Voltaire, the 18th-century French philosopher, said, “The best is the enemy of the good.” I love this quote because, to me, it highlights the distinction between extraordinary and ordinary, excellence and mediocrity, and exceptional and average customer service. Earlier this year, I attended a conference at the InterContinental Hotel in
As I type this, my Goldendoodle, Nugget, is recovering from shoulder surgery at a nearby animal hospital. His procedure was complex and required him to be left at the clinic all day. While Nugget was in surgery, I went to my local Chuck & Don’s Pet Food store to pick
This post is the third in a series that will identify 10 different customer service advantages that have emerged from my analysis of customer satisfaction data. Maybe you have capitalized on one or more of these advantages in your own business? The third advantage is to share unique knowledge. A
In my seminars, I talk a lot about job function and job essence. To me, recognizing the difference between them is central to understanding why customer service delivery is so predictably poor. Awareness is key. People don’t know what they don’t know. The first thing I would do to increase
Most of us acknowledge that when we’re performing our jobs, we are working. But what many employees don’t often consider is that their jobs are made up of both mandatory actions that fulfill job functions (i.e., the bullet points on a job description) as well as optional behaviors that fulfill
Earlier this week, a friend of mine passed along a copy of Daniel Pink’s latest book, Drive. It was a pleasant surprise because, having read his bestseller, A Whole New Mind, it was on my buy list. One of the reasons I enjoy reading authors like Daniel Pink, Malcolm Gladwell,
I read a Wall Street Journal article this week by Timothy W. Martin titled, Choice Advice From Meat Cutters. The article highlighted the benefits of training butchers at leading supermarket chains to engage customers as a chef rather than as simply a meat cutter. The difference separates a memorable, customer-focused
Language, it seems, has become pretty casual in many customer service settings. I’ve had waiters refer to me as “man” and hear “no problem” from frontline employees, as well as their supervisors, in a variety of situations. We can all think of alternatives to referring to a customer as “man”
The Revelation Conversation is Here!
