As we approach the end of the year and look forward to the next year of serving our customers and building profits, the following self-inventory will build our success: Are we becoming more or less connected to individual customers? Customers are not served as a group, they are helped one at a time. Thus surveys […]
Why Putting the Customer First is a Profitable Strategy
As a provider of financial industry sales and service training for 20 years, I have been nothing short of horrified to learn about what Wells Fargo has been doing to their customers. It truly was not a big surprise as my daughter opened Wells Fargo accounts as a young adult several years ago after moving […]
Elephants and Customers Never Forget
According to a study by Dimensional Research on The Impact of Customer Service on Customer Lifetime Value, it turns out that elephants aren’t the only ones who never forget! Customers are right there with them, especially if it has to do with a BAD experience! After defining good and bad customer service experiences (referenced in previous […]
Online Reviews Influence Buying Decisions
In a customer service study by Dimensional Research, survey participants were asked if they had seen online reviews of customer service. About two-thirds of participants reported that they did recall reading these online reviews. Review sites were the most common place to read a negative review of customer service where Facebook was the most common […]
Paying Attention to the Personal
My home state of Louisiana has suffered a tremendous blow from the flooding of August 2016. While this has not been reported on as much as we would like, it is now finally a generally known fact across the country. So it was a nice touch recently when a vendor called me and instead of immediately […]
Are You Planning to Get Engaged?
Whether you are single or married, you may need to get engaged this year! According to a Gallup Study on the State of the American Workplace there is a definite link between employee and customer engagement to customer growth and even to EPS. When Gallup examined engagement by job position, they found customer service employee level of […]
Do You See What I See?
Some time ago, I wrote a post generating a lot of interest titled “Have You Called Your Office Lately?” The post centered on the fact that we must experience what our customer does when calling our business in order to determine if any changes are needed. Another critical activity is walking around our own business […]
The 2016 Customer Election
While watching the never ending media commentary on the 2016 election, it occurred to me that the political arena is not the only place where a new reality has emerged. The fight for customers in this year’s consumer election is also now totally in the hands of the disgruntled or delighted individual. Just as it […]
Good Answer! Responding to Customer Compliments
If your front line customer service staff is doing everything right, then they will likely receive customer compliments. Woo HOO! What a customer service representative says in response to a compliment may be as important as what they did to receive the compliment. Just this week I was visiting a local restaurant for a quick […]
I’m Not Your Sweetie, Honey, or Darling!
I recently had a call with a representative in the billing department of a vendor who provides technology services to my business. Before I go any further, think of the expected tone of a customer service interaction in regards to technology. I expect a professional communication. While the representative was very polite and helpful, she […]