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How Persistence Saved the Day - 10/1/24


Sherrie saw the customer walk into her store holding his cell phone, and Sherrie immediately knew that was William.  She had spoken to William on the phone about an hour ago, he said he would be at Sherrie’s cell phone store in less than an hour, and there he Read more

Notice the Little Changes - 9/24/24


“My, how times have changed.” Yes, times have changed.  As a matter of fact, one of the biggest reasons why an organization’s customer service deteriorates is that times have changed…customers have changed…and the company has not… If we think about customer service delivery today v. decades ago, changes in technology alone Read more

Don’t Hurry…Be Quick - 9/17/24


No, this is not a take off on the Bobby McFerrin song:  Don’t Worry Be Happy. It’s actually a take off on the John Wooden quote:  Be quick, but don’t hurry. When I read Wooden’s book with this title, I liked the concept, and not just because John Wooden was a Read more

4 Actions for the Customer - 9/10/24


One way to look at the difference between proactive and reactive is that proactive is something that’s often done before it absolutely has to be done.  Maybe it’s something done that really doesn’t have to occur, but your professionalism takes over, and some action or communication that you know Read more

Don’t Kick the Problem Down the Road - 9/3/24


The error was obvious.  Shania is a clerk at a local government office, and she could tell that something was wrong with the permit request.  She was about to reject the request because the address was invalid. If this would have been handled like the normal process, Shania would have Read more

Reflect the Best of Your Customers - 8/27/24


When Alice walks into a business, whether it’s a restaurant or government building, whether it’s a Goodwill or a grocery store, she has a certain way about her.  She’s the customer, and it’s not unusual to hear her say to the employee:  Thanks for being here today! It’s not unusual Read more

Create Your Personal Motto - 8/20/24


Take a look at these mottos: It’s the real thing. Just Do It. Have it your way. Betcha can’t eat just one. Breakfast of champions. Do you know the companies?  The answers are at the bottom of this tip. So why am I asking you about mottos?  And why do almost all of them make me Read more

Create MAGIC with Your Customers - 8/13/24


Years ago, we worked with the Orlando Magic in the NBA, and they needed more consistency in their customer service – they needed a standard of engagement with the fans and their account holders.  They were trying to identify the “Orlando Magic Way” – their desired customer experience with Read more

Build Strong Customer Connections - 8/6/24


We’ve worked in health care, education, local government, finance, pro sports, and many other industries.  And while our clients’ customers are often different, their specific scenarios for engaging those customers are different, and policies and procedures are different - there’s one thing that is pretty similar.  And that is Read more

Running Late in the Rainstorm - 7/30/24


The mom was a little panicked.  She had just left work and had run into an unexpected popup rainstorm, and traffic had come to a halt.  She was on her way to pick up her 4-year old at childcare.  The facility had a policy of charging a fee for Read more

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Put Yourself at the Controls of Change – 4/28/20

Posted on April 28, 2020 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

You have probably heard about manufacturing plants and restaurants who are pivoting during these challenging times and starting to make hand sanitizers, masks, and gowns.  They are being forced to change, and they’re trying to find the opportunities among the obstacles that surround them.

Sometimes we, too, as individuals in our work life are being forced to change – as many of us are today.  But there is some change that we can control.

What do you want to change?  What do you need to change?

Maybe some of it is attitudinal.  For those of us who are lucky to have a boss that’s encouraging and motivating, maybe not having that boss around requires us to be more self-motivated. Set your own daily goals.  Pat yourself on the back when you reach those goals.  Be the great encourager…to yourself.

Maybe the improvement needed is more of a technical nature.  We should want to improve our computer skills since we’ll be using those so much more.  Can we become expert at using the video conferencing systems and tools?  Can we become more proficient at toggling between different functions on our computer for information, since we’re relying less and less on paper?

The improvement area could be communication skills, particularly if having that face-to-face interaction and all the body language and expressions are so much less available for emphasizing our points.  You may want to improve your business writing skills – since you’re communicating more often via messaging to others.  Maybe you need to improve your concentration skills since it’s easier to get distracted when you’re in a video conference with 10 people than if you’re in a face-to-face meeting in the same conference room.

Finally, we can look for improvement areas in how we do our work.  Improving might mean that we’re more organized in our work since we can’t simply walk to the person in the next cubicle to talk about a project or chit chat with our office colleague about something.  Those random or nearby encounters are less likely, so we have to be a bit more intentional about planning when to contact others.

Change is difficult – particularly when it’s thrust upon you.  But if you can identify your own change – your own improvement path – you can give yourself some control.

Create the change that will help you improve.

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Service, Sports, and Self-Control – 10/29/19

Posted on October 29, 2019 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

When I was growing up, I played a lot of golf. I practiced a lot, and I could score pretty well. However, when something went bad, when I hit a tee shot into the woods or dumped an iron shot into a lake, I would become unglued. Then every other shot, every other hole, was an emotional challenge. My attitude suffered, and my score suffered.

These days, I rarely play golf, but when I do there is so much less negative emotion involved after every mistake or every missed shot. Even though I miss-hit a lot more shots than I did when I was playing and practicing, one bad shot does not automatically lead to another. One bad hole does not automatically lead to another.

The difference is partly attitude, but it is also self-control. Self-control has a huge effect on an employee’s success in customer service as well.

It’s very difficult to talk to people via the web, via the phone, face-to-face, and via text, and to be consistently good if we allow one bad encounter to get to us. In customer service, it’s difficult to deal with the angry customers (and the occasional crazy customer!) if we allow that interaction or that one word or just that person’s “way” to influence what we do the rest of the day.

Self-control means making sure that we are listening to our bodies and monitoring our thoughts in these difficult circumstances. It means trying to stay loose and open mentally and physically despite the tension that surrounds us.

Having self-control is about controlling our emotions, being able to get through our initial reactions and – instead –respond in a way that is not knee-jerk. Having self-control means talking positively to ourselves when we’re getting ready to go into difficult meetings or hop on calls with customers who we know have issues. That level of self-control and managing our own emotions will help us to manage our part of the conversation that much better.

The idea is that bad stuff is going to happen in the business world just like I’m going to hit the shot out-of-bounds or I’m going to miss a 2-foot putt in golf. But if you have self-control, bad circumstances do not frustrate you as much. When you do something wrong, you’re not is likely to get angry with yourself, and when bad things happen at one point, you’re less likely to allow those situations to snowball throughout the remainder of your day.

Get in the habit of doing some self-monitoring of your thoughts and emotions so that you have the self-control you need to not let one bad apple or one bad encounter lead you into a bad day.

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