Articles tagged: "culture"

Practice What You Preach

by Kristina Evey


Dear Employer –

Customer Experience Management has been a hot topic around our company lately.  You have been giving us many motivational talks about it, and there have a been a few “Customer Appreciation” programs, but there is something that would really help us out – leading by example.

Posted in All, EmployeesComments (0)

Is Your Workplace Environment Hurting Your Customer Service Efforts?

by Marilyn Suttle


My coauthor and I were incredibly fortunate to spend a year interviewing customer service superstars – the leaders and front line staff of ten highly successful companies who excel in customer care – when we were writing “Who’s Your Gladys?” After writing our book, I was invited to assist with and participate in a spectacular train-the-trainer program run by America’s “Number #1 Success Coach” Jack Canfield. This year-long intense training is allowing me to learn and teach the success principles developed by Jack over the last 30+ years. It’s exciting to notice how the lessons I’m learning from Jack parallel the interviews from the company leaders featured in ”Who’s Your Gladys?”

Posted in All, Customer PerspectiveComments (0)

Three things you can do to improve customer service

by Kevin Stirtz


As I work with companies to help them improve their customer service, some things stand out. These are things a lot of organizations don’t do consistently. Yet if they did they’d find the quality of their customer service would improve and their customer loyalty would increase.

1. Know what your customers want.

The first thing is to make sure you really know what your customers want. I know this sounds too basic to even talk about. But I’m continually amazed at how many organizations make assumptions about what their customers want without asking them.

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How to make customer service a priority

by Kevin Stirtz


In most organizations there is at least one person who believes in the importance of delivering Amazing customer service. But for it to work, it takes a whole team. So a customer service champion needs to get others on the team to make it a priority.

There are a couple ways to do this. The two I like best are fundamental, not overly complicated. I call the first one: “Show me the money!”

Posted in All, Featured, TipsComments (0)

Minnesota auto dealer makes a bad deal worse

by Kevin Stirtz


When I was a kid, a local car dealer had long-running advertising campaign centered on the tagline: “A better car deal – we wrote the book!”

Recently, another Minnesota car dealer made a good start writing a different kind of book. This one might be called: “How to drive customers away by the busload.”

Posted in All, NewsComments (0)

What kind of customer are you?

by Kevin Stirtz


Sometimes people who focus on improving customer service forget that the lessons apply to everyone. This includes when we are customers. Here’s what I mean.

Remember, the three requirements of an Amazing customer experience are:

1. Treat me well
2. Help me accomplish what I want
3. Offer me value

Posted in All, ExperienceComments (0)

Don’t let automatic customers become invisible customers

by Kevin Stirtz


Here is your Daily Dose of Amazing Service:

Don’t let automatic customers become invisible customers

And here are some additional thoughts on this topic…

At some point we are all automatic customers. Whether it’s a fitness club membership, an insurance policy, a banking relationship or a cell phone account, we all have companies that expect us to show up every month.  Whether by contract or inertia, we continue to do business with them every month until we take action to stop.

Posted in All, ExperienceComments (0)

Nordstrom’s makes customer service look easy

by Greta Schulz


Recently, after two full days of training, I met a few friends in the female shopping wonderland called Chicago. Boy, that Magnificent Mile sure is named appropriately!

After sharing my “wealth” with lots of different retail stores, I found a neat little boutique.

I tried on several pairs of pants (because god knows I need more) and found a fabulous pair that fit me like a glove. After I bought them, my friends and I quickly realized that we had overextended our stay and needed to hightail it to the airport – or we would be staying yet another day in “the wonderland.” Neither my pocketbook – nor, for that matter, my marriage – could sustain another day of that. We made it, and the rest, as they say, is history. I woke up the next day and put on my new fabulous pants, only to discover that the security tag was left on the leg of them. To say I was angry was an understatement!

Posted in All, ExperienceComments (0)

The 20 Myths of Customer Service

by Barry Moltz


What is the big deal around customer service? It’s easy right? There are 4 steps:

1. Be personable and gracious toward all customers
2. Treat every person with dignity and respect.
3. Listen to the customers’ needs and point of view.
4. Provide customers with everything they expect and more.

Then implement these principles in corporate missions and goals. Train people for a day on how it works and BAM! Instant happy customers, right? Well no.

Customer service is so hard because we run our companies by customer service myths we do not question and are not true:

Posted in All, AttitudeComments (1)

Social media rescues customers before company does

by Kevin Stirtz


Yesterday evening my anti-virus software went crazy. It started finding viruses all over my netbook. After several hours of banging my head against our kitchen table, with no success in cleaning up the problem, I turned to my good friend Google for help. There I discovered (to my great relief) that there was no virus on my computer. Instead, my anti-virus software had a problem.

I learned this because millions of others were having the same experience. Because many of them were discussing it online I was able to conclude that it was a software malfunction that would soon be fixed by the software vendor.

What I find shockingly sad is

Posted in All, TechnologyComments (3)

Customer Service Quote for November 30, 2009

by Kevin Stirtz


“Anything that we can do to help foster the intellect and spirit and emotional growth of our fellow human beings, that is our job…Life is for service.”

-Fred Rogers

Posted in All, TipsComments (0)

Make sure your service HELPS your customers

by Kevin Stirtz


Library customer service

The last time I got an email from my library it was about an overdue book. The email arrived a couple days AFTER the book was overdue. It also explained how I owed a fine for not returning the book by its due date.

Every month, about 3 days BEFORE my payment is due, my credit card company sends me a reminder of my due date.

Posted in All, ExperienceComments (0)

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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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