Chip R. Bell's Blog, page 19

I am “Great-full”

The word “grateful” comes from the Latin word Gratus that meant, “pleasing or agreeable.” We use it now as the expression of thanks to those who please us in some manner. The word gets used a lot around this season of the year. But, it should not be a seasonal expression like “mistletoe,” “goblins” or “conversation hearts.”

People please us all year long. Some loudly, like the happy-go-lucky store clerk; some quietly, like the person who cleaned the plane right before you boarded. Customers ar...

Say “Thanks” with Sprinkles This Year!

This is the season we find ways to thank customers for their patronage. We might send customers a note, a card, a 2015 calendar, a ‘thank you’ email or a Starbucks card. If the customer habitually gives loyal patronage to other service providers, your expression of gratitude may look a lot like twelve others they receive. So, what are more innovative ways to thank your customers this year? Forget the hot air balloon with a love banner or any other pricey or creepy gesture. Customers value bol...

Be a Warrior of Service

“I’m a soldier of service,” he said proudly when I thanked him for helping me locate an item in the Home Depot. I smiled and asked him what that meant. “It means I am here in service of my customers,” he replied. “My job is to quickly get them whatever they need.” I again thanked him and walked to the cash register recalling my soldiering days.

I was not a soldier; I was a warrior. I served in combat as the commander of an Army reconnaissance ranger unit. Think of Army Rangers as sort of the A...

The Quality of Service

Mrs. Pope was my fifth grade teacher. I did not know the word back then, but she was a renaissance teacher. As her students, we painted, sculpted, created scrapbooks, played classroom games, learned poetry, and staged musicals complete with costumes. It was the whole-person approach completely uncharacteristic of the structured rote-learning typical teacher of that era. To Mrs. Pope knowing about Beowulf and Mozart were as important as knowing the names of all the capitols or the formula calc...

Give Customers What You Are Destined to Give

The Chef is a great, feel-good movie about a (duh!!) chef who is divorced from his wife and estranged from his only child—a bright young boy eager to have a relationship with his dad. Carl Casper (the chef), despite his foibles in personal relationships, is an amazingly innovative chef. But, he works for a restaurant owner (played by Dustin Hoffman) who is intent on serving the same good, but unimaginative, menu year after year. The centerpiece of the movie is Carl’s confrontation with courag...

Is Your Service Concierge?

My wife and I grabbed a quick weekend in New York City. After arriving at The London hotel on Friday afternoon armed only with advance tickets to a Friday night and Saturday afternoon play, we went straight to the hotel concierge! We needed help with dinner reservations and off-the-beaten attractions not obvious to the typical tourist. Despite the busy, crowded hotel lobby, what we received felt like a private briefing uniquely tailored to our whims as if we were the hotel’s only guests!

Great...

Get it Your Way!

Let’s start with two principles: 1) There is a good service person inside almost every front-line server; and, 2) as a customer able to see the absurdity of stupid service rules, we need to sometimes help the service person navigate the rules that govern their service. Practice these two principles and poor service will be a rarity. In fact, you will often get great service.

I was visiting a friend in the hospital. When the nurse announced to my friend she would be shortly bringing him breakfa...

What if Service Processes Were Customer-Controlled?

When I was in high school, I sang in the high school glee club. One song I recall was called, “My Grandfather’s Clock.” Written by Henry Clay Work in 1876, the most dramatic lyrics of the song were found in the second verse,

“It was bought on the morn of the day that he was born

And was always his treasure and pride

But it stopped, short never to go again

When the old man died”

It is popular to talk about being customer-focused or customer-centric. But, what if service processes could be customer-...

The Hopeful Wait Principle

One of the most well-known verses of scripture in the old testament is the line from Psalm 27: “Wait on the Lord; be of good courage…” It was the scripture passage for the sermon at my church. But, I learned a unique fact. The imperative verb translated “wait” is the Hebrew word kavveh that literally means, “look for with anticipation” or “hope.” “Be of good courage” (chazak) is often translated as andridzou or “like a man” or “like a strong person.”

Since the world of customer service dominat...

Calling Your Customer’s Name

As a young boy I spent a lot of time with my grandfather. We spent hours together fishing, working in the fields, and telling tall tale stories around a fire. One of my favorite memories was sitting out under the stars in his backyard listening to night birds. In the area where I grew up we got to listen to the coo of doves, the screech of hawks and owls, the bay of a diving bullbat, and my favorite…the whippoorwill.

The whippoorwill got its name for his unique chirp, “whip-poor-will” with an...