People To People Service: Customer Service Blog, Customer Service Tips

Loving Your Job

2010-08-09T00:41:00.000-07:00

I've always believed that customer service has been generally bad in most industries because people don't love their job. Many people seek a particular career because they see an opportunity to make a great deal of money, but they don’t necessarily feel passionate about that line of work.

When You Love What You Do

When you love what you do, it shouldn’t matter how much money you make. You’re going to become really good at what you do because you feel so passionate about it that you end up making tons of money anyways. Unfortunately, many people don’t think this way.

When you love what you do, you stand up for what you believe in and feel compelled to be of service no matter what kind of opposition you might run into. Maybe people close to you think that you should be doing something else. Or maybe you have people who always criticize your work.

For instance, I know a San Diego DUI lawyer who is constantly asked why he would defend drunk drivers. He is passionate about defending people’s rights, even those who make the mistake of drinking and driving. He wants people to have a fair trial and he wants to defend those people who may have been wrongly accused of drunk driving. He loves his job and feels strongly about the justice system.

Is It Important To Love Your Job?

Some people think that loving your job is overrated, but I can’t stress enough how important it is to your overall state of well being to be passionate about what you do for a living. You feel a sense of purpose and people pick up on those good vibes. They want you to help them. You smile more, have more fun, and attract customers who are willing to pay for the service or product that you provide. Loving your job should be a customer service tenet.

If you’re not in a job that you love, then what’s stopping you from going on career path that you enjoy? Or what about looking at your current job from a different perspective? Perhaps you can find one thing that you really like about it and just stay focused on that.

Regardless of what you are doing right now, isn’t it nice to know that you are being of service to someone who needs your help?

The Summer Edition: Customer Service Carnivale

2010-06-21T15:18:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Summer Edition of the Customer Service Carnivale. I hope all is well with you and your business! Take some time out today to read all the great submissions I received for this edition. If anything, they will inspire to take your customer service to the next level of success. Enjoy :)

Heidi Miller shares her Top 5 Contact Center links: the customer experience battleground posted at Spoken Communications.

If you're a hiring manager in need of a new Help Desk person, consider these Help Desk Interview Questions and Answers: IT, Computer and Analyst posted at Job Interview Guide.

Every once in awhile we need to be reminded of the basics of customer service. Charles Chua C K offers great reminders in All About Living with Life: Positive Customer Relationships – 10 Customer Care Tips posted at All About Living with Life. Charles also wrote another great post called H.E.A.R.T Way to Customer Care.

Everyone is talking about social media these days, and the MetaSpring Blog offers a great example of how the TV show "The Office" is using it to connect with their fans. You have to read , The Office: A Study in Social Media Success.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of customer service carnivale using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Customer Service Carnivale: The Early Summer Edition

2010-06-07T23:33:00.000-07:00

It's time for another round of helpful customer service tips, tools, and resources!

June Tree presents Why Online Banking Customer Satisfaction Matters posted at The Digerati Life. Customer service and customer satisfaction does affect the bottom line of financial institutions!

Utpal Vaishnav shares Contribute Beyond Your Title With Assumed Responsibility And Take The Right Decision! posted at Utpal Vaishnav. This is a great example of a leader who takes the road less traveled.

Are you on the hunt for a career in customer service? Nissim Ziv offers some good tips in Customer Service: Resume Objective Examples posted at Job Interview Guide, saying, "On your resume, one of the most important paragraphs is the paragraph of the objectives statement, as this paragraph should present briefly your experience and your main skills."

In this next article, Home Based Business Success, is a video in which Deb Bixler offers up some great customer service tips.

As someone who lives the Yoda philosophy, I appreciate Steven Di Pietro's post, Trying is not good enough - what we can learn from Yoda posted at Service With Purpose.

Ryan Taft presents Tweet Us with ANY Questions posted at Catalyst Marketers, saying, "Twitter is a great tool for customer service. It allows you to instantly update your loyal customers/followers. Things like store closings due to weather, special offers or events, time-sensitive specials...all of these messages can instantly be in the hands of your followers. Your followers also have the ability to instantly connect with you, ask questions, and get feedback. Check out this post to see how you can utilize Twitter for Customer Service."

And speaking of social media, here are 5 Social Media Sites for Managers & Executives posted at Masters in Healthcare Management.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of customer service carnivale using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Small Business Marketing and Using Social Media to Enhance the Customer Experience

2010-06-04T14:53:00.000-07:00

We live in a very connected world. It's a wonderful time to be in business because it's so easy to stay in touch with people. Back in the day if you wanted to market your business, you had to have a budget and pay for ads in newspapers or TV to get noticed by the masses.

