Whine, Moan & Complain - Then Contribute!

Every month I receive messages from students and readers that begin, 'I got such terrible service from...' and often close, '...and I'll never go back there again!' I find these stories upsetting, occasionally entertaining, but rarely are they motivating or instructive. Here's why:

Where on the Floor is 264?

Your customers may require more than technical data to fulfill their wants and needs. Data only becomes useful information when it connects with human concerns.

Are You Pulling in the Same Direction?

Your service reputation is built, or destroyed, in every moment of customer contact. If your marketing, delivery or service partners are weak, your reputation is at risk. If one department is out of touch, your service image takes the hit. Can you afford to partner with people who do not protect your reputation? Can you allow one department to sabotage your commitment to quality and customer care?

To Build Your Business, Appreciate the Customers You Already Have

Picking up new business is important, but it can cost a lot in advertising, special discounts, promotions and new customer orientation. Increasing your business with existing customers magnifies the loyalty of those you already have, and substantially boosts your profits.

Lack of Integration = Customer Frustration

This telephone company desperately needs one point of contact to educate and serve customers in a user-friendly way. This single point of contact should be connected and empowered (internally and externally) to make all necessary arrangements for sales, installation, commissioning, selection of new equipment, scheduling of appointments, questions about billing ... even customer training after installation, if required.

If We Implement Them All, You Have Not Succeeded

To keep your culture vibrant and evolving, you must consider ideas that are well beyond what makes sense right now. You must look ahead today, look beyond tomorrow and look 'over the horizon' for the future.

To Be Distinctive, Be Different

Make a list of all the 'usual ways' your organization offers good customer service. Now think of totally different ways you could surprise, intrigue or delight. What bothers your customers? How can you fix it? What do they do before or after your service? How can you integrate it? What do they bring, carry or take away? How can you replace it?

Top Customer Service Speaker Says: You Revoke Customer Entitlements at Your Peril

If a customer is used to VIP treatment, receiving a perk, year after year, such as attending a nice event, it becomes part of his routine, like a family outing, and it’s something he counts on. In this article, Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com, best-selling author, top speaker and consultant writes from personal experience to show just how damaging and costly it is to delete customer entitlements.

The Playful Policy Review

Point Frontline staff are taught to follow policies and procedures. Often they are hesitant to `break the rules'. Yet some rules should be broken, or changed, or at least seriously bent from time to time. Are your staff bound by rules they cannot change? If those rules are outdated or problematic, will they tell you?

No News is Bad News!

If you have a customer who is happy and you do not give them a chance to tell you, you lose one of the strongest opportunities to increase customer loyalty. The need to be internally consistent is a driving force in shaping future behavior. In other words, if customers...

Customer Satisfaction is a Rearview Mirror

What is the difference between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty? One package delivery company uses a regular survey to measure customer satisfaction...

Turtles Deliver the Internal Mail

I haven’t received it yet, she wrote back. We have Turtle Mail inside this company. I should get your package by the end of the week...

Put a CORC in Your Budget

How much money does your company spend attracting new customers? How much do you spend on retaining existing customers past the crucial tenth month?

Personal Diamond Awards

What would the Olympics be like if we officially included the Personal Diamond Awards? Imagine an athlete who wins the bronze medal as well as a Personal Diamond. How would that athlete react? How might the audience respond? Would the bronze medalist begrudge the...