When the Tables Turn
Sometimes customers think, believe, even expect that we can read their minds. And sometimes we appear to. But I see over and over how often we misjudge what even close friends and loved ones would...
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The Customer Cares: Good Design, Poor Design
A satisfactory customer experience comprises many aspects or “touchpoints,” which range from promotional appeal to product quality to ease of the transaction to delivery and billing. If you’ve been...
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Customer Experience Review, Part I: A Dissatisfied, Uncomplaining Customer
Recent service experiences got me wondering how things seem to a “regular” customer, one for whom it is not both work and sport to try to analyze what might be going on behind the scenes. First in this...
View ArticleCustomer Experience Review, Part II: A Delighted, Recovered Customer
It’s a funny thing when customer service executives get to interact with each other. In May, I happened to be introduced to Dave Mitchell, Levenger’s dedicated VP of Operations, at the Operations...
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Customer Experience Review, Part III: A Satisfying Customer Recovery
Sister had taken on the responsibility of ordering a big basket of goodies from Zingerman’s, the famous Ann Arbor deli and emporium, as part of the confab and celebration of Parents’ anniversary. Most...
View ArticleCustomer Experience Review, Part IV: Are You Coolheaded Enough for Irate...
The first three parts of this series focused on how companies provide service and rectify imperfect situations. The way individual service reps deal with customer behavior is an important aspect —...
View ArticleCustomer in a Bind: The Broadway Box
If you’ve been reading my “service” posts, then you know that I bestow both compliments and critiques and that I typically name the recipients of praise and keep the pans anonymous. (You can check out...
View ArticleTwo More Ways to Make Service Feel Less Sorry
Last week’s post, Two Practical Ways to Fix the Sorry Side of Customer Service, focused on two key aspects of service that consistently create negative experiences for customers and reps. But once you...
View Article“Absolutely!” Not.
It’s normal to be annoyed when you’re solicited at home by an organization you don’t know or don’t care about. But being mishandled by an organization you support can be irritating too! A fundraising...
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Sometimes Appearances Really Count
Is this little hotel room presentation cute, or what? A couple of weeks ago my colleague Katie and I went to an all-day meeting in Virginia Beach, VA where we stayed at a Hilton Garden Inn. The...
View Article“That’s The Way (I Like It)”: When Customers Sing the Wrong Song
Perhaps we’ve trained customers to believe that they’re always right or “king” so thoroughly that some of them feel “special” enough to violate institutional norms with impunity. Some of the behavior I...
View ArticleExcellent Service Means Managing Customers’ Expectations
Google the phrase “managing expectations” and you’ll get 66 million hits. A search for the refinement “customer expectations” brings back 54 million hits. With so much information available, and so...
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Jeni’s Tasty Recipe for Customer Engagement
Visit the original Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams shop in Columbus, Ohio, and its sense of quirkiness and celebration will draw you in right away. It’s a strong case study in hooking and involving...
View ArticleSuccessful Service Recovery Feels Good to Your Customers
Last week I met with Terri Bartlett, the intrepid president of Marketing EDGE, for lunch at Forty Four, the restaurant at the Royalton Hotel in Manhattan. We had lots to talk about, so we didn’t even...
View ArticleCorrection Alone Is Not Enough if the Customer Doesn’t Know
When an organization makes a mistake in its caring for, servicing of, or communicating with customers, members, audience, etc., then of course it expects to correct the mistake. If the organization...
View ArticleWhen Service Is Two Chairs and a Napkin Short
A few weeks ago, we attended a gala event, and a series of service bobbles reminded me again that even when service people are perfectly nice, the service itself might still be inadequate. How much...
View ArticleWhen Help is More Valuable than Service
Maybe we should stop talking about serving customers and, instead, talk about helping customers: creating a sense of relationship, eliminating problems, and taking care of what customers need. Here’s...
View ArticleHow Customer Service Can Neglect Customer Care
When it comes to customer experience, the height of efficiency can take you to a low of satisfaction. Here are two recent personal observations: the first from a small, local eatery during the recent,...
View ArticleGood Service Stays a Step Ahead
On Sunday morning, Daughter and I went to a local diner where the food is always good, but the service is often iffy. Our waitress had been somewhat unhelpful in the past, so I studied her this time...
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How Service Apologies Backfire
If an apology is observably insincere, what’s the point? Politicians, celebrities, and athletes are often taken to task for pro forma or grudging apologies that don’t express true remorse, take...
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