MLB | Customer Service Solutions, Inc. - Page 3

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

Customer Understanding Leads to Relationship Growth - 2/13/24


We’ve worked with educational organizations at all grade levels over the years.  One special and unique characteristic about the staff who work in these organizations is that there’s a clear intent to know about the students as individuals, to focus on them rather than purely focusing on what’s delivered Read more

Define Customer Service Success Differently - 2/6/24


When I’m watching television, listening to the radio, or listening to a podcast, it’s always interesting when the topic moves to the question:  How can you be a success?  The speakers often discuss the process of becoming a success with the assumption that people believe success is defined by Read more

Care Enough to Give Them a Heads Up - 1/30/24


Nothing bad at all might happen.  Every day in the office could seem like every other day.  Sights and sounds and smells might continue to be the same.  But we have a lot of construction going on around our offices, and the building manager knows the type of work Read more

Be Better than AI Customer Service - 1/23/24


There was a recent CBS Sunday Morning Show story called: How artificial intelligence is revamping customer call centers. The journalist described how artificial intelligence is being used in customer service, and he noted the millions of pieces of information that can be processed in a matter of seconds. There are clear Read more

Stop Punishing Account Reps

Posted on in Business Advice, Sports Please leave a comment

I’ve read stories recently of account representatives on professional sports teams being laid off. On one team, it was because the team sold so many seats, they didn’t need sales representatives. On another team, it was because the team performed so poorly on the field, that attendance was down, and the team needed to cut costs – so they let go of fan relations staff.

Our company is very focused on getting clients to deal with the root cause of problems. So let me try to understand this from a root cause perspective. If your product is really exciting, you don’t need sales staff. And if your product is terrible, you don’t need customer service staff. Are those the conclusions I should draw?

Any organization wanting to be GREAT needs to realize that customers form opinions of businesses – any business – based on 3 key attributes: 1) The Employee Attitudes, Skills, and Knowledge. 2) The Processes that the Customers Experience. 3) The Product or Service Itself.

To take out the first (and some portion of the second) of those three key attributes is short-sighted. It says if our product is exciting, we don’t need staff to sell. If our sales are down because of disappointment with the product, we don’t need staff to try to maintain those customer relationships.

When your organization has a new hot product or – conversely – has a bad product, don’t take it out on your sales and service staff.

They’re the ones who interact with your customers. They’re the ones that maintain relationships (and retention) through the tough times. They’re the ones who strive to build relationships when your product is great, so the customer loyalty remains even if the product quality drops.

Make sure you understand the true long-term value of sales and service staff.

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

Interested in improving your company’s customer service? See more at our new website! http://www.cssamerica.com/


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