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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

Prep Enough to Personalize - 4/15/25


Everybody loves Howie.  He is an account rep for the local air conditioning and heating company.  When I say Everybody loves Howie, I’m definitely talking about the customers.  His co-workers love him too, but customers are especially fond of him.  They seem to really enjoy their conversations with him, Read more

Get Your Customers to Brag, Not Bolt - 4/8/25


Here are two customer retention concepts that we discuss with some sports clients: BIRG and CORF.  BIRG is Basking In Reflected Glory.  CORF is Cutting Off Reflected Failure. You want BIRG.  You want the customers feeling so good about your organization that they want to be a part of your Read more

Narrow Your Focus to Seek Excellence - 4/1/25


You’ve probably heard companies use phrases such as: “We want to go from being good to great.”  Maybe they’ve said: “We strive for perfection, and although we’ll never reach perfection, maybe we can achieve excellence along the way.” These organizations find some kind of a catch phrase or slogan, but Read more

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Where Scripting Does (and Doesn’t) Work to Improve Survey Scores

Posted on June 1, 2011 in Business Advice, Healthcare, Sports Please leave a comment

I don’t promote scripting, because too many companies take it literally in that they force their employees – without the least bit of sincerity – to make the same statements over and over and over again to the customer.

“Did I deliver great service today?"

“I hope I provided excellent customer service.”

Customers can sense sincerity and insincerity, communications they trust and mistrust.

So when we hear that some companies have their customer service reps and other staff use those statements because “Great” and “Excellent” are ratings on the surveys, I cringe.

Don’t rig the surveys just to have them say what you want them to say in terms of “Excellent” or “Great.” Customers can usually smell that a mile away, and just as importantly, you may not be getting a true indication of your customer’s satisfaction.

Now when it IS beneficial to have a little bit of scripting and training and education with staff that relates to surveys is when the terminology you use to describe the attribute they’re evaluating is not obvious. Maybe you ask on the surveys about “discharge instructions,” but when you talk to the patient in the hospital, you never referenced the phrase “discharge instructions.” In these cases, either refer to “discharge instructions” using that term when they’re in the hospital so the patient knows what you’re talking about on the survey, or use a more simple term or phrase on the survey like “Did they explain how to care for yourself when you go home?”.

When you’re conducting a survey and you’re asking the season ticket holder for the pro sports team to evaluate their account representative, make sure they know about whom you’re talking. Have the representatives refer to themselves as “your account representative” or “your personal representative with the team” when talking to the season ticket holder.

Make sure that the terms you use on surveys are terms customers are familiar with from having dealt with your organization. If you want great performance, you have to make it clear with your employees what great performance looks like, and to evaluate that performance, use terms on the surveys that you commonly use with your customers.

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/


Customers Pay You for Performance

Posted on May 19, 2011 in Business Advice, Healthcare Please leave a comment

I will pay you for better customer service, a better experience, higher satisfaction.

No, this isn’t me talking to you; this is the Federal Government talking to hospitals. In a Healthcare Leaders Media article, the author states that “Higher Medicare reimbursements will require higher patient satisfaction scores, which will require higher employee engagement, which will require strong HR initiatives.”

Think about your hospital…or clinic…or bank…or team…or college…or business. What if higher satisfaction of your customers increased your revenue? What if decreasing customer satisfaction lowered revenue?

Well…it already does!

In the article noted above, the Government is going to adjust reimbursement based on patient satisfaction scores – so that’s an obvious cause-and-effect relationship. But your business also has that same cause-and-effect relationship. If your customers are more satisfied with the experience, the relationship, the processes, people, and products, they will be more likely to return. They will be more likely to purchase more per visit. They’ll be more likely to refer you to friends. In short, the more satisfied they are, the more revenue you’ll receive.

So the question to you just like to the hospitals noted in the article is “How do you increase customer satisfaction?” The answer varies for every organization, but it generally comes down to this. Focus on your People – how can you improve their skills, knowledge, and attitudes? Focus on your Processes – how can you make them more simple, self-evident, efficient, and quality-based? Focus on your Products – how can you improve the quality and effectiveness in addressing the customer’s need?

To drive up customer satisfaction, drive up the performance of your People, Processes, and Products.

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/


Create B-U-Y I-N with Staff

Posted on March 10, 2011 in Business Advice, Healthcare Please leave a comment

When we provide customer service training for hospitals, we often suggest techniques to use in difficult situations with patients and family members, physicians and co-workers. Sometimes, we suggest certain phrases to use which tend to work well, but some of the training attendees don’t feel comfortable at first with the wording because it feels scripted.

So we work during the session so they’ll feel like it’s not a script; we work to get buy-in. When attempting to get buy-in from front-line staff on any initiative, use this acronym that we coined:

· B – Believe. You have to get them to believe the concept will work.

· U – Understand. People trust and are more accepting of change when they can understand how it works.

· Y – Yes! You have to get them to commit to it – “ask for the business” from your staff.

· I – Invest. If they participate in the development of a plan, investing their time, they’re more likely to buy-in to the result.

· N – Needs. People must understand the need or goal or issues it will address.

Create “B-U-Y I-N” for your customer service principles, programs, and changes.

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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