And how it kills sales… I’m not talking about anger. Or sadness. Or even boredom… I’m talking about something much more damaging… Fear. Something that, for the most part, has no place in Customer Service. Something that conventional customer service seems to revolve entirely around. Agents afraid of saying the Read more
Sometimes… I used to be a big fan of the “no refunds” idea. And in some ways, I still am. But I’ve been rethinking it, and as a result, I may be making some changes soon. No Refunds is great for things like an investing product. Something where you get Read more
A powerful lesson in persuasion… I answered a question about this on Quora and Youtube this morning. Someone asked how he could resolve a problem with a company, either by writing bad reviews, contacting the Better Business Bureau, or “having action taken”, whatever that means. These ideas are understandable, but Read more
And the case for remote workers… Cubicles exist for a reason. A psychological reason. And that’s exactly why they have no place in the world of 80/20 customer service. A cubicle is a box. Literally. A box for people, their equipment, their personal effects. But also a box for their Read more
Don’t be afraid to throw it away and start over… I opened the fridge and I saw it… All the way in the back. That container of homemade sauce. The sauce we had 2 weeks ago with spaghetti squash and meatballs. The sauce I forgot about and let sit WAY Read more
And why you might want to start thinking like one… First, I’ll be clear. This is NOT an email about chat bots. Or automated phone systems. Or even scripts that turn people into mindless meat-robot NPC’s. Those things are still terrible. So what do I mean when I say think Read more
An 80/20 look at problem customers… Anyone who has worked in customer service already knows what I’m talking about here. You get up, you log into the support system, and you see it another email from that same guy. You recognize his name. His email address. You know before you Read more
And the ONE Secret to Customer Service Emails That Actually Get Read… Got your attention, didn’t I? Love him or hate him, we all know the name Donald Trump for a reason. Not the news. Not the huge buildings. Or the billions of dollars. Or the various TV game shows. Read more
Don’t make them think too much… People like choice. Don’t they? Henry Ford once famously said the customer could have whatever color car he wanted, as long as it was black. Nowadays we can get almost anything completely customized to our liking. But that’s not the same thing as choice. Read more
It’s WHERE you spend your time that matters… I know… yesterday I said it shouldn’t take more than an hour a day. And I mean that. But before you get to that point, you need to do some work. You need to see exactly what your customer are contacting you Read more