Customer service

I'll start by again giving the true definition of customer service:

Great customer service is solving the customer's problem or meeting the customer's need with as little involvement from the customer as possible.

What does this mean? It means that customer service is not about being nice, it's about solving problems and saving the customers from time and resource waste. For example, if I must wait on hold for an hour to reach someone to help me, ...

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The following video has been seen by over 5 million people. This is the price of failing to understand customer service. How much would it cost United Airlines to reach 5 million people with a positive message? The really sad part of this is, when customer service is very, very poor, it's cheap to improve.

I have delivered that message to many CEOs. Few believe improving service translates into profit. Read the business news and ...
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Now and then it's important to review the definition of customer service.

"Providing great customer service is solving the customer's question or issue with as little of the customer's involvement as possible."

In the past two days I've wasted over 5 hours on the phone with Dish Network. They sent us a "free" upgraded receiver. Sunday I took the dreaded plunge to hook it up. I say dreaded plunge because every change of ...
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The customer isn't always right. That being the case, how do you handle an angry customer who just happens to be wrong?

Here's an example. A client of mine runs a successful e-commerce site. To process a purchase on the client's site, the buyer must enter the correct "Bill To" address for their credit card. Then, they may enter whatever ship to address they wish if the item is going to a different location. On ...
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Let's assume you want to improve your business. You know things could be better and you identify a couple areas that need work. Before launching an improvement effort, consider whether you want 'more' or 'better'.

It is important to set the focus of more or better in order to reach the desired goal. Head down the wrong path and you might defeat your own purpose.

Sometimes, the choice is obvious. Margins are down? You want more. Failure ...
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Confession time. I make mistakes too.

The biggest mistakes I've made over the years all have a common thread. I've compromised what I know the client needs with what the client thought they needed.

If you're in business, you've faced this situation. The big project. You know what the customer needs and make your proposal. The reception is good and things seem to be going in your direction. You want the deal and you know your product ...
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Does she look happy to be serving you?

Ok, metrics crowd. Let's say you have 200 employees and a small chain of restaurants. You serve hundreds of customers per day. You decide to measure your customer's satisfaction with your service.

So, you put a little survey form on every table. Servers ask people to please fill them out. And are you ever happy with the results! 95% of your customers are very satisfied with your service! Isn't ...
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