{"id":31702,"date":"2018-04-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-04-04T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/are-you-keeping-up-with-your-customers\/"},"modified":"2024-01-22T10:56:14","modified_gmt":"2024-01-22T10:56:14","slug":"are-you-keeping-up-your-customers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/customer-service-strategies\/are-you-keeping-up-your-customers\/","title":{"rendered":"Are You Keeping Up with Your Customers?"},"content":{"rendered":"<a href=\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/customer-service-strategies\/are-you-keeping-up-your-customers\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" title=\"customer service initiative\" src=\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Best-In-Industry-Not-Good-Enough.jpg\" alt=\"customer service initiative\" width=\"360\" height=\"432\" \/><\/a>I\u2019ve got good news and bad news for you. The good news is that you no longer have to keep up with your competition; the bad news is that now you have to keep up with your customer \u2013 meaning your customer\u2019s expectations of the service that makes you competitive.\r\n\r\nPerhaps you just heard that your competitor is working hard to take away business from you \u2013 maybe they\u2019re announcing a new product; maybe they\u2019re advertising a major sale; maybe they\u2019re opening a new location. Will any of these decisions cause your customers to leave you to do business with them?<!--more-->\r\n\r\nPerhaps. After all, that is their goal. But what if you heard that <a href=\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/customer-experience-2\/another-way-to-differentiate-your-company-from-your-competition\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">your competition<\/a> wasn\u2019t competing with you on product, price, or location? What if you hear that they\u2019re implementing a new customer service initiative? Their goal, you heard, is to have the best customer service in the industry.\r\n\r\nHere&#8217;s my take: good for them. Let them go head-to-head with customer service and experience expectations based on the existing industry standards. I have a better idea: don\u2019t let them set your bar. Let the best of the best, regardless of industry standards, set your bar.\r\n\r\nWhat company do you think has the very best customer service? Is it Nordstrom, Apple, or Zappos? Is it the restaurant down the street that knows you by name and makes you feel like a guest in their home? Is it the inside sales rep from one of your suppliers who somehow always accommodates your deadlines and special requests, and always does so with an amazing attitude?\r\n\r\nNone of these companies or people may be in your industry, but they can be your <a href=\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/success\/benchmarking\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">benchmark for amazing customer service<\/a> \u2013 service that is not based on customer expectations for your industry, but expectations from the best people and companies they\u2019ve ever encountered.\r\n\r\nLet me give you this message in a short, 11-word sentence:\r\n\r\n<strong>The best customer service sets the bar for all customer service.<\/strong>\r\n<h3><strong>What could virtual power teams do for you?<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nCustomers know what good service is and their expectations today are formed by whoever gives them their best service experience, whether in or out of your industry.\r\n\r\nSo, back to the questions \u2026 What company do you think delivers the best service? Is it one of the iconic brands previously mentioned, or that local company? What is it that this business or person does to make you think they are the best? And, here is the more important question:\r\n\r\n<strong>What do they do that you don\u2019t do that you can do?<\/strong>\r\n\r\nThat\u2019s where you start. Maybe it\u2019s something you can copy although my suggestion is not to copy but to adopt and adapt. Adopt the strategy, but change or tweak it to make it uniquely yours. If you\u2019re open to the best customer service practices from every industry, then you will spot trends and strategies before your competition. At that point, keeping up with your customers will be nothing but good news for your bottom line.\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>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019ve got good news and bad news for you. The good news is that you no longer have to keep up with your competition; the bad news is that now you have to keep up with your customer \u2013 meaning your customer\u2019s expectations of the service that makes you competitive. Perhaps you just heard that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":38716,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6800,6807],"tags":[2188,3943,5991],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.5 (Yoast SEO v22.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Are You Keeping Up with Your Customers? - Shep Hyken | Customer Service Expert<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What if you hear your competition&#039;s implementing a new customer service initiative? Goal is to have the best customer service in the industry.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/customer-service-strategies\/are-you-keeping-up-your-customers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Are You Keeping Up with Your Customers? - Shep Hyken | Customer Service Expert\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What if you hear your competition&#039;s implementing a new customer service initiative? Goal is to have the best customer service in the industry.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/customer-service-strategies\/are-you-keeping-up-your-customers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shep Hyken | Customer Service Expert\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ShepHykenSpeaker\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ShepHykenSpeaker\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-04-04T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-22T10:56:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Best-In-Industry-Not-Good-Enough.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"360\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"432\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"shephyken\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"shephyken\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/customer-service-strategies\/are-you-keeping-up-your-customers\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/customer-service-strategies\/are-you-keeping-up-your-customers\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"shephyken\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b92dbe4f9f734f7c0d600fc8014b7fe2\"},\"headline\":\"Are You Keeping Up with Your Customers?\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-04-04T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-22T10:56:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/customer-service-strategies\/are-you-keeping-up-your-customers\/\"},\"wordCount\":565,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b92dbe4f9f734f7c0d600fc8014b7fe2\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/customer-service-strategies\/are-you-keeping-up-your-customers\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Best-In-Industry-Not-Good-Enough.