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Highlight the Hidden Value - 7/1/25


Marketing campaigns often highlight a particular product and ALL the features and extras that the customer will receive… “For 3 low, low payments of only $39.99, you not only get these world-renowned chef knives, but you can also get this free laser-etched spatula!  AND THAT’S NOT ALL!  We will also Read more

Don’t Harp on the Customer’s Mistake - 6/24/25


Seth’s daughter, Sarah, had missed some swim classes, and Seth remembered that the aquatics center had several make-up classes available late in the summer.  So Seth pulled up the class schedule on his phone, found one that worked on his and Sarah’s schedules, and planned to attend a session Read more

Create Customers for Life - 6/17/25


Veronica has gone to the same automotive service shop for at least 20 years.  She bought a new car about a year ago, and this is the third car she’s brought to the shop instead of taking her car to the dealer where she bought it.  She’s had three Read more

Don’t Turn the Customer into the QA Department - 6/10/25


Roberta received a form with information filled in by the company after her conversation with the account rep.  Roberta just needed to review the information, fill in some of the blanks, sign it, and resend it in order to set up a new account. She noticed that the effective date Read more

Imitate to Improve - 6/3/25


Oscar Wilde said that “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”  Now this doesn’t mean that plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery.  Nor does it mean that great impersonators such as Rich Little, Dana Carvey, or Frank Caliendo are always offering flattering portrayals of those that they imitate. Wilde’s Read more

How the Customer Perceives a Truth as a Lie - 5/27/25


You’re the customer, you’re asking about an unused item that you’re returning, and you hear the employee say: “The refund process takes 7-10 days.”  You’re thinking: “Great!  I can get the refund check as early as a week from today!”  The reality is that the company means that they’ll Read more

Tell Customers What’s Next - 5/20/25


In most businesses that have been around for a while, how a process was originally designed is not how it currently operates.  Sometimes this change is referred to as “practical drift,” where the actual process moves further and further away from the documented steps over time.  Maybe the changes Read more

Questions to Guide You to Empathy - 5/13/25


“If I was him, I would do ABC…” If you’ve ever heard somebody say this - whether it’s a friend or acquaintance, whether it’s some TV reporter or podcaster - you may get as frustrated or as annoyed as I do. I get annoyed because we are not that other person. Read more

Negate the Nervousness - 5/6/25


The customer needed a loan, so he walked into the bank, but he was a little nervous.  He knew that launching his business would be easier if he had some working capital, but that’s about all he knew.  He was anxious because he didn’t know what to expect in Read more

Don’t Rush to Resolve Quickly - 4/29/25


The customer is angry, so you use the CSS LEAD technique as designed.  You, listen, empathize, accept responsibility, and deliver on a remedy.  But it doesn’t work.  The customer is still upset, and maybe even a little more frustrated than when you started…why?! If the use of this technique fails, Read more

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Govern Strategically for Great Customer Service

Posted on July 13, 2010 in Business Advice, Government Please leave a comment

When working with a government agency recently, we were planning to customize customer service training content for them. During the course of the training development interviews we conducted, it became clear that customer service training had never been done before at the agency. Customer service skills were not addressed in the organization’s hiring processes. Customer service was not part of the organization’s reward system, and customer service only briefly appeared on the staff performance evaluations.

Yet, management sincerely stated that customer service was important. It was important that customers were treated with respect, that the residents felt they were important, that upset customers got their issues addressed professionally, and that staff could appropriately address each customer based on that unique customer’s characteristics and needs.

So why was there the disconnect between management wanting to have great customer service and their doing what needed to be done to get great customer service?

Assuming the sincerity of the management team, the answer had to lie in the organization’s leaders not really knowing HOW to get great customer service. In the past, most businesses assumed that employees were generally nice, respectful, caring, and communicative people. Customer service is just common sense, and everybody knows how to deliver customer service, right? Those particularly assumptions were wrong then, and they’re REALLY wrong now.

For organizations to go from wanting great customer service to delivering great customer service, they need to understand strategically how to do so. It’s about the culture, the hiring, the training, the rewards, the accountability, the processes, the organization’s goals, the management team’s support and modeling of great customer service behaviors, and much more.

If you ever feel a disconnect between what your management says they want in customer service and what the organization actually delivers, have them take a step back, and start with a strategy.

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/


Be an Everybody Business

Posted on June 18, 2010 in Business Advice, Carolinas, World of Customer Service Please leave a comment

Pizza…Yum! I was getting a takeout order at Hawthorne’s Pizza in Charlotte, NC, for the first time. As I walked in, the hostesses greeted me with a smile, asked how they could help, and showed me to the counter where I could pick up my order. As I approached the counter, two staff walking by made eye contact, smiled and said hello. I was greeted by an employee at the counter who asked how he could help – he smiled, confirmed my order, noted he’d get my order together and get right back to me. As I stood for a few seconds, I noticed that ALL the employees were moving, working, processing orders, taking food out to the tables…and smiling.

They were having pleasant conversations with each other and operating efficiently at the same time. Another employee walked up to me and asked if I had been helped. When the individual who was getting my order came back, he took the credit card, engaged me in light discussion, and closed the conversation with a smile and appreciation.

As I turned to walk away, another employee walked past me, made eye contact, smiled and said hello, and as I walked out of the restaurant, the hostesses smiled again, thanking me for coming in, and holding the door open for me.

I was in the restaurant less than 5 minutes, but one thing was obvious. This was an “Everybody Business.” Everybody smiled. Everybody worked efficiently. Everybody engaged me. Everybody seemed to be having fun with what they were doing and/or with each other.

When you experience an Everybody Business, you have to realize that this is not by accident. It’s by design. To have everybody operating in the same positive manner – naturally, smiling, engaging customers – that happens only because management wants it to happen. They hire staff with that attitude, train them on how to interact, and model those behaviors themselves.

They don’t leave it to chance that you’ll get good service with Employee “A”, but you could get bad service from Employee “B”. They don’t want that risk. They want to be an Everybody Business so that every customer has the same great experience.

Be an Everybody Business.

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


Make Service a Habit

Posted on June 17, 2010 in Business Advice, World of Customer Service Please leave a comment

You need to do it. You want to do it. Do it.

In life, there are three levels of action. First, you do things because you need to do them. Next, you do things because you want to do them. Lastly, you just do things – they’re a habit.

When most organizations want to get a culture focused on customer service, one way they try to drive that culture home is to put some points of accountability in place. Typically it’s something in a performance evaluation or a customer survey that rates how effectively an employee is providing service. This gets staff to serve in a certain manner because they NEED to in order to get a rating or not get “dinged” on their evaluation.

Many organizations create incentives to drive customer-oriented service behaviors. They do this so that staff will WANT to provide good customer service. Employers also look to hire staff with an orientation that is very customer-focused. They look to hire employees who naturally WANT to help others.

But beyond the need-based and want-based efforts to deliver good service, companies need to strive for the third level of service delivery – it needs to become a habit. It becomes a habit when staff intuitively act to serve. They naturally act in a way that’s focused on and interested in the customer. They are not making mental decisions on whether or not to serve because they need to or want to; they serve because it’s just how they act; it’s a habit.

Think about your habits – good or bad. Where did they come from? They probably came from the role models you had, they came from your practicing something repeatedly, they came from your doing something the same way over a long period of time, they came from doing something simple rather than complex, and they were reinforced from the results you received.

When you’re attempting to foster a culture of service, don’t just convince staff they need to serve or try to make them want to serve. Help them to make it a habit.

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


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