Blog

Poor customer service is unsustainable

This is the seventh post in a series that will explore a set of questions I received from participants during a recent webinar on the topic of customer service. Question: A recent study by Bloomberg Businessweek showed that companies with the worst customer satisfaction had better performing stocks. How can

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Can exceptional customer service be taught?

This is the sixth post in a series that will explore a set of questions I received from participants during a recent webinar on the topic of customer service. Question: Is the ability to create delighted customers something that can be taught or something that is inherent in the employee’s

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Balancing service quality and volume

This is the fifth post in a series that will explore a set of questions I received from participants during a recent webinar on the topic of customer service. Question: How do you balance providing “above and beyond” customer service with being efficient with the volume of inquiries you receive?

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Can exceptional customer service be automated?

This is the fourth post in a series that will explore a set of questions I received from participants during a recent webinar on the topic of customer service. Question: What is your opinion on automating responses to email inquiries based on content included in the inquiry to improve response

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When essence is embedded in the process, it occurs reliably

This is the third post in a series that will explore a set of questions I received from participants during a recent webinar on the topic of customer service. Question: How can you incent or encourage voluntary behaviors that get to customer delight if it’s not part of the expected

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Purpose, not policies, determines service quality

This is the second post in a series that will explore a set of questions I received from participants during a recent webinar on the topic of customer service. Question: In many CS organizations, agents are bound by policies, procedures, and access restrictions. This limits an agent’s ability to “wow”

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The key to change lies in questions, not demands

This is the first post in a series that will explore a set of questions I received from participants during a recent webinar on the topic of customer service. (I say “explore” rather than “answer” because I’ve discovered over the years that there is rarely a single right answer to

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Screening for initiative

This is the fourth post in a series that will explore a set of questions I received from participants during a webinar on the topic of customer service. (I say “explore” rather than “answer” because I’ve discovered over the years that there is rarely a single right answer to these

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Exceptional customer service is customer-focused

This post is the seventh and final in a series that has fully explored the definition of customer service offered in an earlier post. Too often, customer service is viewed as a department, a designated employee’s job role or, someone else’s responsibility. Because of this limited view of customer service,

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