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Don’t Harp on the Customer’s Mistake - 6/24/25


Seth’s daughter, Sarah, had missed some swim classes, and Seth remembered that the aquatics center had several make-up classes available late in the summer.  So Seth pulled up the class schedule on his phone, found one that worked on his and Sarah’s schedules, and planned to attend a session Read more

Create Customers for Life - 6/17/25


Veronica has gone to the same automotive service shop for at least 20 years.  She bought a new car about a year ago, and this is the third car she’s brought to the shop instead of taking her car to the dealer where she bought it.  She’s had three Read more

Don’t Turn the Customer into the QA Department - 6/10/25


Roberta received a form with information filled in by the company after her conversation with the account rep.  Roberta just needed to review the information, fill in some of the blanks, sign it, and resend it in order to set up a new account. She noticed that the effective date Read more

Imitate to Improve - 6/3/25


Oscar Wilde said that “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”  Now this doesn’t mean that plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery.  Nor does it mean that great impersonators such as Rich Little, Dana Carvey, or Frank Caliendo are always offering flattering portrayals of those that they imitate. Wilde’s Read more

How the Customer Perceives a Truth as a Lie - 5/27/25


You’re the customer, you’re asking about an unused item that you’re returning, and you hear the employee say: “The refund process takes 7-10 days.”  You’re thinking: “Great!  I can get the refund check as early as a week from today!”  The reality is that the company means that they’ll Read more

Tell Customers What’s Next - 5/20/25


In most businesses that have been around for a while, how a process was originally designed is not how it currently operates.  Sometimes this change is referred to as “practical drift,” where the actual process moves further and further away from the documented steps over time.  Maybe the changes Read more

Questions to Guide You to Empathy - 5/13/25


“If I was him, I would do ABC…” If you’ve ever heard somebody say this - whether it’s a friend or acquaintance, whether it’s some TV reporter or podcaster - you may get as frustrated or as annoyed as I do. I get annoyed because we are not that other person. Read more

Negate the Nervousness - 5/6/25


The customer needed a loan, so he walked into the bank, but he was a little nervous.  He knew that launching his business would be easier if he had some working capital, but that’s about all he knew.  He was anxious because he didn’t know what to expect in Read more

Don’t Rush to Resolve Quickly - 4/29/25


The customer is angry, so you use the CSS LEAD technique as designed.  You, listen, empathize, accept responsibility, and deliver on a remedy.  But it doesn’t work.  The customer is still upset, and maybe even a little more frustrated than when you started…why?! If the use of this technique fails, Read more

Energy v. Apathy - 4/22/25


I asked a couple friends who are much more scientifically-oriented the question: What is energy?  I didn’t mean E=MC2.  I meant physiologically, what is energy? They described a lot of things that sounded really good, yet far too advanced for my non-medical mind. Part of the reason why energy is of Read more

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Create Customers for Life – 6/17/25

Posted on June 17, 2025 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

Veronica has gone to the same automotive service shop for at least 20 years.  She bought a new car about a year ago, and this is the third car she’s brought to the shop instead of taking her car to the dealer where she bought it.  She’s had three different makes of car, yet she brings them all to the same service shop.  Veronica gets her routine service there, and if the car needs a repair, the employees explain what they’re going to do and why, and they give her options.  The repairs always seem to do the job.  She trusts the team.

Whenever Veronica takes her pets to the vet, the pets get treated like royalty!  The staff seem sincerely excited to see Clarabelle, the cat, and Floyd, her puppy.  Veronica has been going to the same vet for as long as she can remember, and she feels like the doctors and the team treat Veronica’s pets as their own.

Whereas many people go to the standard fast-food chains for lunch, Veronica goes to the local establishment – Doug’s Dogs and Delectables.  You can get hot dogs, hamburgers, crinkle fries, and even the occasional pulled pork seasonal special.  Doug’s has a drive-thru, and this is not what you would call high-end cuisine, but she can always get through the drive-thru in less than 5 minutes, the food is always hot and tastes good, and they never mess up the order.  It’s a predictable and positive experience.

Technically you cannot “Create” a customer for life, but you can do things that engender trust, convey you care, and offer positive predictability.

While different customers have different motivators, keep in mind that it’s hard to retain customers for the long term if they can’t trust the company.  It’s difficult to have a customer feel loyal to you if they don’t feel like you care about them as an individual.  And it’s tough to ensure they’ll want to come back again, if they have no idea whether you’re going to meet their expectations.

Find ways to create customers for life by building trust, conveying you care, and providing a more predictable and positive experience.

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In Sports, Does Loyalty Matter Anymore?

Posted on February 20, 2014 in Business Advice, Sports Please leave a comment

Blog 2-20-14Does loyalty matter anymore?

This isn’t about free agents in basketball or players switching clubs in the MLS. It’s not about Robinson Cano or Wayne Gretzky. It’s about the fan.

Much of the sports world – on the business side – is driven by rabid sales and marketing efforts. It’s the TV ads, the freebies to newcomers, the perks, discounts, packages, and personal attention.

But for the typical sports club – 75%-90%+ of this year’s ticket revenue comes from last year’s season ticket holders. So loyalty has a huge financial impact, but what are teams doing to show appreciation for that long-term support?

In the article Season-ticket holders: Honoring loyalty, the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars tell a story of a 20-year season ticket holder and his commitment to the club, regardless of the performance on the field. According to the article, in this – the 20 year anniversary for the Jaguars – the team is recognizing that loyalty: “Each level of tenure will receive wearable memorabilia indicating length of association. They don’t just want recognition, they want to be able to show it off in the stadium. They want their hat to say, ’Twenty-year season-ticket holder.’ There will be things they can do and show people by what they can wear. Their names will be permanently displayed for people to see.”

We often tell our clients in and out of sports that customer loyalty is the easiest avenue to recurring revenue. Customer loyalty is the easiest path to business growth. But customer loyalty is also the easiest asset to take for granted.

Look at those clients that have been with you over time. Find ways to reward and recognize them. Find ways to nurture the relationship. Find ways to show that their loyalty matters.

Did you like this post? Here are other Sports-related posts:

Learn about our CSS Sports services at: http://cssamerica.com/sports


10 Key Customer Retention Evaluation Questions

Posted on January 9, 2014 in Business Advice, World of Customer Service Please leave a comment

Many times when we address key customer retention strategies and customer retention success stories, the crux of what we’re saying is that you have to get to know the customer on more of a personal level. You need to build a relationship and not relegate yourself to viewing a customer as a prospect and selling to them as if you don’t even know them.

But this blog post is different. This time, I want you to envision yourself in a meeting at your business, and the meeting is all about customer retention and growth. Before you can develop a strategy, you have to ask yourself some key questions about your current state:

  1. Do you know why existing customers initially bought?
  2. Do you know why they would not return?
  3. Do you know who your customers view as your competitors?
  4. Do you know what differentiates you from your competitors in your customer’s mind?
  5. Do you know the differences in demographics, purchasing patterns, participation rates of clients who return every year v. those that don’t return?
  6. Do you know what internal operational factors impact those customer retention drivers?
  7. Do you know how you’re performing in those internal operational areas?
  8. Do you stay in contact (proactively) with customers, even when they’re not in your store, on your website, or contacting you directly?
  9. If so, are your proactive communications about you or personalized about them?
  10. In other words, do your proactive communications seek to learn more about them and educate them, or are they primarily pushing your products and services?

Before you embark on the next big strategy, do a self-scan. Find out what you know…or need to know first.

Ask yourself and those in your organization these 10 Key Customer Retention Evaluation Questions.

Did you like this post? Here are other Retention-related posts:


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