If you run a consulting business your customer service expectations may include lengthy interactions with clients to clearly determine their needs, identified check-points throughout the consulting process, etc. Regardless of the specifics, the point is that you need to have a clear idea of the end results you’re looking for. Then you can use these results to help direct the focus of your customer service training efforts.

2) Define success. Employees need to have clear expectations; they want to succeed, but they need to know what success “looks like” and how you will be judging their efforts. Based on the objectives you identified, quantify as best you can measures of customer service success. Provide these measures to employees as the goals they will be charged with obtaining.

3) Communicate your expectations. Be specific. Don’t assume that employees know what you expect in terms of service. Be specific and make sure you “catch them early.” A new employee’s orientation is the time to let them know what your service expectations are.

4) Provide the tools that employees need to serve your customers. Employees need tools, and need to know how to use those tools, to serve customers effectively. For example, if employees don’t have access to e-mail they may be hampered in communicating effectively with their customers. Or, if a graphic designer doesn’t have the latest software and appropriate hardware, he or she may not be able to provide high quality or timely turnaround to clients. A cell phone may be a critical tool for a sales person who is frequently away from his or her desk.

5) Let employees know their limits. Your employees need to know your policies and practices with regard to satisfying customers and responding to complaints. The more flexibility you’re able to offer and the more clearly you communicate these guidelines, the better able employees will be to meet customer needs. Customers benefit, too, when employees are able to resolve situations “on the spot” instead of having to “talk to my manager.”

6) Gather common situations and scenarios to use as examples. Your customer service training should be “real.” Examples gathered from the real life experience if your employees can help to highlight bad/good/better/best examples of working with clients and customers. Involve employees in providing training. Enlist the aid of your most service-successful employees in training and coaching others.

7) Role play common challenging situations. Provide employees with an opportunity to “practice” their responses. Then, when a “real situation” occurs they will have a higher comfort level about their ability to respond effectively.

Encourage employees to talk to their “worst nightmare” customers. Customers who are most demanding, who complain the loudest or who are hardest to please can be a rich source of information in your customer service improvement efforts. After all, if you can please these “tough customers” you should be able to consistently delight your average customers.

Behind the complaints and the demands you’ll often find very valid points and issues that you can use to improve service. Resist the urge to “ignore” the tough customers; consider them your best resource for good information on service improvement.

9) Share failures – celebrate successes. Don’t just focus on successes. Don’t just point out failures. You need a good balance of both failure and success stories to build a strong service culture. Staff can learn from their own failures as well as the failures of others. Treat each failure not as an opportunity to “punish” staff, but as an opportunity to learn. Why did the failure occur? What could be done differently next time to avoid such a failure? What lessons might other staff learn to avoid these issues?

Similarly, take time to celebrate your successes and to share these success examples with all employees. Sometimes the best “customer service training” for staff can be a good debriefing of either a positive or negative customer situation. These debriefings can also be good opportunities for role playing.

10) The most effective training? The example you set. Your staff will watch not only how you interact with customers, but what you say about your customers. If your attitude toward customers is disparaging, this sends a very strong, negative, message to employees. Make sure you’re being a strong role model – both in word and deed.

from cms



If you run a consulting business your customer service expectations may include lengthy interactions with clients to clearly determine their needs, identified check-points throughout the consulting process, etc. Regardless of the specifics, the point is that you need to have a clear idea of the end results you’re looking for. Then you can use these results to help direct the focus of your customer service training efforts.

2. Define success. Employees need to have clear expectations; they want to succeed, but they need to know what success “looks like” and how you will be judging their efforts. Based on the objectives you identified, quantify as best you can measures of customer service success. Provide these measures to employees as the goals they will be charged with obtaining.

3. Communicate your expectations. Be specific. Don’t assume that employees know what you expect in terms of service. Be specific and make sure you “catch them early.” A new employee’s orientation is the time to let them know what your service expectations are.

4) Provide the tools that employees need to serve your customers. Employees need tools, and need to know how to use those tools, to serve customers effectively. For example, if employees don’t have access to e-mail they may be hampered in communicating effectively with their customers. Or, if a graphic designer doesn’t have the latest software and appropriate hardware, he or she may not be able to provide high quality or timely turnaround to clients. A cell phone may be a critical tool for a sales person who is frequently away from his or her desk.