Nowadays you don't have to have the budget of big name companies like Nike or Mercedez to get your business noticed. Now we have social media...and it's a great thing. You can be a small business based on a small, remote island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and still connect with customers.

I'm probably preaching to the choir regarding this idea of using social media to connect with customers as many of you regular readers already realize the value of sites such as Twitter and Facebook. However, are you using these sites correctly is the question. This is something that I've been exploring as I create content for an upcoming seminar.

I've been continuously looking for examples of companies that are using social media to establish deeper relationships with their customers. At this very moment Southwest Airlines is one company that comes to mind. I remember when they were one of the first companies to start blogging and connecting with customers. And it wasn't just a marketing person blogging for the whole company - they recruited employees from different departments to contribute to the blog.

It's one thing to have a Twitter or Facebook account and blast out company news or special deals. It's another thing to use social networking sites to find out more about your customers like, dislikes, where they hang out, what their dog ate that day...well, maybe we don't necessarily want to know that last tidbit (unless your a dog food company), but you get the idea. Social networking offers an opportunity to let customers know that what they say does matter...and that you're listening.

I'm very passionate about social media. As part of my freelance writing and internet marketing services, social media is one area in which I help small businesses. So, if you're in the San Diego/Southern California area on Thursday, June 24, 2010, and want to learn how you can really connect with customers using social media, then I'd love for you to attend this seminar about using social media to enhance the customer service. This half-day seminar is being facilitated by my business mentor, Maureen Orey, of Workplace Learning and Performance Group.

If you're interested in promoting this seminar, I'm offering 10% commission of ticket sales. Click here to sign up to be an affiliate!

The Ultimate Service

2010-05-30T23:31:00.000-07:00

The brave die never, though they sleep in dust:
Their courage nerves a thousand living men.

– Minot J. Savage

Here in the U.S. it is Memorial Day, a holiday honoring the men and women who served our country in the armed forces. When you risk your life for what you believe in - to me that is the ultimate service. I'm a lover, not a fighter, however, I do respect those who go to battle all in the name of justice and freedom. My father served in the Navy for 20 years, so I understand and can sympathize with military families.

You'd be hard-pressed to find anybody in business willing to risk their life for the company they work for. If you know of anybody, let me know!

Photo Credit: Jackie

Customer Service Carnivale: The "How To" Edition

2010-05-24T16:23:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the "How To" edition of the Customer Service Carnivale. This edition is full of advice and tips from creating loyal customers to being a resource for customers to saving money on customer service. So take a break, sit back, relax, and enjoy all the good reads!

We all love satisfied customers, but wouldn't it be better to have loyal customers? Kathy C. of The Thriving Small Business provides great tips on how to turn customer satisfaction into customer loyalty.

I believe that people who offer great service have great leaders who inspire and motivate them. Here are some tips on how to motivate a team.

Are you a resource for the community of people who support your business? If not, you may want to follow these tips on how to be a consumer tool provided by the FindItLocall411 Blog.

If you have an e-commerce business, you may want to consider these tips on how to hire staff to help customers.

Paul Hopkins offers a tip on how to drive down costs and improve service.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of customer service carnivale using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Customer Service Tip of the Week by Caroline Cooper

2010-05-17T02:11:00.000-07:00

Browsing through Twitter, I came across a great customer service tip from Caroline Cooper of Zeal Coaching:

Not providing consistent customer service is one of my pet peeves!

By the way, Caroline specializes in hospitality training and coaching, so if you work in this industry, I recommend checking out her blog and her twitter stream (@carojcooper) for more tips!

Customer Service Carnivale: The Spring Fever Edition

2010-05-10T13:53:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Spring Fever edition of the Customer Service Carnivale! I call it "Spring Fever" because I didn't get very many submissions due to my mistake of not announcing or scheduling a carnivale at my Blog Carnival page. I ran into a bit of spring fever and it slipped my mind. I apologize for that! Perhaps it's good that we have less submissions because now you can read all of them ;)

(Internal) Customer Service Tips

Deb Bixler presents Sales Consultant Training Recruiting. This article could be applied to those of you who are in charge of hiring and/or recruiting customer service associates.

When you're done hiring new employees, you should then follow these steps to welcome your new employees. After all, employees who feel welcome and comfortable in their new workplace are more likely to be welcoming towards customers!

