As things get more automated and complicated, customer service is increasingly becoming a hot commodity. People want someone to sort it all out for them. If you can fix it, make it easier, do the work for them, they will pay more for it …and return if you do it well. The problem is that … Continue reading RIP Excellence

There are three types of employees. The disengaged, indifferent ones, the minimally-engaged, compliant ones, and the fully-engaged, committed ones. The indifferent have to be told what to do, the compliant do what they know to do, and the committed take initiative, create art, and move things. The indifferent are there for themselves. The compliant are … Continue reading There are three types of employees, but only one will get you where you want to go.

Customer service departments—a name I abhor, but that’s for another post—need to stop measuring. Putting rules—they're actually limits—around call times and setting goals for the number of tickets handled does not help customers, it just turns them into faceless numbers. Customers are not problems, they are people with problems. Making them into a number on … Continue reading Some measures are just bad for business.

Can good customer service make up for a mediocre product? Not totally, but to an extent, yes. Take restaurants for example, I go to some places whose food is not as good as others. Why? Because they know me and treat me like a long-lost relative. That kind of hospitality makes the food better than … Continue reading Your Product Is More Than the Thing

Here's how to make this new year a great one. Get out of your skin, see others as people like you, and choose to be helpful. Do work that makes a difference by making lives better. Find your voice. Use that voice. Be a force. The world needs you. Go. Do. Some. Good! ==> If … Continue reading Happy New Year!

Out with the old, in with the new. That seems to be the sentiment for New Year’s celebrations. But what is the new? What new thing are you going to do? What opportunities are out there for a new year? And maybe the best question is, what is out there that you have put off … Continue reading Get Going.

'Tis the season of giving, and although I love this season of the year, there is a problem. Why do we have a season for giving? Giving is a fundamental human trait. It is one of our greatest powers. If we were not giving of our time, our skills, our wealth, our friendship, our love, … Continue reading ‘Tis the season. Let’s make it always the season.

What motivates employees? Short term? Money. Long term? Recognition. Life term? Meaning. Why? A business can give monetary benefits only so often—there’s a cost—and the good feeling coming from it is brief. Essentially, only good for a short-term boost. Recognition, on the other hand, can happen anytime—there’s no cost—and the good feeling from it can … Continue reading Motivation

What makes it hard for employees to deliver great service? Three things: 1) being marginalized and seen as a cost rather than an important part of the business, 2) mistreatment, whether by customers or management, and 3) being tied to scripts and rigid policies that don’t allow them to truly help. But there are ways … Continue reading Working with customers is hard work. You can make it easier.

Obstacles prevent movement. They get in the way. They make things more difficult. Some cannot be helped. Some are out of our control. But some are unnecessary.  Too many steps. Redundant steps. Forms no one uses. Too many people involved. The wrong people involved. Manager approvals. All obstacles. Barriers. Difficulty. And most are preventable. Unnecessary obstacles accelerate … Continue reading Obstacles