Suggestion: Know your audience. When communicating with co-workers, use any and all acronyms you can. Make it a contest. However, when communicating with your customers, avoid the use of acronyms. I know that you’re smart and knowledgeable. However, customers do not understand your jargon and may feel stupid in the process.

Negative Ned Says…

“Of course I hate my job! That’s why they call it ‘work!’ Duh! That doesn’t mean I don’t know how to pretend that I like working here. I do that a lot, but I don’t see the need to do it right now. You want to know what really stinks about this job? Have you got a minute? Better make that an hour…by the time I’m through complaining about my girlfriend, my boss, and my short lunch breaks, you won’t want to come back…”

Positive Paul Says…

“If you don’t like what you’re doing, customers will notice — it’s written all over your face. Your actions and your words must be consistent. You can’t fake liking a job that you hate.

It’s difficult to work at a place that is not in line with what you believe and who you are. If your personal values — like honesty, trustworthiness, courtesy, compassion, sense of humor, and sincerity — differ significantly from your company’s values, I guarantee you will have a hard time going to work every day.

You have to be passionate about where you work and what your company represents. If you are not passionate, it will be extremely difficult for you to follow the advice in this book. If passion seems like an impossibility, look for an employer whose values are similar to yours. You will be doing yourself, your colleagues, your boss, and your customers a big favor when you find a job that brings you joy and personal satisfaction.”

A Real World Example

I’ve learned a lot from my past mistakes. Several years ago, I decided to work part-time for a company that claimed to have the same values as I did, but its employees’ actions did not demonstrate this fact. For example, they were horrible at returning my phone calls and e-mails. I was a new Sales Associate trying to make a sale, (which would make the company money!) and they would not return my messages. When they finally did respond, they were always very kind and gave lovely excuses. I kept giving them the benefit of the doubt. When I talked to my customers, I felt a sense of unease, knowing that they, too, would probably run into the same problem. The turning point came when one of my clients had an emergency and needed help immediately. The company would not return my calls or the customer’s calls. Now I had an irate customer on my hands, and I knew that I would not have the support of the home office to assist me. It was obvious that this company indeed did not share my values. Two days later, I resigned. Less than a month later, the company went bankrupt. Needless to say, I wasn’t surprised.

Moral to the story: If your manager or support staff refuse to return your phone calls, start looking for a new job.

Strategies to Turn This Around

Be passionate about your company and your job. If not, set your sights  elsewhere!

1. Make sure your values and your company’s values are in sync.
2. Be proud of your company.
3. Be passionate about what you do.

Remember: If you aren’t passionate about your company and your job, you will not be able to implement any of the other tips in this book!

“If you work just for money, you’ll never make it, but if you love what you’re doing and you always put the customer first, success will be  yours.”

— Ray Kroc

© 2012 by Barbara Khozam Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this message may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission of the publisher.

Can you recall the last time you wanted to throttle a Customer Service Representative? Let’s face it. Customer service is B-A-A-A-A-A-D, no…wait a minute. Customer service is terrible — everywhere. People are so accustomed to getting lousy service that when they are treated well, they are often surprised and even shocked. As bestselling author Ken Blanchard says, “Rude is in. Smiling’s a sin.” Nobody seems to care, and it shows. People expect lazy staff, late deliveries, dirty restrooms, faulty parts…and the list goes on.

When people receive less-than-perfect service – not necessarily the world’s worst service, but just not great service – they rarely ask to speak to the owner. But you can bet your booty that if they didn’t complain to the owner, they probably told all their friends. Unhappy customers rarely complain to owners because they don’t think it will do any good. And when given a survey, they will usually say they are ‘satisfied’ because lousy service has become the norm. Here’s the kicker. If you ask these same customers about your customer service and their reply is that your service was ‘fine,’ you better watch out because these are the customers who will most likely leave you the first chance they get.

It’s not enough anymore just to satisfy customers; you need to create your own fan club for your business. That’s because satisfied customers are more flexible than Gumby — the green, clay-pliable television character. They will change their minds in a heartbeat if they get better service somewhere else. On the other hand, raving fans are customers who will come back to you again and again. They will automatically become your own personal sales force because they will tell everyone about you and how wonderful you are.

Studies have shown a high correlation among excellent customer-service ratings, a solid bottom line, and employee loyalty. A Stanford University study determined that 87.5% of our success is a result of our attitude and 12.5% is a result of our knowledge, skills and abilities.  So open up your mind, and prepare to take your customer service to the amazing next level!

