Businesses’ New Battle Ground

As customers' buying behavior rapidly changes, businesses are constantly encountering new competitors.  It used to be that brick and mortar stores predominately competed with other brick and mortar retailers, but online retailers are increasingly competing for customers' attention and dollars (and vice versa) as the lines between the two categories blur.  So what can companies Keep Reading...

How Heidi Does Service

In customer service stories, we often hear about exceptional circumstances that compel a representative to provide service far out of the norm.  But, like we've frequently discussed, quality service has to be consistently pursued day in and day out.  Heidi, who works for the grocer Trader Joe's, shared her approach to ensuring a constant delivery Keep Reading...

Service Stories That Will Make You Smile

A lot of stories about great customer service focus on grand gestures, but it is the sustained, day to day delivery of good deeds that make a company's service reputation excellent.  We asked people this week to share an excellent experience they have had or heard about and these are the simple but lovely responses Keep Reading...

Scripted Service Can Backfire

[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent="yes" overflow="visible"][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type="1_1" background_position="left top" background_color="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" spacing="yes" background_image="" background_repeat="no-repeat" padding="" margin_top="0px" margin_bottom="0px" class="" id="" animation_type="" animation_speed="0.3" animation_direction="left" hide_on_mobile="no" center_content="no" min_height="none"] Photo credit: Say_No_To_Turtles "It's a great day at Wendy's Widgets!  How may we serve you?"  If this is what you first hear upon calling a customer service department, you're likely Keep Reading...

A Culture of Caring

In all of our businesses, we are committed to cultivating a culture of caring for our customers.  But where does that culture come from?  How do we get to the point where actively caring is so natural that it seems the obvious answer to throw in a pair of cozy socks when a customer orders Keep Reading...

3 Phrases to Avoid

[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent="yes" overflow="visible"][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type="1_1" background_position="left top" background_color="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" spacing="yes" background_image="" background_repeat="no-repeat" padding="" margin_top="0px" margin_bottom="0px" class="" id="" animation_type="" animation_speed="0.3" animation_direction="left" hide_on_mobile="no" center_content="no" min_height="none"] Artwork by Rick & Brenda Beerhorst As a society, our language norms are becoming more and more relaxed.  The same hold true in the business environment.  But should it?  While Keep Reading...

Paying it Forward, Internally

While we strive every day to create exceptional customer service moments for our customers, it’s equally important to extend those same efforts internally as well. Each member of our service team, and of our company at-large, benefits from the same care and consideration we so carefully hone for our cases. [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent="yes" overflow="visible"][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type="1_1" background_position="left Keep Reading...

Proactive Service Saves the Day

During the highest volume sales period of the year, there are bound to be hiccups.  Having stock to fulfill orders, filling them correctly, shipping on time, and providing appropriate support are all things our customers expect. But as volume goes up for us as well as all of the other vendors we rely on both Keep Reading...

A Smarter Measure of Success

We’ve talked in the past about metrics for satisfaction and what to do with them, but while we can all agree that the value of that data is far-reaching, there is also tremendous value in exploring things that are not quantifiable measurements of our customer service successes and failures.  Inviting a more organic, open-ended conversation Keep Reading...