After you've hired and welcomed your new employee, you'll now need to know: How to Retain Employees – Ways for Retaining Good Employee

Customer Service News

Tom Cole presents New FCC Regulations to Protect Buyers in the Phone Card and Calling Card Industry

Thanks to all who contributed to this edition! Submit your blog article to the next edition of customer service carnivale using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Home Depot Customer Service Turnaround?

2010-05-08T14:24:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've been in a Home Depot (HD) store, but Alan Gregerman's post, "Dear Home Depot", reminded me of past issues that the company had with customer service.

Right before firing Bob Nardelli (now former CEO) a few years ago, Home Depot had announced that they would invest $350 million to improve its stores and service. I think I've been in Home Depot only once since that announcement (I started shopping at Lowe's), but I do recall the friendliness of all the associates I walked by during that one visit.

I did notice that a Home Depot Customer Care representative left a comment on Alan's post with links to the company's Twitter and Facebook profiles. I checked out Home Depot's Twitter stream and was pleasantly surprised by how engaging and helpful their Tweeters are.

Have a Home Depot customer service story to share? Leave a comment!

Photo Credit: jclarson

More Tools To Enhance the Customer Experience: Parature For Facebook

2010-05-06T14:03:00.000-07:00

I'm currently working on putting together a seminar about using social media to enhance the customer experience. So I've spent the past week doing research and discovering all kinds of neat ideas and tools that businesses can use to create a better experience for their customers.

So today I read this article about a company called Parature who has just launched this Parature for Facebook application. The application will show up as a "Support" tab on your company's Facebook page where customers can post questions and your customer service department can reply back. There is also a chat feature where customers can chat with one of your reps right from the Facebook page.

Click here to find out more features about Parature for Facebook.

What are your thoughts about this new social networking tool to communicate with customers? Would you consider using it?

Customer Service Carnivale: Another Good Mix Edition

2010-04-26T07:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the good mix edition of the Customer Service Carnivale! This edition has a another good mix of interesting posts from various customer service related topics. No matter what area of customer service you work in, there's something to learn from each of these submissions...

Are you applying for a position in customer service? The Job Interview and Career Guide blog has posted a sample Customer Service resume that can help you out if you're unsure about what to include.

Case Ernsting shares his first experience as a digital marketing intern and how transparency in social media can be both a gift and curse.

How do you collect from customers who owe you money while maintaining a good relationship with them? Julie Rains offers some great tips in How to Make Collection Calls That Keep Customer Relationships.

We like to think that all companies are ethical and honest, but in these days of the internet, it's just not true. If you feel that a company has scammed you in any way, here are some tips on how to file a consumer complaint with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Cheryl's post, Customer Service Is For Lawyers, Too, reminds me of a recent experience with my personal injury lawyer. I think I need to send him this post!

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of customer service carnivale using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Creating a Better Experience For Patients: Service Tips For the Medical Community

2010-04-23T15:13:00.000-07:00

In the United States we've been experiencing some major changes in the health care system. There has been a great deal of debate about how this new system is going to affect people.

Suffice it to say that all the back and forth debate boils down to money. However, it got me thinking about the effect this will have on how medical professionals treat their patients. I also happen to have a new client who is an insurance broker specializing in medical malpractice insurance, so I've been learning about the new healthcare laws and how they affect malpractice insurance rates.

Because of this new health care system, there's a possibility that the workload for medical professionals may increase. On top of that they have to deal with increases in malpractice premiums. So I came up with some ideas on how medical professionals can create a better experience for their patients and avoid medical malpractice.

Here are my tips:

Communicate with your patient - Be open and honest with your patients. Let them know what exactly you will do to treat them. Be thorough when explaining any medical process they will need to undergo and make sure you have all the information you need from them. Help your patients make informed decisions by offering as much information as you can. Furthermore, part of communicating well with patients also includes promptly returning phone calls, preferably within 24 hours.

Keep good files and documentation - Make sure to maintain good records of patient visits and prescriptions.

Make patient care a priority - Although this may seem obvious, many doctors forget that their whole purpose is to make sure their patients are well taken care of. The hospital environment can be demanding and fast-paced, but don't be in a hurry to get patients in and out. Take your time with each patient and make sure to explain all the facts.

Be aware of current medical practices - Attend continuing education classes or become involved in professional organizations.

Are there any tips that you'd like to add?

