Posts by Shep Hyken
What Lane Is Your Business In? Is It Customer Service?
There are some companies that are recognized for their customer service. It’s their focus, they’ve built their brands around it, and they’re good at it. You could say they “stay in their lane.” Some examples would be Ace Hardware (think helpful), Nordstrom and Zappos. Are these companies known for being the low price leader? No,…
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Customer Service Apology is Stronger with a Personal Touch
Every so often at the office we order lunch “to go” from First Watch, a restaurant that is open for breakfast and lunch. It serves up both delicious food and great service. But, as you know, even a great company can make mistakes, and unfortunately, twice in one week my lunch order was wrong. The…
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Laziness and Apathy are Customer Service Killers
I write about amazing customer service experiences that I encounter so others can learn from them. And bad customer experiences can be learning experiences as well—they are examples of what not to do. Two bad experiences recently highlighted the fact that some people refuse to be flexible because that’s not the easy way out. Such laziness is…
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Before You Can Be Customer Centric, You Must Be Employee Centric
“Customer centricity” is popular terminology in the customer service arena today, and it refers to a company-wide focus on the customer. Everyone in the company and everything the company does—every business process, every department—has the customer in mind at all times. It is a powerful way for a company to operate successfully. A similar concept would…
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Employee Engagement is the Key to Working Harder and Caring More
More than 2,300 years ago, Aristotle said, “Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.” If this were written in today’s terms, it would fall under the heading of what we now call “employee engagement.” This simple quotation is only nine words, yet it conveys a very powerful truth. Employees who are engaged in…
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Using Games to Create a Better Customer Experience
A growing trend that I’ve been writing about recently is “gamification,” defined by Wikipedia as “the use of game-thinking and game mechanics in non-game contexts in order to engage users.” Companies are using games to enhance the customer experience and engage with their customers, as well as their employees. It is a winning strategy for businesses—providing…
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A Competitive Advantage: Be Nice
The other night I did a speech that was more about motivation than it was about business and customer service. The audience included college students in their teens and 20’s, people in the prime of their business careers, and retired people. The client asked me to deliver a simple message about going from being average…
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Amazing Customer Service Gives a Competitive Edge
Customer service gives you the competitive edge. It’s that simple. If what you sell is the same as what your competitor sells, customer service can tip the scale in your favor. For the right level of customer service, some customers will drive further, wait longer, and even be willing to spend more money to get…
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Core Values are the Key to Customer Service
What are your company’s core values? If you can’t answer that, it’s worth taking some time to figure it out. One of my clients recently asked about how core values should come into play when hiring and firing, and it got me thinking about the importance of the overall concept. Core values affect the customer service…
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What’s Your Customer Service Legend
If you read it on the Internet, it must be true, right? Well . . .maybe. Some time ago, there was an incredible story about customer service making its way around the Internet, and yes, it is 100 percent true. You may have read about it—the customer service call that lasted nearly 10 hours. Numerous…
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