I’ve been a Tom Peters fan since being introduced to his teachings in my first management role at Marriott International more than 20 years ago. Frequently contrarian and counter-intuitive, Peters often says: “Soft is hard and hard is soft.” This applies to “soft skills” such as listening or customer service
Earlier this year, I read the book The Effortless Experience by M. Dixon, N. Toman and R. DeLisi. The authors compiled some terrific research – really enlightening stuff – but in their zeal to write a provocative book that challenges conventional thinking, they’ve lumped every conceivable customer service action into
During a recent interview, I received this question: How do you handle customers who, once they’ve been “delighted,” now expect that level of service and even feel entitled to it? To me, the best illustration of this dynamic is frequent flyers. When airline customers first join a frequent flyer program,
During a recent interview, I was asked, “How long does the effect of ‘delight’ (on a customer) last?” The value of exploring a question like this is that it forces us to examine those variables that contribute to creating lasting positive impressions for our customers. If this knowledge can be
Over the weekend I received an email from a New Zealand consultant who is working with a bus tour operator to transition from a product focus to a customer focus. For a bus tour operator, a product focus emphasizes the travel itinerary and mode of transportation for the current trip,
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
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
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?
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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