sales | Customer Service Solutions, Inc. - Page 15

Home  /  They Booed You. Should You Boo Back?  /  sales

A Simple Phrase to Transform Your Customer Feedback Approach - 2/18/25


I went to a restaurant called Big Ed’s (no relation) in Raleigh, NC recently.  It’s basically country cooking with fantastic breakfast options!  On the menu there was a quote that said: If you enjoyed your meal, tell a friend.  If not, please tell us. That was an excellent statement that embodies Read more

What Phones and Football Have in Common - 2/11/25


Congratulations!  You made it through weeks/months of hype for football’s Super Bowl!  You made it through hundreds of pregame shows and podcasts, endless debates on things endlessly inconsequential, 10 hours of pre-game shows on Sunday, what seems like 100 commercials designed specifically for the “Big Game,” and the longest Read more

Create Awareness of Alternatives - 2/4/25


Sandy was hungry, and she was on the move.  Driving between meetings, she saw the restaurant sign and pulled in.  The fast-food restaurant had two drive-thru lanes.  One was for any customer who wanted to place an order on the spot. The other was for mobile orders only.  The Read more

Listen with Your Eyes - 1/28/25


Out of the corner of his eye, Patrick saw the customer enter the lobby.  The customer was carrying a large shoulder bag with several papers in her hand.  The customer was shuffling the papers and looking down; then she stopped, looked up, and saw the staff navigator sitting at Read more

When You’re the Educator, What Should You Teach? - 1/21/25


The best customer service professionals are also excellent educators.  Not only within the organization, but I’m talking specifically about the role they play as educator with their customers.  With all the self-service options that technology provides, customers often have the opportunity to do things on their own, to investigate Read more

Wrap It Up Right: Why Follow-Up Communications WOW Customers - 1/14/25


Dena had some questions about her water bill, so she looked for answers on the utility’s website.  She didn’t find specific answers, and she really didn’t want to get on the phone with somebody at the time and risk staying on hold.  She had lots going on, but she Read more

From Conversation to Connection: Defining Customer Engagement - 1/7/25


Maggie was sitting in the Service Excellence Training class, and the instructor kept talking about staying engaged with the customer.  Proactively engaging the customer.  Being fully engaged in the conversation. After hearing this same phrase (“engage”) used in various ways, Maggie raised her hand and asked a question probably several Read more

Self-empower for the New Year - 12/31/24


Jeff joined the company, in part, because he loved their approach to culture.  Leadership tried to create an empowerment culture.  They tried to develop an environment where, within certain parameters, individual team members could make a decision and feel confident that they would be supported by leadership. The reality was Read more

2024 Holiday Poem - 12/24/24


I sometimes hear it said That things have never been like this before. That challenges are unique, That stresses seem like more.   I sometimes hear it said That we're asked to do much more with less. That workloads are increasing, And we're resource-constrained at best.   And others often say That things are really very good. That they enjoy those Read more

Is Their Poor Planning Your Emergency? - 12/17/24


Have you ever heard the saying:  Your poor planning is not my emergency. I’ve heard it said often – not necessarily directly from one person to another.  More typical is that I hear it from the person having to drop everything and do something immediately because someone else didn’t think Read more

•••••

They Booed You. Should You Boo Back?

Posted on May 23, 2012 in Business Advice, Sports Please leave a comment

When Cleveland Indians’ pitcher Chris Perez chastised fans for not showing up at the stadium and for booing the first place team, a Sports firestorm erupted. How dare the player get on the fans?! What right does he have to rip fans?! Where does a rich player come off chastising people who pay their hard earned money for entertainment…and his paycheck?!

In the article Chris Perez calls out Indians fans, Perez’ rant is documented, and the team’s counter to his comments is noted as well. The team distanced themselves from his words, and praised the fans.

When you hear about this story, what it essentially comes down to is last place attendance for a first place team. So Perez’ solution to the issue is to say “Hey! We’re in first! Support us!” It’s an emotional reaction from a guy who apparently wants to win and wants support.