The purpose of this book is to give you the tools you need to create a memorable experience for your customers that is a positive, or better yet, a stellar experience! Customers determine their satisfaction based on their experiences. When customers have an experience, it becomes a story they remember. And when a memory about a story is positive, they’ll come back to use your services — and tell their friends!

The tips in this book are set up as a dialogue between two fun characters from my live seminars named Negative Nate, the negative employee who doesn’t give a hoot about anything, and POSITIVE PAUL, the positive employee who values highly customer service and sets an example of how customer service should be.

Meet Ned and Paul

A little background: Negative Ned and Positive Paul are twins. They grew up in the same house with the same parents and even attended the same schools. They played on the same little league team and even had the same friends. But somehow, Ned and Paul developed different ways of viewing the world. While Paul viewed everything as a new opportunity, Ned saw everything as a problem and complained about it. This attitude, in turn, affected their results not only at work, but at home as well.

Hopefully, you will come to realize that POSITIVE PAUL’s methods are going to work a whole lot better than Ned’s – unless you enjoy treating customers badly.

Whether you are working on creating amazing customer experiences for your customers, or you are sharing this material with your sales or service team, this book won’t solve any problems…until you implement the suggestions that are shared in this book. I also included several stories from audience members and newsletter subscribers who shared their personal experiences with me. If you have a particularly interesting story you want to share, please email me at stories@badcustomerservicetips.com

For the purpose of this book, and in a perfect world, we are going to assume  that:

1. Your company’s culture and policies support the delivery of exceptional customer service.
2. The right people are in the right positions within your organization to deliver such service.

To create a memorably positive experience for your customers, please implement as many of the following 30 tips as possible. By experimenting with them, you will discover which ones work best for YOUR business. The results of your efforts will be happy, loyal customers who tell others about you. And yippy, yahoo, that’s what you want, right?

Cover Story

Ric Thompson and Barbara Khozam

Click here for complete article:

http://www.smallbusinessceomagazine.com/currentissue.asp?showdate=1/1/2012

Here comes the story:
Company name:  Payless Car Rental
Location:  Las Vegas International Airport
Date:  January 17, 2011
Employee names:  lady, guy in garage, and lady manager  (We were so mad we forgot to get their names!)
Background:  This reservation was made less than one week in advance.  The price was significantly lower than all the other agencies.

THE STORY:  It all started with the pick up.  Everything was going smoothly at first.  The “lady” behind the counter and I were making small talk about the weather.  Then our dialogue went something like this:

lady: “And you’ll be needing the (blah, blah, blah) insurance coverage.  Do you want to use the same credit card?” 
Barb: ”Insurance? No, I don’t need any extra insurance.” 

lady: ”Well your current insurance doesn’t cover everything so you’ll just get the minimum then?” 
Barb: ”How much is it?” 

lady: ”Only $23 a day!” 
Barb: “$23 a day?  That’s more than I’m paying for the car!  AND I’m only going to be driving a few miles back and forth.  No, I won’t need that.”

lady:  “Well if something happens to the car, you’re responsible.”
Barb:  “Of course.”

From this point forward she was VERY rude.  She was short, blunt and to the point.  All friendliness has disappeared.  I had to ask her where the cars were located and she seemed annoyed with having to tell me.  I could hardly wait to get out of there.

The car return was, yet, another disappointing experience.
My husband and I pulled into the lot to return the vehicle with a full tank of gas.  The”guy in the garage” quickly looked over the car then gave us the receipt.  Upon checking over the receipt, my husband and I found an eleven dollar charge for gas. When my husband asked the guy about the charge, the guy said the tank was not full.  A shouting match ensued.  It wasn’t pretty.  The guy called his manager who arrived about ten minutes later – the car’s engine was running this entire time.  She looked at the gas gauge and agreed with “the guy” that it was not full and that the charge was legitimate. My husband explained to her that the car’s engine had been running since the time we had returned and couldn’t that cause the needle to move slightly away from the full mark?  After more yelling between “the lady manager” and my husband, she reluctantly credited the account for the eleven dollar charge. 

The fact that all three employees behaved the exact same way makes me think it’s a corporate policy to charge extra fees then to be rude when these fees are discovered and questioned.  I wonder if they get commission on those fees or something.  It was one of the worst customer service experiences I’ve ever had. 

