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Be Amazing - 4/23/24


Watching Michael Jordan steal a pass and then dunk a basketball is amazing.  Taking a rocket to the moon is amazing.  The taste of my mom’s homemade beef soup is amazing. We all have our personal examples of what is amazing.  Usually, it’s something that we cannot comprehend, that we Read more

Talk About Yourself to Build Customer Confidence - 4/16/24


When you’re dealing with somebody who is anxious or nervous about a situation, a customer who feels like they don’t have much control, an individual who is unsure and uncertain, it’s important to put the customer at ease.  It’s important to build their comfort level.  It’s important to help Read more

The Proven Value in What You Do - 4/9/24


Forbes wrote an article last year based on a compilation of the results of research on customer service and the customer experience; it was titled:  100 Customer Experience Stats For 2023. In reading the article, you’ll note that many of these key research findings are about you – the value Read more

A Tale of Two Texts - 4/2/24


Having to get allergy shots once a week is never fun, and for Janet, it became an even bigger frustration. She had the shots typically scheduled on Tuesday around 10:30 in the morning, figuring she would avoid the morning rush as well as the lunch rush by going mid-morning.  However, Read more

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

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Relieve their Pain – 9/16/14 TOW

Posted on September 16, 2014 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment


I’ve been in some meetings with sales professionals where they describe the need to “find the prospect’s pain point.” Once you find their source of pain, then you can suggest a product the prospect can buy or a service they can sign-up for that will alleviate the pain.

In customer service, we view pain differently. True, it’s often that we also seek the point of pain, but we’re not trying to acquire the new customer. We have the customer. We want to keep them, and usually the pain that the customer is feeling is pain that our organization has somehow inflicted. So instead of the sales focus of getting the customer to take action, in customer service, we’re usually the ones to take action for the customer.

It’s a different approach and a different action for a different result.

For customer service, we have to identify their pain. We then implement a remedy in order to keep them for the long-term.

Before we can keep them for the long-term, however, we have to do two things. First, identify their pain. This is where the organization needs the research strategy that answers key questions such as “What is your biggest frustration?” or “What one thing could we do to make this a great experience?” or “What matters most to you when you determine whether to return or recommend our company to others?”

At the same time, every employee needs the habit for seeking the customer’s opinion, since by far the most opportunities for customer feedback are found in those daily Moments of Truth. Employees need to get in the habit of asking “How was your experience today?” or “Did you get your question answered?” or “Is there anything we can do to better serve you?”

From corporate strategy to employee habits, there needs to be a common focus on asking the customer about their experience.

To keep customers for the long-term and relieve their pain, from company-to-employee, first seek the customer’s opinion.

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Defend without Being Defensive – 7/8/14 TOW

Posted on July 8, 2014 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment


The customer is not always right. Sometimes they’re flat out wrong. Your co-workers aren’t perfect. Sometimes they don’t return the call, or they’re rude, or they provide misinformation, or they set unrealistic expectations. People make mistakes.

When apologizing to the customer, you sometimes have to say “I’m sorry” or “I apologize,” but those words are hard to come by when that customer is wrong. Those words are difficult to share when they’re criticizing your co-worker.

At the same time that you’re trying to defuse that irate customer, we suggest that you do two things that can seemingly be in conflict: Support your co-workers, and don’t get defensive.

So how do you defend without getting defensive?

Think of defensiveness as having an emotional quality, where you’re trying to protect the co-worker or company, maybe you’re trying to deflect blame from yourself. While these are all natural things to want to do, when you bring your emotion into the conversation, you begin to lose one of the key tenets of successfully dealing with an irate customer – pull emotion out of these conversations.

Therefore, when defending others, do it without emotion, without the tone and body language and words that can raise the temperature of a conversation.

Now you may want to ask why we should “defend” in the first place. Won’t that start an argument? Won’t that make them more irate?

Well it could if done incorrectly, and there’s a fine line we’re walking. The reason to occasionally defend is this: If you allow incorrect conclusions to be solidified in the customer’s mind, then that will affect that customer’s loyalty, that customer’s word-of-mouth, and that customer’s attitude in future interactions with your business.

And while I’m not suggesting you correct every customer misstatement (since that surely will backfire), if they say that Chris – your co-worker – did something that he’d never do (yelled at the customer or advised the customer to do something that’s obviously against policy), you want to support your co-worker. Consider these phrases:

  • I wasn’t in that conversation, so I can’t speak specifically to what was Chris said, but I’m sorry you had to deal with it, and I want to help you find a resolution.
  • I’ve known Chris for years, and I’ll definitely talk with him since that’s not the experiences his customers typically have, and I’m very sorry about what happened in your case. Let’s discuss how we can best resolve this moving forward.
  • That’s not how we typically do things around here, so I’m very sorry about the situation. I’ll definitely share your concerns internally after our call, and right now I want to make sure we can get this situation addressed immediately.

The commonality in these statements is that we don’t agree with the customer that our co-worker was at fault, we stay composed, we let them know that the situation isn’t typical, and we transition the conversation to a resolution.

When dealing with the irate customer, learn to defend without being defensive.


Adopt the Practice of Proactive – 4/1/14 TOW

Posted on April 1, 2014 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment


Proactive – I use the word all the time (maybe too much). I sometimes use it so much that I’m assuming everyone defines it similar to how I do, and I wonder how we really apply the concept.

I define “Proactive” as initiating an action or a sharing of information. In the world of customer service, the initiation is done to benefit the customer. We’re not waiting for the customer to call or come in, to request or complain, to ask or convey. We’re taking the monkey off their back by starting the conversation and providing the solution, without even being asked.

If your way of looking at Proactive is different, let me know, but for the rest of this Tip, let’s use that definition to address how we really apply being “Proactive.”

The main question I’d like you ask yourself is this, “About WHAT could I be proactive?” Remember, we’re not reacting and responding; we’re identifying and acting. So what can you identify that you can act on?

For example, what issues are cropping up internally in your organization that you KNOW will impact your customer? How can you communicate those issues and solutions to customers? Maybe you’re part of a government entity, and you know that some tax refunds are going to be released later than anticipated. You work in a doctor’s office, and you just determined that a physician will be out of the office, and his patients scheduled for that day will now be seen by a nurse practitioner instead.

Think about the issues that you uncover which could impact customers; then don’t wait for them to find out on their own and come at you with the complaint and the emotion; be Proactive.

What new products, policies, procedures, processes, or people are coming up that will impact your customer? How can you tell them about it? You could be a pro sports team whose most experienced account representative left, and now his account holders will all have a new point person. You’re the school modifying the proof of residency documentation requirements for student placement. Maybe you work in a bank, and you just found out that fees are going up for certain types of accounts.

Think about the needs the customer has which will be impacted by changes in your people or internal operations; don’t wait for them to come in with one expectation and get something totally different; be Proactive.

Take a few minutes and identify the issues and needs you know today that the customer will find out tomorrow.

Adopt the Practice of Proactive.

 


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