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Benchmarking\",\"customer expectations\",\"stand out from the competition\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Customer Service Strategies\",\"App\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/customer-service-strategies\/are-you-keeping-up-your-customers\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/customer-service-strategies\/are-you-keeping-up-your-customers\/\",\"name\":\"Are You Keeping Up with Your Customers? - Shep Hyken | Customer Service Expert\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/customer-service-strategies\/are-you-keeping-up-your-customers\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/customer-service-strategies\/are-you-keeping-up-your-customers\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Best-In-Industry-Not-Good-Enough.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-04-04T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-22T10:56:14+00:00\",\"description\":\"What if you hear your competition's implementing a new customer service initiative? Goal is to have the best customer service in the industry.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/customer-service-strategies\/are-you-keeping-up-your-customers\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/customer-service-strategies\/are-you-keeping-up-your-customers\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Best-In-Industry-Not-Good-Enough.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Best-In-Industry-Not-Good-Enough.jpg\",\"width\":360,\"height\":432},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/\",\"name\":\"Shep Hyken | Customer Service Expert\",\"description\":\"Award-winning Customer Service &amp; CX Keynote Speaker\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b92dbe4f9f734f7c0d600fc8014b7fe2\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b92dbe4f9f734f7c0d600fc8014b7fe2\",\"name\":\"shephyken\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Shep-Hyken-Contact-Page-scaled-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Shep-Hyken-Contact-Page-scaled-1.png\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1343,\"caption\":\"shephyken\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ShepHykenSpeaker\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/shephyken\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/shephyken\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/Hyken\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/shephyken?app=desktop\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/author\/shephyken\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Are You Keeping Up with Your Customers? - Shep Hyken | Customer Service Expert","description":"What if you hear your competition's implementing a new customer service initiative? Goal is to have the best customer service in the industry.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/customer-service-strategies\/are-you-keeping-up-your-customers\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Are You Keeping Up with Your Customers? - Shep Hyken | Customer Service Expert","og_description":"What if you hear your competition's implementing a new customer service initiative? Goal is to have the best customer service in the industry.","og_url":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/customer-service-strategies\/are-you-keeping-up-your-customers\/","og_site_name":"Shep Hyken | Customer Service Expert","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ShepHykenSpeaker\/","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ShepHykenSpeaker\/","article_published_time":"2018-04-04T00:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-01-22T10:56:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":360,"height":432,"url":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Best-In-Industry-Not-Good-Enough.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"shephyken","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"shephyken","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/customer-service-strategies\/are-you-keeping-up-your-customers\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/customer-service-strategies\/are-you-keeping-up-your-customers\/"},"author":{"name":"shephyken","@id":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b92dbe4f9f734f7c0d600fc8014b7fe2"},"headline":"Are You Keeping Up with Your Customers?","datePublished":"2018-04-04T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-22T10:56:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/customer-service-strategies\/are-you-keeping-up-your-customers\/"},"wordCount":565,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b92dbe4f9f734f7c0d600fc8014b7fe2"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/customer-service-strategies\/are-you-keeping-up-your-customers\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Best-In-Industry-Not-Good-Enough.jpg","keywords":["Benchmarking","customer expectations","stand out from the competition"],"articleSection":["Customer Service Strategies","App"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/customer-service-strategies\/are-you-keeping-up-your-customers\/","url":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/customer-service-strategies\/are-you-keeping-up-your-customers\/","name":"Are You Keeping Up with Your Customers? - Shep Hyken | Customer Service Expert","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/customer-service-strategies\/are-you-keeping-up-your-customers\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/customer-service-strategies\/are-you-keeping-up-your-customers\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Best-In-Industry-Not-Good-Enough.jpg","datePublished":"2018-04-04T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-22T10:56:14+00:00","description":"What if you hear your competition's implementing a new customer service initiative? Goal is to have the best customer service in the industry.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/hyken.com\/customer-service-strategies\/are-you-keeping-up-your-customers\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/customer-service-strategies\/are-you-keeping-up-your-customers\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Best-In-Industry-Not-Good-Enough.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Best-In-Industry-Not-Good-Enough.jpg","width":360,"height":432},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/","name":"Shep Hyken | Customer Service Expert","description":"Award-winning Customer Service &amp; CX Keynote Speaker","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b92dbe4f9f734f7c0d600fc8014b7fe2"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b92dbe4f9f734f7c0d600fc8014b7fe2","name":"shephyken","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Shep-Hyken-Contact-Page-scaled-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Shep-Hyken-Contact-Page-scaled-1.png","width":2560,"height":1343,"caption":"shephyken"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ShepHykenSpeaker\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/shephyken\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/shephyken","https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/Hyken","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/shephyken?app=desktop"],"url":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/author\/shephyken\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31702"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31702"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56482,"href":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31702\/revisions\/56482"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}