In my 22 years in the training and speaking business, I’ve presented A LOT of customer service and customer communication programs. In these programs, I teach many different skills that enhance the customer experience and make the customer service provider’s job easier and less stressful. However, before I take a customer service “gig” I always […]
Many people don’t realize that a simple, “seemingly” innocent comment, when said to an angry customer can turn a concern or complaint into a full-blown argument. When it comes to the words you choose, they can either be water or gasoline on the customer’s smoldering emotions. If you’d like to be a customer service fire […]
The other morning I was up early and hoping to catch some cute video of the 10 foster puppies who currently reside in my dining room, of all places. We all know puppy videos can be really cute, especially with older puppies who are up and about, running, and playing. However, I never thought the […]
Some people mistakenly believe that if customers aren’t complaining, they must be happy. What they don’t realize is most unhappy customers never communicate their concerns or tell you why they’re unhappy, they simply “vote with their feet” and never come back. Customers often don’t have the time, energy, or heart to tell you that you’re no longer meeting […]
The other day I was at the animal shelter where I volunteer and I was very impressed with how super clean our cat room was, so I asked a staff member, “Who cleaned the adoptable cat room today?” It seemed a simple enough question, so I didn’t understand why the response was a somewhat fearful, […]
Most companies talk a lot about the importance of customer service, but the actions of their employees don’t reflect that they value customer service above all else. Before the internet, poor customer service stories spread one-to-one, meaning one person had a bad experience and shared it with others one at a time. However, in the […]
I realized recently that I used to do a lot better staying in touch, of keeping the lines of communication open with family members as well as customers, suppliers, and other people whose lives I impact and whose lives impact mine. Sometimes we just get caught up in the day to day and before we […]
Listening is one of our most important communication skills, but also the one we spend the least amount of time developing. Think about it. Parents spend so much time in a child’s formative years teaching that child how to speak, read, and write. Then the child goes off to school and spends more time learning […]
Last week, I shared the high cost of poor listening. Although most of the time our poor listening isn’t an issue of life or death, we do all pay a price when we don’t make effective listening a priority. If you read articles on the importance of communication, listening is usually listed as one of […]
“Hey, do you have time to talk?” “Do you have a minute, I have an idea I want to run by you?” How many times a day are you asked questions like these? And how many times do you wish you could be honest and say NO, but what comes out of your mouth is […]
