Wednesday, March 30, 2011

10 Simple Ways to Make Customers Feel Good

Recently I was at a Target and upon checkout, I thanked the cash register person and their response was "Yup. No problem".  I thought, gee whiz, do they not train these people?

Here are 10 simple things you can say to customers to make them feel good about doing business with you. Notice that the first one is 1 one word, the second is 2 and so on.  I did not create this and do not know who did, but we keep it posted at work for everyone to see and live by.

Yes
Thank You
How did we do?
How may I serve you?
What is most convenient for you?
What else can I do for you?
I'm not sure, but I will find out.
Thank you for your business.  Please call us again.
I apologize for our mistake.  Let me make it right.


Monday, March 28, 2011

Chase Is Elminating Rewards Points & Blaming it On The Government




Chase Eliminating Rewards From Their "Ultimate Rewards" Card


For a number of years, I've consulted with the 2nd largest global bank on card and other loan products -- many targeted at the sub prime market.  After several years of work, I was disgusted and haven't done any work with them since.  




Sunday, March 27, 2011

12 Success Criteria to Establish Customer Service as a Core Business Driver

There are 12 Success Criteria needed to establish customer service as a core business driver. This article presents Success Criteria #1… the establishment of customer service as a core business driver.

All businesses seek to invest time and money in developing a sustainable advantage versus their competition. Two obvious choices are in product innovation and price. Both require investment in different areas. We’d all love to have our products or service locked up with long-term patents. However, after 30 years of working in consumer products with two world-class companies, this is difficult to nearly impossible to accomplish. There are simply too many smart competitors that can figure out how to design around your intellectual property. Have said that, occasionally companies do develop strong protection.


A Fish Stinks From The Head -Time Warner

I think the proverb "A Fish Always Stinks From The Head" is appropriate in this case.
  
Two and a half years ago we switched our business internet connection and phone service to Time Warner. We run a national call center and ecommerce site selling 3000 medical supplies (www.caregiverpartnership.com).
For two years, we experienced over 20 fully documented issues - outages and service interruptions lastly more than four days at times. We worked hard with local TW team members, but ultimately had to move to an alternative vendor.

Technology Is Killing Customer Service

What? That is outrageous you say? I first want to apologize for all those reading this that are under age 35. You have no idea what customer service excellence is because frankly, you haven't seen it.
You never experienced having someone pump your gas, check your oil and tire pressure and clean your windshield. 



You never experienced getting your ticket fast and efficiently from a trained ticket agent wearing a pressed suit and starched shirt or blouse.   Today, you are forced to navigae a kiosk and if you need help you might find a baggage handler who doubles as a agent.