Category Archives: Customer Service

December 6, 2021 · 8:45 am

Wow Your New Employees

It is really disappointing to new employees that the first day of orientation is spent on defining the rules and restrictions, usually required by the legal department, that, if not followed, will result in termination. At the end of the day, someone is asking, “How was your first day at work?” You don’t want their answer to be, “Well, all I learned was what will get me fired.”

While that information is important, consider the overall message you are giving new employees at the end of their first day. Highlight your culture by introducing your core values, describing the empowerment processes that employees can use to exceed customer expectations, and offering specific stories when employees went above and beyond for your customers.

Don’t bore your employees with rote customer service training. Instead, inspire them with a customer service education. Give your employees customer service tips and the reasons or explanations why it was important for customers. For example, tell your employees to respond with a customer’s “Thank you,“ with ”You’re welcome,“ or “My pleasure”. Then ask them if they know why “No problem” is a bad response. One or several may say that “No problem” means, in short, it’s no problem to them. Agree but say that the customer believes the employee said, at length, “Of the two of us around here, I’m the star of the show. Whatever you ask is not important to me, so it’s no problem.” Then let them know that you want to emphasize customer-centricity – always revolve around the customer. To customers, it’s all about them, not the employees. Then let them know that you want your employees, not to take care of customers, but to care for customers. Then encourage them to come up with ideas for customer care.  

Be sure to prioritize during orientation the customer-centricity culture. Prior to orientation, collect outstanding customer service stories, bind them into a booklet, and give to all new employees.

One day of new hire orientation is never enough. If you want your employees to make it a habit to deliver outstanding service, you have to make it a habit to recognize them when they do. As employees care for their customers, habitually CARE for them: Communicate. Appreciate. Recognize. Empower.

  • Distribute positive customer comments via your company email.
  • Mount posters of customer testimonials.
  • Create a weekly PowerPoint video of customer survey compliments along with the employees’ headshots to be run in the employee cafeteria.
  • Each time an employee is mentioned by a customer, give them a raffle ticket. At the end of the month, hold a raffle of prizes.
  • Write personal thank you notes to employees who deliver outstanding service. Send the notes to their home directly.

When you emphasize during orientation recommendations for exceptional customer service over rules for poor employee behavior, and follow up regularly with recognizing staff, your new employees will be motivated to live up to your business culture.

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November 23, 2021 · 8:07 pm

With my heartfelt gratitude this Thanksgiving

Some of you may know that I suffered a stroke in April. Ever since then, I have been sidelined with extensive recuperation and excruciating rehabilitation. 

In the United States this week we celebrate Thanksgiving. So I want to take this opportunity to express my appreciation and gratitude for many who have wished me well as I recover.

Today I would like to give a very special mention to the following people:

  • Edgar Gum, regional vice president for Marriott Vacations and his team, along with my fellow colleagues in Hawaii at the time, David Wong and Amy Shiroma
  • Gustavo Salazar, Marriott Vacation Club Pulse
  • Femy, Naty, Rebecca, Tammy, Tracy, Haas, Jackie, and Mike of The Henry Dearborn
  • Genovev, Janice, Joyce. Kathy, and Marsha, associates who were in hotels I managed

During my time at the properties, these individuals personified customer care over customer service. They not only served their guests to take care of them, they really cared for each guest and every associate. They cared for anyone who was feeling confused, angry, sad, or alone. They cared for everyone on or off the clock. And, as I recuperated, they expressed their genuine concern and well-wishes more than once.

I also want to thank customer service speakers Steve Curtin, Shep Hyken, and Adam Toporek and leadership speaker Rick Olson who wished me well beyond a simple “Get well soon” card. I very much appreciated their genuine concern and well wishes.

To those who were not aware I had a stroke, thank you very much for sticking with me for months without my blog, Facebook and Instagram posts, LinkedIn articles and posts, and tweets. I certainly have appreciated you following me now after I had a long hiatus of publishing and posting while I recovered.  

