Who should do your customer service? (Of course this is a trick question. The answer is “everyone.”) …This answer isn’t as pie-in-the-sky as it sounds. “Everyone” here is shorthand for “everyone, to the extent of their abilities, to the extent of their trainability and to the extent they interact with customers.” The picture of customer […]
Who should do your customer service? (It's a trick question.) Read More »
Language underlies almost all other components of the customer experience. Yet, your company has probably given more thought to the language it uses in marketing campaigns than to the words employees use when having conversations face-to-face with customers. That’s a mistake, because customers don’t generally get their make-or-break impressions of your company from high-minded branding
Language Engineering: Finding the right words to use with customers Read More »
The tribute to Steve Jobs that’s been floating through my mind can be found nestled in the bridge of a Paul Simon song, “So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright”–his eulogy for an earlier visionary. Architects may come and Architects may go and Never change your point of view. When I run dry I stop awhile and
So Long, Steve Jobs (and Frank Lloyd Wright) Read More »
From Micah Solomon -keynote speaker, customer service speaker. My battery died briefly on my aging Volvo, and in that gap I lost the stations that had been preset into my car radio. After driving around a few days manually selecting the stations (more or less just one station) I generally listen to, I found myself
A Customer Service Trend To Embrace–Or Be Left Behind. Read More »
From keynote speaker – customer service speaker Micah Solomon Richard Carlile, a British publisher, bookseller, and campaigner for press and voting rights, spent 1819 until 1823 in prison for distributing the banned works of radicals and reformists and exposés of officially sanctioned massacres. As soon as he was sprung from prison, Carlile tried to skirt
Self-Service: From Sketchy Backwater to the Mainstream of Customer Service–Or Not? Read More »
From keynote speaker – customer service speaker Micah Solomon Beating Little Kids at Chess When I see customer service employees refusing to budge in disputes with customers over small charges, rushing them out the door when it’s closing time, and a thousand other by-the book, stingy behaviors, it’s troubling to me because it speaks of
Misguided Customer Service: Beating Little Kids at Chess Read More »
I recently watched a skillful manager at a Four Seasons hotel field a complaint from a guest who was hesitant about even bringing up her concerns. Guest (after describing a troubling interaction): “Of course, your employee may have a different perspective from mine on how this went down.” The manager’s immediate response: “Ma’am, as far
Only One Perspective That Matters: The Customer's Read More »
A culture of saying yes. There’s an ice cream parlor 40 minutes from our home – a delicious enough destination that the drive is no deterrent. The ice cream’s made on premises, the awnings and décor both retro and creative. And the people who work there are nice. Or nice-ish. What they lack is a
A culture of saying yes: Corporate culture models from ice cream to banking to eBay Read More »
Consciously striving to create a positive corporate culture may sound like a fluffy, expensive frill. But it brings hard-nosed, impossible-to-knock-off results. Ask Southwest Airlines: A host of low-cost, short-haul competitors (Remember United’s “Ted” brand? What, you don’t?) Those copycats are gone now: Southwest’s culture–a culture that’s impossible for
Consciously creating your corporate culture: Just a frill? Read More »