Photo Credit: Seattle Municipal Archives

Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial Needs Your Support

2010-04-20T23:12:00.000-07:00

There are many types of service. Most of what I talk about on this blog is the service that businesses offer to their customers, but lately I've been thinking more about the selfless service that I talked about back in January when I paid homage to Martin Luther King Jr..

Have you ever done something just for the sake of helping someone? How about doing something for someone because you want to take a stand and help spread a message? That's also considered being of service, right?

Well, today I want to be of service by helping to spread the message about the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., National Memorial. The month of April marks the 42nd anniversary of the death of Dr. King and the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation is commemorating his life and work by creating a memorial in Washington DC. So far the foundation has raised $106 million for the memorial, so they're only $14 million away from their goal.

Here's a video that shows what the memorial will look like...

You can find out more about the memorial, plus get videos and banners to help spread the word by visiting: http://mlkmemorialnews.org/

Customer Service Carnivale: Short and Sweet Edition

2010-04-12T13:08:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Short and Sweet edition of the Customer Service Carnivale! However, don't let the size fool ya'. This edition is filled with great customer service tips, stories, and inspiration!

I'm a big quote person, so I love this post that was contributed by Glenn Friesen: Five Inspiring Customer Service Quotes. My favorite is the one by Betsy Sanders. What about you?

Never sacrifice a good presentation and quality just because it's easy to make...like sliced bananas. Banquet Manager goes on another rant in Sliced Bananas...Are You Crazy?

How do you create a customer-focused company? Kathy C. says that having a customer service strategy is the first step.

As a Twitter-holic myself, I must agree with Ryan Taft's submission, Tweet Us with ANY Questions.

And speaking of Twitter...Find out if you can increase your sales and customer satisfaction using social media sites. Case Ernsting presents Social Media ROI: Fact or Fiction?

Building a good team of passionate people is one of the fundamentals for a successful company. Deb Bixler offers some tips in Direct Sales Team Building.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of customer service carnivale using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Customer Service Carnivale: The Spring Break Edition

2010-03-29T23:03:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Spring Break edition of the Customer Service Carnivale! I apologize for the late post as I had my own mini spring break. Please forgive me as I've been celebrating my birthday this past weekend, and to be quite honest, I just wasn't in the mood to sit in front of the computer! However, it is still Monday here in California, so this carnivale isn't technically late ;)

So, without further ado...

Customer Service Tips

When you call people on the phone to tell them about a service you think they may be interested in, what kind of approach do you take? Managed Services presents How to Set Appointments With Prospects that are Happy With What They Have.

We live in a world where many people interact solely by email or instant messaging. However, Silicon Valley Blogger says that sometimes it's good to talk to someone over the phone in Financial Web Transactions: How To Deal With An Online Customer?

If you're someone who does business in many countries, you may want to use the next post as a reference: Easy, Key Phrases to Impress Business Clients Abroad.

Kathy C. shares some great ideas in Customer Service as a System, saying, "Understanding that Customer Service is a System within an organization, and that it needs to be a seamless process, is an important step toward creating a customer friendly environment."

Every internet entrepreneur or anyone selling digital goods online should read this next article, How To Avoid Refund Requests and Chargebacks When Selling Downloadable Goods.

Case Ernsting presents Community Awareness = Customer Service, saying, "By keeping track of your the news and happenings in your area, you can efficiently identify and deal with customer service issues before they happen. By being a good neighbor, you can avoid issues that may cause customers to react negatively."

Customer Service Stories

Adesh Sidhu reminds us what the difference is between good service and great service in Not Being Sarkari: Cultivating Relationships.

Customer Service News

What if you could stay at a hotel where you weren't required to tip the bellman, the maid, or the valet? Read more about hotel in No Tips Required at Elysian.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of customer service carnivale using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Starbucks Is No Longer My First Choice

2010-03-26T16:10:00.000-07:00

We live in a fast-pace world where people want things instantly. Even the most patient person like myself sometimes likes things right now - like wifi.

Today I was reminded of the reason why Starbucks is no longer my first choice when I need to get out of the house to work. To put it quite bluntly: Their wifi access sucks!

Please excuse my crying and complaining for a few minutes....

If you want to use wifi at Starbucks, you have to register with a Starbucks card, which means you have to create an account and get login information. However, you have to keep this card "active" every month by adding money to the card. If you don't have an active card, you can't login and use their wifi. On top of that, you only get two hours of wifi per visit.

Oh, and heaven forbid if you have problems signing in, which was the case for me today...I had to call AT&T to figure out why my login wasn't working.

