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Customer Service - General

Since our entire site is about customer service, it's seems a bit odd to have a category for general customer service advice and strategies. Think of this section as a place you can find overviews, and ideas that don't quite fit into our more specific customer service categories.

Overview of Customer Service and Company Success

How To Improve Customer Service - by Doug Howardell
Organizations exceed customer expectations by focusing improvement efforts in three areas: customer friendly processes, employee commitment to customer service, and customer dialog according to Eberhard Scheuing in his book Creating Customer s for Life. Each of these three areas has an internal component and an external component. (Added: 14-Apr-2001 Hits: 1217 )

Branding Fiasco -- Better Be Who You Say You Are! - by Eileen McDargh, CSP, CPAE
Our experience as customers offers great instruction into the"concept of branding. Come with me on a recent "experience" and"you'll see what I mean. (Added: 11-Feb-2003 Hits: 471 )

Five Things More Important than WHAT You're Selling - I - by Dr. Lynella Grant
Buyers care more about how the deal is handled than what's "for sale. Pay more attention to the HOW of the deal (Added: 11-Feb-2004 Hits: 496 )

The Top 10 Customer Service Trends for 2011 - by Omar Zaibak
The customer service market is shaped by the needs and behaviors of both customers and businesses. As the demands and characteristics of customers and businesses change, the customer service market continues its fascinating evolution. Over the past several years businesses have increasingly focused on improving customer support. In fact, over 80% of North American companies use customer experience as an area of differentiation.""Customers have more control of the customer service experience than ever before, and increased competition means they will not hesitate to abandon a business over poor service. Companies realize this and continue to adopt customer support as a sustainable competitive advantage.""So how will the customer service market evolve in 2011? (Added: 23-Aug-2010 Hits: 646 )

Good Customer Service: It All Starts with Attitude - by na
A decent article that covers a lot of bases in terms of customer service, including attitude, responding on the phone, internal customers, etc. (Added: 10-Jul-2007 Hits: 1431 )

Customer Service or Customer Servant - by William J. Schroer
Given an environment where service may be overdelivered but customers are satisfied, it is tempting to ask %u201CSo what is the problem...? My experience suggests this environment creates a breeding ground for unrealistic expectations which can never be satisfied.( %u201CExpectations%u201D, the right of customers to expect some level of product/service performance based on a (Added: 5-May-2011 Hits: 112 )

Dealing with Powerful Customers - by Robert W. Bradford
Often, when the topic of specialty and commodity behavior is discussed, people feel that it doesn’t apply to their industry. This feeling comes from a perception that customers in some industries demand benefits that are typical of a specialty product - high value added, strong customer support, high levels of service and quality, added features, etc. - while also demanding the lowest price. Is this a specialty customer or a commodity customer? How can this situation arise - and how can you manage it? (Added: 14-Nov-2004 Hits: 415 )

Is It Armageddon For Customer Service? (What is reasonable?) - by Bill Kalmar
Interesting opinion piece, but its value lies in thinking about this. Probably most people will agree with the customer in this disagreement. But ask yourself: Who made the initial error that set this in motion? What IS reasonable? How far do businesses need to go in accommodating and fixing consumer mistakes, particularly if there is a cost. (Added: 3-Mar-2010 Hits: 389 )

Social Media? Are you Truly Ready? - by Richard Natoli
Social Media and Customer Service. (Added: 18-Aug-2011 Hits: 67 )

How To Recognize Your Customers And Keep Them - by Judi Lewis
Any company that stays in business knows how important it is to solve problems and resolve customer complaints. After all, it's part of what is known as customer service. This article documents five tips for resolving customer problems. Taken together they add up to excellent customer service. You won't want to miss the good advice within. (Added: 3-Nov-2004 Hits: 1792 )

The Top Eight Customer Management Trends For 2010 | CustomerThink - by William Band
As 2009 draws to a close, what are the key trends that customer management professionals need to pay attention to as they finalize their plans for next year? (Added: 8-Jan-2010 Hits: 544 )

Success Built On A Smile - by Vincent Tse
Customers' behaviour should be tracked and acknowledged. Customer interaction points in the order cycle should also be critically identified and reviewed and interaction processes refined in a way that adapts to varying customer expectations. Staff should develop service and teamwork concepts. Meanwhile, to sustain programme effectiveness in service excellence, establishing appropriate measures and recognising service performance is a must. (Added: 9-Dec-2004 Hits: 1236 )

Leading For Customer Loyalty - by Gary Heil, Tom Parker , Rick Tate
This article is an exerpt from the book titled 'Leadership And The Customer Revolution'. The premise is that today, the customer really is in control of your business because of their constantly shifting definition of value. You'll be interested enough in this exerpt to purchase the book. (Added: 3-Nov-2004 Hits: 574 )

Keeping Up With the Vigilante Consumer - by Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE
Superb customer service can make all the difference. We have to exceed"the vigilante consumers' expectations. Here are some strategies for"success. (Added: 21-Feb-2002 Hits: 400 )

Who Coined the Phrase The Customer Is Always Right? - by Robert Bacal
The customer is always right? This is the dumbest most destructive supposed principle of customer service, misleading companies and people. So who's the villain? Who came up with it? (Added: 23-Oct-2006 Hits: 872 )

The New Customers Are In Town - by Henry Astorga
A recent customer service-training program conducted at the ATandT facility in Pleasanton, California provided a stark reality that not all those who produce a product or service understand who the real customer is. This unconscious incompetence - a take from Kilpatrick's learning model, for those familiar with teaching adults - offers a vivid picture that old line companies and even those who beat their breasts for being in the Fortune 500 ranks may rate woefully low in the customer service performance scale. (Added: 1-Jun-2005 Hits: 390 )

Creating Customer Loyalty: The Customer Loyalty Grid - by Brian Ward
What makes a loyal customer? One who speaks loudly and with fervor about your organization, telling others how you have made a real and positive difference in their lives? In a word...expectations. ""But meeting or exceeding customer expectations is not as simple as it first appears. For a start, many of your customers or prospective customers are not sure what they should expect, and many will not tell you because they expect you to know...after all, you're the expert at what YOU do, and you can't expect the customer to know as much about that as you. (Added: 2-Nov-2004 Hits: 708 )

Commitment: The Missing Element In Service Quality Strategies - by Elliott D. Brown
This study proves that a higher employee satisfaction is directly related to a higher customer satisfaction. In other words: employee loyalty equals customer loyalty. Read this report for full details and an in-depth dicussion of the many businesses and services studied. (Added: 3-Nov-2004 Hits: 694 )

Do You Know Your Customers? - by BRETT J. PINEGAR
According to this article there are four analysis methods you should employ to determine who your customers are. And knowing who your best customers are is crucial for a successful business. They are as follows: customer life-cycle analysis, descriptive customer segmentation, customer interaction analysis, and customer ability/lifetime value analysis. For more details that you shouldn't miss, see the full article. (Added: 2-Nov-2004 Hits: 988 )

Why Your Company Needs Standards For Customer Interactions - by Donna Siegal
As the title of this article suggests, this is a list of the many reasons why a company needs to implement standards for client interactions. Then a discussion of the many different types of standards follows. Finally, several tips and techniques are provided to help a company set the standards deemed important for excellent customer service. (Added: 2-Nov-2004 Hits: 697 )

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