Customer Service Articles: Loyalty

Opportunity (for Better Customer Service)

Opportunity (for Better Customer Service)

by Shep Hyken

“If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.”

-Milton Berle (A very funny and smart man!)

Speaking of opportunity, here is an idea that will give you the opportunity to look like a star. You’ve heard of a Customer Service department. How about a Proactive Service department?

This idea is not really new. Companies and people have been doing this all along. It may not be an official department. As a matter of fact, it is common sense. Here are several examples of what I am referring to:

Posted in All, Loyalty1 Comment

Great customer service lesson from McClures’s Pickles

Great customer service lesson from McClures’s Pickles

by Laurie Brown

Recently I went to the Royal Oak Farmers Market. I was happy to see that the wonderful folks from McClure’s Pickles were there again.

A few weeks ago I tasted their fabulous pickles and bought a jar. My husband and I were overloaded with goodies and the bag that dropped right by our car was the one that contained those pickles. The jar was smashed into smithereens and we wrapped it in plastic to get it to the garbage at home. The car had the wonderful aroma of pickles but we didn’t get to eat any.

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Seven reasons why customer relationships matter to your business

Seven reasons why customer relationships matter to your business

by Jim Logan

Without need for build-up, here’s the point of this post:  Customer relationships matter because they create loyalty.

Customer loyalty represents the opportunity for predictable and profitable growth.  If you don’t care about those thing, there’s no reason to care about your customers.  In fact, if you’re not interested in predictable and profitable growth, simply abandon the customers you have and try to make up the revenue with continual new customer acquisition.

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Attracting Loyalty from the New Customer – Part 5

Attracting Loyalty from the New Customer – Part 5

by Chip Bell

(By Chip R. Bell and John R. Patterson)

This is part 5 in a 5 part series on how to attract loyalty from customers in our new and changed world.

There are five key loyalty drivers we find fit most customers most of the time about most services.

Here is driver #5:

Inspire Me

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Attracting Loyalty from the New Customer – Part 4

Attracting Loyalty from the New Customer – Part 4

by Chip Bell

(By Chip R. Bell and John R. Patterson)

This is part 4 in a 5 part series on how to attract loyalty from customers in our new and changed world.

There are five key loyalty drivers we find fit most customers most of the time about most services.

Here is driver #4:

Surprise Me

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Attracting Loyalty from the New Customer – Part 3

Attracting Loyalty from the New Customer – Part 3

by Chip Bell

(By Chip R. Bell and John R. Patterson)

This is part 3 in a 5 part series on how to attract loyalty from customers in our new and changed world.

There are five key loyalty drivers we find fit most customers most of the time about most services.

Here is driver #3:

Understand Me

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Attracting Loyalty from the New Customer – Part 2

Attracting Loyalty from the New Customer – Part 2

by Chip Bell

(By Chip R. Bell and John R. Patterson)

This is part 2 in a 5 part series on how to attract loyalty from customers in our new and changed world.

There are five key loyalty drivers we find fit most customers most of the time about most services.

Here is driver #2:

Protect Me

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Attracting Loyalty from the New Customer – Part 1

Attracting Loyalty from the New Customer – Part 1

by Chip Bell

(By Chip R. Bell and John R. Patterson)

The landscape of customer loyalty has been re-contoured! Today’s customers are not like they use to be twenty-five years ago. First, customers get terrific service in pockets of their life and use those experiences to judge everyone else. When the UPS or FedEx delivery person walks with a sense of urgency, we expect the mail carrier to do likewise. Customers also have way more choices than ever before.  A quick trip to the grocery store for a simple loaf of bread and you are confronted with 16 brands and 23 varieties packaged 12 different ways. Two decades ago sliced bread came one way—white—produced by either Wonder or Sunbeam!

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Stop lowering your prices. Raise your customer service

Stop lowering your prices. Raise your customer service

by Laurie Brown

Prakash Sadagopan, Director of Product Strategy at Converges recently spoke at the OSS/BSS Asia Pacific Summit. His report was ground breaking. Through research he found that the customer’s experience was as important as the product being sold, and more important than brand or price.

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T-Mobile vs. the customer: Round five (the wrap-up)

T-Mobile vs. the customer: Round five (the wrap-up)

by Kevin Stirtz

This is the final post in a short series that describes my recent experience as a T-Mobile customer.

The situation started with my goal of upgrading my phone to a newer model but at a price that was no more than what a new customer would pay. Since I have been a loyal customer for almost 8 years, this seemed like a reasonable request. You can read the most recent prior article (Round four) here.

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T-Mobile vs. the customer: Round four (getting stood-up)

T-Mobile vs. the customer: Round four (getting stood-up)

by Kevin Stirtz

This is the fourth in a series of articles that detail my recent experience as a T-Mobile customer. As an 8 year customer, my goal is to upgrade my phone without paying more than a new customer would pay for the same phone.  You can see the prior article here.

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T-Mobile vs. the customer: Round three (the foul-up)

T-Mobile vs. the customer: Round three (the foul-up)

by Kevin Stirtz

This is the third in a short series of posts detailing my experience as a T-Mobile customer. My goal was to upgrade my phone without paying more than a new customer would. (Since I’ve been a T-Mobile customer for 8 years, it only seems fair.)  You can read round two here.

Round one was fast and smooth and earned T-Mobile 3 points. Round two was not as happy as they lost 5 points putting them 2 points under water.

Posted in All, Loyalty2 Comments

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Service Recovery

Are Your Customer Service Recoveries Really Recoveries?

Recently my wife picked up dinner for 4 on the way home from work. We had ordered online from Swiss Chalet (Canadian Rotisserie chicken franchise). Swiss Chalet is known for their dipping sauce, which is included with every signature meal.

When she arrived home, we discovered that the “special sauce” was not included in the order.

I called the order desk to report this lapse and the conversation went something like this.

Technology

Customer service and Twitter

The popular notion stating that if a customer receives poor service, he/she will tell nine other people, has been grossly out of date since the advent of the Internet. In reality, customers can electronically tell millions of people about their experiences. And now, with Twitter, people can tell others about their experiences as they happen.

Feedback

How to get amazing online reviews from your customers

More and more customers are going online before AND after they do business with a company. They’re getting smart about using online tools to make the best decision about who they do business with.

To thrive in this new world of connected customers you need to do more than ever to make sure your customers get the experience they want. If you do this well you can leverage the power of online feedback and reviews to grow your business. If you fail at this, the online chatter about your business can tarnish your reputation both online and off.

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