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It Helps to Downshift - 3/11/25


One of the first tips I heard when I was learning how to drive related to what to do when the brakes fail - downshift.  Shifting into a lower gear can slow down a moving vehicle.  I would explain this in technical terms to you, but considering I’m not Read more

Patience is… - 3/4/25


Patience is a…pain in the neck.  Why is it so hard to be patient?  Those of us who work in customer service know that we constantly have to show patience with our customers.  We’re ready to move to the next step or the solution because we’ve heard this issue Read more

Everybody Doesn’t - 2/25/25


Joey received the compliment, but he was confused.  Paula, his boss, and Joey had their monthly one-on-one meeting, and Paula noted that, although he was new, Joey was already doing a great job!  While there were learning curves on some of the organizational policies and the technology that he Read more

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

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Give Away the House – Now THAT’S Fan Relations!

Posted on September 21, 2010 in Business Advice, Sports Please leave a comment

In the article titled “Penguins offer freebie game with job-hunting twist,” the Associated Press describes a pre-season program where attendees to an exhibition game of the National Hockey League’s Pittsburgh Penguins will attend free (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j6iKWLJLaijtjwodlAwtulAtXjzgD9IAENCG1). That’s right, 18,000 fans and $0 in ticket revenue.

About 8,000 of the tickets will be given out so fans can attend an “in-game” job fair. The other 10,000 tickets will be donated to local children’s charities and youth hockey leagues.

While I’m not suggesting great Fan Relations requires you to give away the house for free, there are positive lessons to be learned even if you can’t forego the lost ticket revenue.

First, not everything has to be an immediate benefit to your organization; understand that nurturing the customers of tomorrow is important to any organization’s long-term strategy. It’s about the long-term relationship, not the one-time transaction.

Second, if you invite the child, the parent will come (or at least show an interest and appreciation as well).

Third, know your customers and their situations. With the economy like it is today, what will attract more people who are not normally hockey fans – a Sidney Crosby bobblehead or a job interview?

Fourth, find ways to make the community as a whole a fan of yours. Find a niche where you can give back; give back for the good of the community today; it will bear fruit for you down the road.

Learn from the 2010 ESPN #1 rated Fan Relations organization (the Penguins)…even if you don’t have 18,000 free products or services to give away.

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

Check out our new customer service book at http://www.amigreatat.com/


Take a Measure from Government

Posted on September 1, 2010 in Business Advice, Government Please leave a comment

When we work with our government clients, whether it’s an economic development division trying to retain local businesses, a property assessment division trying to efficiently serve its customer base, a City/County manager’s office trying to best manage such a large organization, we’ve found a consistent need – measurement.

When government is trying to measure over such a broad organization, they typically create an organization-wide balanced scorecard system. This metrics system will have the typical measures of Revenue, Cost, Quality, and Customer Service. But it will also have some more outcomes-oriented customer measures such as the percentage of residents on welfare and more capacity-oriented customer measures such as the percentage of residents living within “X” miles of a public park.

Let’s translate those last two measures to a typical business. Outcomes. An outcome is some end-benefit from what your service or product provides. It’s not the product itself. For a hospital, it’s the quality of life after discharge, not just how good the care was in the hospital. For a fine restaurant, it’s the enjoyment of the evening, not just the quality of the food. For an automobile dealership, it’s the feeling when driving or knowing you own a particular brand, not just the gas mileage. These outcomes often relate to the feelings your customers have as a result of their engagement with your company. They should be measured to make sure your services had a positive ongoing impact.

The other example metric dealt with Access. How close you live to a park can determine your ease of access and likelihood to use it. Similarly, what percentage of the population lives near a grocery store, what percentage of season ticket holders receive a sports team’s newsletter, and what percentage of long-term customers have online access all help to determine the customer’s access to the company. A greater access leads to a greater chance to develop relationships and retain the customer.

Learn from these atypical measures from government to know how well you impact your customers and to ensure you have adequate access to them.

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

Check out our new customer service book at http://www.amigreatat.com/


Learn from Schools without Attending

Posted on July 20, 2010 in Business Advice, Education Please leave a comment

Nothing like being in school and getting a report card – that moment of truth when you’ll be smiling or wondering how you’ll subtly get it in front of your parents when they’re in the best mood possible.

Well just like students get report cards, now many schools, colleges, and universities are getting them as well. These report cards are akin to Balanced Scorecards in the rest of the business world, but it’s interesting to note the unique twist that these institutions take in reporting their information. Many elementary schools’ report cards include information on student-to-teacher ratios as well as percentages of teachers who are board certified, and much of this data as well as performance data is listed versus district and state comparatives.

At the 4-year university level, they look at graduation rates, year-to-year retention rates, student loan default rates, student satisfaction scores, measures of student learning, end-of-program assessments, and job placement.

So what can you learn from these educational institutions? From the elementary schools perspective, they offer comparative information. They show how many dedicated resources they have for their students. They note qualifications/experience of their teachers. Do you measure and convey this information to your customers?

From the higher education perspective, they look at retention and loss, they gauge satisfaction, and they analyze impact on the customer. Do you track, measure, and analyze these three key pieces of information?

We all went to school to learn. Let’s take a minute as businesspeople to learn again.

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

Ask Yourself…Am I GREAT at Customer Service? Check out our new customer service book at http://www.amigreatat.com/


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