When training customer service representatives, be sure to emphasize the “why” — not just the “how” — of your customer service processes. During the first few weeks of law school, my classmates and I learned about something referred to as a “motion for summary judgment.” And we learned lots of technical details about a motion…
When measuring customer satisfaction, remember to include metrics relating to emotional, not just rational, customer satisfaction. During the previous two weeks, we’ve focused on customer satisfaction. Recall that a study disclosed a startling fact about customer satisfaction: rationally satisfied customers are just as likely to abandon your business as dissatisfied customers. Accordingly, the research emphasized…
Creating emotionally satisfied customers – not merely rationally satisfied customers – is key to the success of your business or organization. Last week, I referenced a study that disclosed a shocking fact about customer satisfaction. Recall that the study examined three categories of customers: dissatisfied customers, rationally satisfied customers, and emotionally satisfied customers. The research revealed two…
Think customer satisfaction is enough? We have some terrifying news. A few months ago, while researching customer satisfaction metrics, we discovered a study that disclosed a shocking fact about customer satisfaction. Before we reveal this terrifying fact — which will likely surprise you as it did us — let’s categorize customers into three distinct groups. Customer…
If your business or organization identifies multitasking as a required or desired skill in help-wanted advertisements, please stop! Earlier this month, I engaged in an experiment that involved reviewing help-wanted advertisements, particularly those relating to customer service. It didn’t take long to find various advertisements seeking applicants with “multitasking” skills, commonly referred to as the…
Excellent internal customer service drives excellent external customer service. While attending Florida State University (sorry, Gator fans), I worked as a dispatcher for a cable company. As a dispatcher, I routinely communicated with customer service representatives, installers, technicians, and customers. Indeed, it often seemed like all of them wanted to talk to me at once!…
Avoid placing too much emphasis on customer service metrics that merely make us “feel good.” During my undergraduate days, I worked as a dispatcher and customer service representative for a cable company in Tallahassee. Although I had previously worked in other customer service positions — including at a grocery store and at a catalog showroom…
In customer service, the curse of knowledge can create catastrophic consequences. We’re all cursed. And we’re not talking about the curse that our parents bestow on us: “I hope when you grow up you have kids who act just the way you do!” (Incidentally, that curse works!) No, we’re talking about another type of curse…
Why do we belittle ourselves about working in customer service jobs? We once heard the owner of a medium-sized business proclaim – unabashedly, too – that he “didn’t have time to mess around with customers.” We were floored, literally, because we had to pick ourselves up from the floor after hearing the comment. Our first…
Although the customer might not always be right, sometimes the customer is right. You may recall a previous post, Why the Customer is Always Right is BS, in which we advocated replacing this common myth with the following three nonnegotiable customer service principles: We will always listen to the customer. We will always treat the…