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Avoid These Techniques - 10/21/25


We had a Customer Service Tip of the Week recently that addressed gaining control of the conversation.  One of the key points was that the focus should be on gaining control of conversations in various circumstances, but trying to avoid making it your goal to gain control of the Read more

View Quality through the Customer’s Eyes - 10/14/25


Geri had been dealing with backups in the downstairs plumbing system of her house on and off for the past year.  The most recent company that she called in to unclog the pipes stated that they could send a camera down the pipes and tell her exactly where the Read more

Be Supportive, Not Defensive - 10/7/25


[An employee on the phone with a customer…] Who told you that you didn’t have to submit that form? … Bob?  Oh brother!  You see Bob is our “special” co-worker.  He seems to always tell customers the wrong thing to do, and we’re having to clean up after him.  Read more

Some Customers LOVE Predictability - 9/30/25


I was facilitating focus groups of businesses that utilize local government services.  The phrase that popped up multiple times was “Time Is Money!”  What these municipal customers were conveying was that their time was valuable, and delays were wasting their time.  But the conversations were not just about how Read more

Find Your Special Sauce - 9/23/25


When I watch a football game and I see a great quarterback (somebody who may be considered a “Star”), he might be an excellent runner, have a big arm, be able to diagnose the defense and get his team into the right play.  But he’s likely not great at Read more

Gain Control of the Conversation - 9/16/25


The customer’s angry or upset or they have a complaint.  They’re very chatty or very wordy or they just want to talk to somebody.  You’re on a time crunch, and the customer obviously is not. There are times when you need to gain control of the conversation.  It’s important for Read more

Complement with a Compliment - 9/9/25


We perform many tasks for our customers every day, and when we’re done with a step in the process, oftentimes we will tell the customer what’s been done.  But if we want to create more of a WOW experience, if we want to make the customer feel a little Read more

When Patience Begets Patience - 9/2/25


Jennifer, the server, walked toward the couple in the restaurant.  The customers had been seated for a minute or two, and they noticed the server was walking briskly toward their table.  Jennifer recognized the couple she was about to serve, because they had been in the previous week. Since the Read more

Address the Expectations that Were Set - 8/26/25


Before the caller ever got to Marco – the customer service representative, the customer had been working with the company for months.  They had read the marketing brochures, had a conversation with a sales rep, reviewed the new customer information on the website, and read all the information e-mailed Read more

When Technology Fails the Customer - 8/19/25


Technology is a wonderful thing…until it isn’t.  The website is down, the mobile app won’t work, the system keeps kicking them out of their account, or they received a spoofing phone call supposedly from your department. If you’ve ever been manning the phones or managing the department inbox, you know Read more

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If we were only treated like our pets…

Posted on April 29, 2010 in Business Advice, Carolinas, Healthcare, World of Customer Service Please leave a comment

I went to the veterinarian last week to take in our family cat – the one that had been in a fight with another cat and didn’t exactly win. Squeaky was on the mend, but the vet wanted to make sure that the antibiotics had worked and that her temperature was down.

When we walked into SouthPark Animal Hospital in Charlotte, NC, the two front desk staff greeted our cat like she was their long lost sister. “Hi, Squeaky!” they exclaimed. “We’re so happy to see you! How are you feeling? Are you better?!” Their love of cats (or at least in our mind, OUR cat) was evident. They took care of her, brought her back to the exam room to take her temperature, and when they brought her back out to the lobby, the vet assistant told my daughter and I that “We love Squeaky!”

Wow! It’s just a cat…isn’t it? Not to them…and not to us, either.

Let’s think about how this relates to us human beings. How often do you go into any other business and get a reception like this? How often do people’s faces light up, they smile, their voices convey enthusiasm at the sight of you? How often do they repeat your name? How often do they tell you how much they love (or at least enjoy) caring for you? How often do they enthusiastically give you the impression that you’re the most important person in the world at that moment?

What a great customer service world it would be if businesses conveyed how much they cared about us the way the staff at SouthPark Animal Hospital convey that they care about our pets!

If a business can muster this enthusiasm for Squeaky, let’s try to muster something similar for our 2-legged customers.

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


WANT to be Good

Posted on February 17, 2010 in Business Advice, Carolinas Please leave a comment

We used to lease office space at an executive office suite. This was a national company, and when you lease from them, you get a fully furnished office, phone and mail service, and staff available to help with projects. And while the office suite had a great location and beautiful furnishings, there was always something wrong with it.

We have many projects where we need support – keying data, making calls, assembling information for mailings, etc. And it seemed like every time we asked for support (support that we paid an hourly fee to receive), we got pushback, delays, apathetic attitudes, or poor/incomplete work.

It was SO frustrating. This service could have been great for us and for them – great for us in that we only paid for the labor time when we needed it, flexing up and down as the workload fluctuated. It was great for them in that they earned more money. We were being provided with poor customer service, and to make matters worse, their call handling began to fade. They would misroute calls that should have been sent to our office or patched through to our cell phones.

In short, we left.

We interviewed several other executive office suite companies, and settled on Office Suites Plus (www.officesuitesplus.com) – where we’ve been 7 years in Charlotte, NC. All that the other place wasn’t, Office Suites Plus is; they love the projects, they constantly smile, they handle the calls and requests effortlessly, and – if there is an occasional error – they apologize, and we move on.

But one of the best aspects of Office Suites Plus is that when staff turnover happens, they always seem to find someone with a great attitude. You might say they have a gift of hiring people who are not only pleasant but who WANT to help you, who WANT to make sure you have a good experience. But I’ve been in business long enough to know it’s not a gift – it’s an intention.

To consistently hire good people who do good work with good attitudes and who understand what good customer service is all about, a company must WANT those qualities and look for those qualities in the first place.

You need to WANT to deliver good customer service to consistently succeed.

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


Blackhawk at its Best

Posted on January 26, 2010 in Business Advice, Carolinas Please leave a comment

The big box home improvement stores have dominated the landscape over the past 10-20 years. They offer more products at lower prices than the “Mom and Pop” hardware stores of the past, and many of those smaller stores have gone out of business.

But Blackhawk Hardware in Charlotte, NC, offers a couple things that the big boxes can’t replicate including…popcorn. You walk into Blackhawk, and you smell the popcorn coming out of the old fashion popping machine, and anyone can make a bag (or two) for themselves – free! It’s delicious, and it gets you in the mood to slow down for your shopping experience.

But besides this initial unique and filling introduction to the store, you immediately realize that their customer service is the other thing that cannot be replicated. I’ve looked for light switch covers and washers for a kitchen sink pipe. I’ve looked for certain types of hose sprayers and gifts for relatives. After a second bag of popcorn, I’ve looked for unique light bulbs and a vise to secure a rope swing.

It seems that I cannot only always find what I need, but I also have someone pleasant, candid, and helpful aiding me in my search. As a “small box” store, their prices are sometimes higher for some basic items, but the store is constantly jam packed. It’s jam packed with customers willing to pay a little extra for the selection, the free popcorn, and the exceptional customer service.

The next time you’re in Charlotte and near Park Road Shopping Center, check out Blackhawk Hardware.

It’s a great example of how a family-owned business can compete with the big boys using customer service.

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


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