Since this is Thanksgiving, let me share with you quotes about Thanksgiving and gratitude that I have found to be more meaningful given my personal hardship and now, a most bountiful response from so many of you:

“Give thanks not just on Thanksgiving Day, but every day of your life. Appreciate and never take for granted all that you have.” Catherine Pulsifer

“The struggle ends when gratitude begins.” Neale Donald Walsh

“We must find the time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives.” John F Kennedy

“No one has ever become poor by giving.”  Anne Frank

“Showing gratitude is one of the simplest yet most powerful things humans can do for each other.” Randy Pausch

“Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.”  Voltaire

“No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks.” James Allen

“Make it a habit to tell people thank you. To express your appreciation, sincerely and without the expectation of anything in return.”  Ralph Marston

“Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.” William Arthur Ward

“Appreciation can change a day, even change a life. Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary.” Margaret Cousins

“An attitude of gratitude brings great things.” Yogi Bhajan

“Thanksgiving is a joyous invitation to shower the world with love and gratitude.” Amy Leigh McCree

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QUI QUOTE: It’s not the one BIG WOW to one customer that builds loyalty. It’s the one small wow delivered consistently to every customer.

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November 22, 2021 · 12:28 pm
November 13, 2021 · 9:00 am

Great Service is Great Theater. An Encore.

A while back, I wrote an article entitled “Great Service is Great Theater”. Today I want to offer another article about the very same subject, an encore performance so to say. So, here it is:

There are some who say that they, as customer service professionals, have been trained to act the part to be happy to serve. They believe they are acting. They claim they can never “be the part” to be happy to serve. Here is what I say:

Movie actors like Scarlett Johansson, Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Anthony Hopkins, and Jack Nicholson act to be happy, sad, scared, scary, or angry. Yet, we, as the audience, believe they are genuinely real. The actors may “act their part”, but they are so good that we, as the audience, believe they are real. Whether actors are acting the part or believe they are real is not important. It is never about the actors. It is always about the audience.

The best movie actors have rehearsed before they are watched by their audience. Even theatrical actors rehearse before a live audience. We, as customer service professionals, can train or rehearse before we connect with our customers, our live audience. But, more often, we are interacting as we go. So we need to be better than actors who rehearse. We need to be so good that our customers believe we really are happy to serve. So be GREAT out there!

We, as customer service professionals, act to be happy to serve our customers so much so that they believe we are genuinely happy to serve. It doesn’t matter if we act it or not. What matters is if our customers believe we are genuine. When it comes to customer service, it’s never about us. It’s always about them. Like the movie and theatrical actors, we have to be Magnificently Boring! We need to consistently deliver a “better than the average experience that customers expect” so tediously repetitive that we feel it is boring, but to the customer, at every moment, we are Magnificent! Customers have an emotional connection with you. The more emotional the connection, the more memorable the experience, the more loyal the customer. And loyal customers will return again and again, raving about us to others along the way. Consistency builds trust. Trust builds loyalty. Loyalty builds our business. So we deliver consistency Magnificently!

When it comes to exceptional service, be Magnificently Boring! And always be GREAT out there!

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November 6, 2021 · 9:00 am

“Satisfaction Guaranteed” Does Not Lead to Customers Guaranteed

When you are working in customer service, you have been happy that your customers leave satisfied. You have sold them a product or service that meets their wants or needs. Or you solved their problem for them. You were happy because, in the end, they were satisfied.

But their satisfaction does not guarantee their return. The good news is that your satisfied customers didn’t complain. But the bad news is that your customers also didn’t rave about you to others. And the very bad news is that some customers don’t come back as they seek alternatives that they think will be as good as you but might be less expensive.

You don’t want to earn customers who are merely satisfied. They have to be more than satisfied. They have to be happy. They have to be ecstatic. They have to be raving to others about how great you were. 

And in order to do that, you have to do more than satisfy them. First, personalize their experience. Get to know who they are and understand how they are feeling. Create an emotional bond with your customers during your interaction. Don’t just take care of them. Care for them. Then make a difference. Do a bit more than they expect. 

“People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Maya Angelou

After you are done, they will be more than satisfied. And they will be coming back again and again, happily raving to others along the way

To earn loyal customers, you have to do more than be good enough to satisfy them. Be GREAT out there!