5. Let employees know their limits. Your employees need to know your policies and practices with regard to satisfying customers and responding to complaints. The more flexibility you’re able to offer and the more clearly you communicate these guidelines, the better able employees will be to meet customer needs. Customers benefit, too, when employees are able to resolve situations “on the spot” instead of having to “talk to my manager.”

6) Gather common situations and scenarios to use as examples. Your customer service training should be “real.” Examples gathered from the real life experience if your employees can help to highlight bad/good/better/best examples of working with clients and customers. Involve employees in providing training. Enlist the aid of your most service-successful employees in training and coaching others.

7) Role play common challenging situations. Provide employees with an opportunity to “practice” their responses. Then, when a “real situation” occurs they will have a higher comfort level about their ability to respond effectively.

8. Encourage employees to talk to their “worst nightmare” customers. Customers who are most demanding, who complain the loudest or who are hardest to please can be a rich source of information in your customer service improvement efforts. After all, if you can please these “tough customers” you should be able to consistently delight your average customers.

Behind the complaints and the demands you’ll often find very valid points and issues that you can use to improve service. Resist the urge to “ignore” the tough customers; consider them your best resource for good information on service improvement.

9. Share failures – celebrate successes. Don’t just focus on successes. Don’t just point out failures. You need a good balance of both failure and success stories to build a strong service culture. Staff can learn from their own failures as well as the failures of others. Treat each failure not as an opportunity to “punish” staff, but as an opportunity to learn. Why did the failure occur? What could be done differently next time to avoid such a failure? What lessons might other staff learn to avoid these issues?

Similarly, take time to celebrate your successes and to share these success examples with all employees. Sometimes the best “customer service training” for staff can be a good debriefing of either a positive or negative customer situation. These debriefings can also be good opportunities for role playing.

10. The most effective training? The example you set. Your staff will watch not only how you interact with customers, but what you say about your customers. If your attitude toward customers is disparaging, this sends a very strong, negative, message to employees. Make sure you’re being a strong role model – both in word and deed.

from csm

After facilitating these little additions, he saw very little growth. He did, however, notice a few customers telling their friends about the pleasant experience, but not enough to make much of a difference when it came to his bottom line. He wondered what the issue was? Was it him? Was it his employees? Was their company culture not conducive to an insanely good customer experience?

Fast forward a few weeks, this client calls me and asks me to meet with him about his dilemma. He desperately wanted to a create a customer experience worth talking about. He thought he was doing was he was supposed to do, but very few seemed to notice. I grew excited at the opportunity to take on his challenge and find the answers that he very much needed to ensure his business’s growth.  We devised a plan of action, and the first step was to put ourselves in the customer’s shoes. Since his employees hadn’t yet met me, I decided to take a trip to his office. I almost immediately discovered why his customer experience was lacking. I took notes, and was amazed at what I found.

Undercover Mission: Pose As a Customer

I called my client’s office to make my anonymous appointment. The rep seemed rushed and passive, as she recited the boss’s new and improved script for incoming calls – she rolled though it as quickly as she could, and almost seemed lost in her work day. I could tell she most definitely wasn’t smiling. I pictured a nice girl on the other end, who simply was too busy to really focus on the task at hand. While this experience wasn’t anything out of the norm here in America, it was definitely not “word-of-mouth” worthy. Meaning, so far, I’m not impressed enough to tell all of my friends and colleagues how great this business is. I’m not feeling confident in my choice of this company either. Perhaps my information will get lost, since the person on the other line was so busy? She didn’t refer to me by my name once, so it could very easy happen, right?

As I walked into their office a day later, the receptionist also recited the new and improved script that her boss gave her for incoming clientele. It sounded dull and nonchalant, as if she really just wanted to say “hi” and leave it at that. This was followed by another client coming up to the receptionist desk, and waiting impatiently as the receptionist made her way through calls that were on hold. This really was a classic case of employees just making their way through another work-day. Nothing horrible, nothing great. This experience is just another day at the office. I am not sensing any pride in the workplace, or any sense of ownership from the people that I have encountered thus far.

As I am greeted by the person I am meeting with, he also seemed rushed and a bit eager to get it all over with. As he described his product and service offerings to me, there was very little passion in what he was saying. My impression of him was that this was a guy who was looking to get me in and get me out, and hopefully make a sale. I asked him a bit about the history of this company, and he barely knew how it was formed, let alone the specifics of why it was one of the best in it’s industry.  I was now quite intrigued. I had found so many answers to my client’s questions, I wanted to call him on the spot. However, I waited until later that night.

