Customer Service

When we talk about customer service, what usually comes to mind is the experience you have when you shop in a store or eat in a restaurant, or the relationship your company has with a vendor. It’s easy to know if you are receiving good customer service: you judge it by the interaction with the…

Perhaps you heard about the major cable and Internet provider that made “headline” news last year when a customer recorded a call to the company’s customer service center. The customer had simply called to terminate his service, but first, the representative he spoke to insisted upon asking him some questions. The agent asked why the…

I love when great hotels offer nice amenities. Some include a newspaper in the morning, complimentary bottles of water, a piece of chocolate on the nightstand—you get the idea. Notice I didn’t say expensive or fancy hotel. I used the word “great.” Sometimes you don’t have to be expensive or fancy to WOW the customer the…

We all have service experiences every day. At the convenience store, restaurants, online shopping, almost every commerce experience has an element of service. When it’s a negative experience, it’s natural to dwell on it and share the details with others. In fact, “news of bad customer service reaches more than twice as many ears as…

The second-generation owner of a chain of Ace Hardware stores, Tom Glenn, tells an inspiring story about his father, Elder Glenn. Elder Glenn was working in the hardware store one day when he was approached by an upset customer who said he had a problem. The customer had bought two items that each featured a…

When a client calls my office wanting to schedule a speaking appointment, one of the first questions is usually, “Are you available on this date?” And that was the case recently when a potential client inquired about having me speak about customer service at his company’s annual meeting. The answer to the first question was…

What is it that makes great companies great? Is it the product? The short answer would be no. A company can offer a product that is truly amazing, even something so innovative that it changes lives, but that doesn’t make the company behind it great. However, when you add customer service to the mix, then…

I’ve seen pilots engage with passengers before, but Gerald Higginbotham takes it to a whole new level. I encountered Gerald as I was boarding a very early morning flight to Dallas. He was one of the pilots, and he was greeting every single person as they stepped onto the plane. It was more than a…

People love to share their customer service experiences with me, and I hear it all—everything from unbelievably amazing service to customer service horror stories. I can’t count the times someone has said to me, “You should call ‘so and so.’ Their customer service is terrible. They could use your help.” Usually the negative experiences happen…