Last week, we in the USA experienced that great holiday of shopaholics, Black Friday. This is the day when crazed shoppers fight and scrap for the best deals on gifts for the holiday season. On this day, service often takes a back seat to simply keeping up and the mayhem often makes businesses and their … Continue reading 10 Things to Ensure Great Service
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The Wisdom of Gratitude
It is at this time of year that many of us take time to think about what we have, what we don’t have, what successes we've enjoyed, and what failures we've endured. Some of us look at it all and complain that we’re just not there yet (wherever “there” is) and others of us see … Continue reading The Wisdom of Gratitude
Tony the Cab Driver
Okay, this may not seem like such a big deal but take a look at this picture. This is a text message from Tony my cab driver at Checker Cab in Palo Alto, California. You might be thinking, so what, but how many times has a cab driver texted you to let you know that they … Continue reading Tony the Cab Driver
Protection
This is our final look at the keywords that we've discovered at the foundation of redefining customers as guests or clients. So far, we’ve looked at welcome and honor and today we’re going to look at protection. When someone is invited into our house, we certainly want to welcome them and honor them with undue … Continue reading Protection
Honor
We've been looking at words that define the difference between customer and guest or client. Last week we looked at welcome. This week, let’s look at honor. The definition of guest we determined had to do with welcoming people to a friendly place where they are being invited to be honored. I think we’d all … Continue reading Honor
Welcome
Last week we looked at defining customers as guests and clients and how those definitions take us away from thinking of customers as transactions. As I thought more about these definitions, three words stood out, welcome, honor, and protection. This week I want to look at the first of those three words, welcome. When you … Continue reading Welcome
Defining “Customer”
Many times I enter a business and while I get pretty good service, it seems fake or scripted. It makes me feel like I’m on an assembly line and I am waiting to get a bolt installed instead of a person with individual needs. Why has it gotten to this? I think it has to … Continue reading Defining “Customer”
What’s Your Mission?
What’s your mission? I am always surprised at the number of employees who have no idea of the mission of their company. They often cite the fact that it is a statement that is largely meaningless or it is too long to remember. When I hear that, I ask them, “What does your company do? … Continue reading What’s Your Mission?
Listen: Four Steps to Building Your Fan Base
How can I grow my customer base? How can I build a large following of loyal fans? Well, here is the simple answer…LISTEN TO YOUR CUSTOMERS! Review every customer satisfaction survey. How many times do you look over surveys and when you see good scores, you put it down and look for ones with bad … Continue reading Listen: Four Steps to Building Your Fan Base
Am I a Leader?
I taught a class on customer service basics yesterday and also spoke a bit about leadership and the need for leaders to deliver great service. While we discussed this, I heard some attendees say things like, “I’m not a leader, I’m just an employee” or “When I get into management, I’ll get to lead.” This … Continue reading Am I a Leader?
Neal Woodson 