Posts by Shep Hyken

Who is responsible for the customer experience in your business? Every department should be contributing, from marketing to communication to sales and more. Customer service is everything you do that touches the customer, and when everyone does their job, the customer does what all of us hope they will do: come back again and talk…

Do you have processes in place to turn minor mishaps into major wins? I recently witnessed a great example of an organization that knows exactly what to do. At a recent St. Louis Blues game, a fan a few rows ahead of me was hit in the head by a puck that came over the…

We’ve all heard them. The phrases that set our teeth on edge. That get us so frustrated. That drive us crazy! Some of those maddening phrases are slowly fading away, but we all hate certain phrases, and we hear them far too often in our customer service interactions. Here are 10 phrases you should try…

Your employees are responsible for creating amazing customer service experiences, and it’s important to demonstrate to them how important they are to your company. One way to reflect that importance is by calling them—and treating them as—professionals. Instead of a Customer Support Representative, how about a Customer Support Professional? It will give your employees greater…

Jeff Bezos once said, “The best customer service is if the customer doesn’t need to call you, doesn’t need to talk to you. It just works.” The best customer service goes unseen—but the absence of good service gets noticed immediately. When everything behind the scenes goes right, no one notices, but it’s conspicuous in its…

What you think is not always what other people think. Assuming that your personal likes and dislikes and way of doing things is universal can lead you to make big mistakes. What’s more important is being in sync with how your customers feel. Make sure you understand their preferences, their timetables, their assumptions of how…

What would you be willing to do for your customers if they were willing to pay you more for it? A recent study found that 52 percent of customers would pay more for “good” customer service. Even better, 66 percent would pay more for “great” service. And to top it all off, 75 percent of…

We’ve all seen businesses offering special incentives for new customers. If you’re a loyal customer to one of those companies and you see one of these offers that’s not available to you, how does that make you feel? You’re likely to wonder, “Isn’t my loyalty worth something?” Consider the message you’re sending to existing customers…

Sometimes, you want to have a gap—a gap between you in front and your competitors far behind. But other times a gap is dangerous, particularly a gap between the service you think you’re providing and what your customers actually think of your service. Surveys have found that as many as 80 percent of companies think…

Everybody knows about the importance of a good first impression. But the last impression matters, too—because it’s often a lasting impression. A good last impression will leave your customer feeling good about you and your business, and ready to come back to you when they need your services again. In this video, you’ll learn about…