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Build Goodwill with Co-workers and Customers - 11/10/26


All relationships are different.  We want to have good relationships with co-workers, after all – those are the people we spend the most time with each week.  We want to have good relationships with customers since they’re the ones that provide the revenue and inflows that allow us to Read more

How to Avoid “Groundhog Day” - 11/3/26


It’s Groundhog Day, where you’re living the same day over and over and over again. You have heard basically the same complaint from 4 different customers in the past week.  The bill is incorrect or confusing, and you’re having to spend a ton of time explaining things to the customer. You’ve Read more

Beware of Scary Telephone Customer Service - 10/27/26


As we near the Halloween holiday in the United States, it seems appropriate to discuss examples of scary customer service, particularly on the telephone.  Here are a few common issues that frustrate and annoy customers.  These are experiences to avoid delivering, and alternatives to adopt: The customer calls, describes their Read more

The Art of the Successful Script - 10/20/26


You’re the customer.  You go to the store, and they ask if you have a loyalty card.  You call the doctor’s office, and they ask for your birth date.   You walk up to the counter, and they ask if you found everything you were looking for. These are all valid Read more

The Key Building Block for Your Customer Relationship - 10/13/26


An automotive manufacturer gets supplies for their vehicles from all over the world.  They have arrangements, service level agreements, expectations for timing and quality of all the parts.  And when they gather all these supplies, they assemble the cars.  They test the cars.  Then they take pictures of those Read more

Be Flexible to Fill the Gaps - 10/6/26


The non-profit has the expected challenges.  There are only 3 people in the organization, yet, they have the same responsibilities of a larger company.  They have to do finance, sales, marketing; they deliver their services to the community, and they need to keep a pulse on what’s going on Read more

Is This Good Customer Service? - 9/29/26


A friend of mine reached out to me recently as she waited for the electrical technician to show up at her house to do some minor repairs.  She had never worked with this company before, but they sent a text about the tech who was soon to arrive. The message Read more

Ownership when Fixing Others’ Errors - 9/22/26


We were conducting training with a client recently, and one of the participants, Jackie, is in a role in his organization where he goes out to the customer site to investigate issues, address customer complaints, and fix problems.  While he’s at the site, he often gets an earful from Read more

Why “No” is So Important - 9/15/26


The employee told the caller: “I don’t think that is possible.” The customer eventually hung up, and redialed to ask a different employee the same question. The employee responded to the customer: “That’s probably not the best way to do it.”  Then, the customer kept asking question after question, arguing Read more

It’s Not “You,” It’s “I” - 9/8/26


During a business writing course that I took years ago, the instructor had us write an e-mail.  I can’t recall if it was written to a co-worker or customer, but after writing this e-mail, she had us count every “I” and “You.”  We talked about how we need to Read more

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Why “No” is So Important – 9/15/26

Posted on September 15, 2026 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

The employee told the caller: “I don’t think that is possible.” The customer eventually hung up, and redialed to ask a different employee the same question.

The employee responded to the customer: “That’s probably not the best way to do it.”  Then, the customer kept asking question after question, arguing with the employee that the customer’s approach would work.

The employee reacted with: “I’m sorry, Mr. Smith.  We likely cannot have it done by then.”  The customer asked to talk to the supervisor – somebody they felt could make that timeline happen.

The reality is that the employee knew that the request was not possible, knew that the method proposed by the customer wouldn’t work, knew that the customer’s requested deadline could not be met.  However, the employee phrased that knowledge without certainty or confidence. 

So, You’re Telling Me…

There’s a famous scene in the movie Dumb and Dumber where Jim Carrey’s character is told by someone he’s interested in that there’s “like one out of a million” chance she’d go out with him.  Carrey’s character responds: “So, you’re telling me there’s a chance?”

When “No” is the true answer, but we are not clear on the No, many customers take that as: “So, you’re telling me there’s a chance?”

Professionally Say “No” and Offer a Plan B

There is a way to be professional and say “No.”  There is a phrasing you can use to be empathetic and say “No.”  There’s a way to use the word “No” or “Unfortunately not” or “We cannot,” and have it received well with empathy and with the transition to what might be a Plan B.

Maybe that Plan B does not occur in the exact timeline the customer wants.  Maybe Plan B is not the exact step-by-step process that the customer would like, but if you convey that you’re still getting them to the end goal, they may be more open to the initial No than you realize.

Don’t be afraid to professionally say “No” to the customer.

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It’s Not “You,” It’s “I” – 9/8/26

Posted on September 8, 2026 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

During a business writing course that I took years ago, the instructor had us write an e-mail.  I can’t recall if it was written to a co-worker or customer, but after writing this e-mail, she had us count every “I” and “You.”  We talked about how we need to weight the mix of I/You so the focus was more on You and less on the I.  We needed to make sure that the e-mail’s audience felt like we were focused on them more than ourselves.  Feel that we’re more concerned with sharing information with them, helping them to get their needs met, instead of talking about everything we were doing or focusing on ourselves.

Obviously, the topic at hand can impact what that mix of I and You should be, but her point was really more about the feeling that the reader was taking away from the document.  She wanted the reader to feel like they were important, they were the priority.

The people who are great at customer service know how to use an “I.”  When they’re ending a call with the customer, they ask: Is there anything else I can do to help?

When they’re leaving a planning meeting, they state: Please let me know how I can best support this project.

When there is a complaint, they’ll say: I’m so sorry to hear about the situation.

It’s always best when you’re serving others to use terminology that conveys a focus on that other person.  It’s equally important to use the “I” verbiage when you are conveying your interest in helping, when you are seeking to support the team, when you’re taking responsibility for an issue.

Be conscious of the use of You and I to deliver the right tone in your customer and team conversations.

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Use What the Customer Gives You – 8/25/26

Posted on August 25, 2026 in Customer Service Tip of the Week Please leave a comment

Scenario #1: The customer sent an e-mail to the general inbox at the company.  The message noted that the customer needed to get a family member added to their account, but they couldn’t tell from the website how to do so.

The next morning an employee opened up the e-mail, got the customer’s e-mail address, and created a new message.  The employee thanked the customer for the e-mail, stated that they understood the customer needed some help, and asked what they needed help doing.

Scenario #2: A customer called a pet store asking if they had an item in stock.  The employee said: “We are out of stock, and we just got a shipment in, but I’m not sure when they’ll be unloaded.”

While the customer was still on the phone, the employee could be heard talking to their manager about the shipment.  The manager got on the phone and said: “How can I help you?”

Good v. Great Customer Service

These two scenarios highlight a difference between good and great customer service.  In neither situation was the service bad.  However, in Scenario #1, the customer was explicit about their need, but the response was generic.  Therefore, the customer would have to reiterate their need and wait on the response.  The employee could have done some research, provided an answer in the e-mail, and offered additional information or a follow-up phone call, if needed.

In the second Scenario, the customer was explicit with their question, and the manager was involved in the conversation with one of his employees, but the manager got on the phone with a question that implied they knew nothing about the situation.  Therefore, the customer would have to reiterate their question and wait on the response.

There are customer service handoffs and transitions.  It might be from a generic inbox to an individual representative.  It might be from an employee to a co-worker.  But frustration can occur when the customer took time to convey the specifics, and it’s as if the specifics were ignored.  That they’d have to restate what they already shared.  That their voice wasn’t heard.

Go from good to great by sharing and acting on the information the customer has already given.

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