{"id":30861,"date":"2013-02-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-02-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/a-competitive-advantage-be-nice\/"},"modified":"2024-01-18T20:51:07","modified_gmt":"2024-01-18T20:51:07","slug":"competitive-advantage-be-nice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/customer-service-strategies\/competitive-advantage-be-nice\/","title":{"rendered":"A Competitive Advantage: Be Nice"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>A Common Sense Customer Service Tactic<\/b><\/h2>\r\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"image-preview-3324\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/www.hyken.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Amazing-formula.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"333\" height=\"400\" \/>The other night I did a speech that was more about motivation than it was about business and customer service.\u00a0 The audience included college students in their teens and 20s, people in the prime of their business careers, and retired people.\u00a0 The client asked me to deliver a simple message about going from being average to being amazing.\r\n\r\nIf you\u2019ve been reading my <a href=\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/topic\/sheps-articles\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">customer service articles<\/a> or watching my weekly videos on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/shephyken\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">YouTube<\/a>, then you know my definition of being <i>amazing <\/i>is about consistently being better than average.\u00a0 And <i>above average <\/i>means exactly that.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to be over-the-top amazing.\u00a0 No, you just have to be a little better than average.\u00a0 The key is to be better than average, <i>all of the time<\/i>.\u00a0 That\u2019s what <i>amazement<\/i> is about.\u00a0 It is <i>consistency<\/i> that makes being above average, even just a little above average, <i>amazing<\/i>.\r\n\r\nSo, I shared five amazement tactics, and it was the fifth and final tactic that created a surprising response, and the subject of this article.\u00a0 And, it was simple:\r\n<h3 align=\"center\">\u00a0<b>Be nice.<\/b><\/h3>\r\nThe reaction from the audience was surprising.\u00a0 They unexpectedly applauded.\u00a0\u00a0 I wondered why they would applaud at something so simple \u2013 something that seemed like just common sense.\u00a0 More on that in just a moment.\r\n\r\nI went on to explain what it took to be nice.\u00a0 I\u2019ve written about this type of thing before, but here is the spin.\r\n<h3>Nice people do a number of things:<\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>They are respectful of others.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>They do what they say they are going to do.\u00a0 You can count on them.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>They show up on time, respecting the time of others.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>They are polite.\u00a0 They say, please and thank you.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>And, speaking of thank you, they write thank you notes.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nThat last point, writing thank you notes, was a call-back to the beginning of the speech when I talked about how my parents taught me to do the right thing.\u00a0 That started when my mom made me write thank you notes to anyone that gave me a gift.\u00a0 That was a great lesson, taught at a very young age, about doing the right thing; being nice and showing appreciation to people who are nice to you.\r\n\r\nAfter the speech, I asked my wife, who was in the audience, why she thought the audience applauded.\u00a0 She said that so many people aren\u2019t nice.\u00a0 It\u2019s not that they are rude or mean, although sometimes they are.\u00a0 No, they just don\u2019t smile and say thank you.\u00a0 And, when you encounter someone nice, you feel so much better about doing business with them.\r\n\r\nIn business, being nice is part of delivering customer service.\u00a0 It\u2019s a positive attitude, the respect you show to the customer, and the way you make them feel appreciated.\u00a0 It\u2019s an essential part of any customer service strategy.\u00a0 The best system isn\u2019t complete without the positive feelings the customer experiences from doing business with you.\r\n\r\n<em><a href=\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Shep Hyken<\/a>\u00a0is a customer service\/CX expert, award-winning keynote speaker, and New York Times bestselling author. Learn more about Shep\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/speaking\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">customer service and customer experience keynote speeches<\/a>\u00a0and his\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/training\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">customer service training workshops<\/a>\u00a0at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hyken.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.Hyken.com<\/a>. Connect with Shep on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/shephyken\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>(Copyright \u00a9MMXIII, Shep Hyken)<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Common Sense Customer Service Tactic The other night I did a speech that was more about motivation than it was about business and customer service.\u00a0 The audience included college students in their teens and 20s, people in the prime of their business careers, and retired people.\u00a0 The client asked me to deliver a simple [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6800],"tags":[2439,4907,4908],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.5 (Yoast SEO v22.5) - 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