issue resolution | Customer Service Solutions, Inc. - Page 2

Is Their Poor Planning Your Emergency? - 12/17/24


Have you ever heard the saying:  Your poor planning is not my emergency. I’ve heard it said often – not necessarily directly from one person to another.  More typical is that I hear it from the person having to drop everything and do something immediately because someone else didn’t think Read more

Empathy Examples for Everyday Situations - 12/10/24


I’ve often said that empathy is the single most important characteristic of people who are great at customer service.  If empathy is essentially “to understand the other person,” it helps so much to have that ability in order to specifically help someone.  To talk to what’s unique about them.  Read more

Tell Them Why You’re Giving Thanks - 12/3/24


Thank you! Merci! Danke! Doumo! Gracias! It seems like every language has a translation of Thank You.  Even though I only fluently speak English and speak Spanish, un poco, I – and probably most of you – have heard some or all of the translations of "Thank You” noted above.  Read more

Refine Your Decision-making Process - 11/26/24


Every day, you make decisions of what to do and what not to do.  And in the world of customer service, often the affected parties are our customers, our co-workers, and our company.  Here are a few quotes to consider when you’re thinking about evaluating and refining your decision-making Read more

Acting on the Guiding Principles for Great Customer Service - 11/19/24


In last week’s tip, we shared 5 Guiding Principles for Great Customer Service.  This week, let’s address what “taking action” looks like on those key principles.  If last week was about what to do and WHY, this week is about the HOW. Engage with Interest: To engage with interest, proactively Read more

Guiding Principles for Great Customer Service - 11/12/24


It’s hard to know every procedure, every policy, every technique possible to handle every situation correctly.  After all, maybe our procedures are standard, but our customers are not.  Maybe our policies stay pretty consistent, but our customers’ needs and issues, their attitudes and actions can change from customer to Read more

From a Simple Question to an Exceptional Experience - 11/5/24


Phyllis loves her job.  It’s not just because she loves being a customer service representative, not just because she really likes her co-workers, and not just because she enjoys her company.  It’s because she really appreciates her customers, as well. A customer had ordered a register book off the company Read more

Fix One Problem without Creating Another - 10/29/24


If you’ve ever had an issue with your dishwasher, this will sound familiar.  I’ve dealt with so many dishwashers over the years, and they always seem to have some kind of an issue.  Maybe it’s because of the mix of water and technology, but for whatever reason, these never Read more

Delight Your Customers - 10/22/24


Buddy the Bug Man was different.  His company was new, and the only reason why Janet tried him out was that the service she had used for years just wasn’t working.  Whether it was mosquitoes in the yard, ants in the kitchen, or cockroaches flying through on their way Read more

A More Complete Definition of Responsiveness - 10/15/24


I was purchasing something recently that was being custom-developed.  At one point, the company’s employee and I had a good 20 e-mails going back and forth - 10 from each of us.  Unfortunately, I broke my own rule, and I did not pick up the phone after 2 or Read more

Addressing the Horror Story that Wasn’t – 9/5/23

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

You may have seen the commercials for one of those garden hoses that fits in your pocket.  When you put it on the valve outside your home and turn on the water, it expands to 50 feet.  When you’re done and turn off the water, it contracts and fits right back in your pocket.

Jamie had only been at his new job for 2 weeks at the hardware store, and he witnessed just how important some of these expandable/retractable hoses are to the homeowners.  A frantic homeowner came in – somebody who had bought one of these hoses from one of Jamie’s co-workers a week ago, and the customer was upset.  She had been so excited about the new hose, but when she turned on the water, it did not expand fully; when she turned off the water, it didn’t contract.

It was a garden hose emergency!  Oh, the horror!

Now, for 99% of us, a garden hose that doesn’t fully expand or contract is not the end of the world.  And maybe to this customer, it was not the end of the world either; however, she was initially so excited about a product that was, now, not performing as designed.

Jamie’s first thought was: This customer is WAY overreacting.  But his second thought was: I better not convey that I think she’s overreacting.

