Your Scoreboard Isn’t a Strategy

There is something satisfying about keeping score. When you conduct a mystery shop, survey your customers, or track customer service metrics, the results give you something tangible. Maybe 78% of customers were greeted promptly. Perhaps your satisfaction score rose five points. Or maybe the results went the other way, and…
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You Know What Your Customers Want. But Are You Delivering?

What do your customers want from you? Chances are, you already know. Employees who are friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. They want doing business with you to be convenient. And when they need help, they don’t want to wait forever or get bounced from one employee to another. Recent research from…
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Slow Service Drives Customers Away

Think about the last time you tried to buy something and the whole process just felt complicated. Maybe you were transferred between departments. Maybe the employee helping you had to stop and ask a manager before finishing the transaction. Or maybe you just stood there while someone struggled with the…
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Why You Should Sweat the Small Stuff

You might think the customer was thrilled. The food was excellent, the service prompt, the pricing fair. But for some reason, they never come back. That’s because the tiniest flaw, be it dirty toilets, a chipped glass, or a stray hair on a plate, can undo all the good in…
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Satisfaction Isn’t Loyalty

Too many businesses fall into the trap of assuming that a lack of complaints equals loyalty. But in reality, saying a customer experience is “satisfactory” is just a polite way of saying it’s “forgettable.” In today’s world, where expectations are shaped by rockstar brands like Amazon and Chick-fil-A, being good…
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Feedback Surveys Offer an Incomplete Picture

Many businesses fall into the trap of relying exclusively on customer feedback surveys to measure service quality. It’s easy to see why: surveys are low-cost, easy to automate, and can be quickly added to any email, receipt, or website. But if you’re using surveys alone to assess the customer experience,…
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Use Tech to Connect, Not Deflect

Automated phone menus. Chatbots. Artificial Intelligence. For small business owners, these tools can sound like magic. They promise efficiency, 24/7 responsiveness, and a lighter load on your customer service. But here’s the truth: if you’re using technology to deflect customers instead of connecting with them, you’re not just missing the…
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Surpassing Expectations by Meeting Them?

You don’t need to reinvent the customer experience at your business by constantly trying to outdo yourself. In fact, according to customer service expert Shep Hyken, some of the most impactful customer experiences don’t come from extravagant gestures but from simply fulfilling your promises. Reliably, consistently, and maybe even a…
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Assumptions Kill Sales

Employees are often expected to make quick judgments to serve customers efficiently. This is usually a great skill! But one significant mistake that can harm a business’s reputation and revenue is making snap judgments about customers based merely on first impressions. Prejudging makes it all too easy to make assumptions…
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