Posts by Shep Hyken

My company’s mantra is three simple words: “Always be amazing!” That’s something that permeates everything we do, with everyone we come in contact with. Part of being amazing is always doing your best. And for many people, they find something that drives them, a specific reason they always give their best, no matter the circumstances…

What’s the final moment in a typical customer interaction with your business? What’s the end of the customer experience? That final moment plays an outsized role in how the customer views the overall experience, so it’s important for it to be a positive one. But now think again: is that final moment really the final…

Some companies are real rock stars when it comes to customer service. So what can you learn from them, and how can you take their ideas and practices and make them your own? The Interbrand Best Global Brands List just came out, and the list had the same 1-2 for the 6th year in a…

Good customer service isn’t always just about giving a person what they want; it’s about giving them what they need. The best customer service involves doing what’s best for the client, even if that means digging deeper than just what the customer thinks they want. The best people know how to do that with tact…

What can you do when your competition matches you in quality, price, and service? What can you do to stand out when you are so evenly matched? After hitting those three fundamentals, the next level to add to differentiate yourself is convenience. If you’re easier to do business with, and your customers know it, you’ll…

One of my favorite restaurants was famous for having its maître d’ walk backwards up the stairs while conducting guests to their tables. For a long time, I assumed it was a fancy ritual, one of those things that is done in high society. Decades later, I found out the truth: it was all about…

Is there any one thing that people commonly complain about with your business? What’s the thing that you think to yourself, “People are always complaining about that”? If you hear people complaining about something—and not just once or twice, but over and over again—then you absolutely have to do something about it! Get rid of…

It’s easy to train people on the basics of delivering good customer service. But sometimes the best opportunities arise where an employee can do something not because it’s expected, because it’s what they’ve been trained to do, but rather because it’s intuitively the right thing to do. Doing something because you want to do it,…

I’ve heard all kinds of ideas of little perks that you can offer employees to show that you care about them. Some are small, some are actually huge! But a very simple thing you can look at to get a glimpse of how your company treats its employees is to look at the coffee machine.…

My friend James Dodkins has a great quote: “If you want to put your customers first, you need to put your employees first, first.” It’s a great way of expressing the simple truth that how you treat your employees goes a long way towards how your employees will treat your customers. I love the idea…