Welcome to the Monthly Mash, a mashup of tools, tales and tips on customer service and the customer experience from around the blogosphere.
A collection of the best posts about customer service and the customer experience I read this past month.
Sometimes the most popular post from the previous month; sometimes just the one I liked best.
The 5th Habit of Customer Service: A Shout Out to Stephen Covey – We lost Stephen Covey this past month, and I took the opportunity to discuss one of Covey’s 7 Habits and how it relates to customer service. Coveys 5th Habit – first seeking to understand before trying to be understood – is a simple message that is a foundational aspect of great customer service, and fundamental to living an easier life.
The myth of the magical customer experience goes something like this: We design a customer experience that not only totally meets the customers needs but also exceeds their expectations, we execute flawlessly in providing this experience, and we automatically have a customer for life. The customer has bees so WOWed by their experience that they will automatically come back and be so enthused that they will tell all of their friends.
The beautiful part about this myth is that, sometimes, it is reality.
Sometimes the customer experience is so perfect that it takes only one journey through it to make a customer for life.
But not everyone will be so moved.
One of the fundamental rules of customer service is that what works for one does not work for all. We cannot expect all customers to be so inspired by the customer experience that they automatically become loyal. Some will need help; some will need a reason to come back and the opportunity to develop a pattern of behavior.
When your customer reaches the end of the customer experience, are you asking for them to come back?
The first rule of sales is don’t forget to ask for the sale. In customer service, we need to ask for the opportunity to provide another customer experience.
Sometimes loyalty is formed in an instance, more often it is built brick by brick, experience by experience.
Ask your customer to come back. Most loyalty begins with repetition.
By Adam Toporek. Adam Toporek is an internationally recognized customer service expert, keynote speaker, and workshop leader. He is the author of Be Your Customer's Hero: Real-World Tips & Techniques for the Service Front Lines (2015), as well as the founder of the popular Customers That Stick® blog and co-host of the Crack the Customer Code podcast.