Shep Hyken's Blog, page 205

September 3, 2015

Amazing Business Radio Interview: Craig Smith

September 2: Craig Smith on How Marriott Creates an Amazing Customer Experience


Shep Hyken speaks with Craig Smith, president and managing director of Marriott International (Asia Pacific). From his days as the assistant housekeeping manager to his high-level role today, Craig has placed an emphasis on supporting and caring for his employees. In turn, his staff takes care of their customers/guests, which leads to high customer satisfaction. Regardless of your industry, you need the right people with the right attitudes who want to make others happy.


“There are certain personalities that love to help and love to serve and love to make others happy. And if you can find those folks and take care of them, you’ve got a winner.”  – Craig Smith


Click here to listen.


 


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Published on September 03, 2015 07:00

September 2, 2015

The Choice between Customer Service and Technology by Shep Hyken

Choose Two Out of ThreeA recent article on RetailWire.com posed a question about which of two customer loyalty strategies delivered greater ROI. Is it a customer service experience, or is it technology that integrates ease, simplicity and speed into the product? My answer to this is simple: Both!


Technology is amazing. Customer service is amazing. When you marry the two of them, you can have a winning combination. But, consider this: A great technological system can’t replace good old fashioned customer service. And in most industries using technology to enhance the customer’s experience shouldn’t be overlooked.


For example, I believe that Amazon.com is a great technology company. Even if you never interact with an employee, you feel like you receive great service, until the technology fails. But even when it does fail, it’s a simple matter of picking up the phone and dealing with one of Amazon’s very helpful customer service representatives. Amazon recognizes that even with their amazing system, they need the backup of the human support. And, by the way, when the customer is taken care of by the Amazon employee, they feel an even stronger connection.


I recently traveled to Singapore and stayed at a hotel that was as technologically advanced as any hotel I’d ever stayed at. There was an option for self-service check in to avoid any lines. The keys to the room didn’t need to be inserted into the door handle. Just hold the key anywhere near the door handle and the door unlocks. They had high speed elevators, clocks that wirelessly connected to your smartphone and much more. But all of that technology used to enhance my customer experience would have meant nothing if the hotel employees weren’t friendly and engaging. And by the way, they were.


A long time ago I sat in on a sales presentation where the sales rep told his customer about the benefits that his company could offer. He said they offered great customer service, speed and price. Then he added that the customer could choose two of those three.


Maybe that was acceptable twenty years ago. But today, that doesn’t fly. The customer expects, and even demands, all three. Customer service is a non-negotiable. Speed has become a standard expectation. Price is the variable, and while maybe not necessarily the lowest price, the customer must feel that the price they pay is in line with the value they receive.


The most competitive companies in any industry focus on a customer experience that includes the human factor. This is some engagement that is friendly and customer-focused, and many times is enhanced by technology.


So the answer to the question posed at the beginning is simple. You don’t offer the customer a choice between technology that offers “ease, simplicity or speed” or a better customer service experience. You must offer it all.


Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, keynote speaker and New York Times bestselling business author. For information contact (314)692-2200 or www.hyken.com. For information on The Customer Focus™ customer service training programs go to www.thecustomerfocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken


(Copyright © MMXV, Shep Hyken)


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Published on September 02, 2015 04:49

The Choice between Customer Service and Technology

Choose Two Out of ThreeA recent article on RetailWire.com posed a question about which of two customer loyalty strategies delivered greater ROI. Is it a customer service experience, or is it technology that integrates ease, simplicity and speed into the product? My answer to this is simple: Both!


Technology is amazing. Customer service is amazing. When you marry the two of them, you can have a winning combination. But, consider this: A great technological system can’t replace good old fashioned customer service. And in most industries using technology to enhance the customer’s experience shouldn’t be overlooked.


For example, I believe that Amazon.com is a great technology company. Even if you never interact with an employee, you feel like you receive great service, until the technology fails. But even when it does fail, it’s a simple matter of picking up the phone and dealing with one of Amazon’s very helpful customer service representatives. Amazon recognizes that even with their amazing system, they need the backup of the human support. And, by the way, when the customer is taken care of by the Amazon employee, they feel an even stronger connection.


