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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

Have a Game Plan to Address Their Anxiety - 10/8/24


It seems like we all get deliveries - whether it is UPS, USPS, FedEx, Amazon, the local courier, or all the above.  We order.  They deliver.  Or do they? It’s times like these, when we’re expecting that package, that item that we’re looking forward to or need urgently or are Read more

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

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How Fast are Your Customers Churning?

Posted on January 25, 2011 in Business Advice, World of Customer Service Please leave a comment

In the TMC.net article titled A Challenge for T-Mobile: Reducing Sky-High Customer Churn Rates, author Tracey Schelmetic discusses the high turnover rate of customers at T-Mobile and what the company is doing about it. Essentially, over 2% of customers leave their long-term contracts monthly, or about 25% per year. To address that, the organization is going to make several changes – the first of which is tying executive compensation to customer turnover.

So this article begs the question for every company – what is your customer churn rate? I know every business has a Profit & Loss statement that shows top line revenues, but what percentage of the customers that produced those revenues last year are producing revenues for you this year? How much money did you lose last year that you have to backfill with new business this year?

Let’s just say it’s 25%. What is that in terms of dollars? How much effort has to be put into place by your Sales & Marketing forces to attract that level of dollars in new business – just to get you back to where you were last year?

Any business – large or small – needs to know their customer churn rate, their revenue loss. When you do, you begin to realize the true financial impact of customer retention. You begin to understand the importance of every interaction with customers. You begin to define how you can improve your bottom line by improving your customer service.

So how fast are your customers churning?

Read our New Book – “Ask Yourself…Am I GREAT at Customer Service?” http://www.amigreatat.com/

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


An Ice Cream Cone and a Princess – Lessons from Disney

Posted on January 20, 2011 in Business Advice Please leave a comment

The little girl was with her family at Disney World for the first time. She had just sat down to have her ice cream cone, and was wearing a princess outfit which was bought just for this special trip.

As she started to eat, the ice cream fell off the top of her cone onto her dress, and then onto the floor. As the tears started to well-up, the mother took her daughter to the restroom to get cleaned up.

When they went back to their table, they noticed two “cast members” standing at the table, and the other family members were there as well. The ice cream had already been cleaned up by the employees, and they asked if she was the girl whose ice cream had fallen. When she replied “yes,” one of the employees said “please come with me,” and the employee took the little girl’s hand, walked with the mother and child to the counter, and greeted the employee making the cone saying “This princess had an ice cream cone, and it fell. Can you please give her whatever she’d like?”

“I would be happy to,” replied the other employee, and the girl was thrilled to get a new cone.

There are LOTS of lessons to be learned here. First, the employees spotted the issue because they were looking for opportunities to engage and help customers. They proactively addressed the other family members. They immediately cleaned up the mess without having to be asked. They were patient in waiting for the child to return. They clarified what had happened. They used respectful phrases in addressing the customer. They quickly provided an alternative product, communicating well with co-workers.

I know…it was just an ice cream cone.

But think about your company. Where are there issues, whether caused by your organization or the customer themselves? How do you deal with these issues?

Are you looking to help customers? Are you proactive in engaging customers? Do you address issues without having to be asked by the customer? Are you patient with them? Do you clarify the issue instead of making assumptions? Are you respectful in how you address customers, particularly in these situations? Do you quickly remedy issues, working as a team for the customer?

Ask yourself these questions, and then learn a little lesson from a Disney Princess.

Read our New Book – “Ask Yourself…Am I GREAT at Customer Service?” http://www.amigreatat.com/

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


How I Gave Away $5,000 in Free Consulting…and Didn’t Even Know It

Posted on January 19, 2011 in Business Advice, World of Customer Service Please leave a comment

I was giving a speech to the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce last year to small business owners, and a client came to co-present with me. The focus of the talk was Driving Customer Retention and Growth, and I was there to talk strategy, and my client talked about how his organization implemented that strategy – how it worked.

After the meeting, many of those in attendance came up to me for a chat, and it was great hearing their stories and learning about some of the points they particularly liked, but one attendee made an especially big impression. He said to me “I feel like you just gave me $5,000 of free consulting!” He smiled, I smiled, we talked some more, and we both walked away happy.

Should I have been happy? It would have been nice, of course, to have been paid for the guidance provided, but that wasn’t the point. The point was that I wanted to share something of value. If they could take it and run on their own – then great! If they needed more outside support, I was there to help.

So yes, I was and should have been happy.

What’s the point to you?

Building and maintaining client relationships is not all about “What’s in it for me?” as the service provider. It’s about “What’s in it for the customer?” If our constant focus is how we can help our customers to have a great experience or for them to be successful, then what we decide to do changes. We become more concerned with learning about our customers, their needs, goals, and preferences. We become more concerned with their satisfaction. We become more concerned with offering something of value, even if it doesn’t obviously benefit us. We become more concerned with them than we are with ourselves.

And when the customer senses that caring and concern, they are more attracted to us, more loyal to us, and more willing to refer to us. Oh, and yes, I did get business as a result of that speech – from a different attendee.

So there’s a benefit to us by our focusing on them.

Find a way to give for the sake of giving, and you’ll be surprised what you receive back.

Read our New Book – “Ask Yourself…Am I GREAT at Customer Service?” http://www.amigreatat.com/

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


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