Now I remember why I always go to Borders or the coffee shop up the street... That's what I was thinking as I was maneuvering my way through the menu options trying to reach someone at AT&T to talk to about my login issue.

99% of the coffee shops and businesses I go to now have instant access to wifi. You don't have to create an account. You just go in and connect. They make it easy for me to do business with them. I don't have to spend 15 minutes trying to figure out why I can't log into my account.

Apparently, I'm not the only one who feels this way. There are tons of people who think Starbucks should make wifi easy to use.

Experts Share Their Tips on Building Trust With Customers

2010-03-25T16:14:00.000-07:00

Is your business trust-worthy?

In a time where many businesses have lost the trust of the people (think mortgage companies and banks), I thought it would be helpful to share some thoughts and ideas on how businesses can build trust with customers...

Andy Hanselman has written a great article over at The Customer Collective titled "20 Ideas For Building Trust".

Yes, I'm one of the 76% who doesn't believe all the hype in advertisements. I always get mad at the fast food restaurants whose commercials depict all these yummy-looking burgers or tacos, yet when you order the food, you actually get stale-looking meat, wilted lettuce, and half-melted cheese.

I like Andy's idea #17 for building trust:

"Giving me the same deal as the new customers you’re trying to attract – providing ‘new’ customers with better deals suggests you don’t ‘value’ me, or even worse, you take me for granted – that’s not a good sign!"

In the short video below, Don Peppers of the Peppers & Rogers Group shares his thoughts on trust...

The idea of trust boils down to communication. When you're open and transparent in communicating with customers, the more trust-worthy you will become. When you communicate and stay in touch with people on a regular basis, they will trust you.

I asked my Twitter followers if they had any tips or ideas on how to build trust, and Becky Carroll of Customers Rock! (@bcarroll7) answered:

"How to build trust with customers: do what you say you will do. Always."

What about you? Do you have any tips to share on building trust with customers?

Quote on Service

2010-03-21T01:18:00.000-07:00

“Love cannot remain by itself—it has no meaning. Love must be put into action, and that action is service.” -- Mother Teresa

I just read this quote on Dr. Wayne Dyer's blog. His post titled, "Take Loving Action" was a great reminder of how we're all here to be of service to others.

Are you taking loving action for your customers today? If not, why?

Photo Credit: Pink_Fish13

Customer Service Carnivale: The Spring Edition

2010-03-15T16:34:00.000-07:00

Welcome to another edition of the Customer Service Carnivale! We've got an interesting mix of customer service tips and stories that will educate, enlighten, and hopefully inspire you to deliver the best service...

Think that social media doesn't affect people's perceptions of your company? Think again. Shaun Sayers reminds us that YouTube is the guerilla regulator of customer service.

It's rare to find a bank that delivers good customer service. Cheryl of Service Untitled says that Wachovia delivers positive customer service.

Kathy C. thinks Toyota's reputation for quality and service will sustain them through this current quality crisis. She shares her thoughts in a post, "Will Toyota Recover?"

Banquet Manager presents NYC Chef Serving Cheese Made From His Wife's Breast Milk! saying, "I know they say give the customer what he/she wants, but this is ridiculous."

Case Ernsting presents How to Find & Understand Your Business Market, saying, "Customer service begins with understanding your business market. Get out in the community and understand what your customer's want and what they need. This will help you smooth our customer service issues when they arise."

Zhu shares an interesting perspective of customer service in France in the post The Customer Is King. Zhu says, "In France, the saying goes that “le client est roi”. But in fact, the customer is anything but a king - at worse he is an idiot, at best he is a minor annoyance in your day."

Jennifer Saksa shares Hello World! posted at the NCH Software Blog, saying, "In this post, David, A software developer compares programing software and trying to make it user-friendly to the "guest experience" in the restaurant industry and really taking the time to think about all of the little details and listen to customer feedback to help improve the entire process."

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of customer service carnivale using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Customer Service: 12+1 Lessons From Those Who Do It Best

2010-03-09T01:54:00.000-08:00

The editors over at Focus.com have put together a great post that outlines 12 Lessons From the Best Customer Service Companies.

The one lesson that stuck out in my mind is: "Always Innovate". Even in this fast-paced, technology-driven era that we live in, I seem to have forgotten the importance of creating innovative products and services to keep up with this world that is changing by the minute.

One thing I would add to the 12 lessons is: Take care of your employees (internal customers). When you take care of your employees, they are more inspired to take care of others.

What other lessons would you add, if any, to the list?