P.S. If you lead employees in your business who make your customers happy, then you have to do better than to satisfy every employee. Be GREAT in there, too.

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October 24, 2021 · 2:37 pm

Service Is Not Servitude

Several days ago, I was told that the counter person did not want to say, “How may I serve you?” “I’m not a servant,” she said. She already had an attitude that disdained servitude. To her, servitude meant slavery, having no liberty to determine one’s own way of life. Servitude is having no freedom, consigned to a lifetime of misery and boredom.

Service is not servitude. Service IS having the liberty to determine one’s own actions, in this case, not to satisfy them, but to actualize their happiness. Service is not satisfying your customers because you have to please them. Instead, make your customers happy because you want to please them. Emotionally bond customers when you are interacting with them. Don’t take care of your customers because you have to. Care for your customers because you want to.

Instead of having a negative attitude of servitude, have a positive attitude of service. Do more than satisfy your customers. Personalize your interaction to emotionally bond them to you. Then make them happy. Good service is having a smile on your face. Great service is having a smile on your customers’ faces.

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October 10, 2021 · 1:52 pm

Be the Customer

As a customer service professional, you have been told by your supervisor to interact with all customers as if they are the customer persona. Of course, it is easier to have one of your customer personas. A persona is the general image of customer personalities. A persona is many customers wrapped all in one. 

But a customer is just one individual. Unlike a customer persona, each customer is different from the other. Each is unique. 

So don’t be like the persona of all the customers. Be just one customer.

As a customer service professional, you “think” like the customer. You rationalize the problem as you see it when you resolve any issue. But rather than think like the customer, be just one customer. Don’t just think like the customer, feel as that customer. If you think the product or service is over the top, but your customer feels that it’s ho-hum, then it’s ho-hum. If you feel that the problem is small, but your customer feels it’s A BIG DEAL, then it’s a BIG DEAL! 

So when you are interacting with customers, you must do more than just think like all of them. You must ”Be the Customer”. Yes, it would be easier for you, but that is not what customers want. Customers, each uniquely feeling, want it to be easier for them.   

Put aside your rational person to think like the customer. Instead, Be the Customer. Recognize that, as the customer service professional, you are emotionally bonded as if you are that customer. Feel that customer. Respond to every interaction as if you were that customer. At the end of the day, your customers, each uniquely feeling, are not only satisfied, they are emotionally happy. And when they’re happy, you’re happy. 

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September 6, 2021 · 9:42 pm

Amazon Customer Service: The Worst is Yet to Come

Some of you may know I am a stroke victim who is paralyzed on the right and have selective short term memory. Several days ago I did not order on Amazon two bottles of Phillips Milk of Magnesia. Despite no order, Amazon shipped the products. In short, I was very frustrated with the Amazon NO REPLY emails and subsequent customer service webpages requiring resetting passwords.

Again, today, a product, now a mouthwash, is not ordered, but shipped by Amazon. Amazon does not offer explanations. I am so convinced customer service will claim that the order was shipped by me when I did not order. And if I were to contest it, I would be forced to reset my password to question it. If a reseller fails a product, Amazon requires the reseller to respond personally to the customer via email. Yet Amazon customer service is inhuman, with no names of the representatives.

If you are a behemoth company like Amazon, shipment issues are just pennies. But to customers, especially those like me with, now, no income, the cost for shipment, no matter how small, is excruciating painful.

LESSONS TO BE LEARNED: If you are a large corporation, still recognize that the customer is, in fact, a human. Even if the other company is huge, the customer of that company is still an individual. Whenever the customer is emotionally involved, your representative should be, too. Let your representative FEEL with, not for the customer. Be sure to let the representative empathize with the customer and respond appropriately.

If you are a customer service representative, know that to the customer, you are the company. Do not say, “They”. Instead say, “We”. Even better, say, “I”. Do not interrupt when the customer rants (expletives not acceptable, of course). Empathize with the customer after the rant. Then work to solve the problem. In the end, ask if everything is satisfactory or helpful.

