at: http://www.cssamerica.com/

Check out our new customer service book at http://www.amigreatat.com/


A Day at the DMV

Posted on August 24, 2010 in Business Advice, Government Please leave a comment

The thrill of victory…the agony of the DMV.

For the first time in 5 years, I had to get a new driver’s license. Being out of practice at this activity, I got to the DMV office right when it opened – a colossal error! With this being the best day of the week on my schedule to get the driver’s license renewed, when I arrived at 8:00 a.m., there were already close to 100 people in line; unfortunately, my schedule wouldn’t let me leave.

If patience is a virtue, then there were hundreds of very virtuous people experiencing the DMV today.

But why the wait?

Too few employees for the number of customers. Too few offices for a city the population of Charlotte, NC. Too many steps in the process. Patrons not educated on the best day-of-week or time-of-day, how they needed to prepare for the visit to the office. I could go on and on.

I stood outside for nearly 2.5 hours, entering the office just before 10:30 a.m. When my number was finally called 30 minutes later, it took about 4-5 minutes to do the test. Then I had to wait again for my picture. I left the office at 11:15 a.m. So I had over 3 hours of wait time for about 7 minutes of activity.

What’s worse is that I was just renewing. There were 30+ people who entered the office before me who were getting a permit or a new license, at least 25 of which were still there when I left.

We can all learn from our experiences – good and bad. Learn from my experience to reduce steps in a process, staff appropriately, educate customers in advance, and create fast-track processes for people with minor needs.

Learn from my nearly half-day at the DMV.

Interested in improving your company’s customer service? See more information at: http://www.cssamerica.com/

Check out our new customer service book at http://www.amigreatat.com/


Take the HCAHPS Test

Posted on March 11, 2010 in Business Advice, Government, Healthcare Please leave a comment

Will the government be getting into healthcare with the proposed healthcare reform legislation? That’s probably not the best question to ask, because the government is already in healthcare in many ways. I’m sure we’re all familiar with Medicare and Medicaid, but since this is a customer service and retention-related blog, have you heard of HCAHPS?

The government is already in healthcare in the customer service/satisfaction aspect of the business. The federal government has required that hospitals survey patients using standardized tools to gauge satisfaction with multiple areas of the patient experience including communication, responsiveness, information provided, processes, etc. Then this information is posted on the internet for any current or prospective patient to review to compare one hospital to another.

What if this approach related to other organizations? What if two retail stores had their customer satisfaction ratings posted side-by-side? Or maybe you could compare all restaurants in your region in an evaluation – side-by-side – of key characteristics of the food, the environment, the price, the customer service. How about comparing 3 banks or 4 car dealerships or 5 animal hospitals or 6 grocery stores?

If you were one of those retailers or restaurants or banks or grocery stores being objectively compared for all your current or prospective customers to see, how would you do?

It’s a scary proposition, but if you’re not willing to consider it, believe me, your customers make this evaluation every day.

Think of this as the HCAHPS test. How would you objectively compare on key characteristics of the customer experience with your competitors? If you have no idea, then you might want to consider mystery shopping, having a research firm such as ours to shop your organization…and your competitors.

Make sure you know how you measure up.

Interested in improving your company’s customer service? See more information at: http://www.cssamerica.com/


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