customerserviceelite.com
30Nov/11Off

21 Rules for Excellent Retail Customer Service

Recently, a friend of mine shared with me a story I thought I would share with you. Take a look:

Today I witnessed a customer service miracle in action. I took my son to our local fast food restaurant, so he could have some lunch and play in the indoor playground. While I was waiting for our food to be ready, a woman approached the counter with a crushed Styrofoam cup. She said, "This cup fell off of our table and broke. I need another drink and I need someone to come clean up our table and the floor." The tone of her voice suggested that somehow the restaurant was responsible for her broken cup. And of course, there was no, "Hey I'm so sorry, one of my horrible children was fooling around and caused you a mess.

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28Nov/11Off

Customer Service Done Right

Are you a stickler about receiving top notch customer service? Do you routinely "come through" as a provider of exemplary services to your customers? Chances are you have been greatly disappointed at one time or another regarding the service you received from a salesperson, an internet hosting company, a hair colorist, or any one of thousands of different service providers. Frankly, customer service in many areas -- retail, for one -- isn't what it used to be. However, where there is poor customer service there is also a great opportunity. Read on and I will explain.

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2Nov/11Off

Questionable Customer Service

I wanted to discuss an article someone shared with me this morning about an incident at a Safeway store. This may not directly seem like a customer service issue, I but think we can learn something from this story.

Yesterday, Yahoo! News published an article about the Leszczynski family who was arrested in Honolulu, HI. This is a story you would expect to see on some cheap reality show. Let me give you an abbreviated version of the story.

31Oct/11Off

Top 5 Customer Service Myths Debunked

Today I want to debunk the five most common myths about customer service. These are things I've heard over and over again, so I’m sure I’m not alone in these. Most of these are mindsets that drive me crazy. Most people who believe these things to be true give good people in customer service a bad name.

These are myths that are thought to be true by people who work in customer service and those who don't. Good customer service agents know all of these to be false and can prove that with real life experience. Let's take a look!

1.       Customer Service just means smile and act nice.

This is the whole “just smile and have a nice tone and people will like you” crap. This drives me absolutely insane! Just because you smile and act nice does not mean you are providing good customer service. You have to want to be there! You have to want to help the customer! Customers need you to need them and they need you to do what they ask. Your flashy smile and soft tone only takes you the first sixty seconds. If that’s all you have, the rest of the interaction is going to suck.

28Oct/11Off

Part 4 of 4: How to Handle Loyal Customers

This is what we’re all in the business to do. Help those who want to be helped. These are the customers that make your day when they walk in the door. They are there because they like you and like your store. These are the people that make your job worth it.

Now, let’s not get too carried away with all the white clouds of serenity. Every now and then, these customers have problems too. Just because they like you and keep coming back doesn’t mean they deserve any less attention and effort. If anything, they deserve more of our time and effort than other customers.