I recently traveled to Singapore and stayed at a hotel that was as technologically advanced as any hotel I’d ever stayed at. There was an option for self-service check in to avoid any lines. The keys to the room didn’t need to be inserted into the door handle. Just hold the key anywhere near the door handle and the door unlocks. They had high speed elevators, clocks that wirelessly connected to your smartphone and much more. But all of that technology used to enhance my customer experience would have meant nothing if the hotel employees weren’t friendly and engaging. And by the way, they were.


A long time ago I sat in on a sales presentation where the sales rep told his customer about the benefits that his company could offer. He said they offered great customer service, speed and price. Then he added that the customer could choose two of those three.


Maybe that was acceptable twenty years ago. But today, that doesn’t fly. The customer expects, and even demands, all three. Customer service is a non-negotiable. Speed has become a standard expectation. Price is the variable, and while maybe not necessarily the lowest price, the customer must feel that the price they pay is in line with the value they receive.


The most competitive companies in any industry focus on a customer experience that includes the human factor. This is some engagement that is friendly and customer-focused, and many times is enhanced by technology.


So the answer to the question posed at the beginning is simple. You don’t offer the customer a choice between technology that offers “ease, simplicity or speed” or a better customer service experience. You must offer it all.


Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, keynote speaker and New York Times bestselling business author. For information contact (314)692-2200 or www.hyken.com. For information on The Customer Focus™ customer service training programs go to www.thecustomerfocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken


(Copyright © MMXV, Shep Hyken)


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Published on September 02, 2015 04:49

August 31, 2015

5 Top Customer Service Articles For the Week of August 31, 2015

TOP CUSTOMER SERVICE AND BUSINESS ARTICLES

Each week I read a number of customer service articles from various online resources. Here are my top five picks from last week. I have added my comment about each article and would like to hear what you think too.


Your Million Dollar Smile by Rupesh Patel


(LinkedIn) Show me your million dollar smile (or dare I say Billion). And I’m not just talking in the figurative sense. Your smile can literally bring your business (hotel) millions in potential revenue.


My Comment: A smile may seem basic, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t important. It is extremely important and we must all be reminded of just how important it is. Rupesh Patel owns a restaurant and shares how a smile works “magic” in his business – and how it can in your business, too.


Why Innovation Must Build from Your Customer Experience by Peter Cena


(Kapost) Innovation isn’t just another buzzword. It isn’t a “service” or even a “job”—it’s a way of existence. I’m talking about natural selection in the form of digital Darwinism coming for us all. Companies must adapt or die.


My Comment: As I read this article I couldn’t help think about how some companies have pushed the envelope to deliver a better, different and even somewhat disruptive kind of customer service. It also reminded me of a little bit of the Steve Jobs philosophy. Our customers have problems they don’t even know about. So, let’s figure out what they are and create a customer experience like they have never imagined.


3 Common Ways Customers Make Decisions by Colin Shaw


 (LinkedIn) The following three areas play a large role in Customer decisions making and must be understood to understand your Customer behaviour and move to the next level of Customer Experience.


My Comment: If we know how our customers make decisions, we can not only create products that better meet their needs/wants, we can be more effective in the sales process and we can give them a better customer experience.  I read this article twice.


Why Customer Experience in Digital Banking Matters by Connect Media Consulting


(Connect Media Consulting) Despite all the technology we have at our fingertips, a bank is still judged by one of the oldest standards known – the quality of customer experience offered.  How bank employees treat customers remains one of the most important yardsticks that people use to rank a business, and that means banks need to balance this traditional element with new technological developments.


My Comment: This is a customer service article about banks. I’m willing to bet that just about all of have a bank account. So, we can relate to the ideas shared in this article. You don’t have to be in the banking business to see just how important customer service is to virtually any customer in any industry.


These 6 Companies Are Boosting Growth by Delighting Customers by Sujan Patel


(Entrepreneur) If you’re serious about your future success and the growth of your business, you have to focus just as much on service as on sales. Here are a few companies boosting growth by investing in customer delight to help inspire you to greatness.


My Comment: I love mini case studies to illustrate how companies are successful – in this case successful through masterful customer service. This article features six outstanding companies we can learn from.  And, each uses customer service in its own way to create and ensure their success.


Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, professional speaker and New York Times bestselling business author. For information contact (314)692-2200 or www.hyken.com . For information on The Customer Focus™ customer service training programs go to www.thecustomerfocus.com . Follow on Twitter: @Hyken

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Published on August 31, 2015 04:21

August 28, 2015

Guest Blog: The Impact Employee Experience has on Customer Experience

This week on our Friends on Friday guest blog post, my colleague Max Yoder writes about how important it is to ensure that the employee experience will reflect the customer experience. I believe that the concept of  internal customer service may be just as important, if not even more so, than general customer service. 


Work shouldn’t feel like holding your breath and sprinting from nine to five until payday comes around. Companies are catching on to the work-life balance trend, and the trend is here to stay. Why? Because the employee experience is related to the customer experience. Managers are asking employees what they want, and then making it possible. Sounds a lot like catering to a valued customer!


Look at Virgin. Recently, Richard Branson approved the benefit of parental leave up to a year for employees that have been loyal to Virgin for at least four. This shows that Virgin cares about its employees’ emotions, growth and loyalty.


The benefit example is figurative too. Think of the company as the parent. The employees are the offspring, running around trying to make the parent proud. A child learns from observation then imitation. If a parent teaches and shows a child that sharing is caring, the child will then exemplify that. A good worker that’s enveloped in care will reflect the same learning and manners to customers. It’s simple communicative math: Emotions are contagious. Positive emotion evokes positive action.


As a manager, treat your employees like your most valued customer. Below are three steps to ensure employee experience will reflect to customer experience:


1. Train right


Training employees efficiently isn’t just chalked up to timing. Learning fast isn’t equivalent to efficient. Learning fast and learning well is. One way to learn efficiently is by using the flipped classroom approach:



Use a platform like Lesson.ly, to create customized content, whether it’s videos, documents, or photos. With a platform like this, you can assign content that is accessible to the employee anywhere.
Prove the learning by having trainees present what they learned whether it be through action or presentation.
Ask for feedback from the trainees during and after the onboarding process. This helps you learn to train better.

Employees that know the product and process well will be able to reiterate it to customers well. Set the example in training.



Recognize

Recognize employees when they do something well–no matter how small. Employees that experience recognition will want to do what it takes to keep receiving praise. Those who are excited about their jobs will encourage customers to be excited about the product.



Incentivize

Reward your employees for working hard. Whether it be reflected in a benefits package, or on a more timely basis, the reward will incline employees to go the extra mile for the company, which in turn is going the extra mile for the customer.


Implement these steps, but always ask for feedback. After all, it’s happiness that leads to productivity. If you ask Branson, he’ll say, “If you take care of your employees, you take care of your business.” So, like your customers, find out what your employees want and deliver it. In turn, they’ll deliver too.


Max Yoder is the co-founder and CEO of Lesson.ly , the easy training software. His team’s mission is to make team training as easy as possible, so you can build training materials, share them, and gain insight — all within the same interface.


For more articles from Shep Hyken and his guest contributors go to customerserviceblog.com. Read Shep’s latest Forbes Article:


The Future Of Communication In Customer Service


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Published on August 28, 2015 04:25

August 26, 2015

Over-the-Top Customer Service Isn’t an Everyday Occurrence by Shep Hyken

Special Opportunities Amazing Customer Experience

Sometimes, we experience truly amazing levels of customer service. We call it over-the-top, or above and beyond, or WOW! customer service. Many of my clients tell me they want to consistently create that experience for their customers. My response is that it’s an unrealistic – even impossible – expectation. Over-the-top service usually happens with isolated incidents, either problems or complaints, or recognition of an opportunity to create such levels of service.


As an example, the Ritz-Carlton is known for its outstanding service. Their system is excellent, and their team is superbly trained. Employees recognize guests and call them by name. They pay attention to the details. Everything they do is just a little above the norm, which makes them stand out and explains why they can charge premium dollars for staying in their hotel. So, why does the Ritz-Carlton get praise for their over-the-top, exceptional levels of customer service? It’s not because of what they do every day. It’s because of what they do once in a while.