When you listen, empathize, resolve the issue and ask if the customer is satisfied, then not only will the customer be satisfied, he/she will be sure to rave about your company to others.

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September 6, 2021 · 4:13 pm

Amazon Customer Service Isn’t

I am a stroke victim, paralyzed from the right side. Also I am having certain short-term memory lapses.I have had severe constipation.

Because of that, I ordered a bottle of Phillips Milk of Magnesia from Amazon. I did not order two. Yet Amazon sent two bottles to me. According to the webpage, Amazon does not have a telephone customer service. Only a page on their website. I explained that I did not order. In order to send I had to close, reset my password and re-open. In response to their webpage, they responded on a NO REPLY email that it was not unauthorized. I had to type on the webpage that I DID NOT authorize it. In order to send, I was forced to close and reset my password. Again, in a NO REPLY, they claim tersely it was NOT unauthorized. And again, I said I personally did not sign the order. And again, to send it I had to close, reset my password and reopen. And again, in a NO REPLY email, they said unempathetically it was not unauthorized. ZERO empathy! I have had to painfully endure this ‘I did not, Oh yes, you did, Oh no, I didn’t’, Oh yes you did’ complaint dialog, having had to reset my password after every email and webpage response. It is even more frustrating when I have had to retype with only one hand. And while I remember Amazon’s website, I do not memorize the password.

In the end, Amazon customer service is unempathetically HEARTLESS. Just the WORST!

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May 2, 2021 · 6:00 am

Three Steps to Proactive Customer Service

Too often, businesses focus solely on the negative feedback from their customer surveys in CSI fashion, identifying the pain points and taking the steps to eliminate them. While this reactive analysis is critical, it is just as important to embrace a proactive approach, taking as much time examining the positive comments for clues in the experiences that customers raved about in their surveys. Here are three steps you can take to move from reactive to proactive customer service.

STEP ONE: Thank ALL customers who gave you survey feedback. Businesses do a good job at responding with a “mea culpa” message to customers who were dissatisfied. But in this age of opt-in privacy guidelines, many do not reply to customers who offer complimentary feedback. That is just wrong. If you were my customer, and you say to me, “You were great! Thank you very much” and I don’t respond, you would think I was downright rude. My bad manners would certainly taint your perception of my previous excellent service. And would you say anything to me in the future? So how do you think your customers feel when you don’t send a response to their surveys?

Remember that people buy from people they know, like, trust AND want their business. The best way to show customers you want their business is by saying thank you. Acknowledging a customer’s positive remarks begins to build a relationship. I would send a letter to customers which, in part, said,

I thanked the individual personally, included your comments in our weekly internal newsletter and forwarded it to our corporate team so they could recognize the employee on your behalf. Please let me know when you return so that I might meet you and thank you in person.

Many of them did just that and they have been loyal guests ever since. If you aren’t responding to all feedback, start today.

STEP TWO: Recognize employees who have earned positive comments. If you want your employees to make it a habit to deliver exceptional service, you need to make it a habit to thank them when they do. Thank them in person and publicly. I forwarded to everyone any email I received from a customer who raved about an employee. We posted positive comments in our social media private group, created a slideshow of the positive comments with a photo of those employees and played it on mounted backstage big screen monitors, and included the comments in our weekly e-newsletter. Remember that what gets recognized gets repeated. So acknowledge your people regularly.

STEP THREE: Brainstorm with your employees to define if there are steps everyone can take to have raveable moments happen more often. In most organizations, there are a few superstars that earn more raves from their customers. Get them together and ask them what works for them in creating an emotional connection with their customers. We found out that our superstars would look for cues, such as a familiar city or state, team logos on caps or shirts, or guests celebrating a special occasion. When these employees took the time to move from transaction to interaction, customers were happier and more inclined to let us know that. Generate ideas and educate others to replicate the opportunities to deliver outstanding service.

QUI TAKEAWAY: Spend as much time analyzing the positive customer comments from your surveys as you do the negative ones. Recognize the actions of your employees who have delivered exceptional customer service. And seek to identify the methods they used so that they might be practiced by all employees. Practice these three steps consistently and you will certainly earn more rave reviews.   

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