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 [...]
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None of us are perfect. Neither is any business. The good news is most customers don’t expect the people they do business with to be perfect. But as customers we do expect businesses to fix things when they go wrong. One of my favorite coffee places provides a current example. It was a beautiful late summer morning. A Friday morning. I had time to swing by Caribou Coffee for a decaf and a breakfast sandwich. The young lady who helped me was very pleasant. She seemed to to enjoy her work and she did a good job engaging with me [...]
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 [...]
I admit I’m rather a demanding consumer. I’m pretty sure I get it from my mom. She’s one of the world’s all time greatest when it comes to being a demanding customer. And I think it’s good there are people like us around. No one else can offer businesses the quality of advice that their demanding customers can. They should thank us. But most companies either ignore or barely tolerate demanding customers. They fail to train their employees how to deal with us. Often their goal seems to be just to pacify us and get us to shut up rather [...]
Recently new legislation was passed that requires restaurant companies with 20 or more locations to publish calorie counts of the food they serve. They’re also required to make information on sodium, carbs and fat available at a customer’s request. It’s about time! If you know me, you know I’m no fan of over-regulating our businesses. But I do believe laws like this are useful when they help an industry make changes that benefit most (in my opinion, all) of their customers. Health and nutritional advocates have been pushing this for years. But a law like this offers the level playing [...]
Angry customers can seem like our worst nightmare. But, if you handle them right, they can be your company’s best friend. Because when you do listen to angry customers, you get a lot in return. Complaining customers often have valuable information about how you can improve your business. And, when you listen sincerely, you make it more likely they will stay with you. Here are five things you can do to convert angry customers into valuable partners who will help you improve and promote your business. 1. Listen sincerely This is where you win or lose with an angry customer. [...]
I remember when we were kids. We’d play all kinds of games. And when one kid pushed things too far (playing unfair) a parent might step in and enforce some basic rules on the group. This usually had a stabilizing effect on the game. But sometimes the kid who was acting out would escalate rather than cooperate. He might ruin it for everyone by picking up the game board and throwing it. Or he’d get up and leave, refusing to play anymore because he couldn’t do things HIS WAY. Though I’m older now, I see this happening again. But it’s [...]
