by Kevin Stirtz Recently my friends Chip Bell and John Patterson shared with me this story of amazing service. It’s from their friend and client, Katy Wild. Chip and John call it “Boston Style Customer Service.” “Recently I lost my purse while traveling and then found it, thankfully, but not before missing my plane. So, I had 4 hours to kill in the Tulsa airport waiting for the next flight. While in the airport, the man at the shoe shine stand started a conversation and wanted to know if I needed my shoes shined. What else was I going to [...]
Attitude
Think about how we often describe our customers. We might label them as difficult, angry, rude, uninformed, arrogant, etc. (Sometimes we use terms like friendly, warm, engaging and so on.) On one level this seems useful. It might help us decide how to handle certain customers in specific situations. But labels can also cause problems. Labels can get in the way of better customer service. When we label people we tend to focus on the label. We see the customer through that filter. Everything they do or say gets colored by the label we attach to them. Yet to give [...]
A while ago I wrote about a book called: “Choosing Civility”. One thing I like about the book is that it puts the responsibility for change on us, not on others, Even the title says it well. It reminds us we have the ability to choose how we act. Since my job is to help companies increase customer loyalty, this thrills me. Because the best way to increase customer loyalty is to treat your customers well every time with no exceptions. You need to deliver what I call “Amazing Service”. And to do this means you and your employees need [...]
Over the past few years I’ve been lucky. I have been reminded of the most important thing we can all do to be more successful in our businesses, our careers and our personal lives. Treat everyone well. It’s a simple lesson but easily forgotten. Or maybe, for some, it was never learned. I admit to neglecting this rule more than once in my career. Maybe because it’s so simple, we disregard its value and its power. I have been fortunate to witness this rule in its full glory. The best examples have been given by my parents and my wife. [...]
There I was, standing in the Burnsville Post Office, staring at a pile of work. I had 21 books to mail that each required 5 stamps. (Yes, that’s 105 stamps total.) It was 5:36 pm and the deadline for pickup that day was 5:45. The clock was ticking so loud I could barely think straight. I felt dizzy and unsure of myself. There was no way I was going to get these stamped and in the mail slot in time. Arrggh! Then, through the door walked the answer to my dilemma, though I didn’t yet realize it. She walked past [...]
As we left the Cracker Barrel that night, I asked my wife how she would rate our customer experience as we paid for our meal. “Two thumbs down” she replied in microseconds. We were on the same page. It was a horrible experience. While the food and overall experience in Cracker Barrels are frighteningly consistent, the interaction with the employees offers more variety than their breakfast menu. This most recent experience left us slightly stunned at how blatantly bad it was. But, being a “lemons into lemonade” kind of guy, I have extracted some customer service lessons from this. Here [...]
I was standing in line at my favorite sub shop. I cringed every time the guy next to me spoke. “I want tomatoes, onions and hot mustard.” Seconds later: “Gimme more pickles.” And then “Make sure you don’t get that other stuff on my sandwich.” (Exactly what “other stuff” did he mean??) In a five minute stretch he gave two commands, issued four orders and made three extra requests. He did it all with a sour look on his face and not a “thank you” or “please” in sight. Not once did he even try to sound conversational, courteous or [...]
Recently I learned something about customer service from a London cabbie. Actually I met the cabbie two years ago. But it wasn’t until a few weeks ago I fully understood the lesson he taught me. It was spring 2008 and I was spending a week in London doing training for a client. Because I was not driving in London (I could barely walk across the street without getting killed – seriously) I used a cab to get around. To make things easier, I engaged the services of the same cabbie the whole time I was there. This thrilled my cabbie. [...]
A foundation of my philosophy (in business and in the rest of my life) is that we need to treat everyone well. Another way to look at this is we’re here to serve others. And the best way to serve others (or at least, the best way to start) is by putting others first. This means treating them with courtesy, dignity and kindness. It also means putting their interests ahead of ours. This is one of those things my friend Jim Leslie, would describe as “says easy, does hard”. It sounds simple enough but it can be challenging. It’s especially [...]
I while ago, my wife and I traveled to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). It was a wonderful trip where we mixed business, fun, the thrill of seeing new places and the warmth of making new friends. But, as we stood in line to re-enter the USA I reflected on how tired I was (tired of flying) and how good it felt to be home. One of the reasons it felt so good was highlighted by the U.S. Customs agent who welcomed us home. Just ahead of us in line was a young man traveling alone. The customs agent noticed he was [...]
