retention

Recognize your loyal customers

November 23, 2009

Here is your Daily Dose of Amazing Service: Recognize your loyal customers And here are some additional thoughts on this topic… Recently I was dining at a favorite local cafe. I’ve been going there regularly since they opened. Our server had waited on me dozens of times in the past. Yet when someone in our [...]

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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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Here’s how to “wow” your customers

October 7, 2009

Amazing Service Tip: Do something positive and unexpected When you do something for a customer (or anyone) that is positive (something they like) and unexpected (they didn’t see it coming) then you make that event a permanent part of their memory. Because they like what you did, you created positive emotional content for the experience. [...]

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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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T-Mobile continues to dominate in customer service

September 30, 2009

Hot off the presses today is a brief note from our friends at dslreports.com. They tell us T-Mobile remains the customer service champion of the big wireless carriers.  On the other hand, AT&T didn’t do so well. “Our in-store experience left us with one question out of three unanswered and we were shocked that one [...]

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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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United Airlines provides today’s (unfortunate) customer service example

September 29, 2009

Here’s why so many companies have a customer retention problem. Ironically, this customer service example is from a Los Angeles Times article about how airline customer service has improved during the recession. United Airlines lost a customer’s bag that had medication in it. So the customer had to replace the medication for the duration of [...]

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J. C. Penney uses questionable tactics to ‘reward’ loyal customers

September 11, 2009

I love it when a person honestly recognizes that I’m a loyal customer. And I look for nothing more than a thanks. Because loyalty is not about money. It’s about being in a relationship that works for both people, whether it’s business or personal. But I hate it when a company clubs me over the [...]

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Abercrombie feels the sting of bad customer service

September 10, 2009

We know good customer service can keep customers coming back. And most of us understand the power bad customer service has to hurt our business. Yet this simple lesson still falls on deaf ears at some large, well- known companies. Take Abercrombie & Fitch for example. A $3.5 billion-dollar retailer known for attitude in their [...]

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Spam should stay in the can, not in your customer’s face

September 3, 2009

Here is your Daily Dose of Amazing Service: Don’t spam your customers in any form And here are some additional thoughts on this topic… We hear a lot about spam (the technology kind, not the food product) but usually it’s in the context of email. But, we don’t typically think of spam in terms of [...]

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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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Customer Retention Tip: Tell your customers what to expect

August 20, 2009

You might call it a brand promise. You might call it your Customer Service Standards. Some companies call it a brand message or promise. I call it your Customer Experience Promise. What you call it is not as important as what you do with it. Use it to tell your story. It tells people why [...]

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How to make the most of Customer Service Week 2009

August 19, 2009

Very soon (46  days to be exact) we will begin Customer Service Week. This is an opportune time for you to show your customers and employees how important customer service is to you and your organization. And to make the most of it, you should get started now. My first suggestion is to go to [...]

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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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