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Gaining the Benefits of the Greeter- 6/30/26


Most likely, we’ve all entered some establishment – a retail store, restaurant, or service center - when there is a greeter at the door.  The most famous greeter position is probably the Walmart greeter.  I often thought that my father-in-law would have been a fantastic Walmart greeter, because he Read more

Seamlessness - Why the Customer Thanked You - 6/23/26


This doesn’t happen enough nowadays, but the employee received a long thank you e-mail from the customer.  A financial services account manager had taken care of the client during a period of time that was stressful for the customer. Life was unexpectedly changing quickly, and personal emotions, additional financial responsibilities, Read more

When to Avoid the Escalation - 6/16/26


The customer calls with a complaint, and the easy thing to do is to escalate it to your supervisor. That may also be the right thing to do, but how do you know when to avoid the escalation? Why You Would Escalate The first thing to consider is why you would Read more

Let’s be Clear on Clarity - 6/9/26


When trying to manage expectations, it’s vital to be clear with the customer.  But what specifically does it mean to be “clear?” Clarity is in the eyes and ears of the beholder, so what may be clear to one customer may be unclear to another.  However, there are some basic Read more

Allow Yourself to Solve a Couple Puzzles Every Day - 6/2/26


Frank had never been a dog owner before, and when he first got Bosco at the shelter, Frank didn't really know what he was doing.  He would try to be a good parent - feed the dog, play with it, take it on walks - but he was doing Read more

Improve with a Purpose - 5/26/26


If you’re reading these customer service tips, you likely want to get better.  You want an idea, a technique, a reinforcement, or a question that helps you improve. But why improve? At some point you may waver on the commitment to improve, because it can take effort, introspection, time, and change.  Read more

Reciprocate the Thanks - 5/19/26


Jasmine had a great experience with the company, and the company sent her a link to provide an online evaluation following the visit.  So, she clicked the link, gave a rating, and made a comment about her experience. The company monitored their online reviews, saw the positive response, and replied Read more

Don’t Skip the Recap - 5/12/26


The playoff hockey game goes on for almost 3 hours.  There’s non-stop action, with plenty of penalties and takeaways and hits against the boards…and a few goals, as well. You didn’t get to watch the whole game because you had other plans, but you wanted to know what happened.  So, Read more

Finalize the Solution with the 6 Step Checklist - 5/5/26


In last week’s Tip, we showed why and how to Use the 6 Step Checklist before Resolving the Issue.  We noted the importance of taking 15 seconds to mentally walk through the Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How to feel confident that you know what’s needed to fix Read more

Use the 6 Step Checklist before Resolving the Issue - 4/28/26


We talk about trying to resolve the issue right the first time, sharing the technique on how to manage the conversation to get clarity on the real issue, need, or goal, and confirming your understanding before moving forward. But what are you trying to clarify?  What are you trying to Read more

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Put Your Fans’ Names on Your Uniform

Posted on June 21, 2012 in Business Advice, Sports Please leave a comment

You may have heard of “Harley Loyalty,” where some customers are such fervent fans of Harley-Davidson motorcycles that they’ll have the Harley-Davidson logo tattooed somewhere on their body.

Well one Italian soccer team is turning the tables. According to an article in Metro.co.uk, “Fans of Italian club Parma have been recognised in a unique way by their club, after it was announced the name of every season ticket holder will be sewn into their new shirt.”

That’s right. Imagine that happening in sports in the US. If you’re a season ticket holder of the LA Kings hockey team, your name would have been on their jersey during the Stanley Cup run. Maybe you’re a season ticket holder of the Miami Heat; your name would be on LeBron James’ jersey. How about Eli Manning of the New York Giants dropping back to pass in the Super Bowl with your name on his jersey – wow!

Sometimes it’s not about how to make your fans more loyal, but it’s about how to show loyalty to your fans. And sometimes it doesn’t take a ton of money to do so. Try not to focus on perks and benefits all the time; focus on methods of recognizing the fans.

We recently co-hosted a Twitter Chat about fan relations/loyalty (see our #fanexperience innovation center for details), and few of the ideas shared cost a lot of money. That’s because the ideas were based on relationships, access, and recognition.

Get creative. Find ways to put your season ticket holder’s name on your uniform.

Listen to our latest podcast episode on “Delivering the WOW Experience!”

See more sports-related blog postings at: http://serviceadvice.wordpress.com/category/sports/


NASCAR Lessons…and Beyond – Engaging Fans with Social Media

Posted on December 8, 2011 in Business Advice, Sports Please leave a comment

Let’s learn a little fan engagement lesson from NASCAR. In the Bleacher Report article NASCAR Drivers, Wives and Twitter: Is NASCAR the Most Active Sport on Twitter?, the writer notes about the relatively extensive level of access that NASCAR fans have to drivers – in everything from pit road access to autograph signings to the use of Twitter.

We’ve done enough research with our pro sports clients to know that a certain percentage of season ticket holders (STHs) have a strong desire for that engagement with or proximity to the athletes. But why do they want it? That’s a question to ask.

You can’t setup too many 1-on-1 dinners with your Dwight Howard and one of your season ticket holders. You can’t setup too many Putt-Putt competition between one of your long-term STHs and your Jason Verlander. You can’t have your Aaron Rodgers sit-in on too many STH book clubs.

So back to the question – why do STHs want access? If you can understand the STH’s goal, maybe there are some alternatives you can suggest.

To many STHs, the “why” is about the experience, it’s about relationship, it’s about feeling like you’re in-the-know or part of something special.

Social media can help with this. It’s not the direct 1-on-1 relationship they might desire, but it’s much more of a direct interaction than a fan reading a journalist’s article or a marketing e-mail from the team. So, use social media to accomplish at least two relationship-building objectives.

First, provide more direct/personal insights from your players and executives. Getting to know these individuals as being more “real” helps to foster relationship-building. That’s why the husband/wife aspect of the NASCAR Twitter approach has such great appeal.

Second, use Social Media to track key STHs, monitoring what is going on in their world, their lives. You can use this to identify ways to be proactive with them, sending them a congratulatory note to strengthen the relationship (if they changed jobs) or asking a question to enhance your STH-intelligence (if they mention they’ve moved) or sharing an offer to increase sales (if they say they have friends coming into town during a time where there’s a home game).

Use Social Media to build STH relationships by letting them into your world and by learning a little more about theirs.

Listen to our latest podcast episode of “Stepping Up Service” on The MESH Network at http://themesh.tv/stepping-up-service/

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/


Stop Punishing Account Reps

Posted on November 23, 2010 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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