As I walked out of our meeting, he shook my hand, and checked his cell phone almost instantaneously. I walked past the uneaten treats in the lobby, that I noticed were out of sight from the entrance area.  There was a major factor at play here, and I’m sure you may have figured it out by now.

Customer Service Doesn’t Start with the Customer, it Starts with the Employees

Yes, it’s true! Without employees who understand the gravity of good customer service, customer service is just mediocre, at best.  As I told my client this, he had a bit of an epiphany. He had always figured that if he hired people who showed up on time and did their jobs correctly, he had a great set of employees.  We unearthed some other facts that helped him improve his experience.

1. He had great employees, with very little sense of ownership when it came to their job. His employees were working for a paycheck, not for the customer. Once you teach your employees that the customer is the boss, they start to understand how important it is to make them feel welcome.

2. Your Company Culture should be Customer-Centric. Does your mission statement revolve around the customer? If not, I’d advise revisiting this process and remembering the very people who made your business a success; the customer. While they aren’t always right, they are always worth greeting and speaking to in a genuine manner.

3. Empowering Every Employee to take Ownership of their Customer’s Experience. There are very few excuses for a bad customer experiences that are completely out of our control. Teaching employees that each customer that they speak to is literally THEIR customer, gives them a sense of accountability when dealing with customers. Empower them to make decisions up to a certain level, and try to eliminate excessive call transfers and instances where to you to put the customer on hold for too long.

4. Passion is the Key. I understand that going to the same place, sitting at the same desk, and speaking about the same things every day can become a little mundane for those working in customer service. It’s tough keeping the passion alive at times.  Companies should regularly train employees, and reward employees who created amazing customer experiences. Give examples of amazing customer experiences, and ask them about times when they’ve experienced this in their own lives. Teach them that customer service is more than a job, they are literally at the front lines of the companies efforts of remaining profitable, as customer retention is a big part of creating successful businesses.

5. Your goal isn’t to just “get by” in dealing with the customer, your goal is to strive to do something that will make them remember their experience and speak about how well they were treated when dealing with your company. Create raving fanatics for your brand.

Obsess About the How’s, Why’s and Where’s

Being obsessive over weight loss numbers can be motivating, but also quite intimidating. The same goes with looking at the cold hard facts of marketing efforts. I know a million marketers who love checking their analytics and viewing the traffic that they get to their sites. However, they almost never check the numbers that matter most – the dollars, and the percentages.

The Dollars = The Amount of Sales or Revenue

The Percentages= How many of your site leads converted into Sales or Revenue?

Without a solid system of tracking actual results, it’s nearly impossible to keep track of what’s actually working. Although I hear complaints about the extra work that it takes to track a sales pipeline, (the process a sale goes through from a lead, to an opportunity to an actually sale) this process is imperative for a any marketer to discover the true cost of their efforts and the actual Return on Investment they are realizing. Would you blindly throw dollars into a campaign if it were you own money? You’d want cold, hard facts…right? Many marketers are lax on following strict pipeline management tractics, being that they work with client money – but the trick is to spend it like it’s not only YOUR money, but as if it were your last few dollars.

A Business’s $100,000 Marketing Mistake

I once worked with a client who was trying to market their site and their offline product for over a year…all by themselves.  I meet with them at their request, as they were at their wit’s end trying to figure out how to spend less and make more money. The first thing I asked them for was their analytics data and their conversion rates – neither of which they had.  So, I asked if they had tracked their leads over the past few years..at least keeping the customer’s name, region, and referral source. Again, they hadn’t. They also didn’t have solid data as to the actual campaigns they were running, or how much they all cost during their last fiscal year. Bad news. We went back into their accounting, and found they had spent nearly $100,000, gained only $30,000 in new sales, and had absolutely NO idea which campaigns produced which sales.

This is definitely not something you want to do. All of the world’s best marketers will tell you how important utilizing a CRM is. If you think you can’t afford one, there are many cost efficient solutions out there – even a few free solutions!

What was one of the biggest realizations that you made after implementing CRM into your marketing efforts?

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Now that times are tougher, employers should really be looking to squeeze every bit of ROI out of every dollar they’re spending on direct and indirect marketing tactics. If you’re reading this blog, then it’s very likely that your company has implemented some kind of social media campaigning tactics within the past year or two. Perhaps you’ve learned how to integrate something like Google Analytics into the mix as well, but are you really tracking results based on the time spent on each task?