Luckily, Jamie had some training on Key Principles of Situational Service.  So, he provided some Empathy, explaining his understanding of what went wrong to the customer, what she expected to happen versus how the hose actually performed.  He was Patient with her, listening and not rushing her along.  He tried to be Helpful, facilitating a resolution, whether it was initially with the use of the hose and then finally finding an alternative.  He Explained the product exchange process and Why the process was needed, and he did everything with Respect and Courtesy.

Sometimes the issues you are presented with seem like they should be no big deal, but for whatever reason, they are a big deal to the customer.

Apply Jamie’s Key Principles of Situational Service to make sure all of these situations turn out well from the customer’s perspective.

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Respect, Regardless of Rank – 8/22/23

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I was reading a management book written by a former naval officer.  He was given a leadership role over a ship that had been underperforming and had low morale.  One thing he did to turn around the performance, to improve morale, was instill in everyone onboard the principle that we need to respect each other, regardless of rank.

For anybody who’s watched an old military movie where the personnel show respect for rank, often you hear the statements of “Yes, General” or “Sir!  Yes, Sir” that we see exhibited by those with the more junior ranks.

But the Captain of this ship, the one trying to instill a new, high-performing culture, expected EVERYONE to be respectful of EVERYONE.

To understand “respect” in customer service, we have to paint a picture of it.  For many people, it’s much easier to paint a picture of respectful behavior by describing disrespectful behavior so that people know what action NOT to take.  Sometimes we literally define the word respect to paint that picture for those in customer service.

Communicating Respect to Rank

Today, let’s think about respect in terms of how it’s conveyed to people of rank – whether it’s an organizational leader or even the President.  The words we use (Yes, Sir or Yes, Ma’am) are stated frequently in response to what the ranking person says.  With individuals in those in high-rank roles, we try to understand their needs so that we can address them, carrying out their orders or requests.  We listen as much as possible in that one encounter to minimize the need to meet with them again as well as to ensure we don’t take up any more of their time than is necessary.

Communicating Respect Regardless of Rank

These are all actions and behaviors we can do with each other – with co-workers and with customers.  Use personal names and respectful terms to greet and address individuals throughout the conversation.  Try to understand specifically what they’re saying by asking the right questions and spending the majority of our time listening.  Allow them to speak first, and be patient through the conversation.  Follow through on what we offered to do, trying to limit how much of their time is required, whenever possible.

Respect, Regardless of Rank – find ways to make respect an all-the-time thing.

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Move on to the Next One – 8/15/23

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The ultimate game in professional American football is the Super Bowl.  In this past year’s Super Bowl, James Bradberry of the Philadelphia Eagles was called for a penalty with less than two minutes to go in the game.  The penalty gave the other team a first down; the other team was able to run the clock down until there was almost no time left, and then they kicked the winning field goal.

The penalty was one of those that, technically, was the correct call.  Bradberry briefly grabbed the shirt of a wide receiver, and that’s a penalty.  In a lot of games, in a lot of situations, that penalty is not called.  But at the end of the most important game of the year, Bradberry made a mistake, and he was called on it.

In the lead up to this upcoming season, Bradberry was asked about this play.  He said “A play’s going to happen. Good play. Bad play. You’ve got to move on to the next one.”

Ours is an Imperfect World

The working world that we live in – about customer experience, retaining clients, delivering good solid customer service – is an imperfect world.

And we are imperfect.  Despite our best intentions, our best training, our best skills, and our reading of weekly customer service tips, we make mistakes.

Even though I’m someone who has run a management consulting firm focused exclusively on customer service, client retention, and customer experience for the last 25 years, I make customer service mistakes.  I may make a mistake in how I respond, or maybe I don’t respond timely enough.  Recently, I left someone off the list of invitees for a meeting to debrief on a research project.  We make mistakes, and hopefully we apologize sincerely when we do.

Don’t Stay in the Negative

But like Bradberry, we need to move on.  We can’t get consumed by the mistakes of the past, because then we are allowing ourselves to get mired in mediocrity and negativity.  We need to acknowledge our mistakes, learn from them, and move on.

There will always be opportunities to do better, to improve, to take care of our customers.

So, the next time one of us imperfect people makes a mistake, let’s make sure we’re able to move on.

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