Blog
Surprise Customers with Unexpected Passion
Customers love getting service delivered by passionate associates. Research shows they abhor indifferent service even more than they hate bad service. Bad service can be explained as a byproduct of factors beyond the influence of the frontline persons. Indifferent service, on the other hand, signals one clear and present message—the lack of caring.
Refocusing Your Customer-Facing Associates
It all started when we drove up to the speaker menu at a quick-service restaurant. "Can I take your order?" the attendant coldly barked. When my wife, on hearing the deep voice of the attendant, politely said, "Thank you, sir," she got back a sharp, "It is ma’am." She...
Unleashed Learning: The Premier New Year’s Resolution
"What is your terminal degree?" she asked me. I was taken aback. "You make it sound like I am completely finished with learning," I replied, trying my best to sound like a stern professor. My favorite hobby is volunteering as a board member of a nearby writers’...
The Fallacy of Too Much
Customer experience has its share of excesses. Excellent service means remaining ever vigilant for those excesses that can frustrate our customers.
Encourage Your Associates to “Show Off”
She had the entire line of the check-out counter completely mesmerized. It was as if she was using us as her test audience for a comedy try-out. And she was funny and entirely unleashed. Yet, she never slowed her rhythmic action on the grocery story register and...
Leading Amazing Harpers
Every organization on the planet would like to be populated with employees who view themselves as amazing. Amazing people produce amazing results.
Customer Service as Community
Today customers are way more particular about their return on investments of time, money, and energy. They would rather fund relationships than transactions. Stop treating your customers like consumers and start helping them feel like partners.
What Are You Wearing for Halloween?
Customers enjoy happy, upbeat people who are eager to serve them. It need not be a “clown costume,” just one that conveys interest, enthusiasm, and kindness. Conversely, customers dislike dealing with unhappy, sour people who seem like they got up on the wrong side of the bed.
Give Your Customers “The Knife”
Customers care when they share. Their participation elevates their allegiance when they are invited and encouraged to put skin in the game.
Great Customer Service as Boat Carpet
We broke the bank when we bought out our current house and built a large indoor spa off the master bedroom. It is a godsend at the end of a hectic day. When our three granddaughters come for a visit, the spa becomes an aquatic playground. We keep snorkels on hand and...
Innovation is the New Symbol of Survival
"What is something new and different your customers would say they have noticed recently?" It was a question I asked the CEO of a medium-sized company. The CEO, known for his impatience and strong personality, launched into a mini-sermon on the virtues of consistency....
Repeat Customers Are Not Necessarily Loyal Customers
Do you have loyal customers? If you said yes, I would ask, how do you know? Is it because they keep coming back? If that’s the case, I would call them repeat customers. To know if they are truly loyal customers requires a little more understanding.
The Curb Appeal of Innovative Service
Curb appeal. It is a fundamental tenet of residential real estate sales. And the concept applies way beyond the view from the curb to subtle detailed touches like a freshly baked apple pie in the kitchen. It is a recognition that a prospect's antennae include more...
The Allure of Simple Honesty
Earlier this summer, my wife and I traveled over a thousand miles to get to the St. Lawrence River that separates the U.S. from Canada in upstate New York. We paid big bucks to hire the very best fishing guide in the Alexandria Bay area—Aziel Snyder. If was a perfect...
Making Special Days Special, Not About Specials
I was walking through a large retail store today and they were taking down all the Independence Day paraphernalia to replace them with sales goods themed around Labor Day. It made me sad. I could not help but view it as a metaphor for our short-term, time’s up world...