As customers, we are bowled over when a service provider (real or virtual) thinks quickly, anticipates our needs and lands a superb solution. If you are like me, I am doubly impressed when this provider is able to create solutions without the benefit of having a full body of background information. In other words, even …
Recently, some friends and I had a fine dining experience at a regular establishment that delivered a five-star customer experience. The many principles of service excellence that were on show during the dining experience, reminded me that when a business places excellence at the core of its existence, its customers, its employees and its brand …
Elite athletes and other game changers leave us in awe, don’t they? The tennis icons, the football geniuses and the musical maestros. Somehow, they seem to have cracked the code for breaking barriers, leaving their counterparts to look on wistfully at their accomplishments. But was there some elusive code to be cracked in the first …
If a business does not experience positive momentum, it’s going nowhere, basically. Momentum gives the thrust that enables a business to accelerate its strategic direction, its goals and ultimately, its results. “Are we achieving progress and more so, sustaining momentum?” This is one of the key questions that preoccupies the minds and discussions in the …
Here’s a reality check. Service excellence has to be earned every single day. For those businesses that are not prepared to work at earning magnificent customer outcomes on a daily basis, attaining a state of service excellence may be elusive. It’s a slippery slope when a business pegs its belief system to the thinking that …
As humans, we are engineered to favour comfort over disruption, familiarity over uncertainty and clarity over ambiguity. We are biased, as well, to favour tradition over change. Hence, in our lives and in our workplaces, we lean into our comfort zones to give us a sense of stability and continuity. But what if the times …
Leaders live in a world that revolves around a perpetual cycle of deadlines, decision dynamics, risk management and human conflict. Alongside this crucible, they’re held accountable for meeting business revenue expectations and driving progress. With all of these imperatives jockeying for the leader’s attention, no wonder some leaders lose touch with another fundamental mission, which …
Everybody wants to go to heaven, but no one wants to die. Similarly, every business wants to attain gloriously positive customer outcomes, but many balk at the colossal effort needed to achieve these results. Getting to a place of service excellence is not for the faint-hearted business. It requires an iron-clad will to not yield …
When is a complaint not just a complaint? When it results in a customer being so peeved about how his or her complaint is addressed, that he or she “cancels” future interactions with the offending business. This inability to course-correct with a customer has just cost the business future earnings, the building of brand equity …
Some customer interactions go uphill, some go downhill, while others go sideways. Moderation of the energy within the interaction, by customer contact employees, is essential to achieving a harmonious, solution-driven and courteous landing, where both customer and business come away with acceptable value. The practice of intentional pausing, using a series of short, coordinated steps …