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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

Empathy Examples for Everyday Situations - 12/10/24


I’ve often said that empathy is the single most important characteristic of people who are great at customer service.  If empathy is essentially “to understand the other person,” it helps so much to have that ability in order to specifically help someone.  To talk to what’s unique about them.  Read more

Tell Them Why You’re Giving Thanks - 12/3/24


Thank you! Merci! Danke! Doumo! Gracias! It seems like every language has a translation of Thank You.  Even though I only fluently speak English and speak Spanish, un poco, I – and probably most of you – have heard some or all of the translations of "Thank You” noted above.  Read more

Refine Your Decision-making Process - 11/26/24


Every day, you make decisions of what to do and what not to do.  And in the world of customer service, often the affected parties are our customers, our co-workers, and our company.  Here are a few quotes to consider when you’re thinking about evaluating and refining your decision-making Read more

Acting on the Guiding Principles for Great Customer Service - 11/19/24


In last week’s tip, we shared 5 Guiding Principles for Great Customer Service.  This week, let’s address what “taking action” looks like on those key principles.  If last week was about what to do and WHY, this week is about the HOW. Engage with Interest: To engage with interest, proactively Read more

Guiding Principles for Great Customer Service - 11/12/24


It’s hard to know every procedure, every policy, every technique possible to handle every situation correctly.  After all, maybe our procedures are standard, but our customers are not.  Maybe our policies stay pretty consistent, but our customers’ needs and issues, their attitudes and actions can change from customer to Read more

From a Simple Question to an Exceptional Experience - 11/5/24


Phyllis loves her job.  It’s not just because she loves being a customer service representative, not just because she really likes her co-workers, and not just because she enjoys her company.  It’s because she really appreciates her customers, as well. A customer had ordered a register book off the company Read more

Fix One Problem without Creating Another - 10/29/24


If you’ve ever had an issue with your dishwasher, this will sound familiar.  I’ve dealt with so many dishwashers over the years, and they always seem to have some kind of an issue.  Maybe it’s because of the mix of water and technology, but for whatever reason, these never Read more

Delight Your Customers - 10/22/24


Buddy the Bug Man was different.  His company was new, and the only reason why Janet tried him out was that the service she had used for years just wasn’t working.  Whether it was mosquitoes in the yard, ants in the kitchen, or cockroaches flying through on their way Read more

A More Complete Definition of Responsiveness - 10/15/24


I was purchasing something recently that was being custom-developed.  At one point, the company’s employee and I had a good 20 e-mails going back and forth - 10 from each of us.  Unfortunately, I broke my own rule, and I did not pick up the phone after 2 or Read more

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Put an End to 1-Star Ratings – 1/25/22

Posted on January 25, 2022 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

If you ever had service performed on your car, I would not doubt it if you received the immediate e-mail asking for that 5-star rating. They want the big ratings because that makes them look good, and to get the big average rating you have to avoid the 1-Star ratings.  And it’s not just vehicle service centers; we’re inundated with requests for ratings in many aspects of our lives.

Granted, most 1-Star ratings are probably because the customer did not get their needs met, their question answered, or they had a bad experience.  I’m sure many low ratings are legitimate, while many others are not truly worthy of only 1-Star. But wouldn’t it be great if we could avoid getting 1-Star ratings in the first place?!

Uncover Potential Low Ratings before They Leave

Remember that most customers who have an issue with the company will not complain to the company.  So, if you’re talking to that customer or sending them an e-mail or engaging them in an online chat (or even meeting them face-to-face), if you want to get a sense for whether you’re going to get that 1-Star rating, ask for feedback before the end:

  • Did you get your needs met?
  • Did you get your questions answered?
  • Do you have any questions or concerns before you leave?
  • Did you have a good experience today?

 
If you ask the question before you end the conversation, great things can happen.  If there is an issue, they may give you a chance to resolve it.  If you resolve it, you have a better chance to keep the customer, and you have a chance to raise the 1-Star to 2, 3, or 4.

And you get one more perk.  It’s likely that most of your customers are satisfied with their experience.  Therefore, the more you ask for feedback, the more accolades, pats on the back, smiles, and “thank yous” you’ll get!

Put an End to 1-Star Ratings; in the moment, ask for and act on feedback.

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In Survey Development, Think in Reverse – 1/11/22

Posted on January 11, 2022 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

We often meet with clients interested in conducting a survey, and when we discuss the project, many clients come with questions in-hand.  They are interested, curious, even excited sometimes about the possibility of tapping into the voice of the customer!

And when we review their questions and start to see the direction they’re heading with the topics, we invariably pause the conversation and ask them to take a step back.  Overall:  What is the goal of the research?  What are they hoping to learn?  How will they act on the results?

Even for their drafted questions, we ask them to take a step back and think about each question:

  • What do you expect to learn from the responses?
  • If the customers say they want “A,” are they going to expect that we act on their response?
  • If the responses say “this doesn’t work,” what are we going to do with that information?
  • How are we going to use the response for prioritizing some operations improvement, helping with strategic planning, or enhancing the customer experience?
  • What’s the goal of asking that question?

 
When clients start with their questions in-hand, we make inquiries like those above.  Essentially, we are trying to get the client to reverse their thinking.  Instead of starting with their questions, we want to them to (1) Start with the Goal, then (2) Go back to how they would Act on the Results, then (3) Go back to the Data they Need, and finally (4) Determine how to Word the Question.

If they work through this process correctly, it will result in a question worded to get actionable data to achieve the goal.  If they start with the question, it may result in an unusable set of answers.

Develop surveys in reverse.  Start with your goal and gradually work your way back to the question.

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It Matters How They Heard About You – 8/10/21

Posted on August 10, 2021 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

In the 1,000+ surveys that CSS has conducted over the past 20 years, it’s interesting to read how our clients’ customers heard about them.  This question is typically asked of first-time customers, and it’s especially helpful for those customers because you don’t typically have a lot of information on them, so it’s hard to categorize them, align them with your customer personas, or get a feel for what they expect.

So, it’s great when those first-time customers will answer that question, because how they heard about you matters.  It gives you a strong sense of what they expect.

It tells you what method of communication (website, an advertisement, word-of-mouth, etc.) made an impression in the customer’s mind – a positive enough impression for them to contact your business.

It also helps you to understand what expectation the customer has of the experience they’re about to have with your business.  If it’s a website referral, your site has certain expectations it’s setting about the products you have or what the customer is about to experience.  If it’s a word-of-mouth referral, they have expectations based on a friend who actually experienced your business.  If it’s an ad, it’s an expectation based on the product or event or characteristic that you promoted and what expectation your ad set.

To take this analysis a step further, ask the customer “What about the – ad, friend’s referral, website – brought you in today?”  This will encourage them to tell you more specifically what they expect.  And the more precisely you know the customer’s expectations, the more precisely you can meet and exceed them.

Ask the customer where they heard of your business; ask what brought them to your business.  Then exceed that expectation.

Uncover your first-time customers’ expectations.

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