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Business

Provider-Inflicted Pain

Balance Business Needs with Customer Impact By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD It’s a hassle when our credit card changes. We must track down every business that has our credit card number on file and update it. If we miss one company, we risk service interruptions or delivery problems. Sometimes we decide to switch cards, but […]

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Business

Available and Accurate Support

Minimizing the Need for Customer Service Is the Best Support Option By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD As an author, I upload my books to over a half-dozen online stores and distributors, using their respective portals to enter each book’s information and files. The interface for each one differs, with some being easy to use and […]

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Business

The Trials and Triumphs of Telephone Support

Phone Interactions Can Save or Ruin Your Business By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD A lot of customer service occurs over the telephone. This growing trend leaves me concerned about some things and excited about others. A Shortsighted Attitude On the negative side, consider a large telecommunications company that provides cell phone, internet, and long distance. […]

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Business

Consistency Matters Most

Tell Your Customers What to Expect and Deliver it Every Time By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD Moving required finding a new place to service my car. A well-maintained auto repair business sat just down the street from our home, less than half a mile away. A neighbor, though he had never gone there, said they […]

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Business

Penny Wise and Dollar Foolish

Customer Service Failure Exists in Both Big and Small Ways  By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD After moving from one town to another, I continued working with my long-time business accountant. Though most of our interactions occurred over the phone and through email, I persisted in making an hour-long trek to his office each tax season. […]

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Business

Customer Rip-Offs

Make Sure Your Objectives Align with Your Practices By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD To avoid the huge depreciation loss that all new cars undergo, I buy used. However, there was a season when I bought new. This story is about one of those times.  Although it wasn’t my practice to go to the dealer for […]

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News

Sticky Customer Service

Do you lose customers about as fast as you gain them? It doesn’t have to be that way. The Sticky Customer Service book will show you how. Customer service isn’t a once-and-done effort. It takes ongoing work to truly meet your customers’ expectations. In Sticky Customer Service, unearth practical, action-oriented insights to help you turn […]

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Business

Customer Service Matters

By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD We hear much today about delighting our customers. This is an admirable goal, and every business should strive to do so. We must acknowledge, however, that this is not sustainable. We may delight customers upon occasion, but to expect we’ll succeed in every interaction will leave us falling short of […]

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Call Center

Coronavirus Communication

Seek Balance in Your Customer-Facing Messaging By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD It seems cliché to say it, but we live in an unprecedented time. We don’t have a roadmap on how to navigate this crisis we’re in. Responses to this pandemic vary, with some overreacting and others being dismissive. We need balance in our response, […]

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Call Center

Customer Service Makes the Difference

The Way Companies Deal with Customer Issues Has Future Implications By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD A day and a half into my week, and I’ve already endured three major customer service issues from three vendors. Their responses could not have been more different. One issue was with a global company that whisks money around the […]