Bob Schultek Author of The Gauntlet Recently, my awareness was raised about the great diversity of customer service experiences we encounter every day. During a recent hotel stay, my perception of exceptional service was redefined. Every staff person I met at this facility – at the door, at the front desk, in the restaurant, in the hallways and in a meeting room support role – shared a common purpose of sustaining their guests’ comfort and satisfaction. They …
Your customer service reps have unlimited access to your customers, yet they are often considered to be expendable and typically treated as such. Are you managing your customer service function as a cost center or as a profit center? How much of your customers’ satisfaction is impacted by your customer service reps? Exceptional customer service is a proven differentiator. When access to information is so effortless that many products are seen as commodities, when the …
“Our customers buy only on price. If we don’t offer the lowest price, they go elsewhere. They don’t care about anything else…it’s just price. That’s the way our industry works.” Annie was reacting to my challenge that acting like a commodity is a choice you make. “So is your key strategy to always offer the lowest price…in every circumstance, for every customer?” When Annie replied, “Not really,” I asked: “Why do customers contact you?” Annie …
As businesses grow, their organizations become more complex. Responsibilities are divided to drive productivity and goal achievement. Department leaders become endowed with control, which they then strive to protect. The fear of losing control often causes these leaders to erect barriers. Barriers promote bureaucracy, inefficiency, low morale and failure by shifting the focus away from the organization’s goals to a concentration on departmental needs. Full engagement with customers is hampered by competing priorities within the …
To build trust with a customer or prospect, demonstrating a sense of vulnerability – seeking first to thoroughly understand rather than to recommend – is a productive method. But most business vulnerability can be destructive. If you are growing your business solely because you make a unique product, offer an exclusive service or do one thing very well, your business is vulnerable. Don’t bet your business on just the one component or skill that is …
Why They Don’t Know What You Expect Glenn had just finished describing his year-end performance review process and how each person had reacted. He paused and said: “I’m so frustrated! After all these years of working together, many of the people who met with me still don’t understand what I expect from them.” Performance review discussions are more than grading exercises – they are unique opportunities to have substantive, one-on-one dialogue with each person who …
Demonstrating Commitment or Convenience The other day, we were standing in line to use the “up” escalator. The queue was long, despite the fact that right next to the escalator was a flight of steps that no one was using.The staircase wasn’t too long…about half as long as you might see going to the next floor at a department store. Yet, there we all were in line, most of us looking reasonably healthy and able …
