Posts by Shep Hyken

Which customers do you want to keep doing business with? We often look at some customers as better than others. Maybe they do business with us more often, or they spend more when they buy, or maybe they’re just easier to do business with, in general. Your most loyal customers might have emotional connections with…

Building the ideal corporate culture doesn’t happen by chance. If you are a leader of a company or organization and you want to instill a customer service culture, how do you make it happen? To become a customer-centric company requires first building an employee-centric workplace. If you want your customers to be amazed—and loyal, and refer their family…

Sometimes customers just…disappear. One day they were doing business with you, and everything seemed great, but then they just stopped coming. We always assume that if a customer is unhappy or has a bad experience, they’ll tell us. And some do! But many don’t. When they’re not happy, they just go somewhere else. If you…

You’ve probably heard of the concept of “paying it forward.” The good news is, it applies to being amazing, too! The next time someone provides you an amazing customer experience, try “amazing it forward.” Let them know how much you appreciate them, and that you hope they’ll do the same for someone else who provides…

So you found a solution to your customer’s problem. But did you come up with the best solution? It’s easy to get hung up on the first idea we come up with. But the best customer experience requires creative problem solving. Consider all potential solutions, and you’ll have confidence that you gave yourself and the…

I recently gave a presentation at River Valley Bank, which is changing its name to Incredible Bank. My experience there was a great example of creating a brand promise. It’s right there in the name: Incredible Bank. You know right away what kind of customer experience they’re looking to create. I got to learn more…

Sometimes people go above and beyond in customer service, to do more than would be expected. They do it because, in their minds, it’s the right thing to do. One of my readers recently sent me a note that described a situation just like this, where someone provided him service above and beyond the call…

Lots of people talk about core values. But are you acting on your core values? If you’re just writing them down without acting on them, it’s just a writing assignment. For core values to really work, you have to understand and consider how they tie into your daily behavior, filtering (to use a great metaphor…

Getting feedback from your customers is an invaluable way to learn about how you’re really doing. But how do you actually get customers to respond to surveys? It comes down to two things: Simplicity and Speed. If you can design a survey that is easy to respond to and promise customers that you won’t take…

What personal promises are you making to your customers? I talked about my friend, Dr. Neil Baum, in a recent video. There’s another great lesson we can learn about business from the way he runs his practice. On his website, he has a section labeled “My Personal Promise to You,” addressed to his patients. It’s…