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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

Talk Yourself Up to Take Down Their Anxiety - 7/29/25


I believe that most customer service people are pretty humble, so I’m not asking you to lose your humility.  But I do have one ask of you… When that customer is anxious or nervous, when they fear the future because the future is unknown or it could be laced with Read more

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Relieve Your Customer’s Pain

Posted on January 13, 2011 in Business Advice, World of Customer Service Please leave a comment

Disrupt yourself. Let me explain…

In the January 2011 issue of Entrepreneur magazine, David Croslin, a former HP chief technologist and current market trends consultant in Colorado, tells companies to “Be Disruptive” in their strive toward innovation. Essentially, he suggests ignoring the status quo of thinking product first or “beat the competitor” first, and instead focus on the customer first.

Referencing the mobile phone industry, Croslin stated that “They kept trying to top each other with features that most people never used” until the iPhone hit. The iPhone was more simplistic but was designed with the customer in mind. Croslin recommends fixing the “pain points” in your customer’s life.

So what does this have to do with customer service? Everything. It talks about how leaders in innovation need to focus on the customer when designing a product just like customer service representatives need to focus on the customer when responding to issues. It means that business should be all about the customer from start to finish. It means that if you’re selling, you’re selling to a customer. If you’re serving, you’re serving a customer. If you’re developing, you’re developing for a customer.

At some point, stop focusing inwardly on your own organization, stop focusing on the product, stop focusing on the competitor. Look outside your product and your competitor, and look to your customer.

Let the customer guide you. Find their pain, and find ways to relieve the pain.

Read our New Book – “Ask Yourself…Am I GREAT at Customer Service?” http://www.amigreatat.com/

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