I just read an amazing story about a family that was staying at the Ritz-Carlton in Toronto. The kids were playing floor hockey in the hall when the hotel received a complaint from another guest. One of the Ritz-Carlton’s employees politely informed the kids’ parents that they couldn’t play hockey in the hallway. The parents understood and were happy to comply. Problem solved. In most places, that is where the story would end, but this was the Ritz-Carlton. While the employee took care of the guest’s complaint, he also wanted to take care of the family that caused the complaint. So, he contacted the banquet staff who set up a floor hockey rink in one of the empty banquet rooms. And, to take it a step further, some of the hotel employees decided to participate and challenge the family to a floor hockey game. The story goes on to say that the family won the game, but in the end, it’s the Ritz-Carlton that won. They scored in the column of loyalty and accolades. Talk about a Moment of Magic©.


This super-fantastic-over-the-top-above-and-beyond customer service story doesn’t happen every day. It only happens when employees spot opportunities. It’s easy to spot a problem when a customer comes to you with a complaint. Yet spotting opportunities by just paying attention takes it to the next level. Maybe the customer shares the problem with a companion, but not the business. An attentive employee may overhear the complaint and surprise the customer by fixing it. Or maybe it isn’t a complaint. I remember taking my daughter out for dinner on her birthday. We didn’t tell the server it was her birthday, but he overheard us talking about it and surprised us with a dessert, complete with a candle.


These types of incidents don’t happen during every customer interaction. In fact, they may not even happen frequently. They’re isolated opportunities, meaning it’s impossible to deliver that level of service every time. But that doesn’t mean you and your company can’t earn a stellar reputation. All it takes is consistently being a little above average and a little better than expected. And, always be on the lookout for opportunities to turn complaints, or what appear to be ordinary interactions, into something extraordinary. Something that the customer will remember. Something that the customer will want to talk about.


Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, keynote speaker and New York Times bestselling business author. For information contact (314)692-2200 or www.hyken.com. For information on The Customer Focus™ customer service training programs go to www.thecustomerfocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken


(Copyright © MMXV, Shep Hyken)


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Published on August 26, 2015 04:58

August 25, 2015

Amazing Business Radio Interview: Danny Meyer

August 25: Danny Meyer Dishes Out Advice on the Importance of Hospitality in Business


Shep Hyken interviews Danny Meyer, CEO of the Union Square Hospitality Group. The award-winning restaurateur opened his first establishment, Union Square Cafe, in 1985 at the age of 27. Due to its emphasis on service and hospitality, Union Square Cafe soon became one of the premiere dining locations in all of New York City, and remains highly regarded today. Listen as Danny describes how to use those same principles – hospitality and service – to make any business a success.


“In any kind of business, you have the exact same five stakeholders, no matter what business you’re in. You have people who work for you, customers, a community in which you do business, you have suppliers and you have investors. And in a great business, all of those stakeholders are feeling great about your business and rooting for your success.” – Danny Meyer


Click here to listen to the interview.


 


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Published on August 25, 2015 18:59

August 24, 2015

5 Top Customer Service Articles For the Week of August 24, 2015

TOP CUSTOMER SERVICE AND BUSINESS ARTICLES

Each week I read a number of customer service articles from various online resources. Here are my top five picks from last week. I have added my comment about each article and would like to hear what you think too.


The Customer Experience Is Everyone’s Business by Katy Keim


(Marketing Land) Smart brands know that everyone owns the customer experience. Columnist Katy Keim discusses the steps to becoming a truly customer-focused brand.


My Comment: There are several great ideas in this article about creating a customer-focused culture. I especially like the idea of using your community of loyal customers to become brand ambassadors and help other customers with their questions. It is basically “crowd sourcing” some of your customer service, an idea worth consideration.


[SLIDESHARE] 12 Thought-Provoking Tweets on Customer Service by Pam Bednarczyk


(Corvisa) Take a minute to click through the slides below for some practical and concise insights on delivering a flawless customer experience.


My Comment: This isn’t an article, but a great SlideShare put out by Corvisa. They’ve found a few customer service related Tweets (a couple of mine are included) and put them into the SlideShare with their comments in the form of “takeaways.” You’ll definitely find a Tweet or two you’ll want to share with your colleagues.


