What better time than Valentine’s Day to let your employees know how much you love and appreciate them. Without them, where would you be with your customers? There is a direct correlation between excellent internal customer service and excellent external customer service. Here are some suggestions: 1. Send a handwritten note. Supervisors can send them [...]

    I was told I could return a dress my mother had purchased for me at the Fresh Produce store in St. Augustine to the Orlando store as long as I had the receipt and was within the 30 day timeframe. The Orlando store is located in the center of Universal Studios Park – [...]

It was once perceived that higher education was unique to its own and that best management and organizational practices like branding, imaging, and customer service were not applicable. Somehow higher education was inured to group dynamics and best organizational and management practices. Higher education is now being scrutinized as lower graduation rates, lower retention rates [...]

> Going into a Subway restaurant that I had never been into before, I stood in line behind two other customers.  A young mother with a child in a stroller was at the counter and the employee (called “sandwich artists”) greeted her by name and asked if she wanted her usual – turkey on wheat [...]

>Following are five things you should do when your business has made a mistake with a customer. 1.  Quickly admit to the mistake and not try to cover it up.  When you come forward and admit a mistake, customers are more forgiving.2.  Take ownership and don’t try to blame it on others.  Notre Dame School [...]

> What does a butterfly have to do with customer service?  The “butterfly effect” refers to the idea that a butterfly’s wings might create tiny changes in the atmosphere that may ultimately alter the path of a tornado.  The flapping wing represents a small change in the initial condition of the system, which causes a [...]

> There are certain words and phrases that are best avoided when looking to build great relationships with customers.  Here are a few: 1.  “That’s our  policy.”  If the customer wasn’t aware of the policy (it was one of those unstated policies) look for another way to help them out and handle their issue. If the [...]

> Are you easy to do business with or are you difficult to do business with?  The processes that organizations create for their customers to buy from them or communicate with them, many times makes the customer experience such a negative, that the customer goes somewhere else next time. For example, when was the last [...]

> Reflecting on this past Fourth of July weekend, there were several moments that caught my attention that I believe exhibit the values and actions of great customer service. The first was the Casey Anthony case.  Such coverage, such a spotlight, not only on the judge, attorneys and Casey, but also upon our local Orlando [...]

> I’ve had the opportunity several times in this past month to ride Southwest Airlines and each time it has been a great fun-Luving experience!  They have started celebrating their 40th birthday this month and are taking the occasion to reinforce the foundation of their culture and what they are all about.  Southwest Airlines started [...]