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A Complaint is a Gift - 5/7/24


A complaint is a gift.  Okay, so the complainer is not always a “gift.”  The customer’s delivery of the complaint is sometimes more like a stocking filled with coal than a vase filled with roses.  But this is why we need to be able to differentiate the complaint from Read more

Mastering Confidence in Customer Service - 4/30/24


It’s not what you said…it’s how you said it. If you’ve ever had someone say this to you, raise your hand.  (I just raised my hand) Usually this is being said when someone is upset with you, but regardless of the reason, that phrase illustrates that HOW we say something often Read more

Be Amazing - 4/23/24


Watching Michael Jordan steal a pass and then dunk a basketball is amazing.  Taking a rocket to the moon is amazing.  The taste of my mom’s homemade beef soup is amazing. We all have our personal examples of what is amazing.  Usually, it’s something that we cannot comprehend, that we Read more

Talk About Yourself to Build Customer Confidence - 4/16/24


When you’re dealing with somebody who is anxious or nervous about a situation, a customer who feels like they don’t have much control, an individual who is unsure and uncertain, it’s important to put the customer at ease.  It’s important to build their comfort level.  It’s important to help Read more

The Proven Value in What You Do - 4/9/24


Forbes wrote an article last year based on a compilation of the results of research on customer service and the customer experience; it was titled:  100 Customer Experience Stats For 2023. In reading the article, you’ll note that many of these key research findings are about you – the value Read more

A Tale of Two Texts - 4/2/24


Having to get allergy shots once a week is never fun, and for Janet, it became an even bigger frustration. She had the shots typically scheduled on Tuesday around 10:30 in the morning, figuring she would avoid the morning rush as well as the lunch rush by going mid-morning.  However, Read more

The Secret Sauce for Great Customer Service - 3/26/24


I was working with the League Office for a major American sport several years back, and one of the executives asked me to describe our Secret Sauce that helped our clients improve the fan experience and customer retention.  I gave him a sense of what makes us unique and Read more

The Miracle of an Apology - 3/19/24


Unfortunate but true story… The manager basically lost his mind.  He terminated his employee on the spot.  She had told the customer that there was going to be a delay in the shipment.  The employee called up the customer ahead of time to let the customer know what was about Read more

It’s Not About the 5-Minute Wait - 3/12/24


Robert went into his supervisor’s office to update her on a situation at the payment desk.  Robert said that a customer was about fourth or fifth in line, waiting to be served, and the customer was complaining loudly about the wait.  He was there to make a property tax Read more

Lessons from the Greats - 3/5/24


I was recently facilitating a workshop on the customer experience, and I made the point that it’s usually beneficial to look at your personal life for great experiences; identify what really resonates with you in a positive way in order to uncover ideas to improve your own customer service. So, Read more

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Renew with Research

Posted on June 2, 2010 in Business Advice, Sports Please leave a comment

I was recently involved in a discussion about key strategies for renewing season ticket holders for a professional sports franchise. The basic question was "What best practices are there on renewing 90%+?"

That was a great question to ask. It was great for 2 reasons; first, why reinvent the wheel if there are methods that have worked in the past? Consider utilizing best practices first before developing your additional solutions. The second reason why it was a great question is because it involves an aggressive goal. To hit 90% plus in renewals is tough but achievable – remember, you’re often going to have 5%-7% of your season ticket holders (STHs) move away annually, so your retainable level is maybe 93-95%. Adding in those that have been hammered by the economy, and your retainable target is even lower.

We’ve worked with several pro sports teams, and most of our work has been in increasing retention and growing business with existing STHs. Much of what an organization with this retention goal needs to do focuses on having ongoing touch points throughout the year, leading up to the annual renewal period. When you think of those touches, however, think strategically – there should a purpose to each, whether that purpose is gathering intelligence, providing something of value, addressing a retention driver, or making an offer. Many of those touches should be pre-planned on day 1 and executed throughout the year.

There’s no silver bullet because each season ticket holder (each client) has their own motivator. The key is finding that motivator through research. Don’t view retention like you do marketing. Retention and renewals are done one at a time at a certain point (usually annually), not en masse. The good news is that you have about 9 months every year prior to the renewal cycle to ask and determine their retention driver. It’s a lot easier to address the retention driver if you’ve identified it.

Don’t spend tons of time coming up with the perfect benefit or gimmick or perk; find out what your clients base the renewal decision on first.

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


Customer Service Leads to Customer Involvement in Schools

Posted on May 18, 2010 in Business Advice, Carolinas, Education Please leave a comment

Several South Carolina schools were given "Red Carpet" awards for excellence in customer service. That’s right, high schools, middle schools, elementary, and other school-types received recognition for being "family friendly." An article (http://www2.scnow.com/scp/news/education/article/schools_win_awards_for_family-friendly_atmosphere_customer-focused_service/157334/) published yesterday noted that the winners of these awards received actual red carpets to display in their school lobbies – great form of recognition!

Schools had to describe their "family-friendly philosophies and environments, along with the methods used to promote and self-evaluate those efforts. They also were required to include copies of their school’s communication plan."

Examples of the winning schools included how one school made their library open to the community to use (particularly for internet access); another school opened its gym to community leagues/groups; another ensured it had extra coverage of phones and the front desk during the busiest hours; another increased their bilingual capabilities to match the changing mix of local residents.

It’s wonderful that schools understand and embrace the importance of customer service. The winners realize that they need to create a positive environment through their facility and their people. The examples of winning schools illustrate some key points which apply to any business including: be accessible to your customers to attract them (note the library and gym examples), make sure that you match your staffing to your workload to minimize wait times (note the front desk example), and change your service offerings and the way you do business based on your changing customer base (note the bilingual example).

Customer service is a large part of what customers consider when they’re evaluating any business – even schools.

Learn from these schools to attract customers to you, to minimize customer waits, and to make sure you’re delivering on your customers’ changing needs.

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


G’Day = Good Relationships

Posted on May 13, 2010 in Business Advice, Sports Please leave a comment

An Australian soccer club had an issue. Attendance was poor, and even though they were constantly getting new fans, most went to fewer than four matches per year.

According to a goal.com article (http://www.goal.com/en/news/808/australia/2010/05/10/1917241/exclusive-edwin-lugt-taking-sydney-fc-forward), the Dutch CEO of the club called in a fellow Dutchman and created a position for him called “General Manager, Fan Relationships.” I LOVE THIS TITLE! But even more than the title, this new executive did what you expected someone trying to build fan relationships to do.

According to the CEO “He builds a database with potential new fans, developing strategies, activities to communicate with those fans one-on-one in a targeted way so that we know who the fans are, expanding and enriching the profile so that we know what they want, and targeting activities and communication towards them. You have members, regular fans and incidental fans. The question is: how can we develop them and get them higher on the value chain? In order to do that you’ve got to stimulate them but first you’ve got to know who they are by inviting them to register, via in-stadium activities or stimulating them to pre-purchase, because if they do that online you know who they are and can start communicating with them.”

These are the exact types of strategies that we help our sports (and other industry) clients to implement. Why? Because they work. They take the focus off transactional values and put them on lifetime values. The take the focus off a customer as a number and put the focus on a customer as someone with whom you need to build a relationship for the long-term.

Know your customer, setup an ongoing communication plan with them, address their retention drivers, and grow with them.

Be a relationship developer.

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


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