SCAM ALERTS
(406) 586-3036
FREE PHONE SHOPS

Community Service as a Team-Building Strategy

If you type “team-building” into your favorite search engine, you’ll discover dozens of activities that are meant to help your employees bond with one another and work more cohesively. Some of these activities range from playing trivia games to telling campfire stories. While these exercises probably work well for certain…
VIEW FULL POST

Can Self-Service Fit Within Customer Service?

Self-service options have been all-the-rage for many years now, with one of its earliest manifestations appearing in the form of pay-at-the-pump gas stations. According to PetroleumServiceCompany.com, “In 1973, a station in Abilene, Texas, invented pay-at-the-pump. By 1994, about thirteen percent of convenience stores offered pay-at-the-pump. Less than a decade later…
VIEW FULL POST

The Choice Short-Staffing Forces

An ongoing challenge that businesses across the country are facing is short-staffing. At the start of the pandemic, many employees were furloughed or lost their jobs altogether, sending millions to unemployment. As our country has opened back up again, many of these workers have not returned to work en masse,…
VIEW FULL POST

The Make-or-Break Ratio

We’ve often discussed the importance of delivering exceptional customer experiences every time. The Customer Experience (or CX) encompasses thoughtful customer service, a detailed sales process, and great products and services. Your business must deliver on all three consistently, whether we’re talking about at the restaurant table or the hot-tub showroom.…
VIEW FULL POST

The Heart of Great Customer Service

Over the last several weeks, we’ve taken a look at Shep Hyken’s 2020 special report on achieving exceptional customer service. To wrap up, let’s take a look at what attributes help separate a great from a poor experience. There are a number of positive factors, of course, as Hyken notes…
VIEW FULL POST

Leveraging Online Reviews

Everything has been moving towards the web for many years now, displacing everything from business directories, like the Yellow Pages, to actual in-person commerce. Included in that shuffle is how word-of-mouth—one of the most critical ways your business’s reputation is measured—is spread. While chat around the office cooler or in…
VIEW FULL POST

Customer Service in a Time of ‘Social Distancing’

Many of our clients are in the retail, restaurant, and medical services industries, which means their employees are out in front of the public all the time. Reduced hours, understaffing, sanitization requirements, supply-chain stress, and temporary business closures are very real factors affecting these industries and many others, so it’s…
VIEW FULL POST

The Attitude of Indifference

There’s no getting around the fact that December is a tough time for employees. On the one hand, increased sales are a critical boon for business, but on the other, there’s seemingly no end to the stress and frenetic pace of the holiday season. But the people working in the…
VIEW FULL POST

The Race to the Bottom

As reported in the business-news aggregator service Morning Brew, “Kohl’s stock fell as much as 18% after it missed Q3 earnings and slashed its fiscal 2019 profit outlook. CEO Michelle Glass blamed a race to the bottom for promotions and warmer weather in September.” Retail news this week hasn’t been…
VIEW FULL POST