But that’s just the solution; nowhere in the article does it get at the root cause of the attendance problem. Many sports teams (many businesses for that matter) address issues with attendance or sales or revenue or retention with solutions without ever determining the root cause of the problem.

I was once told by the owner of a professional football franchise that the only thing that drives attendance is “wins and weather.” Well if that was true, then we could put a mathematical calculation together that looked at weather forecasts and wins, and determine attendance every year. If that were true, you could fire most anybody in business operations as well as game day staff, and there would be no impact on attendance. So while wins and weather have some impact, they don’t tell the whole story.

For the Cleveland Indians or any organization to truly fix attendance/sales/retention issues, they have to learn how to get to the root cause – what can be controlled in business operations, in particular. They have to think about how to – on an ongoing basis – learn from fans, develop relationships with fans, retain and grow business with fans.

Don’t let your company’s players try to guilt fans into spending their money with you. Find out why they left, and address those root causes to keep them.

Interested in addressing your team’s fan relations/retention? Check out: http://cssamerica.com/csssport.htm


Retention is Not Marketing

Posted on May 16, 2012 in Business Advice, World of Customer Service Please leave a comment

One of the biggest philosophical errors in business today is the thought that marketing should drive customer retention. In the article Customer acquisition versus customer retention, the author talks about which of these options (acquisition v. retention) is the best use of marketing dollars. While there are several good points in the article, the bigger point I’m focused on is the “best use of marketing dollars” concept.

Marketers far too often view “retention” as the next “campaign” where we’ll push this product or that message in an e-mail blast or a glossy newsletter. We’ll promote this event or offer that discount with a big ad push.

But customer retention needs to be viewed differently. It’s not transaction-based or event-based. It’s not push-oriented. It’s relationship-oriented. It’s dialogue-oriented. It’s 1-on-1.

Now don’t mistake this statement to think that I’m promoting retention as something that has to be labor intensive and high cost. I’m addressing the mindset of it because this affects the strategy of it. Once you start thinking how can I retain Joe or Mary or Sue, once it’s Andre or Bea or Randy, the approach changes. It’s more personalized, more customized, more person-focused and less number focused.

You begin to think “How can I develop a relationship with this individual?” You ask “How can I keep them for the long-term?” You consider “How can I become vital to their day-to-day activities?” These types of questions lead to longer-term strategies, longer relationships, higher retention, and higher revenue.

Think about retention in 1-on-1 terms, not broad based marketing terms. Your decisions will change, and your performance will improve.

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

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


Bet on Great Customer Service

Posted on April 19, 2012 in Business Advice, World of Customer Service Please leave a comment

A casino’s repeat business is purely dependent on whether the customer feels the exhilaration of the win…right?

Well the recent article Casinos Urged to Invest in Customer Service, Gaming Experience to Meet Multiple Challenges in 2012 says that it’s more than winning that drives loyalty and revenues.

The head of a casino consulting firm notes “Bare-bones state budgets, taxation, new casinos, social media and online gaming – these are all factors that will contribute to a challenging year for casinos.”

Essentially he says that if you’re a business with customers who are having financial struggles (like a sports team trying to keep season ticket holders), have competitors (like a hospital), are impacted by the proliferation of social media and alternative delivery changes for your service (like a college or university – or almost any business for that matter), then you might be having a tough time.

So if his premise applies to the situation of casinos, it probably also applies to the majority of other businesses today.

And what’s the proposed solution? Create a culture of customer service. The article notes that “The first step toward creating that culture is establishing service standards. The next step is training that helps employees meet those standards.”

So why is this suggested? This is where the author falls short…he doesn’t say why you need the culture of customer service, but I’ll fill that part in – it’s because the state of customer service is so poor today, that this is one area where you can differentiate yourself from competitors. It’s one place where Social Media doesn’t have a solid footing. It’s one place where you can build value when customers care more about the dollars they spend and with whom they spend.

Stop. Look at your competitors. Look at your customers. Look at your company.

Create a culture of customer service to build value with the customer and build a wall between your customers and your competitors.

Interested in assessing and improving your company’s customer service? Click here…


« Previous   1 2 ... 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21   Next »