Blog

Customer service is the new selling

The days of the boorish salesman portrayed in the 1992 film Glengarry Glen Ross – where the mantra “Coffee’s for closers” was used to both recognize success and admonish poor performance – are gone. Certainly, there are still unscrupulous salespeople and gullible buyers. But it’s safe to say that today’s consumers

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Be mine

Have you ever heard someone in a committed relationship say that he or she no longer loves the other person? When questioned, he might say, “I’ve tried. Really I have. But the love just isn’t there.” It’s no wonder the love isn’t there—because love (the noun) is a result of

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Customers want the truth

My brother-in-law is an administrator at a high school in Sioux Falls. One day, he encountered a freshmen student in the hall who was visibly upset because another student said he was short. Todd invited the student into his office and asked, “What’s the problem?” To which the student exclaimed,

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Service is a verb

This post is the eighth 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 eighth advantage is to consider service a verb.

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Learning names is worth the effort

A restaurateur recently approached me and asked, “How can I fake that I know a customer’s name? I have a thousand regulars in my restaurant each week and can’t possibly remember all of their names.” She was asking the wrong question. Any objective that involves faking out customers (or any

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Customer equity

In his book, Customer Centricity: What It Is, What It Isn’t, and Why It Matters, Peter Fader, Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, defines customer centricity as “a strategy to fundamentally align a company’s products and services with the wants and needs of its

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A matter of trust

This post is the sixth in a series that will identify 10 different obstacles that have emerged from my analysis of customer satisfaction data. Maybe you will have encountered one or more of these obstacles in your own business? The sixth obstacle is a low-trust service culture. A low-trust service

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Good timber

According to a study by J.D. Power and Associates, when a hotel guest’s problem is resolved perfectly, it results in overall satisfaction averaging 80.7, compared to only 74.9 if there was no problem to begin with. And the more satisfied a hotel guest is, the more he’ll likely spend. The

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They’re Just Not That Into You

Have you ever noticed the similarities between attracting a prospective customer and wooing a mate? There are lots of similarities when you think about it. For example, before the relationship develops, there may be frequent but informal contact. In business, that may look like a weekly e-newsletter that over time

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The Revelation Conversation

The Revelation Conversation is Here!