Some may say that micro-managing your marketing leads to over-thinking and too much time spent on often tedious reports and tracking. Some may also say that the CEO and CFO, and even perhaps the CMO shouldn’t be responsible for making sure correct tracking has been implemented.

All things considered, even some of the most seasoned internet marketers and CRM experts have been in the industry for less than 10 years.

By most other industry standards, you’d quite possibly still be a newbie.

This being said, I am a firm believer in every CEO having a very active role in the companies CRM and social efforts. Many CEO and VP clients of mine have argued quite a lot with me about this. They insist their VP or Marketing departments can handle it. The CFO generally has the best idea of the company’s culture, as well as hidden markets and niches that the company could be targeting with it’s efforts. They have a better idea of the sales that are closing, and the reasons for stalled sales for closing. In the end, the CEO should be consistently viewing and analyzing an 360 view of every 360 view.

I’ve compiled a few of the must-do tips for keeping accountability within your CRM and Social Media efforts:

• Track time spent on tasks. I know this seems a bit aimless, but if your employees are running social media campaigns, ask them to track their time. Using apps like Rescue Time or other time tracking resources help immensely.
• Keeping these tracked times in your CRM campaign management data is imperative for accountability. If your employees are spending 5 hours per day on Twitter, with similar ROI’s to a Facebook campaign they’re spending 2 hours on, this would alert you to perhaps have them focus on Facebook a bit more. There are many scenarios like this where you’d spot better and more efficient ways to use time.
• Build enthusiasm for accountability in your department. Let employees know that it’s not that you don’t trust they’re doing their jobs correctly, but for tracking and expansion purposes.
• Keep data clean. Clean data is happy data. Make sure all client and service data is correct. There should be no duplicates, as this can greatly affect your tracking.
• Consistently re-evaluate how and what you track within your business. CRM is like fine wine. It only gets better with age. The reasoning behind this is that with time, you should be fine-tuning and customizing your CRM solution to meet your business needs. No CRM solution should be utilized right out of the box. Make sure to take the time to learn everything that it offers. This includes the all important CEO.

Outstanding Customer Service is now Being Used as a Differentiator

In a world of pretty products that are made by designers, and sleek little musical devices that we’ll gladly overpay for – there is a newer, more prominent business practice emerging that just can’t be ignored. This practice has gotten so much attention, that we’ve seen a recent influx of books into the marketplace about it.

I’m talking about Insanely GREAT Customer Service!

As the market is cluttered with a million businesses just waiting to snatch up your customers, amazing customer service is becoming the newest and most fashionable way to differentiate yourself from your competition. Amazingly enough, some of the world’s largest companies have yet to get the hang of great customer service. It must be tough, right? Wrong!

Although it takes persistence, dedication, and maybe even a bit of overtime, stellar customer service CAN be done! You would think that great customer service would be a given when dealing with multi-billion dollar companies, but it’s usually not. In fact, I can name more small and mid-sized businesses that provide great customer service than I can larger ones!

This is good news for smaller businesses looking to make their mark. Customers have said that they will gladly pay a little extra for better service. This is your opportunity to shine!

I’ve always been incredibly passionate about great customer service. Not just your run-of-the-mill customer service…but truly amazing customer service. The kind you just want to call a friend and tell them to order something from this company because you want them to feel the experience as well.  In my years of consulting, I’ve often placed a huge focus on refining customer service practices before we even begin re-branding and reputation management processes.

In fact, I’d have to say that this was the number one place that most of my clients never even knew they needed work on. You can’t fix what you don’t know is broke, right?

You Wouldn’t Drive on a Cross-Country trip without Taking Your Car into the Shop for an Inespection, Would You?

This is the same premise as beginning an intense marketing campaign or company growth initiative without fully inspecting your business and it’s customer service processes. This is an integral part of making that “cross country” journey. You’ve got to check under the hood, and find out how things are really running.  Run customer service metrics, conduct customer surveys, and see how everything is running. You may be in for the surprise of your life.

There are a million reasons to implement and refine your customer service strategy.

- Amazing Customer Service means more Customer Testimonials

- You’re able to not only sell your product, but sell your Service

- Pride in Service – Being proud of your company’s ethics is priceless.

- Better customer retention equals less marketing dollers per order acquired.

- Building a solid company culture around AMAZING customer service is the first step if solidifying company policies regarding customer service.