Hat tip to Trevor Usken.

Which Companies Will See the Biggest Returns From Social Media?

2010-03-02T14:33:00.000-08:00

Just like Helene Le Blanc of The Luxe Chronicles, I've become very fascinated with how companies use social media to interact and connect with their customers - especially women.

Helene makes reference to Dell and and how the company partnered with OPI to create customized laptops in favorite nail polish colors.

Ok, yes, I must say that pretty colors are nice, but as a writer who always travels with a laptop, I would much rather have a laptop that doesn't weigh a ton...You don't see Mac computers in fancy colors, but Apple is still doing quite well!

I was curious as to whether or not Dell actually engaged with people on Twitter, so I checked out a few of their Twitter accounts listed here and discovered that the company mainly uses Twitter as a bulletin board to share company news or announcements. Although the company has claimed that using Twitter has increased their sales, I have to wonder whether or not this type of business model will last very long.

As Helene said in her post:

"Going forward, I suspect brands who take the time to engage meaningfully with customers and to actually connect on a personal level will see the biggest returns...

Mashable put together a nice list of 40 of the best Twitter brands. One of my favorites is Zappos CEO, Tony Hsieh, who invited me to tour of their office via Twitter.

What do you think? Which companies do you see becoming successful because of social media?

Customer Service Carnivale: The Almost Spring Edition

2010-03-01T13:49:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Almost Spring edition of the Customer Service Carnivale! We only have a few submissions that made it into this edition, so take some time out to read every article because I'm sure you'll come away learning something new - or if you're a fellow customer service blogger, you'll find inspiration for a new post...

Customer Service Tips

Before you outsource your customer service or any other business operation to a third party, make sure to read Advantages and Disadvantages of Outsourcing.

What do you do when a customer complains? Get tips by reading Customer Complaint Procedures.

Customer Service Tools

Ever wonder why customers abandon their shopping carts while on your website? Or what about the lack of website visitors? Here's an excellent article to read: Pros and Cons of Online Visitor Registration.

Customer Service News

I'm all for making your customers feel comfortable in your restaurant, but promoting sex in the bathroom may be going a little too far, dontcha think?

Customer Service Stories

I like this next post, My Conversation With a Pushy Automobile Warranty Salesman, because I had a very similar experience recently when I called several extended auto warranty companies about a car I was thinking about purchasing. Never let a pushy salesperson scare you into buying their product!

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of customer service carnivale using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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What Does It Mean to Love a Customer?

2010-02-24T07:34:00.000-08:00

Love is great thing. When you're in love with someone, you go to great lengths to show how much you love them. You tell this person, "I love you" and you go out of your way to make sure that they understand how much you care for them.

Wouldn't it be nice to show that same love for your customers?

Ok, I'm not talking about the lovey-dovey kind of love. I'm talking about just showing genuine care for another human being. I'm talking about treating customers like they are your kids, best friend, or grandma - not like a sale or lead.

I was reminded of this topic when I read Andrew Dumont's post, "The 'Customer Love' Effect". It's an excellent article with tips on how to transform everyday customer service into "Customer Love".

Last year I wrote a post about 5 unique ways to show love to customers if you need more ideas!

Do you have a story to share about how you showed love for a customer? What other tips would you add? Leave a comment!

Photo Credit: Team Sticker Giant

What Do Your Customers Expect From You?

2010-02-22T03:23:00.000-08:00

Do you know what your customers expect when they do business with you?

Last week I was a guest blogger over at Service Untitled ("Are You Meeting Your Customers' Service Expectations?") where I offer thoughts on what you can do to determine your customers' expectations.

Check out the article and leave a comment about your thoughts on the subject. Did I leave anything out? What does your company do to get feedback from customers?

Xfinity: Comcast's New Disguise

2010-02-16T07:07:00.000-08:00

Will a new name for Comcast's services really disguise it's bad customer service reputation?

Cecilia King of The Washington Post shares the news that Comcast has plans to make over its image with a new name: Xfinity.

Comcast's customer service really took a nosedive a few years ago when a Comcast customer filmed a Comcast technician sleeping on the couch as he waited on the phone with Comcast's central office.

Here's the clip if you've never seen it:

Let's see if the company will do anything about changing their customer service philosophy and culture. If you change your name without changing the way you do business, it won't be long before you're back to square one. You can offer all this fancy new technology, but if people still have to wait an hour to talk to customer service, what's the point?

Here are other bloggers' thoughts about Comcast's "new" brand: