Your aim in giving your customers exceptional service is to make them say “Wow!” as soon as you disappear. You can do that if you make the following 7 tips part of your normal pattern of service.

1. Give Your Customers Plenty of Strokes. People love to be stroked. Just like domestic pets, we like it when we are fussed at, smiled at, and given gentle touches. Strokes can include any greeting, the use of people’s names, and good wishes of the “Have-a-nice-day” kind. But the best stroke you can give others is your undivided attention.

2. Surprise Them With The Unexpected. British Airways airline discovered that passenger goodwill increases when staff do unexpected extras such as spontaneous conversations or invitations to visit the flight deck. These have to remain extras and not the norm if they are to retain their surprise value.

3. Attend To The Little Things. Paying attention to the little things which don’t significantly affect the main service is a way of saying: “If we look after the little things, just think what we’ll do with the big ones.” Such detail includes sparkling washrooms that you could eat your meals from and customer notices that don’t talk down to people.

4. Anticipate Customers’ Needs. In a survey of airport check-in staff, customers rated the best staff as those who anticipated their needs. These were staff who would routinely glance down the queue and anticipate the different needs customers had, from the grandmother needing help with her luggage to the business executive wanting a quick service.

5. Always Say “Yes”. Great customer carers never turn down a request for help. Even if they can’t do it themselves, they’ll know someone who can and put you onto them. They always use positive language. Even if the answer is “No, we’re closed”, it’s expressed as “Yes, we can do that first thing tomorrow for you.”

6. Treat Them The Same By Treating Them Differently. We hate to see others get better customer service than we do, for example in a restaurant. It makes us feel second-class and devalued. Equally, we don’t want to be treated the same as everyone else if that means a standard, soulless response, as you sometimes get in a fast-food restaurant. The secret is to treat everyone the same by treating them differently.

7. Use Tact With Tact. Tact means using adroitness in handling other people’s feelings. In awkward or embarrassing moments, tact saves everyone’s blushes. It’s something your customers will notice but that you should aim to go unnoticed.

Practise these 7 responses until they are as familiar to you as breathing, and you are guaranteed to have customers queueing up for your attention.

This week I present 26 little ideas to help you respond to complaints and difficult customers with much more ease….the ABC’s of Customer Recovery.

A ct as if every lost customer’s sales come out of your paycheck.

Believe the best of customers. Don’t make the mistake of assuming most customers are out to simply get something for nothing. The truth is, less than 1% of customers contact companies with ulterior motives in mind.

C ommunicate with diplomacy and tact when you final answer is “no” and when explaining company policy.

D on’t tell a customer she is wrong. Telling a customer they are wrong never makes them want to agree with you. It only pushes them more forcefully into their original position.

E mpathize with unhappy customers and allow this empathy to season your responses.

F ind a way to say “yes” to customers. Instead of saying “no” or telling the customer what you can’t do, think critically about what you actually can do.

G ive a token item such a coupon as a concrete form of apology.

H ave a sense of urgency. Demonstrate with your words and speed of response that getting to the bottom of the problem is just as important to you as it is to your customer.

I nvolve customers in the problem resolution process. Sometimes it’s very helpful to simply ask, “How do you see us resolving this?”

Jot down the customer’s name and details of the problem they are describing so you don’t have to ask the customer to repeat information.

K eep customers apprised of your timetable and progress toward resolving their problems.

L isten with the intent to truly understand your customer, not with the intent to interrupt, reply, or correct.

M onitor your customer service calls to ensure your tone is friendly, helpful and willing.

N egotiate resolutions that balance both the interests of your company and your customer.

Open the door with unhappy customers with open-ended questions. Make your questions demonstrate a sincere interest in better understanding the customer’s problem or experience.

P ut yourself in the customer’s shoes. How would you feel if the exact same problem happened to you?

Q uickly apologize. Apologize both when the company is at fault and even when the customer is responsible for the error. An apology goes a long way in creating calm, diffusing anger and regaining goodwill.

R ecognize that the issue is not the issue. The way the issue is handled becomes the real issue.

S ay “no” diplomatically and without causing resentment. The best way to do this is to start out by telling the customer what you can do.

T hank customers for their feedback.

U p-Service your customers by suggesting products or services that enhance the value of their current purchase.

View the customer as the reason for your work—not as an interruption to your work.

W OW customers.

Ex amine the root cause of problems and work to eliminating problems at the root.

Y ou are the company to each customer. Never underestimate your power to influence the customer’s future buying decisions.

Zero in on the customer’s needs and wants.

“CRM” stands for Customer Relationship Management. It is a business strategy that is used to improve customer service, and increase customer satisfaction. Customer Relationship Management is designed to provide information a business need to develop and implement smarter customer strategies.

The benefits of Customer Relationship Management CRM are clear: CRM ebables companies and organizations to build more profitable customer relationships and reduce operation spendings. Sales, mareketing personnels will have more customer information to work on. The business is able to know what customers want so that they can maximize their revenue by adverting the right products to the right people. CRM also enable business to monitor all the contacts between customers and companies.

However, study has shown that only 16% of businesses are satisfied with their CRM software. More than half of CRM initiatives fail. The biggest problem is that the collected data are not used. Most of the companies has spent tons of money to collect all kinds of information of their clients but never use this information to improve their business. Money spent on CRM software and implementations has been wasted. As a business owner, before you spend any money on CRM software and implementations, you need a complete planning that ensures your success. The ultimate goal is to improve your relationship with your customers, and boost your customer satisfaction.

For more information and resources related to CRM and CRM softwares,visit the one-stop online CRM solution website at .crm-solution-web.com/

If you are having a technical issue with your computer, and you need assistance, your best bet is to call your manufacturers technical support line. In most cases, technical support is part of the package when you first purchased your computer. If, for some reason, you are unable to use your computer manufacturers help desk services, here are a few free help desk sites on the Internet.

Tech Support Guy claims to be the #1 tech support site on the web and can be found at .helponthe.net. Tech Support Guy help desk site offers free assistance to users of Microsoft Windows 95, 98, NT, ME, 2000, XP and Linux.

This site is free because it is run completely by volunteers and is paid for by donations. Donations are requested but not required to use this site. The way this site works is that first you must search the topic of you problem. If you can’t find it, then you can post your technical issue on one of Tech Support Guy’s forum pages where other users of the site will try and assist you.

One positive aspect of this site is that it has an extensive forum of questions from previous users so you will most likely receive the answer to your technical issue pretty quickly. One negative aspect of this site is that it is up to you to find the answer to your technical issue. There isn’t a customer service support representative to walk you through your technical issue at this help desk.

5 S tar Support technical services can be found on the web at .5starsupport.com. This help desk provides support to users of Windows, Linux, Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, Netscape, Windows Messenger, AOL, Networking troubleshooting, Microsoft Office Products.

Simply enter your technical issue in a web form that will be emailed to several volunteer technical support representatives and then wait to receive your reply back. You may receive several replies from several different representatives and each solution may be different. You may email the representative back if you are unable to satisfactorily fix your technical issue.

For people who want a solution faster, there is a method available where you can phone a computer support specialist and they can talk you through a solution to your technical issue. There is a small fee for this service however and can be purchased in annual, monthly or per incident increments.

Another service the 5 star offers is free PC help tutorials on topics such as Clean Installation of Windows XP, Install a Home Network, Configuring a Network Card and Partition a Hard Drive.

Suggest A Fix can be found at .suggestafix.com. This site also is run by volunteers but is a free service. It is forum based as well and you need to take the time to scroll through the posting to find something that matches your particular issue. However, in the toolbar virus information and tutorials are also available as quick options.

The best thing about the forums is that you will usually receive good quality answers to your technical or general computing questions. There are a few dedicated people that seem to field a majority of the questions, so depending on the time and day; your answers may vary greatly.

In short, yes… uhm well, no… maybe sometimes? O.k., so you might have gathered by now that there is no “short” answer. Anybody who truly believes that the customer is always right hasn’t really given this policy much thought.

When was the last time someone came into your business, or called on the phone, or better yet emailed you with a throbbing case of the nasties? Our business is located just outside of the city with a bus stop in front. We also own several niche market web sites. Do you suppose we get our share of interesting characters?

Somehow, this philosophy/policy of, “The customer is always right” has been branded into the consumer’s psyche and repeatedly shoved in the face of business owners, managers, and employees. Having worked in Law Enforcement for several years, we’re taught by our instructors and leaders to consider “the spirit of the law” versus “the letter of the law.” These considerations dictate whether or not the cop is going to give you a ticket for going 5 miles over the speed limit. If we’re to follow the “letter of the law,” we’re going to go by the book each and every time without exception. It’s the “spirit” that allows us discretion to listen to a creative story of how your lover caught you with your spouse again and “thank God you’re here to protect me, Officer… and that’s why I was speeding. I was trying to get away!”

Shouldn’t we, as business owners and managers, have that same option of discretion when a less than reasonable customer approaches chanting that misguided mantra? Now, of course, this is not to say that we should not recognize our positions as “authority figures” and practice a higher degree of professionalism, diplomacy, and tact. All of which are vital to your business. Professionalism is the difference between giving the appearance of genuine concern, and wrapping your knuckles on someone’s forehead to see if anybody’s home. Diplomacy is being able to give your customer the perception that you owe them, and have provided them with, an apology by stating something to the affect of, “I’m sorry you feel that our policy has inconvenienced you.” instead of actually apologizing and admitting fault for something that your company is righteous in maintaining. Tact is being able to tell your customer that it appears that your (policy, sign, product, etc.) was simply misunderstood without having to tell him/her that they’re a complete moron.

Now, I’m also not condoning never admitting fault or accepting responsibility for genuine wrongs and doing everything within your ability to correct them. And there are schools of thought that strictly forbid admitting fault. Their mantra? “Better to ask forgiveness than permission.” However, by the very nature of such an absolute statement such as, “The customer is always right,” provides people, who for no other reason but a sense of entitlement, a free pass to come into your business with the expectation that they’re going to be able to conduct themselves however they wish. This includes treating you and/or your employees with utter disrespect and rudeness. As a result, our employee attrition rate is relatively low because we allow them the discretion of practicing professionalism, diplomacy, and tact. Fortunately, most of our clientele allow us the opportunity to provide them with genuine friendly service and resolve any issues with a mutually beneficial outcome. Unfortunately, every once in a while, you come across a customer, who no matter what extraordinary efforts you deploy to appease, is simply unreasonable. With that, you must then make an executive decision and these are just a few questions that should be considered in rapid-fire succession almost immediately. Is this customer worth keeping? How adversely will kicking him in the pants affect my business? Am I able to resolve this issue with little impact on my business or bank account? Am I going to diminish my employee’s sense of empowerment and/or sense of dignity by overturning their reasonable decision? I’m sure there are other considerations that you’re likely to make, but these are the very minimum.

Incidentally, the person responsible for us having to endure the phrase, “The customer is always right.” was a gentleman by the name of H Gordon Selfridge. Mr. Selfridge was the founder of Selfridge’s Department Stores widely known across the United Kingdom. Perhaps Mr. Selfridge was stuck in the “letter of the law,” as he died insane and bankrupt. Food for thought.

“Do unto others as you’d have them do unto you.” Don’t worry; I’m not trying to take you to Sunday school under the pretense of a business article! However, in one form or another we have learned this rule for as long as we can remember. Many people try their best to apply this rule in their everyday lives. But, how many of us try to follow such a simple principle when it comes to business?

If you think about it, it could single handedly be the most important rule to follow in business. After unpleasant sales encounters, most customers are not most upset with the product or service that they purchased. Sure that may have been the root of the problem. But, most people understand that we don’t live in a perfect world and sometimes things don’t work!

The reason most people leave these situations upset is because of the way that they’ve been treated. They feel that they have spent the money for your product or service that for one reason or another did not perform properly. This upsets them, but what really angers them is that they feel that no one cares.

We’ve all had negative customer service experiences. Those of us in sales have most likely been on both sides of such exchanges.

When we’re in the salesperson role, we may be running ragged from an extremely busy day. We may have issues going on in our personal life. We might simply have gotten up in a bad mood that morning. There’s nothing innately wrong with any of those things. However, it is our job to find a way to put all of those things aside to help the people we’re paid to assist. This is why I feel that sales people should really be required to take Acting 101! Ideally, we would always be able to genuinely be interested in listening to our customers and helping them find the solutions that work best for them. But, we all know that that’s pretty much impossible everyday, absent a fairly large prescription of Prozac! Salespeople are just that, people. We’re not always going to be at the top of our game, but we must be able to “act” as if we are. Convincingly, act as if we are!

On the other hand, being that salespeople are people, we are constantly faced with these situations in which we are the customer. Undoubtedly, you have run into a few salespeople who have irritated you or who may not be quite as helpful as you’d like.

Now, obviously, we will never be able to be perfect in all of our customer interactions. However, if we were to try and keep the good old “Golden Rule” in our consciousness at all times when dealing with customers, I think we’d find our jobs more enjoyable, our customers happier and yes, even our profits growing!

Everything I know about customer service I learned from working at McDonalds as a teenager. Hard to believe, but true! In this day of highly competitive cyber business, the companies that will succeed will be those that offer superior customer service. The value of a lifetime customer is immeasurable. So once you get a customer, how do you keep him? The answer is killer customer service! Here are some of the secrets that have made McDonalds the success it is today!

*Service with a Smile*

“Hi, Welcome to McDonalds! May I take your order?” Got a new prospect? Welcome him to your business. Introduce yourself and tell about your services in e-mail. Let your customers get to know you. People are more likely to do business with someone they trust. You can’t overstate the importance of building strong customer relationships.

Smile when you are talking on the phone. Customers will hear the difference in your voice. Be careful when you send e-mail. It’s easy to be misunderstood. E-mail lacks the visual and audio cues of face-to-face communication. You must make an extra effort to ensure that your “tone” is cheerful and friendly.

Also with an e-mail, people expect a quick reply. A fast, friendly response will let your customers know that you are working hard to keep them happy!

*Suggestive Sell *

“Would you like an apple pie with that today?” When a customer buys a service do you have something complementary that would add value? Business folks, who are pressed for time, will value the convenience of one-stop-shopping. Look at your line of products and think to yourself, What can I do to make this more useful to my customers?

Is there a helpful article I can send them?

Is there a service that would complement my business’s other services?”

*Have the Menu in Plain Sight!*

“What all comes in the #3 value meal?” People like to know what to expect when they order from you. They want to know up front what things cost, how soon to expect it, etc. If a customer doesn’t see this information on your website, he just might leave. You know how nerve-racking it is buying a car when you don’t know what you are going to pay or if you are getting a good deal!

Knowledge of what to expect takes the fear out of buying.

*The Customer is Always Right*

“I’m sorry your order was wrong, how can I make it better?” Nothing is worse than a “screw up” in an order. The best way to turn a negative into a positive is to go out of your way to make it right and make that customer feel satisfied with the results. After you make it right, apologize for the screw-up sincerely, and offer an incentive for him to try you again–for example, a discount on future service.

Everyone knows one complaint will scream louder than 30 complements. Make sure to answer ALL complaints. Don’t give anyone a reason to leave and say that his or her needs were not met.

You can learn a LOT from your customers. Make sure to LISTEN. Other customers may be experiencing the same problem. Learn from your mistakes.

List your phone number on your web site. An angry customer wants to know that his complaint is being heard NOW! Sending an e-mail response from the customer service department within 24 hours might not cut it!

*Q.S.C.*

Quality, Service, and Cleanliness Quality–Is there any way you could improve your service? Do you set a level of excellence for your products and services that you meet or beat? Service–Do you make your customers feel like they are number one in your book? Do you listen to customer needs and fill them? Cleanliness–Does the atmosphere of your virtual business make customers happy and want to come back? Is your website visitor-friendly? Is your website easy to navigate? Does it load quickly?

*Brand Awareness/Corporate Identity *

Is your URL as memorable as those famous golden arches? Many visitors find your site not by clicking, but by remembering your URL. Is your URL on business cards and stationery? Is it listed in your yellow pages ad? Keep your URL short and simple: long URLs with hyphens, punctuation, or ones that are hard to spell won’t give customers a fighting chance. Include your company’s URL and other contact information in your email signature. Does your secretary know your URL? The answer may surprise you!

*What is your USP *

(Unique Selling Point)? “We’ve got the best fries in town!” Tell customers right on your home page why they should do business with you and not the guy down the cyberstreet. Tell your visitors in one short sentence who you are, what you do, and why you are better. Will you save them money? Can they

rely on your experience? Try to list these in terms of benefit to them, and NOT features of your product.

*Customer Appreciation *

“Thank you and come again!” Thank your customers for doing business with you. Send them an e-mail as a follow up to see if your product or service was what they expected. Would they recommend you to a friend? How about a hand-written note or card to tell someone that you value his or her business. There is a lot to be said for good old-fashioned customer service. Treat your customers like gold and they’ll be customers for life. The most powerful tool in your marketing arsenal is a customer referral. Give your customers a reason to brag about you and you’ll have a lot of customers knocking at your door!

“Only the educated are free.”

-Epictetus

There are countless articles and studies outlining the high cost of training &ndash each with unique approaches to measuring the impact of training. During our current recession there is momentum for business’ to scale back all non-essential areas and training budgets are usually the first to go. Executives often view training as a nice-to-have function, but not required to stay in business. I understand their dilemma. If I were writing the check myself, I would be hard pressed to continue to pay for training when my income is less than it was a year ago.

However, it is the high cost of NOT training that should be on the forefront of our minds, especially during a recession. During a recession, if I am lucky, I won’t have to lay off any workers. If not, I may have to let some people go, and rely on those left behind to carry the day until brighter times return. How do I motivate my staff to provide our customers superior and even ‘delightful’ customer service if I’m scaling back? How? - by making sure I’m giving each and every person who stays behind the skills and tools they need to deliver.

Let’s look at an example in terms of Return on Investment (ROI). We train one worker for one hour. From the training he/she receives, they become 1% more efficient at their current job. They pick up one tip, trick, cost savings, new understanding &ndash just one simple idea they can use on their job.

Let’s do the math:

40 hours / week * 50 weeks / year = 2,000 hours / year

2,000 / year * 1% improved efficiency = 20 hours / year of improved efficiency

This means that 1 hour invested in training = 20 hours returned

Or, a 20:1 ROI. If you could get that kind of return on investment on Wall Street, you’d be considered a god…

During a recession we’re all scrambling to grow, or at least, maintain our business. If you can find a line item that can give you a 20:1 ROI, I suggest you take it. And soon…

Business owners of companies both large and small can achieve rich improvements in their operations if they start to ask themselves regularly, “I have just been handed a powerful new tool. It essentially lets me costless communicate with anyone on the planet. How can I best use it to my advantage?”

To focus, business owners must first ask themselves two questions: As a business owner, what am I trying to achieve?

Marry your answers to the diverse communications capabilities of the World Wide Web; you will inevitably create some powerful and highly beneficial new initiatives.

In exploring strategies for success in the developing environment, it is essential to recognize a fact that is often overlooked: The Internet is fundamentally a new communications vehicle. As a consequence, a large part of its value arises because it permits cost-effective communications &ndash down the street or on a worldwide basis&ndashthat were not possible before its emergence.

Why is this so important? Because many people have a very different view of the World Wide Web. They will suggest that the Web is an entertainment medium &ndashsomething that has more in common with the television than the telephone. This focus is easy to appreciate; the typical person is more interested in the new offerings on the Web that can entertain him or her than the less exciting details of enhanced communications capabilities. In addition, Internet use is the first activity in over forty years that has been clearly documented as something that causes people to spend less time watching television. It’s therefore natural to think of it as a substitute for this medium.

Benefits of Internet Telephony to Your Business:

1) Availability Completely under Customer Control. With the internet, visitors&ndashpotential customers &ndashcome to Web sites at their convenience, making them far more receptive to what companies have to say because the customers aren’t being intruded upon (as happens with telemarketing).

2) One-to-Many Communications Performed Seamlessly. The Internet offers one-to-many communications systems without losing the privacy or interaction possible by phone. A single posting at a Web site reaches as many people as visit the site that day

.

3) Reduced Effort, Time, and Cost. The Web makes things easy and affordable.

Not all businesses are currently bringing in added profit via the Web yet; nonetheless, every business needs to be working on it in order to be competitive today.

The Web makes it possible for companies both large and small to develop new communications processes that save time and money while enabling faster responses to customer needs.

Many industries rely on widely distributed field sales forces that may consist of independent agents or company employees. In today’s fast-moving business environment, providing these frontline soldiers with the most up-to-the-minute information and the best possible tools and support is critical to success, and by using the Web, companies can do so at far lower cost.

2) Availability Completely under Customer Control.

With the Internet, visitors&ndashpotential customers&ndashcome to Web sites at their convenience, making them far more receptive to what companies have to say because the customers aren’t being intruded upon (as happens with telemarketing).

3) One-to-Many Communications Performed Seamlessly

The Internet offers one-to-many communications systems without losing the privacy or interaction possible by phone. A single posting at a Web site reaches as many people as visit the site that day.

4) Reduced Effort, Time, and Cost.

The Web makes things easy and affordable.

The Web makes it possible to communicate regularly with a large volume of customers at virtually no cost.

Businesses can generally benefit by disseminating information; yet up to now, there has not been a cost-effective, satisfactory way of timely customer notification. Not only is direct mail costly, but the timing of delivery is erratic and an overwhelming amount of it is never even opened. The telephone is timely, but information disseminated by telephone is also costly and runs the risk of alienating customers who don’t want to be bothered by solicitors.

Enter the Internet. The World Wide Web gives companies a low-cost method to communicate with existing customers and to reach out to potential ones with a timeliness that has never before existed.

The new capabilities created by the Internet far exceed what could be accomplished with the telephone. Consider how a well-designed Internet customer-communications system can work:

1.) Orders are confirmed by e-mail &ndashfirst immediately after they are placed, and again when they are shipped out. The shipping confirmation notice includes an internal tracking number to help customers locate the package if it fails to arrive on a timely basis.

2.) Customers can register for e-mail notifications of various kinds. By filling out an online form, customers can request to be notified about newly available products that are likely to be of interest to them.

3.) “Missing” customers can be inexpensively lured back: If a frequent customer has not made a purchase for some time, the electronic retailer can send a $5 or $10 digital coupon to encourage a return purchase. These types of ongoing efforts to build loyalty can be triggered by well-designed automated databases, combined with virtually costless e-mail, to create an inexpensive, potentially high-return, and customer loyalty program.

This suggests a central strategy for any business today: Gather e-mail addresses from customers (and permission to contact them using these addresses), even if you don’t yet have an interactive Web site. Every business from a major manufacturer to a regional discount store to the local plumber will find that well-designed e-mail messages can be a low-cost, highly effective means of building profitable revenues. In Strategy 7, I discuss how a local pest-control business might benefit tremendously from an e-mail-based initiative.

The Importance of round the clock availability

Like a good catalog and 800 numbers, the Internet makes your company accessible to customers worldwide twenty-four hours a day. However, the “Web” is better than the world’s greatest catalog.”

Here’s why:

Additional visuals as well as more written detail. Catalogs face an inherent limitation: Paper and postage are costly. As a result, details &ndashother views of a product as well as more written description&ndashoften have to be left out. So while the 800-number operator can read to customers the special washing instructions, if the product is offered on the Internet, the consumer can read the special washing instructions for him- or herself, scroll through a more lengthy product description, and in all likelihood, see more than one view of the item.

Expanded offerings. Today catalogs typically list only a portion of a company’s offerings, simply because more listings mean expansion of printing and mailing costs. The Web obliterates this limitation.

Remember too, that anything that can be accomplished online instead of by phone is more cost effective. A five-minute call to order a $50 item, at a cost of $1 per minute, means that the call is a significant percentage of the cost structure, and a five-minute inquiry&ndashwith no purchase attached &ndashcreates a financial loss in addition to time lost by personnel who might have been making a sale to someone else. This contrasts with use of the Internet, where&ndashto the extent that communications cost exists&ndashthey are trivial, and consumers bear the cost of company contact by paying their access service.

The Internet has now led to a new definition of what customers have come to expect: In the emerging era, businesses are almost required to provide twenty-four-hour Internet communications, so that the consumer can shop from home whenever he or she wants to. Sites that prosper will be more than order-taking vehicles; they will provide a creative, educational experience that builds knowledge about their products and services and engenders sales as well as ongoing customer loyalty.

Whether your business specializes in Porche luxury cars or temporary employment services , the Web offers you the opportunity to find people who are looking for what your company sells.

Every customer contact is a Moment of Truth that creates a Moment of Misery, a Moment of Mediocrity, or a Moment of WOW. In the Moment of Truth you can create customers for LIFE or you can initiate a slow and painful demise of your company one customer at a time.

A Moment of Mediocrity is what most often occurs in business to customer interactions and this is where the customer’s expectations were met - and those may even be low expectations. Customers who experience a Moment of Mediocrity, feel “satisfied” but will not reward the company with loyalty. These customers are only your customers because they haven’t found a better experience.

A Moment of Misery is created each time you fail to meet the customer’s expectations. Often, Moments of Misery result in damaging and highly persuasive negative word-of-mouth advertising and customer defection.

A Moment of WOW is created when you exceed the customer’s expectations. Service must be truly outstanding and service providers have to go “Beyond WOW” to create the Moment of WOW. Moments of WOW create a profitable base of loyal customers, which results in growth, increased profits, and lasting value. (For hundreds of ideas on how to create Moments of WOW, pick up my brand new book, Beyond WOW by going to Beyond WOW.)

Two years ago I stayed in a luxury hotel in Miami with a corner ocean view room. I paid $179 for a one-night stay and my expectations for service were high. I experienced a myriad of problems during my short stay and one situation stands out. The morning of my departure I called the Concierge to arrange transportation to the airport. Here’s a summary of this Moment of Truth:

Me, the Customer: “I need to be at Miami International Airport by 5:00 pm for a 6:00pm flight. Can you arrange transportation with Super Shuttle for me? ” Simple request - or so I thought.

Concierge: “Ma’am, you have to give at least a 24 hour notice for a shuttle to the airport. I cannot call for you. You can take a taxi or we can arrange a car for you for $99. ”

Me, the “paying” customer:”Why do you need a 24 hour notice for a routine ride to the airport?

Concierge: “It’s our procedure. You can take a taxi or I can arrange a car. Those are your choices.”

Me, the customer/ the reason you have a job: “Okay, can you just veer away from “procedure” and see if the shuttle can pick me up eight hours from right now?”

Concierge: “I can give you the number and you can call.”

I called Super Shuttle and the representative said, “Sure, the royal blue van will meet you out front at exactly 4:30.” See how easy that was? Why couldn’t the Concierge just pick up the phone and check?

Here’s what the Concierge should have said upon my request for a shuttle: “Ms. Golden, typically Super Shuttle requires a 24 hour advance notice, but I’ll see what I can do. If I cannot arrange transportation with the shuttle, we can get you to the airport by taxi or private car. Let me check on that and I’ll call you right back.” This response would have made the Moment of Truth a Moment of Mediocrity and perhaps I would have considered another stay at the hotel. But my moment was Misery and not only will I not return, but like every customer, I’ll spread negative word-of- mouth advertising.

A Moment of Misery is created every time you:

*Tell a customer “No” without first telling them what you can do

*Quote policy

*Fail to follow-up/follow through

*Make the customer tell and retell their story with unnecessary transfers

*Respond to complaints with an accusatory or interrogatory style

*Refuse to take responsibility for problems

*Fail to apologize to customers

*Tell a customer they are wrong - even when they are wrong

*Cut a customer off

*You only get one Moment of Truth with customers. What will it be?