Posts by Shep Hyken

The holidays are meant to be a time of joy, but for many businesses and customers, it’s a time of great stress. Crowds, traffic, and time crunches pile atop one another to create stress for customers, who might take it out on your employees. So how you can and your team handle this busy season—and…

Paying attention to small details can be what makes the difference between a great service experience and a mediocre one. When you observe your customers and pick up on the subtle cues and messages—both words and body language, things said and things unsaid—you can take advantage of the moment to deliver a better customer experience.…

When you and your team have direct interaction with customers, don’t just settle for answering questions and managing complaints. Instead, validate the customer’s decision to do business with you in the first place. What does that entail? Yes, you do have to answer questions and manage complaints, but also take the time to make suggestions,…

I’ve often noted that changing vocabulary can help shift an attitude and even a company’s culture. But some companies have taken it to the next level, and are inventing words that emphasize who they are to their customers. Think Southwest Airlines and “Transfarency.” Or Volkswagen’s “fahrvergnugen.” If you’re looking for the perfect word to describe…

When you practice something day after day, and it becomes natural, then it has become a habit. That can be a good thing—or it can be a bad thing. Customer service naturally becomes a habit, which means that bad customer service can become a habit, too—and one that you need to avoid! Delivering amazing customer…

It might sound like a cliché, but it’s true: you’re only as strong as your weakest link, and that saying holds true for your business and your brand. Even if 99 employees are great, but 1 is not, what happens when a customer encounters the one? It hurts your brand reputation, at least for that…

Have you ever noticed the subtle differences between how employees ask you questions at different businesses? Servers at one restaurant versus another, for example? The differences can be subtle, but those differences matter! The words you say can be the difference between a satisfactory and an amazing customer experience. Think about the words and phrases…

We’ve all heard the saying, “Never judge a book by its cover.” That rule is very important in customer services. Sometimes people make the mistake of prejudging a potential customer based on outward appearances—what they’re wearing, what car they’re driving—and can miss out on good business! Treat customers like customers, unless proven otherwise, not based…

There are surely questions that you hear a lot in your business. If you run a restaurant, it might be, “What’s the soup of the day?” or, “Is the fish fresh?” But no matter what you do, there are always questions that come up a lot—and it’s important to get them right. And it’s not…

Have you ever seen someone who was clearly just going through the motions? Someone who mindlessly asks you a question that you’ve already answered just because it’s the next question in their script? Or asks a question that is clearly irrelevant to your situation? Many people start to go through the motions, especially as the…