Blog
Getting Your Customers and Employees to Whistle in the Dark
We all admire people whose influence lies in their ability to effectively speak up and influence without starting a war or engaging in a career-limiting incident. It is a capacity important to the success of any organization. Without employee candor, leaders can make dreadful mistakes. Without honest customer feedback, organizations also make errors that adversely impact their reputation and bottom line.
Customer Service: A Path to Burnout or Breakthrough – Guest Post by Eileen McDargh
All our businesses depend upon the good will, continued support, and referrals of external as well as internal customers. But, how we serve and care for each other in our enterprises will ultimately be reflected in those clients who pay the bills. In May 2019,...
How to Get Really Great Customer Service
Really great customer service is not only the job of the service provider, but the customer too. Don’t wait for great service to come to you. Take charge of the encounter!
Is Your Customer’s Experience Fresh?
Your customers want a fresh customer experience. You can deliver fresh customer service by showing up and being emotionally present for your customers.
Nurturing Perennial Customers
Give your customer a great customer experience and not only will they return time and again, they will tell stories of your amazing customer service and attract more customers.
Are You a Protestor or a Champion?
Championing the customer means making decisions through the customers’ eyes. It requires hearing their issues and concerns and then acting in a manner that reflects them. It is not an occasional loud speech that alter attitudes, it is the perpetual quiet actions that chip away at self-centered viewpoints and greedy orientations. Are you a protestor or a champion?
George Floyd is Our Neighbor
It starts with seeing all fellow human beings as your neighbor and then doing precisely what caring, good neighbors do. The next time you see your version of “a certain man,” take guidance from the exhausted Samaritan. Be a caring, good neighbor.
Today’s Customers Want a Barefooted Cowboy
Customers need bravery, even heroism. They want service providers who execute ways to protect them. They want imaginative approaches to safely deliver service in the middle of a pandemic.
The Quiet Power of “Please Don’t Buy from Us”
Your customers support you, but in times of crisis, businesses can support their customers by giving them permission to “not buy from us.”
What the Ospreys Taught Me
We live on the banks of a large lake. Very early one morning, two giant birds with wingspans of almost five feet across landed in our backyard near the water's edge. We are accustomed to seeing ospreys on platforms atop sky-high power poles. They are protected, and...
Do You Always Show Respect to Customers?
Several years ago, I purchased an industrial strength sleeper sofa and had it delivered to my weekend getaway home on a nearby lake. This was my first experience with this furniture store. The salesperson neglected to tell me that the standard mattress that came on...
The People You Meet While Hunkered Down
Three early morning trips to the local grocery store left me bomb-shelter-ready for a three-week air raid. The cat has enough cat sand; all meds are up-to-date, and vehicles are gassed up… just in case. Now, for the waiting and worrying. I am reminded of being...
Are Your Customers Telling Stories?
Stripes is one of my favorite movies. Starring Saturday Night Live comedians Bill Murray and John Candy, the 1981 hit movie features a scene in which new Army recruits (including Murray and Candy) are in a “get-acquainted” circle with their basic training platoon...
Stopping For Customers
I was driving from Portland to Corvallis, Oregon, to deliver a keynote. It was early morning with light snow. In the distance, I could see that all four lanes of traffic had stopped. I assumed it was a car wreck. I was pleasantly surprised. A mother doe and her...
The Power of Customer Access
The "camp" where we board our cat is fantastic. Our cat gets "tree time"—a giant climbing structure with tunnels and carpeted "trees" to climb and scratch. She gets the best of tender loving care, complete with brush-outs and nail trims. But try and contact them...