Comments for Who's Your Gladys? http://whosyourgladys.com/blog Expert Customer Service Tips and Advice Sun, 13 May 2012 01:37:10 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Comment on Can Customer Service Help Companies be Better than Average? by Marilyn http://whosyourgladys.com/blog/?p=5025&cpage=1#comment-8582 Marilyn Sun, 13 May 2012 01:37:10 +0000 http://whosyourgladys.com/blog/?p=5025#comment-8582 Tracey, It's frustrating to run into those customers who blatantly take advantage. They can be disheartening to their service providers. Companies like Zappos find that most people simply want to be treated fairly, even though there are a percentage who abuse the generosity. I wrote an article about how well it works to be a better customer, and the kind of results that happen when you do this. I call it reverse customer service. Here's the link: http://whosyourgladys.com/blog/?p=947 Thanks for commenting! Tracey, It’s frustrating to run into those customers who blatantly take advantage. They can be disheartening to their service providers. Companies like Zappos find that most people simply want to be treated fairly, even though there are a percentage who abuse the generosity.

I wrote an article about how well it works to be a better customer, and the kind of results that happen when you do this. I call it reverse customer service. Here’s the link: http://whosyourgladys.com/blog/?p=947

Thanks for commenting!

]]> Comment on Can Customer Service Help Companies be Better than Average? by Tracey http://whosyourgladys.com/blog/?p=5025&cpage=1#comment-8564 Tracey Wed, 09 May 2012 22:39:22 +0000 http://whosyourgladys.com/blog/?p=5025#comment-8564 One of the things I struggle with about articles like this and the articles which extol the virtues of excellent CS like Zappos--is that very often, it's about buying the approval of the customer. Zappos will upgrade your shipping if you have any issues (buying approval), this Chicco company sent a replacement out after 3 years (buying approval) and so on and so on. It seems lately that excellent customer service is being defined as "what the customer can get for free" not providing excellent SERVICE to the customer. Customers has such a sense of entitlement that the only time they feel you did a good job was when you gave them something for free. If you bend the rules for them or give them a replacement out of warranty then you are good but when you don't give them something you are horrible evil people. I am under constant attack from customers who damage their items and expect the company to replace them for free and when we clearly state it violates their warranty, they huff and puff and threaten to blog about it or speak to my manager about how awful they are being treated. Between the sense of entitlement and the lack of personal responsibility, it's nearly impossible to be good at customer service unless you give away the farm. Perhaps we should start writing and focusing on being better customers instead of how to give things away to make people happy. One of the things I struggle with about articles like this and the articles which extol the virtues of excellent CS like Zappos–is that very often, it’s about buying the approval of the customer.

Zappos will upgrade your shipping if you have any issues (buying approval), this Chicco company sent a replacement out after 3 years (buying approval) and so on and so on.

It seems lately that excellent customer service is being defined as “what the customer can get for free” not providing excellent SERVICE to the customer.

Customers has such a sense of entitlement that the only time they feel you did a good job was when you gave them something for free. If you bend the rules for them or give them a replacement out of warranty then you are good but when you don’t give them something you are horrible evil people.

I am under constant attack from customers who damage their items and expect the company to replace them for free and when we clearly state it violates their warranty, they huff and puff and threaten to blog about it or speak to my manager about how awful they are being treated.

Between the sense of entitlement and the lack of personal responsibility, it’s nearly impossible to be good at customer service unless you give away the farm.

Perhaps we should start writing and focusing on being better customers instead of how to give things away to make people happy.

]]> Comment on Can Customer Service Help Companies be Better than Average? by Guest Post on Gladys Blog http://whosyourgladys.com/blog/?p=5025&cpage=1#comment-8561 Guest Post on Gladys Blog Wed, 09 May 2012 17:19:23 +0000 http://whosyourgladys.com/blog/?p=5025#comment-8561 [...] can read about the Better Than Average take on customer service here: http://whosyourgladys.com/blog/?p=5025. Category: Better than Average, Business, Customer Service Tag: better than average, [...] [...] can read about the Better Than Average take on customer service here: http://whosyourgladys.com/blog/?p=5025. Category: Better than Average, Business, Customer Service Tag: better than average, [...]

