What is the future of customer service? Customer service is vital to the survival of any business, as it is your chance to listen to your customers and either address problems or enhance positives. This is a big part of the job of any business leader, and learning about this can start with a top education from the Gannon Online MBA Degree Program Related to this is an upcoming event hosted by Dell, next Monday (June 25, 2012) where we will talk about the importance and the future of customer service. The event is called a “Think Tank” and is [...]
Customer Experience
In this video, Ross Shafer talks about an amazing customer experience he had at a well known hotel brand. The story is both funny and inspiring. But there’s something in the story that stands out and, in my opinion, tarnished the brand’s image. In the video it’s just a funny aside but in the real world it can make a big difference to companies and customers. About midway through the video, Ross is sharing with us how he talked to several people at the hotel about this wonderful employee. And each time he gave his glowing feedback to someone, they asked [...]
When Dave Carroll was finally told by a United Airlines employee he would get no reimbursement for his broken guitar (and that it was his fault) he began a journey that even he never imagined. His goal at that time was to write three songs about how United Airlines broke his guitar. He had hoped to reach a million people with his story. Instead, he reached 100 million people, he has elevated his profile as a singer/song writer (a talented one too) and he has become something of a celebrity in the world of customer service. Oh, and he has [...]
Last week I was interviewed by Daniel Bortz, a writer for Entrepreneur.com. He asked my opinion on some things small businesses can do to keep their customers coming back. The ideas in his article focused on tactics that most small businesses can do and can be made easier using technology tools. The suggestions centered on connecting with your customer and understanding what they want from you and your business. Our daily, routine interactions with customers give us opportunities to know them better and to communicate with them better. But we have to make the effort. We have to pay attention. [...]
Whew! Black Friday 2011 is now behind us. We can all relax and catch our breaths. And then get on with the rest of our holiday season. Personally, I think the whole idea Black Friday is way over done. But that’s just my personal opinion. What’s important (much more important than my personal opinion) is that it’s a very real phenomenon. And it’s (apparently) here to stay. So when I think of Black Friday I can’t help wondering how the day went for most people. Was it a good customer experience? A bad one? Somewhere in the middle? Was it [...]
Many competitive industries rely on low prices and heavy discounting to attract and keep customers. But this strategy is not the only one that can help you increase customer loyalty. Even in a highly price competitive business, customer service can beat low prices. This article shares a perfect example of how one dry cleaner lost a customer by giving them a horrible experience. It also shows how another dry cleaner in the same market stands out by adding a personal touch to the customer service they offer. When Customer Experience Trumps Low Prices
A favorite place for my wife and I to go on weekends is the Mall of America (or as we like to call it: “MOA”). Though I’m not much for shopping malls (probably because I’m not much for shopping) I always enjoy MOA. Being there feels like being on vacation: It’s crowded, expensive and it’s all about shopping, eating and being entertained. More than any other shopping mall, the Mall of America is about designed to deliver an experience to its customers. One of their newest businesses does that very well. In fact they do it so well they have [...]
A few years ago AOL became the poster child for a special kind of customer abuse when a customer recorded his phone call to them as he tried to cancel his account. All he wanted to do was leave. All they wanted to do was prevent him from leaving. But they had his credit card information and so they could make him jump through any hoops they wanted to prevent him from becoming a former customer. Happily, for him and the rest of us, the news media saw the value in this as a story and it went viral. AOL [...]
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 [...]
