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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

It Shouldn’t Make a Difference, But… - 9/1/26


We have this conversation with lots of our sports clients, but the principles apply across all different industries.  Too many service representatives view a conversation with a customer as a transaction.  Just get him off the phone as quickly as possible.  The customer is Joe Public, not Joseph Pendergrass.  Read more

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

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Create Your Own “Fan Guide” – 12/17/13 TOW

Posted on December 17, 2013 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment


Benchmarking is a wonderful thing. Airlines learn how to turnaround flights faster by watching NASCAR pit crews. Businesses learn how to create engaging employees by watching the Disney experience.

In keeping with this theme, here’s a benchmarking exercise for you. Let’s look at the “A-Z Fan Guide” from a sports organization. One of our pro basketball clients creates this Guide every year for its fans. It’s a pocket-sized document (also provided in “e-form”) that is given to key fans and employees who work with the fans.

These are some of the topic areas:

  • Event/Game Schedule.
  • Contact Information for Corporate Offices and Customer Service.
  • Arena Policies.
  • ATM Machine Locations.
  • Program/Product/Merchandise Overviews and Contact Information.
  • Information on Broadcast Partners (e.g., television and radio).
  • Concessions – Options, Descriptions, and Locations.
  • Directions.
  • Arena Map.
  • Guest Conduct Overview.
  • Account Holder Management Website Information.
  • Parking Locations, Access, and Cost.
  • Free Promotions.
  • Publications.
  • Season Ticket Holder Express Lines and Other Benefits.

Essentially, it’s a combination of educational and promotional information all in one good looking, convenient package. It addresses processes, products/services, promotions, personal contact information, policies, perks, partners, and the physical location. Now think about how this could apply to your business.

What would you share with your clients to educate them on the best experience they could have with you? What promotional options would you mix into this tool? To whom would you provide such a tool? In other words, who would benefit most from one key tool to best navigate your organization and utilize your products and services?

Learn from the pro sports “A-Z Fan Guide” to best educate and inform your customers.