]]> Comment on Game-changing Service Tips That Make Customers Spread Good News About You by Marilyn http://whosyourgladys.com/blog/?p=4974&cpage=1#comment-8511 Marilyn Wed, 02 May 2012 02:50:31 +0000 http://whosyourgladys.com/blog/?p=4974#comment-8511 I certainly empathize with you Tracey. You're dealing with an already established corporate culture. To shift the culture to embrace higher levels of service excellence is possible - Zappos, Disney, and Apple come to mind. What can one person do? Champion the shift. I'm not saying it will be easy. Though it can be extremely rewarding. Great examples of culture change in my friend Roxanne Emerich's book, "Thank God It's Monday." I certainly empathize with you Tracey. You’re dealing with an already established corporate culture. To shift the culture to embrace higher levels of service excellence is possible – Zappos, Disney, and Apple come to mind. What can one person do? Champion the shift. I’m not saying it will be easy. Though it can be extremely rewarding. Great examples of culture change in my friend Roxanne Emerich’s book, “Thank God It’s Monday.”

]]> Comment on Game-changing Service Tips That Make Customers Spread Good News About You by Tracey http://whosyourgladys.com/blog/?p=4974&cpage=1#comment-8509 Tracey Tue, 01 May 2012 21:56:09 +0000 http://whosyourgladys.com/blog/?p=4974#comment-8509 How can you translate this into good customer service when you are one of thousands in a CS environment? I want my CS to be as great as it can be but when you work in a large call center you don't have the same options as someone running a small independent business. How can you maximize time when you have metrics to compete with? How can you translate this into good customer service when you are one of thousands in a CS environment? I want my CS to be as great as it can be but when you work in a large call center you don’t have the same options as someone running a small independent business. How can you maximize time when you have metrics to compete with?

]]> Comment on Game-changing Service Tips That Make Customers Spread Good News About You by Marilyn http://whosyourgladys.com/blog/?p=4974&cpage=1#comment-8508 Marilyn Tue, 01 May 2012 19:34:11 +0000 http://whosyourgladys.com/blog/?p=4974#comment-8508 Thanks Joseph! It's great to see how happy a delighted customer is to share experiences like this. And with social media, many get exposed to difference-making service. Thanks Joseph! It’s great to see how happy a delighted customer is to share experiences like this. And with social media, many get exposed to difference-making service.

]]> Comment on A Customer Complains – Then What? by Omar http://whosyourgladys.com/blog/?p=4264&cpage=1#comment-8505 Omar Tue, 01 May 2012 04:50:09 +0000 http://whosyourgladys.com/blog/?p=4264#comment-8505 Great post Lori! Great post Lori!

]]> Comment on Game-changing Service Tips That Make Customers Spread Good News About You by Joseph Pinnell http://whosyourgladys.com/blog/?p=4974&cpage=1#comment-8503 Joseph Pinnell Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:48:19 +0000 http://whosyourgladys.com/blog/?p=4974#comment-8503 WOW! I am in the Fitness Industry, and feel as if our company does a great job with creating a memorable experience. This example puts us to shame. Great story. Thank you for sharing. Joseph Pinnell WOW! I am in the Fitness Industry, and feel as if our company does a great job with creating a memorable experience. This example puts us to shame. Great story. Thank you for sharing.

Joseph Pinnell

]]> Comment on A Story of Stellar Social Service by Miguel http://whosyourgladys.com/blog/?p=4957&cpage=1#comment-8479 Miguel Mon, 23 Apr 2012 21:18:09 +0000 http://whosyourgladys.com/blog/?p=4957#comment-8479 What a great story! So glad to see that our customers appreciate the extra effort our reps do help. This helps us raise the bar everytime. What a great story! So glad to see that our customers appreciate the extra effort our reps do help. This helps us raise the bar everytime.

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