Below are blog posts, articles and tips focused on customer service and experience. To view just the articles (typically longer than a blog post), click here.

This week we feature an article by Heather Hamilton who shares why investing in a point of sale (POS) system can empower your staff and improve the employee experience. – Shep Hyken Continue reading →

Valentine’s Day is tomorrow. This is the day where we send our spouses, partners, and loved ones a gift. Often it is out of obligation. I have plenty of friends who tell me if they don’t get their spouse some flowers and a card, they will pay for it. So we feel obligated to express our love and appreciation to those close to us. I’ve written several articles about this before, and my favorite one is called The Valentine Obligation. You don’t have to send your customer flowers, but how about an expression of appreciation? It can be something as simple as a thank you note or as elaborate as a customer appreciation event. And you don’t have to send it on Valentine’s Day. Any day is a good day to show some customer love. With that in mind, here are five ways to say thank you to your customers. Continue reading →

A Social CRM

Growing Your Business by Growing Your Soul

Shep Hyken interviews Jon Ferrara. They discuss his company Nimble, the history of CRMs, customer service philosophies, and life.

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Each week I read a number of customer service and customer experience articles from various 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. Continue reading →

This week we feature an article by Christa Heibel who writes about how important employee feedback is to a successful customer service experience and high CSAT ratings. – Shep Hyken Continue reading →

I’m honored to be the keynote speaker later this year at Office Pride, a franchisor of commercial cleaning service companies. All of the franchisees will be attending their annual meeting to network and learn about the latest and greatest opportunities happening in their industry. My job is to talk to them about customer service.

As part of my homework, Todd Hopkins, their CEO, shared the Office Pride Culture book. As I was reading it, I came across a concept worth sharing. While Office Pride has created a great set of core values, Todd describes them as decision filters. He writes, “Our core values filter the outcome of what we, either impulsively or mindfully, decide to do.” Continue reading →

Big Ass Fans

Growing Customer Service Alongside Your Company

Shep Hyken interviews Brian Sprinkle. They discuss his company, Big Ass Fans, and their approach to providing high-quality customer service to support their industry-leading products.

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This week we feature an article by Dawn Gucciardo who took my model of Six D’s to Creating a Customer-Centric Culture and applied it to developing and implementing a CRM software. – Shep Hyken Continue reading →

“Please stay on the line to answer a short, one-question survey at the end of this call.”

That’s what I heard just before the agent picked up the phone to help me. Just a one-question survey? Sounds short enough. Sure, I’ll give them an extra minute of my time. So after the call, I stayed on the line. What came right after the call was the promised simple question. It may be one of the best feedback questions I’ve ever heard. I put it right up there with the NPS (Net Promotor Score) question, which I’ll share later. Here it is:

“The next time you call us, would you want the same person to take care of you? Push 1 for yes and 2 for no.”

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Thanks for Coming in Today

Taking Care of Employees So They Can Take Care of Customers

Shep Hyken interviews Ryan Minton. They discuss his new book, “Thanks for Coming in Today,” the hospitality industry, employee and customer appreciation, and the concept of aggressive hospitality.

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This week we feature an article by Dr. Marlene Caroselli shares a rhyme that will help you to communicate with customers and provide customer satisfaction. – Shep Hyken Continue reading →

Not long ago I wrote about Dr. Neil Baum’s Win-Wynn story. A few people went to his website and read his promise to his patients that he appropriately calls “My Personal Promise to You.” The feedback and comments about this promise were excellent, so I thought it was worth sharing with everyone. By the way, at the end of this article, I’ve shared a very important call-to-action for you. Be sure to read the entire article – or at least the last paragraph. Continue reading →

The Habit of Service Consciousness

Pulling Yourself and Your Company Toward Success

Shep Hyken interviews Mark Samuel. They discuss Mark’s new book, which outlines how to achieve success by breaking down silos, creating a vision of success, and emphasizing behaviors over outcomes.

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This week we feature an article by Tim Houlne who writes about the importance of integrating technology into your business to provide the optimum customer experience. – Shep Hyken Continue reading →

Customer Relationships

How much do you love the companies you do business with, the restaurants you frequent, or the stores you shop at? How upset would you be if they told you they were going out of business? What if you could save them by giving up something? So, the question becomes, “What would you be willing to give up to continue doing business with them?”

Before I go any further, I might be treading on dangerous ground with the word sex in the title of this article. I always keep my comments squeaky clean, and I hope that no one is offended by the word sex. We’ve become hyper-sensitive about words and I don’t want to upset anyone, especially our friends in HR, but we’re all adults and my reference to the word is, at most, PG-rated.

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The Business of Emotion

Striking a Balance Between Technology and Human Connection

Shep Hyken interviews Rebecca Martin. They discuss the role of technology in customer service, how emotion can drive customer loyalty, and how marketers and contact center workers can help each other in building the ideal customer journey.

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This week we feature an article by Agi Marx who shares 3 ways to close the customer feedback loop to prevent churn and increase revenue. – Shep Hyken Continue reading →

Some people claim that customer service is getting worse. I disagree. Customers are getting smarter and expecting more. The customer service “bar” is raised by great companies who teach us what good customer service should be. And, when there is a customer service “horror story,” it seems to stand out much more than when everything is right and works the way it’s supposed to. Continue reading →

The Culture of Caring

Creating an Unforgettable Customer Experience Every Time

Shep Hyken interviews Claire Boscq-Scott. They discuss the importance of a workplace culture of caring and how it can positively impact the customer experience.