Turn that frown upside down: how to handle negative user reviews by James Thornton


(GetApp) With so many negative reviews out there, why should you even put yourself out there at all? And how do you cope with the haters? Have no fear, we’re here to offer you a guide on how to respond to negative reviews and turn them to your advantage.


My Comment: Everyone hates to get a negative customer review. This article is full of information including stats and facts as well as ideas on how to deal with negative reviews – and why.


Taming the beast – do have the rein on brand strategy? by Niamh Lynch


(Synchroteam) Does your company operate in the area of field service? Do you dispatch technicians, manage call outs, and organize schedules? You might not believe me, but businesses like yours already have a leg up when it comes to brand strategy.


My Comment: One definition of a brand is “a promised delivered.” Part of that promise is how you treat the customer. It can build up – or take down – your brand.  While this article focuses on the field service industry, there is information here for just about any type of business in any industry.


6 Offline Skills Your Social Media Customer Service Representatives Must Have by Infinit Contact


(Infinit Contact) Social media is being used these days as a venue for customer service by a lot of businesses.  There are many factors that contribute to your success in social media customer service outsourcing or in-house, and one of them involves your social media team.


My Comment: While the title of this article focuses on the skills someone in the social media customer service needs to have, I think they are skills that every customer facing employee must have. And, I’ll include “internal customers” as well.  People do business and work with people. These are the skills and personality traits we hope others have when we interact with them.


Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, professional speaker and New York Times bestselling business author. For information contact (314)692-2200 or www.hyken.com . For information on The Customer Focus™ customer service training programs go to www.thecustomerfocus.com . Follow on Twitter: @Hyken

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Published on August 24, 2015 04:16

August 21, 2015

Guest Blog: Seeing is Believing

This week on our Friends on Friday guest blog post, my colleague Josh Stern writes about how important it is to properly use the data collected from customer experiences. He explores the value in video mystery shopping as a source of valuable data. Shep Hyken


Strategic decisions are only as good as the information upon which they are based. Currently, most business leaders face the challenge of discerning the quality of information being supplied before determining how best to use it. To forge the way to sustained success and company growth, executives now can and should call for data free of bias and flaws.


Traditional models of data collection and customer research result in a variety of pitfalls, rendering the information obtained only fractionally useful at best. For example, customer surveys cannot objectively measure a store’s performance, because survey respondents are prone to their own bias and subjectivity.


Customers do not enter a store expecting to evaluate the experience, and they are thus dependent on recollection and memory. Although customers may easily recall an especially positive or negative experience, their ability to recall the specific details sought in a survey with accuracy is extremely limited. Researcher Elizabeth Loftus of the University of California, Irvine, says of human recall that it is “more akin to putting puzzle pieces together than retrieving a recording from a video.” This means that it cannot be “played back” in sequence with accuracy but rather is reconstructed through small pieces that can be combined differently and therefore inaccurately.


The problem of inaccurate recall is further exacerbated when there is lag time between the actual service or sale and completion of the survey from a computer at home several hours — or even days — later. Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman notes that people’s recollections of an experience are dominated by two distinct things: how they felt at the peak of that experience and how they felt at the end of it. As such, customer recollection of multiple details during a store visit would be colored similarly by those two points in their shopping experience.


Additionally, the typical survey respondent is in either the top 10 percent or bottom 10 percent of satisfaction levels, leaving a full 80 percent of the customer base untapped for information. Often, the respondents are motivated by incentives such as discounts on future purchases, which introduces another degree of bias to the feedback collected.


Reduce the Waste

In sharp contrast, video mystery shopping is impervious to such characteristic flaws, making the information obtained far superior in terms of reliability and usability for improvement. Capturing employee performance on film documents all aspects and nuances of a customer’s experience without subjectivity or bias. Information can be obtained on the typical customer, not just those respondents driven by an exceptionally positive or negative experience, or incentivized by future discounts or other such programs.


Turning Data into Actionable Insight


Making the best use of high-quality customer data enables a company to have a consistent footprint across multiple sites nationwide, which is critical to brand and image management and thus customer retention. To achieve that consistency requires ongoing, uniform training at each location on the behaviors that drive performance.


Accordingly, the data collected from customer experiences must be actionable and placed into training plans. Video mystery shopping, because of its neutral bias, is a simple yet powerful means to capture information upon which to build a training program. Although customer surveys have a role in collecting data, they are sufficiently limited in providing information that can be translated into a behavior — an action — that is trainable.


Recycle the Results

To engage in non-stop performance improvement requires a company to continuously seek information and train their employees to higher standards. Although decisions about the good of the business may lie in the executive suite’s purview, the deployment of those decisions falls squarely on the shoulders of individual store managers through employee training.


For the corporate vision to permeate completely and accurately through the management ranks, it needs to be clearly defined and well-communicated through training modules delivered on an ongoing basis. After training is complete, it’s time to once again assess performance through video collection to determine where retraining would be beneficial. A continuous feedback loop cycles the information from the uppermost levels of management to the individual employees and back.


Without accurate data, decisions are faulty and training will be inconsistent and ill-suited to charting a path to sustained success. Surveys prove costly in terms of the value of information received at the given price; they simply cannot guarantee that a company will garner more market share nor can they prevent corporate decline.


Take it to the Bank

Frail data is extremely expensive in terms of time and dollars. Executives no longer need to dig through the landfill of flawed data to find the right information for strategic decision-making. Instead, it can be collected and delivered to the doorstep, enabling better decisions for the long-term good of the company’s success. Dispose of time-worn, faulty data collection methods and reap the rewards of reliable information and experience the value in video mystery shopping.


Reality Based Group (RBG) started life in 1992 as GameFilm®, the world’s original video mystery shopping company. Over the years, RBG has measured the customer experience from an objective point of view for some of the world’s most respected brands, across over 15 industries. Learn more at www.realitybasedgroup.com.


For more articles from Shep Hyken and his guest contributors go to customerserviceblog.com. Read Shep’s latest Forbes Article:


Is the Customer Experience Your Magnificent Obsession?


 


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Published on August 21, 2015 05:32

August 19, 2015

Always Serve Your Customer with Grace and Appreciation by Shep Hyken

Serve with Grace Dignity and Respect

If you follow my work, you know that I believe that customers should be treated with dignity and respect, even when they’re wrong (and yes, they can be wrong). But what about when the customer is right and you are wrong? Or when they have a simple request? When it comes to giving in to a customer, make sure you do it in a graceful manner.


My assistant shared a story with me recently in which her friend received an invoice via email and noticed it had the wrong physical address. So, he contacted the company to inform them of the correct address. The response from the customer service rep was surprising. Less than friendly, the rep was short and made the customer feel as if she was doing him a huge favor. Apparently he could have gone on the company’s website and changed it himself. In a cynical tone, she informed him that as a courtesy to him, she will update his account, but next time use the website. Basically she was saying, next time don’t bother her.


Doesn’t this rep realize that she is dealing with a customer – someone who not only helps keep the company profitable, but ultimately is paying her salary? Apparently not! She made him feel as if she “gave in” to his very reasonable request. It wasn’t like he was asking for much, if anything at all. He thought he was doing the company a favor by letting them know what the correct address was.


Another example that may make more sense happened one day when I tried to park my car in a public parking lot. As I attempted to pull into the lot, the attendant informed me that it was full. I had seen several open spaces as I was passing by the lot and shared that information with the attendant. Apparently, the attendant didn’t believe me, so I actually stepped out of the car and walked him over to the empty spaces. At that point, a customer-focused employee might have said something like, “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize there was an open spot. Thanks for letting me know,” Instead, with an exasperated attitude, he let me in. He made me feel that he had done me a huge favor. And, all I wanted to do was pay him and his company for the apparent privilege of parking my car in an empty space on his lot.


If you are going to do a favor for a customer or give in to a reasonable – or even special – request, do so graciously. Don’t make the customer feel as if you are doing him or her a huge favor. The reality is that you aren’t doing the customer a courtesy. No, the customer is doing you a favor by spending his or her hard earned money with you instead of your competition.


In just about every situation, whether the customer is asking for something special or just doing business with you as usual, serve with grace and appreciation.


Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, keynote speaker and New York Times bestselling business author. For information contact (314)692-2200 or www.hyken.com. For information on The Customer Focus™ customer service training programs go to www.thecustomerfocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken


(Copyright © MMXV, Shep Hyken)


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Published on August 19, 2015 06:49