Customer Service lessons learned from Payless Car Rental:

1.  If a customer turns down an extra charge, continue to be nice to them.  Thank them for being a customer.
2.  If a customer becomes irate, listen to the complaint and use empathy. Don’t take it personally and call the manager ASAP.
3.  As a manager, when dealing with an irate customer over an eleven dollar dispute, remain calm.  Don’t yell back and give them what they want.

Remember, a customer whose complaint is resolved quickly and easily will return 96% of the time AND they will tell others.  Look what happens with BAD customer service  -  a lost customer and one who blogs about it to the world.  OUCH!

 Ah, the holiday season.  I just love the sweet smell of pine from the Christmas trees. And the beautiful, twinkling lights hanging from the eaves of neighborhood houses.  And the Christmas songs.  How could I forget the Christmas carols.  With all this goodness, how could anyone NOT be in the holiday spirit?  Oh, I know.  It’s all the – other stuff…Christmas presents – who to buy for, what to spend and what the heck to get.  And the shopping, parking and let’s not forget the holiday parties.  It’s enough to drive any sane person crazy.  But have no fear, today I will share with you my personal “Bah Humbug Busters”.

1.  Buy zero presents.  Blame it on the economy.  Blame it on me.  This will save you a lot of stress and anxiety.  OK, if you must, you may buy one or two presents.  This, however, leads us to another stressor - shopping – for whch we will need Bah Humbug Buster 2a.

2a.  Listen to and sing Christmas Carols.  As you are driving to the mall, you must play and sing, very loudly, Christmas Carols.  Studies have shown that its impossible to be angry and sing Christmas Carols at the same time.  As you drive into the parking lot, you will need Bah Humbug Buster 2b.

2b  Park far away. Oh but I know what you will do instead.  You will drive up and down the aisles.  You will follow someone who has just exited the building carrying bags of goodies.  You will patiently wait while they search for their keys.  Then, inevitably, they will realize their car is three row away and they will quickly dash across the aisles leaving you stranded. 
Another problem with the crowded malls is the large volume of germs.  This leads us to Bah Humbug buster #2c

2c. Wear your face mask.  You can decorate it with pictures and ornaments if you want.  AND, as you’re walking from your car to the mall, you must continue with #2a - listening to and singing Christmas carols.  You may need an mp3 player or iPod to assist you.  The good news is that if you’re shy about your voice, the face mask will muffle the sound and people will have no idea where the beautiful music is coming from.
Another benefit of wearing the face mask is that many people will let you cut to the front of the line – genius.

The last holiday spirit stressor we will address is the mandatory holiday party.  One problem with these parties is the massive amounts of food available.  This can be solved by using Bah Humbug Buster 3.

3.  Eat dessert first. Instead of filling yourself with all the main course dishes then forcing yourself to squeeze in dessert, eat dessert first, then you will be happy and satisfied. 
At these parties, don’t forget your face mask,because you know there will be germs.  AND when you see that person across the room that you dislike more than anyone else on the planet, don’t forget #2a - Christmas carols.  If you wear your mask while singing those carols, you are guaranteed to be remembered.

Imagine a world where everyone followed these Bah Humbug Busters….. singing carols, wearing face masks, eating dessert – we’d all be happy, healthy and full of sweets. Sounds good to me.  I’ll start. Where’s the cake?

Z-Tip:  It’s ok to get advice from people and to adapt, but don’t forget who you are in the process!!!!

Z-Tip:  When faced with a grumpy employee, try complimenting them on something – clothes, hair, nails.  You’ll be surprised with the result!  Now that’s ZAMitude!

A few weeks ago I blogged about an incident that happened at Macy’s regarding a ring I wanted to purchase.  Although the story ended well on that day, the saga continued.  By the way, I wanted the ring really badly.  I had saved up for about eight  months, had worked really hard and felt I really deserved it.  The blog story ended with Macy’s sending the ring in to get sized.  However, three more incidents occurred after this point and the end result is that I do NOT own the ring.  In fact, I don’t plan on buying ANY fine jewelry from Macy’s as a result of the incident.  It was obvious that I was not meant to have this ring. 
     This incident got me thinking…what other signs have I been ignoring?  Why don’t I listen to the voice more often?  OK, that’s it.  From now on I’m going to use my ZAMitude and trust my instincts. 

Z-Tip:  When you get the feeling you shouldn’t be doing something, pause, think and really consider the advice.  You just might save yourself some money!