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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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Structured for Service?

Posted on July 7, 2011 in Business Advice, Government, Healthcare, Sports Please leave a comment

Yet another company is caring about customer service, and this one is an Australian telco – Telstra. The organization is trying to get rid of its reputation for horrible customer service by – in part – creating a combined structure for its sales and service areas. According to a Wall Street Journal article, Telstra wants to “improve service, win customers, simplify processes and build new growth businesses.”

In short, it’s restructuring for the money. Who knows today if it will work for tomorrow, but the attempt has some key points that need to be addressed.

First, your organizational structure has a HUGE impact on customer service. We see this all the time with hospitals and pro sports teams alike. Two different departments talk to the same customer (i.e., patient or season ticket holder) at two different times. Does one department know what the customer just communicated to another department? Think “shift change” on a hospital unit or a handoff of a new sale to a season ticket account representative on a sports team. Is the organization structured for responsiveness and seamless communication?

The article also talks about how structures impact processes. If you’ve ever tried to get a permit to renovate a building or to add a deck to your home, you know about which I’m referring. How many different places do you have to go, people do you have to interact with, information sources you have to research to get the “okay” to do the work? The structure of most local governments emphasizes the efficiency of the siloed department above the efficiency of the overall process from the customer’s perspective.

To improve customer service, look at your structures and processes. Where do they hinder Service Excellence?

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/


One Company’s Path Toward Greater Customer Service…

Posted on June 28, 2011 in Business Advice, World of Customer Service Please leave a comment

Chart the course. It’s easier to get to where you need to go if you have a path, a map, direction, a guide.

But when starting in the muck, achieving the vision is that much more difficult.

That’s where Charter Communications is/was according to a recent CED article. They hired an individual with success at a telecommunications company to come in and revamp their customer service. Here’s some of what John Birrer did and is doing for them:

· Helped them create/refine their metrics that measure customer satisfaction and retention.

· Emphasized the importance of teaching “soft skills” to front-line staff since they’re the ones engaging the customers.

· Has supervisors role play customer service situations with staff.

· Created ongoing employee and customer feedback systems focused on continually improving customer service.

· Training staff to build their product/process knowledge as well as those customer service skills.

· Involving partner companies in the customer service initiatives.

· Instituted follow-up calls with customers served in the past 48 hours.

And what have they found from these efforts? Improved customer satisfaction and reduced operating costs.

If you want to improve customer service, satisfaction, and loyalty, find an expert, address metrics/processes/people, and make sure your staff are empowered and enabled (through training and technology) to succeed.

Need an expert (FYI – you can e-mail me at edward.gagnon@cssamerica.com !)

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/


Does Airline Customer Service Stink?

Posted on June 22, 2011 in Business Advice, World of Customer Service Please leave a comment

If you read about the recent results in the American Customer Satisfaction Index about airlines, you might not be that surprised. Customer satisfaction dropped for the industry with Southwest Airlines continuing to be the highest rated.

I’ve done some flying over the past couple weeks, and the customer service itself doesn’t seem worse to me, but it doesn’t seem better. As former Carolina Panthers football coach John Fox frequently said, “it is what it is.”

The big question is “Why is it allowed to be what it is – simply mediocre?” It was the TSA representative who literally did not say one word to the 30+ passengers for whom I watched her check their tickets against their I.D.’s. It was the flight attendant that wouldn’t reciprocate a smile as I walked by him. It was the congestion of passengers delaying boarding in a poorly designed gate entryway. It was the interminable wait for the “valet” checked luggage in the hot and crowded jetway after the flight.

On the flipside, I had a great experience with another TSA agent who warmly greeted and still productively processed passengers through the checking of their ticket. There was a flight attendant that went out of her way to ensure a family with small children felt comfortable. There was the self check-in kiosk where an employee gave some support in getting started in what turned out to be a 90-second process with no wait.

The problem is not that there isn’t great customer service in the airline industry. The problem is that it’s not consistently given. It’s too often dependent on which employee you get, on what airline you take, on…luck.

The obvious and correct conclusion, therefore, is that delivering great customer service is not a high priority. If it was, then there would be the intent and the execution to make it happen – consistently.

Make great customer service a priority in your business. Have an intent to make it a part of every aspect of your organization, and then ensure it’s being executed consistently.

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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