Are you a bad conversationalist?

Bad conversationalist or good conversationalist? Over and over again on Saturday night my honey Rick and I found ourselves in situations feeling awkward and struggling to connect with other people. This is not usually the case for me! I love people and getting to know them. However, talking with people Saturday night was like driving

5 Tips to Communicate You Care

Show me you care with your words! Like many people, we went out to eat Easter Sunday. We were surprised and disappointed the menu was different than the one we had seen on line. Normally, we wouldn’t care so much; however, three out of the four of us in our group were on day 7

Customer Service: A Smile and a Name

Did you know a genuine smile and a name can up your customer service game? I love a good customer experience and know how critical good nonverbal and verbal communication are to creating that experience.  So many service providers miss the boat so-to-speak when it comes to truly delivering outstanding service.  How unfortunate.  Then, there are

Customer Service: Responsiveness

No one likes waiting to be noticed, acknowledged, or helped … that is why RESPONSIVENESS is so critical to achieving customer satisfaction.  So, what exactly is RESPONSIVENESS anyhow?  It is our “willingness to help the customer promptly.” It can be challenging to be responsive when you have multiple customers waiting in line or hundreds of

Customer Service: Reliability

How important is RELIABILITY when it comes to customer satisfaction?  Very important!  Customers expect you to deliver what you promise. Here are some promises companies commonly offer: Quick Service … it better be quick. Best Prices in Town … prices better be negotiable if it is cheaper somewhere else. In my last two blog posts

Customer Service: Assurance

Customer service requires meeting customer expectations.  It's really that simple.  The research of Valarie A. Zeithaml, A. Parasuraman, and Leonard L. Berry in the 1980s found customers measure their expectations of service with the actual service provided to them.  If you meet or exceed their expectations, they feel you are interested in them and they will be

Customer Service: Marrying procedure and personal

Marriage isn't just for couples anymore!  Marriage is important to excellent customer service too.  What I mean by that is this -- to provide outstanding customer service we need to provide BOTH procedural prowess and personal play.  This video will explain more. I shot this week’s tip from my car.  Why?  About 2 ½ weeks ago

7 Steps to Customer Service Recovery

Complaints are a customer’s gift to you. Huh? When customer’s complain, they give you the opportunity to make things right.  Using the 7 Steps to Customer Service Recovery will increase your likelihood of regaining the customers’ trust and confidence. Apologize.  Apologizing does not meet you are admitting guilt; it simply means you are acknowledging they

3 Tips for Excellent Internal Customer Service

So much of what we read and learn about customer service is about external customer service.  A quick Google search of “external customer service” returned “about 7,500,000” hits.  When searching “internal customer service” the number of hits dramatically decreased to “about 471,000”.  This is pretty telling in my opinion.  Does your company have the knowledge

Positive Attitude in 3 Easy Steps

A great way to differentiate your company from others is through the service your employees provide.  The quality of your service is directly tied to the attitudes of your employees. Customer service employees are constantly balancing wants, needs, personalities, and emotions.  It can be extremely challenging to maintain a positive attitude … especially in stressful