Don’t insult your customers.

I know this sounds pretty obvious. Why would any of us insult our customers on purpose? But it happens more than we realize.

Here’s a recent example.

I’m ordering a sandwich at my favorite sub shop. As I’m chatting with the sub-maker, the co-owner walks over. She notices that I’ve had the roast beef in my sandwich cooked so it’s brown, not pink (just how I like it). Her face gets a pained look and she says:

Here is a tasty tidbit for a Monday.  John Moore at BrandAutopsy Twittered me about a store with a great customer experience, Mighty Fine Burgers in Austin, Texas.  Here were some of John’s comments about them: ”…friendly front-line faces, all food prep in full-sight (incl. grinding/hand-forming patties), simple decor, upbeat vibe.”

Here is a great question: “Are you easy to do business with?”

That may sound like a simple question, and you may immediately want to say, “Yes!” However, I urge you to take a close look at how you are perceived by your customers and fellow employees.

Certain companies create an image that they are extremely easy to do business with. Their sales people are friendly. They bend over backwards to take care of you. They provide a “hassle-free” experience. They never question a return. Most people (especially me) love doing business with a place like this.

(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

Recently, my husband, Cliff, was the motivational keynote speaker for a large association. He drove two hours to the event with a car full of books, handouts and props for his speech. While unpacking, he could have kicked himself. He forgot his most important prop—a tall, lidded garbage can.

(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

With the exception of web self-service, all business sectors dropped in multi-channel customer service, according to a new study released by eGain today. But even web self-service didn’t fare too well:

“All areas except web self-service declined in performance, with web self-service posting a slight increase for the overall market from 1.7 in 2009 to 1.9 in 2010, still “below average.”

It seems that more and more passengers on planes are being stuck for hours on the tarmac without, food, water or working bathrooms.

I asked Linked In members to answer the question:

“What is adequate compensation for being stuck for hours on the tarmac?”

The following are some of the answers:

Today started out kind of sad (great way to start an article, huh?). You see, I hauled our swing set to the dump this morning. It was the final step in a multi-day process of taking apart the swing set my kids have played on since birth.

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.

I recently had the opportunity to work with Family Video, the largest privately owned movie and game “rentailer” in the United States, and third largest overall, with 612 stores. In an industry struggling to deal with significant changes, such as new rental options offered by Netflix and Redbox, Family Video is the only DVD/game rental operation showing positive growth. Expanding continually, they again achieved record profits last year.

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.