Customer Retention

President Obama offers useful customer service lesson

January 8, 2010

When discussing a recent national security issue, President Obama offered a useful lesson for anyone who works with customers. He focused his efforts on finding solutions rather than blame. And he took responsibility for moving toward a solution. Although the mistakes that happened were not his direct fault, he made it clear, national security was [...]

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Don’t let your customer repeat themselves

October 22, 2009

Here is your Daily Dose of Amazing Service: Never let your customer repeat themselves. And here are some additional thoughts on this topic… Customers understand that often you have to hand them over to other people to help them get what they want. That’s okay, But, as you do this, don’t let the customer repeat [...]

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Do you know companies like this?

October 8, 2009

Logically we know when customers complain, they’re giving us useful information. But emotionally we don’t like to hear it. Especially since some customers tend to be a little rough about how they deliver their feedback. And employees get tired of being beat up by customers, all the while knowing nothing will be done to prevent future

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Better customer service means respecting their opinion

October 1, 2009

Here is your Daily Dose of Amazing Service: Respect your customer’s opinion And here are some additional thoughts on this topic… Our customers come to us for our knowledge. They want our help in accomplishing something. But some employees take this to mean the customer’s opinion does not matter. They go directly into “arrogant expert [...]

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Customer Service Example: Meet your customers where they are

October 1, 2009

Yesterday I emailed the company that makes the thermostat used in our house. It’ s big company, a major player in this business.  Still I did not expect a fast response. I guess I never do (unless the company I’m emailing is called Zappos). I was surprised to get a reply email from the company [...]

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Customer Retention Tip: Let your employees be real

September 30, 2009

Too many managers think they can plan and script and train employees how to handle every customer situation. It’s even worse with offshore call centers. As a customer you can tell when these people are forced to use scripts. It can be a painful process to participate in.  And it’s a massively ineffective way to [...]

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Customer loyalty requires honesty from the start

September 1, 2009

Many companies are focused on their customers. They LOVE their customers. Just ask them. They’ll tell you how wonderfully customer centric they are.  But there’s a problem. As they tell people how much they love their customers, they also spend a lot of money lying to them. Jim Logan writes an article at B2BRainmaker.com that [...]

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Is there such a thing as too much customer service?

August 17, 2009

In my world customer service is a high priority. It’s easy to argue that it’s never been more important. Especially in this difficult economy, more and more businesses are finding if they improve customer service they can increase customer retention. But it’s possible to go too far. A recent article at ManagementToday.com points to a [...]

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Customer Retention Tip: Ask your customers what they want

August 12, 2009

Customer Retention Tip: Ask your customers what they want. This is different than what they expect. What customers expect is usually less (often a lot less) than what they want. But you need to know what they want. What do they want in general? What are they trying to accomplish (or avoid)? Why did they [...]

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Engage Your Customers by Having Fun

August 7, 2009

Here is your Daily Dose of Amazing Service: Engage your customers by having fun And here are some additional thoughts on this topic… We’re hearing more and more about customer engagement as a way to increase customer retention. That’s good. Because if we engage our customers better then we’ll develop stronger relationships with them. We’ll [...]

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Why Does Jay Leno Like Subway?

June 2, 2009

Jay Leno was spotted hauling some subs out of an LA Subway yesterday. It’s nice to see the late night superstar and I have at least one thing in common. Like Jay Leno, I am a sub shop customer. In my town we have a mixed bag of sandwich shops, from the biggies (you know: [...]

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